The national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vowed to strengthen their collaboration to ensure the full implementation of all Bangsamoro peace agreements.
Isidro Purisima, acting Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPPRU), went to Cotabato City to meet separately on Friday, April 14 with Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Interim Chief Minister and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chair Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Central Committee Chair Muslimin Sema who is also the current labor minister of the BARMM.
GPH Implementing Panel Chair Cesar Yano, Presidential Assistant David Diciano, head of Bangsamoro Transformation Cluster, and Executive Director Jordan Bayam, of OPAPRU’s Bangsamoro Special Concerns Unit were also present at the meeting.
The MNLF and the Philippines forged a peace agreement on Sept. 2, 1996 that ended the group’s more than two decades of a secessionist uprising in the Bangsamoro Region.
The MILF has two peace pacts with the government — the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), and, the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
“The Moro issue in Mindanao is best addressed via diplomatic and political interventions. We cherish our final peace agreement with the national government,” Sema told the Philippine Star.
Purisima restated the steadfast commitment of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the Bangsamoro peace process.
“The President’s guidance is very clear; we need to protect, sustain, and build on the gains of the peace process,” Purisima said.
Purisiman added that continued communication between all parties is crucial in order to move forward with the implementation of the peace process. “What’s important is that we have one direction,” Purisima said.
Ebrahim said the relationship between the Philippine government and the MILF has greatly improved and has turned from “adversarial to non-adversarial.”
Both parties vowed to strengthen their “partnership” to ensure the delivery of the commitments in the CAB.
Ebrahim said that with this strong “partnership,” the parties can resolve pressing issues in implementing the peace agreement.
Since the signing of the peace pact in 2014, the implementation of the CAB has achieved major milestones both for the political and normalization tracks.
