August 7, 2012 News:Peace negotiators of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have arrived in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to resume their peace talks to hammer out remaining outstanding issues that stand on the way to signing a peace agreement before the year ends.

This will be their 30th exploratory meeting since the talks started in March 2001 after the Estrada-led government in Manila declared an all-out war against the MILF in 2000, which displaced more a million people, destroying millions worth of properties, and killing or injuring hundreds on both sides.

As usual, the GPH peace delegation is led by former School of Law Dean Marvic Leonen, while the MILF’s by Mohagher Iqbal, who joined the Moro struggle after he finished his college degrees in Manila in 1972.

The other members of the GPH delegation are Prof. Mirriam Ferrer, Secretary Senen Bacani, Dr. Hamid Barra, and Bai Yasmin Busran-Lao, while those in the MILF side are Atty. Datu Michael Mastura, Maulana “Bobby” Alonto, Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga, Abdulla Camlian, and Datu Antonio Kinoc, alternate panel member.

However, no information has been received whther their respective technical working groups (TWGs) on power-sharing and wealth-sharing are joining their respective delegations.

A source in the MILF peace team, who chose not be named, told Luwaran that this meeting would be very crucial in terms of substance and timeline as both feel the heat to sign an agreement without delay.

Expected to be part of the agenda are power-sharing, wealth-sharing, territory, and, possibly, a further discussion of the issue of transition mechanism that would eventually replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). During their previous meeting in Kuala Lumpur last July 16-18, the two parties have achi8eved, according to the MILF, “modest breakthrough” which they refused to discuss in details.

In his July 23 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Benigno Aquino III also failed to mention any concrete development in the current GPH-MILF peace negotiation, except his optimism on the prospects of the ongoing negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), stressing that peace in Mindanao will soon be achieved.

In the English rendering of his speech, he had this to say: “With regard to the peace process: talks have been very open; both sides have shown trust and faith in one another. There may be times when the process can get a little complicated, but these are merely signs that we are steadily moving closer to our shared goal: Peace.”