Palace: No US role in recent talks with MILF

Malacañang on Thursday said the United States had no role in the recent peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It, however, refused to comment on reports, quoting online whistle-blower WikiLeaks, that the US was involved in the government-MILF talks during the past administration. “The decision to say ‘I want to meet Chairman [Al Haj] Murad’ was done by the President himself," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing, referring to the August 4 Tokyo meeting between President Benigno Aquino III and the MILF leader. “So there was no US involvement as to the decision-making process of the President. That’s a categorical [statement]. Yes, there’s no involvement of the US," Lacierda added. Lacierda, however, refused to comment on the WikiLeaks entry that stated that during a Feb. 24, 2010 meeting in Cotabato City with officials of the US Embassy, the Asia Foundation and the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, MILF peace panel chairperson Mohagher Iqbal and member Michael Mastura “asked to engage with the US on a more formal basis." “I don’t know even if you can call them (WikiLeaks) official correspondence. So we would refrain from making any comments with respect to that and we leave it to the US which also has a policy of not making any comments on the documents that are being revealed on WikiLeaks," Lacierda said. Malacañang earlier said it has a policy of not commenting on leaked internal communications of foreign governments. Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning, said it would be difficult to make any extensive comment as even the US government has neither confirmed nor denied the cables. — KBK, GMA News