Peace with the MILF by 2016, says Aquino administration

At Thursday’s secret informal meeting in Tokyo, Japan, President Benigno Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chair Al Haj Murad Ibrahim said both sides want “to fast track the negotiations" so that they can implement whatever agreement is made before Aquino’s term ends in 2016. At a press conference in Malacañang on Friday, Government of the Philippines (GPH) Peace Panel Chair Marvic Leonen was asked how soon the President wants a peace agreement with the MILF and he replied “It’s four years and eleven months more to go, so soon enough." “Mahirap magbigay ng taning kapag nagne-negotiate," he explained. “Kasi kapag nagbigay ka ng taning o ng specific deadline, it can be bound to be frustrated because both of you are pressuring each other to achieve that deadline without looking whether you are keeping substantively with your agreements.". Further interviewed by GMA News Online, Leonen said, “We don’t want to have a scenario where the ceasefire is forever. A timetable is only indicative. It gives the panel a target to work for." He said that the MILF viewed the government’s offer for a meeting with the President as a “grand gesture" and a “great leap forward," adding that the Moro group was honored that this historical meeting had taken place.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV This was the first time, he noted, that a Philippine president had met with the MILF chair since the negotiations began 14 years ago. Leonen clarified to reporters that the MILF is no longer considered as a secessionist group. “They are not asking to be a separate state. Their proposal is that they be considered Filipino citizens but with Bangsamoro as a national identity. There is no international law or domestic law implication of the government meeting with a group that it wants seriously to have peace with in any other place in the entire planet," he said. The MILF said it was Aquino who “initiated" last June having a “personal meeting" with Murad anywhere in the Philippines. The next formal exploratory talks between the two panels are scheduled on August 22-24 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The government is expected to issue a counter-proposal to the MILF's demand to set up a "state within a state" for Muslim provinces in Mindanao. —MRT/VS, GMA News