Government peace panel off to Spain

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles. INQUIRER file photo

Members of the government panel in the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leave Tuesday for Spain for a weeklong study of autonomy.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles said the visit of the government officials to Navarra, Spain, was part of the preparations for the drafting of the annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro that the Aquino administration and the MILF signed on Oct. 15.

Navarra’s government

Officially called the Comunidad Foral de Navarra (Regional Community of Navarra),  the northern Spanish autonomous community ran on a high degree of self-government but operated “within Spain’s structure as a nation of autonomous communities,” Deles said in a statement.

“[T]he trip will give insights to the Philippine delegation on how Navarra’s [government] works, which can be useful in the drafting of annexes and in further discussions of the details of the signed framework agreement,” Deles said.

Lessons, insights

She said the visit, financed by the Spanish government’s Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo, would also provide “lessons and insights” to the crafting of the basic law for the creation of a new autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao that would be called Bangsamoro.

“The trip also hopes to inspire models for the yet to be established Bangsamoro set to replace the current ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao),” Deles said.

In March, Deles said, MILF officials attended a similar exposure trip to Catalan, another autonomous region in Spain, to observe its experiences in self-government.

Deles said the government peace panel had started to work on the draft of the annexes to the framework agreement ahead of the next round of talks with the MILF in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, next month.

Initial discussions

She said the government peace team had been holding initial discussions with the human development and poverty alleviation cluster of the Aquino administration.

A temporary interagency committee meeting on “normalization” will be held on Oct. 29, Deles said.

“Both parties, through their technical working groups, expect to complete at least three annexes on power-sharing, wealth-sharing and normalization by the end of the year,” she said.

Since the initial peace agreement was signed by both parties last week, Deles said, members of the negotiating teams have been closely coordinating efforts in the preparation of the details of the framework agreement. The annexes to the agreement must be and submitted within the year, Deles said.

Transition Commission

Two to three weeks from now, Deles said, President Aquino will issue an executive order that would set up a Transition Commission, which would set off the work for the creation of Bangsamoro.

She said the government expected Congress to support the formation of the Transition Commission.

The commission will have 15 members, eight from the MILF and seven from the government.