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MILF: Editorial--Two more to go in annexes

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Editorial posted  to the MILF Website (Jul 18): Two more to go inannexes

Two annexes (Transitional Arrangement and Modalities and Wealth-sharing) for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been signed. 
  
Two more annexes to go (power-sharing and normalization) still stand on the way of the negotiators from government and MILF --- and this early nobody can ever tell whether they can settle these unscathed. The remaining two issues are as tough as wealth-sharing.

MILF negotiators have confessed that the recent peace talk, which lasted for six days and six hours, is the toughest of all. The negotiation for the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) lasted only for five days. They attributed this difficulty to many factors, which they did not disclose, except by saying that the subject is tough. Wealth and power are the two most difficult commodities to share by rulers and states. They will hold on to them like a leech to ensure the grip of the status quo that benefits only few in society especially the elites.

However, there is no hurdle that a willing and dedicated peace partners cannot find a way out. There is always that formula of compromise. The government and MILF peace negotiators have proved this during the last peace encounter in Kuala Lumpur. Not until the dying minutes of the negotiation, already way past 10:00 into the night of the sixth day, that the breaker was found. This was followed by yelling and clapping of hands (mostly from the government side), signaling that the deal was already clinched.

We are sure that the presence of two cabinet members from the Aquino administration made things easier for the government negotiators. Otherwise, if the game plan is not really to close the deal on wealth-sharing, then there is no wisdom of sending them to Kuala Lumpur.

To make sure that the two remaining issues will also be sealed, the government and MILF should now discriminate those harder issues from those already settled. To date, only three issues on power-sharing are unsettled. On normalization, there are still many areas for the parties to work on, but the latest meeting in Kuala Lumpur, more and more issues are settled on the level of the technical working group (TWG).

By now, the two parties have surely realized that they have invested already for the peace talks. To go back to zero is harsher than to move and finish the peace process. They know the consequences of both happenings.

http://www.luwaran.com/

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