January 29 – Gov’t offers ARMM to MILF; direct talks cut short

Peace representatives of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) have conducted a brief negotiation Wednesday, January 27, in Kuala Lumpur. After exchanging drafts on the proposed Comprehensive Compact, they returned to their respective hotels to scrutinize each other’s proposal with the understanding to return the next day for consideration. The MILF Peace Panel, finding that the GRP’s draft had nothing new to offer, decided not to meet its counterpart. Instead, the MILF Peace Panel requested for a special meeting with the Malaysian facilitator and members of the International Contact Group (ICG) to explain the position they have taken.

“The GRP draft essentially offers the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” says Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of MILF Negotiating Panel, adding that “this offer was done in April of 2000 and repeated in February of 2003, just before the attack on the MILF Buliok complex in North Cotabato. The Seguis-led GRP Negotiating Panel submitted a 17-page document (font 14, double space), while the MILF’s is 37 pages (font 12, 11/2 space).

Asked about his comment, MILF lawyer Michael O. Mastura commented off-hand that, “the GRP Draft is practically an enabling legislation piece.” It was learned from Iqbal later that this GRP approach deviates from what was agreed during the Agenda Setting Session in the previous GRP-MILF Special Meeting last December 8 and 9, 2009.

Among those commonly agreed items that the GRP lawyer Camilo Montesa summed up are: 1) Identity and citizenship, 2) Governance structure, 3) Security arrangements, 4) Wealth-sharing, natural resources and property rights, 5) Restorative justice and reconciliation, 6) Implementation arrangements, and 7) Independent Monitoring.

But Mastura also pointed out that, except for item 5, the MILF agreed to prepare a Draft as outlined earlier. However, he clarified that “the MILF stresses Transitional justice and reconciliation rather than Restorative justice.”

The meeting on Wednesday was very brief. It opened with the statements from the Malaysian facilitator, Ambassador Rafael Seguis, GRP chief negotiator, Iqbal, and some members of the ICG. After this, drafts were exchanged.

A chance interview with three other members of the MILF peace panel, Maulana Alonto, Atty. Abdul Dataya, and Antonio Kinoc, revealed that the MILF Draft has adhered to the general outline agreed during the Agenda Setting Session. He said the two Drafts had wide divergence that have no point of convergence, adding that the GRP Draft’s derogation of prior agreements is not a positive response to sustain confidence building measures.

According to Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF Peace Panel Secretariat, “the second day (January 28, Thursday) was supposed to be the deliberation session.” But in place of the normal “face-to-face deliberation” between the two panels, “proximate meetings” took place, thereby the Facilitator and an ICG representative shuttled between the two sides.

Meanwhile, a more positive development is the announcement of Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, the Malaysian Facilitator, that the deployment of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) is under way before the end of February 2010.

The Parties agreed to meet again on February 18 to 19, 2010 “to discuss the draft texts and identify the next steps” for the purpose of achieving a comprehensive compact and a negotiated solution. According to a statement issued to the Press by Datuk Othman, the Parties also agreed as follows: “1) to preserve previous gains made in the peace process; 2) to review each other’s draft texts with their respective principals; and 3) to consult concerned stakeholders on options of moving forward.”

On the second day, the GRP Peace Panel met the ICG first from 9:30 to 11:00 in the morning, and from 11:00 to past noon it was the MILF’s turn to meet the Facilitator and the ICG.

Other members of the MILF Peace Panel were Atty. Datu Michael Mastura, Maulana Bobby Alonto, Atty. Abdul Dataya, and Datu Antonio Kinoc, a B’laan. Jun Mantawil and Mike Pasigan composed the MILF Peace Panel Secretariat.

The GRP Peace Panel was headed by Ambassador Rafael Seguis, DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandamen, Dr. Ronald Adamat, a Tiruray, Atty. Tony Laviña, and Atty. Mariano Sarmiento. Director Ryan Mark Sullivan and Mr. Zoilo Velasco composed the GRP Peace Panel Secretariat.

The representatives of the ICG present were Mr. Hitoshi Ozawa and Mr. Yoshihisa Ishikawa, Minister and First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Manila respectively (Japan); H.E. Ambassador Boyd McCleary, British High Commissioner to Malaysia and Mr. Christopher Wright, Second Secretary, British Embassy in Manila (UK); H.E. Yasin Temizkan, Chargé d’ Affaires, Embassy of Turkey in Kuala Lumpur (Turkey).

The INGO members who attended were: David Gorman, Mediation Adviser of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HDC); The Asia Foundation’s(TAF) Dr. Steven Rood, Country Representative for the Philippines, Herizal Hazri, Program Director in Malaysia, and Thomas Parks, Regional Director for Governance and Conflict based in Thailand; Ms. Cynthia Petrigh, Advisor on Peace Process, Conciliation Resources (CR, London); and Dr. Din Syamsuddin, President of Muhammadiyah accompanied by an adviser, Surwandono.