Agreement reached with MILF on homeland issue

The Philippine government and the separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have finally settled the contentious homeland issue that has been plaguing the resumption of peace negotiations for months.

This was according to Presidential Peace Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr, who said Wednesday night that government peace panel head Rodolfo Garcia and MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal have just signed the minutes of the executive session held in Kuala Lumpur.

"It is now final that they have settled the issue in the draft memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain," Esperon said.

He added that the development is a major breakthrough in the seven-year old peace talks aimed at putting an end to the more than four decades of bloody fighting in Mindanao.

The ancestral domain covers the whole Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other Muslim-dominated areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces.

Esperon said both parties have agreed to meet on July 24 to finalize the date on the formal signing of the draft MOA.

“The signing of the MOA will pave the way for the resumption of the peace talks," Esperon said.

He added that President Arroyo has already been informed about the development and was "very happy" about it.

The agreement was reached more than a month after President Arroyo appointed Esperon as peace adviser replacing Jesus Dureza, who is now press secretary.

Esperon, a former military chief, last month vowed to pursue the peace talks with the MILF and sign a peace deal before President Arroyo's term ends on 2010.

Aside from Iqbal, the MILF contingent in the meeting were composed of lawyer Datu Michael Mastura, Roberto Maulana Alonto, and Mike Pasigan. Lawyers Leah Armamento and Sedfrey Candelaria, on the other hand, joined Garcia in representing the government.

Negotiations between the government and the MILF have been stalled for months due to disagreements over what authority the secessionist group would exercise over the areas they claim as their ancestral homeland.

A statement from the MILF website said both panels have already spent three years and seven months in their discussion of ancestral domain.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they are optimistic that the talks would lead to a peaceful solution to the Muslim secessionist problems in Mindanao.

"We have repeatedly said that we are for a peaceful solution of the problems in Mindanao. We have opened the door in order for the talks to push through and for both sides to arrive at a viable formula that will benefit us all, all for peace in Mindanao," he said. (Al Jacinto, GMANews.TV)