Manila, February 02: The Philippine government has offered a power-sharing deal to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country’s biggest Muslim group, to settle the decades-long conflict in the south.
“In enhanced autonomy, the president is offering to share powers,” chief negotiator Annabelle Abaya told.
Under the proposed deal, MILF will have control on tax collections and natural resources areas in the Muslim-majority south.
Abaya said the offer, made during formal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur last week, would not require amendments to the Constitution to sign a peace deal with MIFL.
The top negotiator hoped the offer would encourage MIFL to sign a final peace deal before the country’s presidential election in June to end the four-decade conflict in the south.
MILF has been struggling for an independent state in the mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao for decades.
More than 120,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in the late 1960s.
Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam in the Philippines, is home to more than 5 million Muslims.
On Table
The top government negotiator said talks are still on the table to bridge the gap with MILF.
“This is a first draft,” noted Abaya.
“In a first draft, you usually give your position and then shift your position depending on what the other side thinks.”
The top negotiator said the draft focuses on doable measures and proposals that could be accepted by the parliament.
“Eighty percent of what (MILF) has proposed can be embedded in the proposals of the government panel.”
In 2008, Manila and MILF reached a peace deal to create a Muslim homeland in the south.
But the deal was frozen by the Supreme Court after protests from Christian groups, triggering a new cycle of violence that resulted in the government’s junking the 11-year peace process to solve the conflict in the south.
Manila is preparing to launch a two-month massive consultation campaign on Thursday among stakeholders nationwide to advance peace talks with MILF.
“There is only one way to peace and the resolution of conflict and that is through talking or negotiating,” maintains Abaya.
“For the next two months, we will organize a massive consultation campaign with our stakeholders from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to help in the peace efforts.”
Last week, the government asked the parliament to discuss two bills aiming to split the Muslim-majority Mindanao into two regions.
-Agencies