”
It quoted Iqbal as saying the MILF delegation “was prepared to push our ancestral domain agenda.”
“That is why we downplayed the GPH’s ‘grand gesture’ until we receive their rejoinder draft,” said Iqbal.
What the government’s “grand gesture” was, the report did not say but Iqbal was quoted as saying the MILF “keeps an open mind, and even the extension of a handshake is a gesture of goodwill.”
MindaNews sought Leonen for an explanation on the deferment but he declined to comment. He, however, maintained that his panel and the MILF panel had “leveled off” on crucial points during the executive session.
The June 27-28 meeting was supposed to be a full-panel formal exploratory talks but according to the report posted on the MILF website, the government peace panel earlier informed the MILF through the Malaysian facilitator that it wanted an executive meeting in view of the deferment request.
The June 27 executive session was attended by Leonen, peace panel member Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and peace panel secretariat chief Iona Jalijali for the government and Iqbal, panel members Michael Mastura and Maulana Alonto for the MILF.
The MILF peace panel submitted its draft peace settlement containing its proposed Bangsamoro sub-state in February. The government peace panel during the last formal exploratory talks on April 27 and 28 agreed, according to the Joint Statement signed on April 28, “to submit its counter-proposal at the next meeting on June 27 to 28.”
In the OPAPP’s June 27 press statement from KL, Leonen urged the MILF “not to become an obstacle” to the reforms to be instituted in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) by a caretaker administration that will be appointed by the President to govern the region — the core area of the proposed Bangsamoro sub-state — from noon of September 30, 2011 to noon of June 30, 2013.
He said the Aquino administration is “aware of the historical injustices of the past and will not repeat the same mistakes.”
Last week, on June 22 in Solo City, Indonesia, the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) agreed that the MNLF would take part in the “ARMM governance reforms” of the Aquino administration.
The government and MNLF signed a “final peace agreement” on September 2, 1996 but questions over the implementation of the agreement led to the creation of a Tripartite Review Committee with the Organization of the Islamic Conference.||| |||buy periactin online with |||
The MILF broke away from the MNLF in the late 1970s, following the collapse of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement.||| |||buy aricept online with |||
