MILF wary of govt ‘preempt-supplant’ scheme in talks

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is wary of a supposed scheme by the government to “preempt and supplant" the ongoing peace talks. According to the MILF, it was warned of such a strategy by a former Moro government official in Manila who it said is sympathetic to the Bangsamoro cause. “It is a complete reversal of the Arroyo administration’s way of conducting the negotiation," the official was quoted as saying by an article on MILF website Sunday. The article said the sympathetic official described the scheme as “preempting the negotiation by resorting to a process parallel to the diplomatic track but not necessarily abandoning it openly and at the same time supplanting it by something like direct talks." Such a scheme will dilute the participation of the international community in the talks, particularly Malaysia as third-party facilitator, and the members of the International Contact Group (ICG), the MILF said. “As part of the scheme, the government will offer the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) – a sort of transition government – to the MILF leadership with the promise of reforming it while the necessary legislative action to amend the ARMM’s organic is also promised," the MILF said, citing the information it received. It added the plan is a “copycat" of the formula dangled to former Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari in 1996. Misuari accepted that plan but later left the ARMM only to be jailed for spearheading a short-lived rebellion in 2001. — LBG, GMA News