Philippines Govt and MILF Sign Peace Deal Saturday Jan 25,2014

 

After on-and-off exploratory peace talks that started in 2001 under the previous administration, the PhilippinesGovernment of President Benigno Aquino III has signed on Saturday Jan 25,2014 the final annex of a comprehensive peace agreement with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The agreement was signed during the 43rd round of exploratory talks held in Kuala Lumpur, will end four decades of internecine fighting between government troops and Moro rebels in the Southern Philippines.
In the deal signed Saturday, the MILF agreed to turn over their weapons to a third party jointly selected by the MILF and the government. In return, a regional police force will be created as soon in the new political entity which will be established in 2016.

In October 2012, the two sides signed the framework peace agreement and later the annexes on power-sharing, transitional arrangement and modalities, and wealth sharing

The new entity, to be called Bangsamoro will be vested with federal-type sovereign powers. It will largely control natural resources in the southern part of the island of Mindanao with a predominantly Muslim Filipino population.

Both houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, will have to pass an organic act that would serve as the legal basis for the establishment of the Bangsamoro entity to replace what is now the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which was created and provided for in the Philippine Constitution.

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer welcomed the end to formal negotiations but said the bigger challenge of implementation still had to be overcome.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal expressed the hope that no obstacles "will stand in the way" in resolving the long-running conflict in the Southern Philippines