By Ronron
December 1, 2007
The exploratory talks of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Malaysia was reset to the middle of this month upon the request of the former.
Government chief negotiator Rodolfo Garcia told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview Saturday that they sought for more time from the original schedule of December 4th to be able to prepare a better proposal.
“Our legal team is still studying on some items. What we will be coming out is a good formation of text on ancestral domain. So, the better it is crafted before going to Malaysia, the better,” Garcia said.
He said that when the Malaysian moderators consulted both the government and MILF panels for the final resumption of the talks on December 4th, he asked for a resetting on December 15th.
“I think they agreed,” Garcia said when asked of the reaction of the MILF panel.
Sought for his comment, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said in a separate phone interview that they are not attaching any malice to the postponement of the talks.
“We have nothing against it because it is a privilege of the two parties to request for a postponement,” Iqbal said.
“We just hope that this will not further be delayed,” he added.
The two panels have long dwelled on the ancestral domain issue because of the disagreement on its coverage, particularly the number of villages.
Garcia had earlier said they hope to come up with a final peace agreement by August next year./DMS
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