Peace panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have achieved a breakthrough with their meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this week, bringing the stalled peace process back on track.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, Mohagher Iqbal, GRP and MILF chief negotiators, respectively, and members of their teams, are still in Malaysia as of this writing under the auspices of the Muslim country's government, the talks' facilitator.

Assistant Secretary Bong Montesa, official spokesman, said the search for peace must go on until peace is achieved.

"While we are happy that the talks are back on track, the challenge to bring a durable peace in Mindanao remains. Let us not waver in our commitment and resolve to finish the task," said Montesa.

The Manila Bulletin learned of the breakthrough through a statement from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) headed by Secretary Avelino Razon Jr. OPAPP cited their meeting that paves the way for the negotiation's resumption.

It said Seguis and Iqbal's meeting "re-established official contact to complete the preparation for the resumption of the talks. The meeting re-establishes the formal contact between the two sides, after almost a year of impasse in the peace negotiations."

On the other hand, a top MILF official who declined to be named for lack of authority to speak, said this weeks' meeting — with GRP and MILF panels flying on Monday to Kuala Lumpur — is the third eyeball-to-eyeball meeting between Seguis and Iqbal in the last few weeks.

"The two panels' first two meetings in Malaysia unknown to some led to GRP's SOMO and the MILF's SOMA. Their meetings are still exploratory, not formal meetings yet, but hopefully it will lead to that," the MILF source said.

SOMO refers to President Arroyo's declaration called suspension of military offensives against the MILF issued on July 23 and SOMA is suspension of military actions of the rebel group which MILF Chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim signed on July 25 to reciprocate GRP.