THE government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front agreed to reconstitute the so-called Bangsamoro Transition Commission and hold subsequent meetings in the Philippines to hasten the implementation of a more inclusive Bangsamoro, according to Peace Secretary Jesus Dureza.
“Within a record time of just six weeks soon after the start of the Duterte administration, the new architecture for peace between the government and the Bangsamoro has been drawn and crafted with the initial building blocks immediately set in place,” Dureza said a day after the talks in Kuala Lumpur.
Dureza thanked the MILF, under the leadership of Murad Ibrahim, for their acceptance of the government’s “inclusivity and convergence approach” toward peace in Mindanao which has been racked by conflict for almost 50 years.
He said the MILF agreed during the talks in Kuala Lumpur to increase the membership of the BTC from the original 15 to 21 so that other stakeholders, like the Moro National Liberation Front and the indigenous peoples of Mindanao, are included in the process.
Dureza said both panels, led by govertment peace negotiator Irene Santiago and Mohaqher Iqbal of the MILF, also agreed that the venue of the next meetings will henceforth be in the Philippines “with the closure of the negotiations phase and the onset of the implementation stage.”
The government agreed to work for the early passage of the proposed Bangsamoro enabling law that will be crafted by the BTC as the BTC also begins implementing the provisions of the envisioned Bangsamoro law.
Dureza said both panels agreed to hold a joint strategic planning session of both panels which also craft their own terms of reference; review current mechanisms and align such with the evolving implementation phase.
“These series of fast-paced steps are in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s avowed commitment to quicken the pace of the peace process to bring about an early and much-needed end to conflict in the region and throughout the land,” Dureza said.
The next panel meeting is set August 30 in Davao City.
The 12,000-strong MILF has waged a bloody insurgency in the mainly Muslim southern Philippines since the 1970s but the 2014 accord had raised hopes of a lasting peace.
Under the accord, the rebels would have only given up their arms after a law was passed creating an autonomous homeland in Mindanao and a regional government was elected.
The plebiscite approving the so-called Bangsamoro Basic Law was meant to take place alongside the May 2016 general election but questions on the legality of some provisions and a bungled raid into MILF territory that killed 44 police commandos in 2015 derailed the passage of the law.
Armed Muslim groups have been fighting since the 1970s for an independent Islamic state or autonomous rule in the south, which they regard as their ancestral home. The conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
The conflict has condemned millions of people across Mindanao to brutal poverty and created fertile conditions for Islamic extremism, with the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and other hardline militants making remote areas their strongholds.