Leonen: Bangsamoro Agreement details complete by December

MANILA, Philippines – The annexes of the historic peace agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government will be completed in December, the chief government peace negotiator said on November 17. 

Marvic Leonen, head of the government peace panel, said he remained confident that all 3 annexes on Wealth-sharing, Power-sharing and Normalization of the Framework Bangsamoro Agreement will be finalized before the year ends. 

Leonen said this as the 33rd GPH-MILF Formal Exploratory Talks ended in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 17. 

Leonen said the government and the MILF peace panels reached “substantial common points.”

Meanwhile, Mohagher Iqbal, head of the MILF panel, said that the remaining issues “are still so many and very hard” but he believed they will “overcome a lot of issues” given the commitment and determination of both parties.  

The technical working group on normalization also convened for the first time since the agreement was signed on October 15.  Iqbal has previously said that negotiations on this part is expected to be tough, as this cover the difficult issues of policing, decommissioning, and gradual redeployment of government forces.

He reiterated though that they will be able cover a “substantial part of normalization” once both panels meet again in December. 

Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato’ Abd Ghafar Tengku Mohammed said he is hopeful that both parties will be able to finalize the text before 2012 ends. 

“I don’t want the rhythm, the tempo and the support that the people have given to the government, the MILF, and the FAB (Framework Bangsamoro Agreement) to stop,” he said.

Leonen said the annexes will be presented to the public once they are done.- Rappler.com