Coming in the wake of the breakthrough in the peace process with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has launched a series of Mindanao-wide consultations in support of the search for peace.

It can be recalled that the GRP and MILF peace panels led by Ambassador Rafael Seguis and Mohagher Iqbal, respectively, met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 28 to 29 that broke the over one-year-old impasse in the peace negotiation.

The two parties’ “special meeting” brought the Mindanao peace process on track.

After their “special meeting” in Kuala Lumpur arranged by chief Malaysian facilitator Dato Othman Abdul Razzak, the GRP and MILF chief negotiators, Seguis and Iqbal, respectively, signed a Joint Statement geared towards helping “pave the way for the early resumption of the stalled peace negotiations.”

They agreed on four points contained in the Joint Statement, among them, the acknowledgement of the ill-fated Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) “as an unsigned and yet initialed document, and commitment by both parties to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement.”

Another point of agreement is the crafting of a draft leading to the establishment of an International Contact Group (ICG) to support the peace talks.

Ghazli Jaafar, vice chairman of the MILF for Political Affairs, said that “the purpose of the consultation
is to provide updates on the recent developments on the peace process between the government and MILF, particularly on the four issues reached by the government and MILF last July 28 to 29.”

Jaafar added that the ongoing consultations are unlike the massive forum on May 29 to 31 in Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.