Power-sharing annex hailed

KUALA LUMPUR – Civil society leaders in Mindanao hailed Sunday’s signing of the Annex on Power-sharing by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as a “breakthrough” that would hasten the drafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Guiamel Alim, a member of the Council of Elders of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) in Cotabato City and concurrent executive director of the Kadtuntaya Foundation, told MindaNews in a text message that the signing heralds how close the panels are to signing the Comprehensive Political Agreement, especially if they are able to fast-track the negotiations on the last of four annexes – the Annex on Normalization.”
“The panels must now revise, refine the timeframe and the next milestones till the end of 2014. Everything should wind up by 2014. This simply means they should rush up,” Alim said.
In their Joint Statement Sunday, the panels said they are confident they will “finish the Annex on Normalization and an addendum on the matter of Bangsamoro waters … in January 2014.”
In a statement signed by Patricia Sarenas, the Mindanao Coalition of Development Networks (MINCODE) and the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) commended the Philippine government and the MILF for the “historic” document.
“Even as the country reels from the effects of the calamities that have unfortunately affected our people in many parts of the country in the recent months, we have never lost sight of the fact that the GPH-MILF peace process was an important matter that did not have to be sidelined or delayed any further because it is of utmost importance that the remaining two Annexes will be needed to complete the work of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC),” Sarenas wrote. [Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews]