KUALA LUMPUR (MindaNews/24 January) – The Malaysian facilitator in the peace process between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) looks at the nearly completed comprehensive peace agreement as the Philippines’ second major contribution to the world, after People Power in 1986.
“The Philippines gave the world People Power in 1986. This is another,” Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato’ Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed told MindaNews.
“Where in the world,” he asked, “can you find a country of 90% Catholics giving autonomy to Muslims?”
Within the context of a majority-minority population, the GPH-MILF peace pact is a “world’s showcase” in peace-building, he said.
Tengku, the talks’ facilitator from 2001 to 2002 and from April 2011, said what is coming out of the “genuine negotiations” is “the most advanced autonomous body in the world.”
He described the parties as “committed” and the political negotiation as “genuine” and “sincere.”
Tengku also noted how the Philippine government considered the asymmetric relationship that the MILF proposed.
The Philippines is a unitary state with a presidential system of government. But under the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) signed on October 15, 2012, the parties agreed that Bangsamoro, the new autonomous political entity that would replace the 24-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, would have a ministerial form of government.
The two parties on Thursday agreed to call the comprehensive peace pact as the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
The panels are expected to sign this weekend (see other story) the Annex on Normalization and the Addendum to the Wealth and Power-sharing annexes, on the Bangsamoro waters.
This weekend’s signing will pave the way for the completion of the CAB.
The CAB will be signed in the Philippines but the panels have yet to agree on the date and venue of the signing. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)