July 16, 2012 News: The 29th GPH-MILF Peace Talks will resume today in the bustling Malaysia capital of Kuala Lumpur, six days after the successful MILF-sponsored Moro Leaders Assembly in Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on July 6-9.

All members of the GPH peace panel, including its head, Dean Marvic Leonen, have attended the MILF assembly after they were officially invited by their counterpart in the MILF.

An official source inside the MILF peace panel told Luwaran that while there is some sense of optimism for a breakthrough in the transition arrangement or the road map, the other issues remained very contentious.

“Anything can still happen,” he conceded, adding that real negotiation is never easy.

Expected to be high on the agenda are the following issues: Interim arrangement, power-sharing, wealth-sharing, territory, normalization, basic law, and constitutional issues.

However, it is expected that both the MILF and government peace panels will put up other agenda for discussion, as it was in past practices.

During the 28th GPH-MILF Peace Talks, also in the Malaysian capital, on May 29-31, the parties have not signed any joint statement nor scheduled the date of their next round of talks.

Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF peace panel, and all panel members, Atty. Datu Michael Mastura, Bobby Alonto, Abhoud Syed Lingga, and Abdullah Camlian, are attending the meeting. The same is true with the government peace panel headed by Dean Marvic Leonen.

An unconfirmed report said that OIC Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is invited to attend the forthcoming meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

However, no report has indicated the five provincial governors of the ARMM are going also to Kuala Lumpur.