The peace negotiations in Mindanao have hit a snag and the parties are on tenterhooks. The delay causing much concern involves the contentious issues of wealth-sharing and power-sharing.  Last February 27, the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front panels initialed a draft wealth-sharing annex which primarily deals with the devolution of taxes, share in natural resources, and the system of block grants, or the allotments of money to the region by the national government. Upon review by the government of this draft, there appears to have been concerns raised by some departments and changes have been proposed. The MILF however wants to stick to the initialed Feb. 27 draft and has gone public with its position.

 

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Last week, it was announced that the President has approved the draft annex on wealth sharing (I suppose with changes) which the GPH would soon present to the MILF. This disclosure was made despite earlier statements by the MILF panel that it would most likely reject any new wealth sharing formula.

 

From my vantage point, both parties have legitimate reasons to be concerned. On the part of the GPH, it will insist on the proposed changes in the belief that the government cannot be steamrolled into adopting questionable provisions that cannot pass constitutional scrutiny. It cannot grant concessions to the Bangsamoro that would compromise the patrimony of the State or give it powers beyond what is allowed by law. The MOA-AD experiment was disastrous for the nation; and its specter cannot spoil the whole process especially at this critical stage. In this regard, the head of the GPH panel sums up the government position: their (GPH) mandate is “to negotiate with you, not on the basis of false promises, rather, to negotiate with you on a solid foundation that would withstand the scrutiny of the skeptics, the misgivings of the unconvinced, the cynicism of the critical, especially among those whose view of past peace negotiations and autonomous regions is less than pleasant.”

 

The MILF panel is also right in airing concerns about these delays. For it, time is an essential consideration. Barely 36 months to go before the Aquino administration bows out of office on June 30, 2016 and it’s still a long way to go before a Bangsamoro government is finally established. Delays will mean less time to govern more effectively before they are subject to an election of the members of the Bangsamoro legislative assembly and the formation of the Bangsamoro government. Every instance of delay will weaken the resolve of the parties to see through the successful completion of the negotiations; further give them more occasions to question each other’s motives and sincerity, not to mention give skeptics and cynics more fodder to sow doubts about the whole process.

 

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Under the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the parties were supposed to have signed the four Annexes—Wealth-Sharing, Power-Sharing, Normalization and Transitional Arrangements and Modalities—by yearend 2012. Under the Transitional Arrangements and Modalities agreement, transition from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao to the Bangsamoro should take place by 2015, culminating with the assumption into office of a full set of elected officials by July 1, 2016. Eight months after the signing of the Framework Agreement, the parties have only signed the Transitional Arrangements and Modalities agreement. Indeed, aside from the current impasse, there are more contentious negotiations ahead.  How much time is given the Transition Commission to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law bill; or for Congress to act on the bill; to conduct a Plebiscite to ratify the Bangsamoro Basic law; or for the establishment of the Transition Authority and the formation of the Ministerial form and Cabinet system of and the election and assumption of the members of the Bangsamoro legislative assembly and the formation of the Bangsamoro government? I suppose even without delays, these cumbersome stages require much time that completing them before the June 30, 2016 deadline is definitely an optimistic projection.

 

To offset the substantive difficulties encountered in the negotiations, ingenious measures need be adopted to expedite the process and meet deadlines without necessarily transgressing the limits of the Constitution. There must be closer coordination, extensive use of backchannels, utilization of “multi-task” approaches, more assiduous and diligent effort to accomplish assigned tasks, decisive action and avoiding acts/statements that can be perceived as ambivalent, dilly-dallying, or statements that foment distrust and suspicion. Most of all, what is needed is a large ounce of patience and trust. To avoid further confusion and misperception, clear cut and unequivocal negotiation procedures must be put in place particularly on matters involving alterations to an initial draft, conduct of reviews and finality of document, among others.

 

After so many decades of lost opportunities and heartrending failures, the ongoing GPH-MILF peace negotiations are the closest that we ever get to achieve a final solution to the Mindanao problem. We cannot afford to squander this golden opportunity.  For, success means an opportunity for the Mindanawons to attain peace, justice, security and prosperity while failure will spell the resumption of the decades old internecine insurgency and once again a repetition of the sad history of our great island.

 

EAGLE EYES is Dean Tony La Viña's column in Manila Standard Today. Follow him on Facebook:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  and Twitter: @tonylavs.