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Friday, September 29, 2006
Moro militants: We don't negotiate on the air
DAVAO CITY -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will wait for the government's official communication on its stand on the issue of ancestral domain before it issued any statement.
Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF Committee on Information, said the MILF and the Philippine Government have established a procedure that any proposal or counter-proposal on any issue regarding the talks must be coursed through the Malaysian Government before it reaches the other Party or before it can be put on the agenda.
Musa was referring to the statement of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita released to the press Wednesday on the government's position against the expanded coverage of the Moro region without a plebiscite of the affected communities.
"We cannot negotiate on the air," Musa said in a report posted at the MILF website, www.luwaran.com.
Musa said the MILF panel had not received any official copy of that proposal or position released by Ermita.
He said Ermita's statement is improper because Secretary Silvestre Afable Jr. is the chief negotiator of the government.
He said Afable should have made that position instead of Ermita and not through any outlet but through the Malaysian Government, which is facilitating the talks.
Malaysian-brokered talks between the government and the MILF, the largest Moro group fighting for self-rule in Mindanao, hit a snag early this month over the issue.
Ermita told reporters during a press conference that the government will stand pat on their position that they must follow the constitutional process in determining the territory of the Bangsamoro Judicial Entity (BJE). The announcement was made a day after government negotiators and Cabinet security officials agreed on the position.
MILF chairman Al Haj Murad has blamed the government for the stalled talks and warned that negotiations could collapse if the government does not take them seriously.
The MILF wanted the government to offer a package deal without preconditions.
Musa explained that the present impasse of the talks centered on the issue of territory of BJE, which the government earlier proposed would include the present Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (Armm) area of five provinces and one city and 613 Muslim-dominated barangays or areas outside the Armm. (Ben O. Tesiorna with Press release)
(September 29, 2006 issue)
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