Govt: Initials do not make draft MOA on ancestral domain a done deal

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential Peace Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr on Wednesday denied that the agreement on ancestral domain initialed by both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) panels is already binding as claimed by the rebel group. Esperon said the initialing of the document last June 27 in a meeting in Kuala Lumpur meant only to ensure that there will be no changes in its contents prior to its supposed signing last Aug. 5. “The initialing does not make the MOA self-executory. That is why Malaysia went to the extent of organizing a big program for this, so much so that we have several distinguished ambassadors based in the Philippines going to Malaysia,” Esperon said. The signing of the MOA was indefinitely postponed after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order pending discussions on the petition filed by the local government of North Cotabato province. The MILF, through its vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar, said they are considering the agreement a “done deal” since it bore the signatures from representatives of both panels. Jaafar said with the initialing, the government and the MILF are now compelled to abide by the provisions of the document despite the stop order from the Supreme Court. He said the aborted signing in Kuala Lumpur was merely “ceremonial” in nature. Those who put their initials in the draft document were Esperon, government peace negotiator Rodolfo Garcia, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, and Datuk Othman bin Abdulrazak, chief peace facilitator of the Malaysian government. - GMANews.TV