GPH-MILF panels meet in KL, reaffirm commitment to peace

COTABATO CITY – The implementing panels of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) met on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, and signed four supplemental agreements reaffirming their commitment to the Mindanao peace process

The GPH group was headed by Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza and GPH Implementing Panel Chair Nabil Tan, while its counterpart was led by MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim and Implementing Panel Chair Mohagher Iqbal.

The signed agreements included the Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Joint Communiqué of May 6, 2002; Guidelines for the Operationalization of the Bangsamoro Normalization Trust Fund (BNTF); the Terms of Reference of the GPH-MILF Joint Communications Committee; and a certification extending the mandate of the Civilian Protection Component (CPC) of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), the panels said in a statement.

The statement, a copy of which was furnished The Manila Bulletin, said the new pacts will reinforce the successful implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the MILF and the government inked in March 2014.

Tan and Iqbal signed the four accords in the presence of Dureza, Murad and Malaysian Special Adviser Dato’ Kamarudin Bin Mustafa, as well as members of the International Contact Group (ICG) from Japan, Republic of Turkey, United Kingdom, and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and Conciliation Resources.

In his speech, Dureza underscored the need for resilience and patience in the peace process.

“Peace doesn’t come overnight. We have to work hard for it,” Dureza said.

He said the Kuala Lumpur meeting, and the signing of the new agreements “are clear signals that we’d like to move from where we are today...(to) move forward ‘piece by piece.”

For his part, Murad noted that the “all the [peace] structures are working very hard in order for this [peace] process - which took decades - to succeed.”