Yt Framework

Government chief peace negotiator Marvic Leonen on Tuesday said the government respects the right of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Central Committee to make public its position regarding the former facilitator assigned by Malaysia in the previous administration.

“The government of the Republic of the Philippines however maintains that it has solid basis to conclude that their panel will have difficulties working with the former facilitator assigned by Malaysia. All these have been communicated through the proper diplomatic channels,” he said.

The MILF has formally requested the Malaysian government to retain Datuk Othman Bin Abd’ Razak to be retained as the facilitator of the GRP-MILF peace talks.

Retention of the current facilitator would “ensure continuity and preservation of the gains of the peace process,” they said in a press release published on their website.

However, Leonen said that “institutional memory is resident in the GRP and the MILF.”

“We also trust that all concerned agree that the agenda for peace should be driven by both parties,” he said.

“We trust that Malaysia will seriously take that into consideration. We are certain that there will be many individuals who can effectively serve as facilitator and who will be acceptable to both sides,” Leonen said.

Peace talks between the government and the MILF were stalled after the Supreme Court barred the signing and ruled as unconstitutional the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in August 2008.

The MOA-AD would have expanded the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), thereby giving the MILF larger area of control.

Following the junking of the MOA-AD, rogue MILF commanders attacked communities in North Cotabato, Maguindanao and two Lanao provinces, displacing thousands of families. (PNA)