5th formal meeting on MNLF peace deal set

MANILA, Philippines - The fifth formal meeting of the Tripartite Review Process (TRP) on the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) will be held in November in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Quintos-Deles said yesterday.

Deles said an initial meeting on the same agreement started yesterday and would end today at the New World Hotel in Makati City. 

Representatives from the government, MNLF and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which acted as third-party facilitator of the peace process, attended the event in Makati.

“In November, parties are expected to adopt the results of the informal meeting to successfully conclude the tripartite process,” Deles said.

She said the informal meeting was called to prepare for the formal tripartite meeting.

She said the government would be represented in the formal meeting by senior officials from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the Office of the Executive Secretary, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the National Security Agency, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Deles said the completion of the TRP would mean a continuation of the implementation of the 1996 final peace agreement between the government and MNLF.

She said on Sept. 1, the DFA hosted a meeting of diplomats from OIC member-countries and OPAPP officials.

In a presentation featuring updates on the Bangsamoro peace process, Deles reiterated the government’s call for the completion of the TRP, saying doing so will put back on track the continued implementation of the MNLF peace agreement.

The government-OIC-MNLF TRP was initiated in 2007 as an offshoot of an OIC resolution adopted during the 33rd session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Azerbaijan in June 2006.

The process called on the parties to the final peace agreement to establish a mechanism to move the implementation of the 1996 final peace agreement.

Since then, four tripartite meetings had been held. The fifth was initially scheduled in October 2013, but was postponed indefinitely until OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani visited Manila in April.

Madani’s visit re-opened the discussions on the TRP meetings. – With Perseus Echeminada