ZAMBOANGA CITY—The two-day Second Tripartite Meeting among the government, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Organization of Islamic Conference  ended with an agreement to formulate “possible proposals” to amend the law on Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to ensure the full implementation of the 1996 peace pact with MNLF.

The two-day Second Tripartite Meeting was held on February 14 and 15 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The subject of the review is Republic Act (RA) 9054, or the Act to strengthen and expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The joint working groups (JWGs) were instructed to examine the positions of the two sides, government and MNLF, in order to arrive at commonalities by examining the provisions of the 1996 final peace agreement, which were not fully implemented, and come up with mutually acceptable solutions.

The Philippine government and the MNLF signed the peace agreement on September 2, 1996. “The five JWGs are given expanded mandates to work at formulating possible proposals to amend the RA 9054 to ensure the full implementation of the 1996 final peace agreement,” a communiqué from the tripartite meeting said.

“Experts may be invited to assist in the exercise of their mandates,” it added. The five JWGs was created last year at the first tripartite meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and were tasked to review and assess the five key points of the 1996 peace agreement signed in Tripoli, Libya.

These are: the implementation of the Shari’ah law and judiciary; creation of a special regional security force and the unified command for the ARMM; natural resources and economic development issues; political system and representation; and education.

During the meeting, the government and the MNLF reaffirmed their commitment to the primacy of the 1996 final peace agreement in order to provide a congenial environment for its unhampered implementation.

The government delegation was headed by Deputy Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Undersecretary Nabil Tan, while the MNLF was headed by vice chairman Jimmy Labawan (also know as Samir Abdul Nasir) and lawyer Randolph Parcasio, the chief negotiator.

During the meeting they underscored the cardinal importance of social-economic development, but outlined that such development is conditional on the creation of a climate of peace and security through confidence-building measures that include rehabilitation, relief and reconstruction, and attending to the problems of internally displaced people.

“Both parties should jointly undertake these exercises under the framework of the JWGs,” the communiqué said. A progress report on the work of the JWGs would be submitted by May 1 this year, which will be considered by the Third Session of the Tripartite Meeting from May 12 to 15 for subsequent transmittal to the 35th Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Kampala, Uganda.

The meeting was presided by Ambassador Rezlan Jenie, director general for Multilateral Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Indonesia, in his capacity as the chairman of the OIC Peace Committee for the Southern Philippines.

The meeting was attended also by representatives from the following OIC members: Brunei, Egypt, Libyan, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Senegal and the OIC Peace Envoy for Southern Philippines.

Besides Tan, Parcasio and Jennie, the communiqué was also signed by the Special Envoy of the OIC Ambassador Zayed EL-Masry of Egypt.

Palace: Conditions not conducive for ‘Edsa’; police on normal alert

Malacañang said on Wednesday that present conditions in the country are not conducive to a successful people power bid, and again urged President Arroyo’s detractors to just wait for the next national polls in 2010 to change the leadership.

A senior Roman Catholic bishop is hoping that the February 29 interfaith prayer rally would lead to President Arroyo’s resignation as various groups come together in response to the clergy’s call for “communal action” and a “brand-new people power.”

DAVAO CITY—US Ambassador Kristie Kenney and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Murad Ebrahim had a historic meeting on Tuesday in the MILF camp in Maguindanao, but both sides declined to divulge the subject of their meeting.

THE Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando (MMO) River System—tagged recently as one of the world’s dirtiest—finally faces rehabilitation with the help of the environment department, local government units (LGUs), other concerned government agencies and private institutions.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI) bomber Dulmatin, whose complete name is Amar Usmanan, spearheaded the abduction of a priest-director and a teacher of a Catholic-run secondary school last month in the province of Tawi-Tawi.

DAVAO CITY—The Indonesian vice consul said he would favor stationing Indonesian antiterrorist troops here to help clamp down on the suspected traffic of Indonesian terror suspects believed to be hiding or getting their training in Southern Philippines.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The two-day Second Tripartite Meeting among the government, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Organization of Islamic Conference  ended with an agreement to formulate “possible proposals” to amend the law on Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to ensure the full implementation of the 1996 peace pact with MNLF.

THE “ecosystem of corruption” and “oligarchy” that prevails in the government is well-embedded in the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), agrarian-reform groups said.