Mindanao peace within reach
Gov’t, MILF implementing panels sign terms of reference
Implementation of the three-yearold final peace agreement between the government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is expected to get going soon after the two panels signed the Terms of Reference (TOR) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last Tuesday.
The five-page TOR contains the parameters and other guiding principles that would govern the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed in 2014 between the GPH and the MILF.
Under Section 1, Article II of the TOR, it states that “implementing panels resolve to build on the gains of the peace process in the implementation of the signed agreements, including all existing mechanisms of the peace process. The implementing stage shall be primarily an internal process to the parties, with due consideration to the agreed international participation, and when necessary, with third party facilitation and/or special advice as provided for in this Terms of Reference.”
Under Section 2, GPH-MILF panels are mandated to ensure efficient and effective implementation of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and other signed agreements.
It states that the GPH implementing panel “shall work for the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in Congress while the MILF implementing panel shall monitor the progress of the legislative process.”
It added that the implementing panels, if necessary, “will review the mechanisms of the peace process on the ground to align them in accordance with the implementation phase of the GPH-MILF peace process, provided that any amendment shall be agreed upon by the parties in the presence of the Third Party Facilitator.”
The panels will also “carry out the phasing and sequencing of the programs for implementation under the normalization process, including decommissioning which shall be parallel and commensurate to the movement of the legislative track, specifically, the BBL as provided for in the Annex on Transitional Arrangement and Modalities.”
Both panels also welcomed Dato’ Kamarudin bin Mustafa as new third party facilitator and special adviser for the peace talks between the GPH and the MILF. He replaced the late Tengku Dato’ Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohame who passed away on September 2, 2016.
A career diplomat, the new third party facilitator has over 37 years of experience in diplomacy, having served the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in various capacities in Pakistan, Hongkong, Indonesia,Brunei, USA, Ghana, Russia, and Sweden.
He was also Malaysian ambassador to Russia from 2000 to 2005, and Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland from 2007 to 2011.
The parties also signed a “certification extending the respective mandates of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) for another year until March, 2018, in recognition of the important roles that these mechanisms play in the GPH-MILF peace process.”
The GPH-MILF also expressed appreciation to President Duterte for reopening the peace table with the Bangsamoro and to Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib bin Tun haji Abdul Razak for his support to the GPH-MILF peace process.
The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) is composed of 21 members – 11 from the MILF and 10 from the GPH – who were named last February 10, 2017.
The BTC, an independent body, is tasked to consolidate all peace agreements and legislation into one enabling law on the Bangsamoro, call for an inclusive Bangsamoro Consultative Assembly to discuss the new draft of the enabling law, and submit to Congress the new version of the enabling law not later than July 27.
On November 7, 2016, President Duterte signed an executive order (EO) reconstituting members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) who will create the draft of the enabling law implement CAB.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) has created a Peace and Development Roadmap to address the political clamor of insurgent groups in the country.
Under the government peace roadmap for the Bangsamoro, all peace agreements such as the MILF’s CAB and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), as well as the key results of the 10-year-old GPH-Organization of Islamic Cooperation-MNLF Tripartite Review Process will be integrated into the BBL that will create a new Bangsamoro government unit that will replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). (With a report from PNA)