ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (BusinessWorld Online/24 June) -- The central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its negotiators are taking a cautious approach on the government’s latest proposal on wealth sharing hoping that it will hew to an earlier deal inked last February, an official said yesterday.

 

"Theoretically, we are still clinging to the initialed document," Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, told BusinessWorld in a phone interview, referring to the original document on wealth sharing that the two parties have initialed.

 

The MILF official, however, stopped short of disclosing details of the initialed document citing an agreement against premature disclosure.

 

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the government chief negotiator, had earlier said that the government wants to reintroduce some measures in the February document as some provisions cannot be implemented under the current system.


She noted mechanisms that need to be in place on the division of revenues from natural resources, taxes and transport licensing.
 

Mr. Iqbal declined to comment on the wealth sharing proposals.


The MILF had twice rejected the government’s proposed changes to the February document. The latest proposal, submitted early this month, was turned down by the MILF as it lacked provisions on the sharing of natural resources.
 

A third proposal was forwarded by the government last week when the two parties met informally in an international peace forum in Norway.


Both sides have assured that a workable deal is being crafted that will give the future Bangsamoro region its fiscal autonomy. The areas in the new region -- comprising mainly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) -- are rich in natural resources, particularly oil and minerals.
 

In the stalled Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in 2008, the government was willing to grant 25-75 sharing scheme on the resources in favor of the Bangsamoro. The deal, however, fell through after it was declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.


Last week, the government announced that the talks will resume in July in Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian government acting as third-party facilitator.
 

Mr. Iqbal, however, said the scheduled talks are not yet final as the Moro leadership has yet to review the government’s latest proposal before confirming a meeting of negotiators.


"We are taking a flexible approach on that," he said.
 

He said the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan on July 9 will not be a hindrance to the talks. The event will end on Aug. 7.


Wealth sharing is among the three remaining unresolved annexes in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, or the peace plan that will eventually be the benchmark of a comprehensive peace agreement.
 

Others are power sharing and normalization with the latter to include the disarmament of rebels.


Both sides have earlier agreed on the transitional modalities that detail the transfer of the functions from the ARMM to the proposed Bangsamoro government.
 

A peace deal eyed to be inked this year will finally end 16 years of on-and-off talks. The MILF, which has been waging war with the government for more than four decades, is pushing Moro self-rule in a bid to "correct the historical injustices made against the Moro minority in Mindanao." -- D. T. Wee/BusinessWorld Online