Aquino resets talks with MILF to April

President Benigno Aquino III. Malacañang Photo Bureau

MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino ordered the postponement of talks with Moro rebels until next month even as he claimed that the talks were on track despite the Sabah crisis.

On the President’s request, the 37th round of formal exploratory talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was reset from March 25 (Monday) to April, Secretary Teresita Deles said.

Government peace panel chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer was in Kuala Lumpur, as of Monday “to personally convey the request and to set with their counterparts the new date for the talks,” Deles said in a statement released by Malacañang.

“As the President said today, it is important to finish all the annexes, which requires reaching a meeting of the minds on these annexes. This will, in turn, help in the process of crafting a new organic act so that the final outcome will be legislation all stakeholders agree to, and rally behind,’’ she said.

Earlier in the day, the President acknowledged that both the government and the MILF must “come to an understanding on these annexes.”

“So that the crafting of the new organic act will be something that all stakeholders can agree to and rally behind to,” he told reporters in an interview in Pasay City.

In past speeches, the President predicted the forging of a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of March. Coronel-Ferrer said the agreement would be signed in April.

The three-day talks, supposed to be the last, would tackle the remaining annexes of power-sharing, wealth-sharing and normalization, following the signing of the annex on transitional arrangements and modalities last month.

The Oct. 15, 2012 framework agreement on Bangsamoro, plus the annexes, would comprise the comprehensive agreement.

Mr. Aquino also said Monday that both parties have remained committed to finalizing the annexes despite the crisis triggered by the incursion of Agbimuddin Kiram and armed followers into Lahad Datu town in Sabah on February 12.

“The Sabah issue should not affect the ongoing talks with the MILF,” he said.

The crisis revived the claim by the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu to Sabah, a state administered by Malaysia, which has played host to talks between the Philippine government and the Moro rebel group. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima was set to submit her study of the Sabah claim to the President.

Meanwhile, Deles said the first en banc meeting of the 15-member Transition Commission, which would craft the Bangsamoro basic law that would be submitted to Congress, has been set for the first week of April.

Coronel-Ferrer would discuss with her MILF counterpart the preparations for the Transition Commission, Deles said.