MANILA: The Sabah issue will not get in the way of government efforts to forge a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, President Aquino said.
“The Sabah issue should not affect the ongoing talks with the Milf,” he added, confirming that negotiations will push through as scheduled. Malaysia is a third party intermediary in the peace negotiations.
Aquino stressed that his administration has always been “very transparent” in its dealings with the Muslim rebels in Mindanao.
“We want to finish all of the annexes. But we also have to be able to come to an understanding on these annexes, so that the crafting of the new organic act will be something that all stakeholders can agree to and rally behind to,” President Aquino maintained.
The annexes are in the framework agreement signed in October last year.
Last week, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda disclosed that only two of the annexes remained to be discussed in the framework before a comprehensive agreement could be signed.
“The only thing that’s left in the discussion of the framework agreement, on the annexes is, I think, the power-sharing and the normalisation. So these are the only two annexes remaining in the discussion,” he told reporters in a briefing.
The annex details the road map toward the creation of a Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, based on agreement between the government and the Milf.
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
