Manila: Negotiators of the Philippines government and a separatist group have intensified their respective campaigns in the country's south as a prelude to a referendum that is critical to a tentative peace process which was renewed in Malaysia late last year, sources told Gulf News.
"The Moro Islamic Liberation Front [MILF] is intensifying its advocacy campaign in Mindanao. Several areas have already been lined up as venues for these activities," Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel's secretariat, was quoted as saying on Luwaran, the MILF's website.
Talks will be held in at least 12 major venues in the south, areas where both sides had earlier identified certain Muslim-dominated villages whose residents must vote again in a referendum on autonomy.
Residents of these villages will get another chance to decide whether they want to be included as part of the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is now composed of five provinces and one city, another source told Gulf News.
Congress nod expected
The holding of another referendum in specific villages in the south will be approved by Congress, the source said, requesting anonymity.
"The MILF seeks opinions, views, and proposals from all sectors of society including the moneyed and powerful," a member of the MILF peace panel who, too, requested anonymity, told Luwaran.
"We do not want any selfish agenda to spoil or pollute the peace efforts by acquiescing to or adopting their demands. After these consultations, the MILF will craft its peace formula and asserts it as the correct thesis," said the MILF peace panel member.
"We need to relate to the ground in view of the shaky status of the peace talks with the government," Mantawil said, adding, "Any miscommunication between the leadership and those in the field especially those holding firearms can be source of serious problems."
Government negotiators were talking "to the rich and the powerful in the south, including powerful Church personalities or institutions, to set the direction of its peace agenda," Luwaran commented.
Meanwhile, chief government negotiator, foreign affairs undersecretary Rafael Seguis, said the government-MILF peace talks are on track.
The peace efforts received a boost with the arrival of a nine-member team from Malaysia to prepare for the arrival and deployment of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team in the south next month to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire accord signed by the government and the MILF, Seguis said.
Manila and the MILF peace delegations last met in Kuala Lumpur on December 8.
