Gov't, MILF fail to agree on power-sharing annex

MANILA - The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front panels failed to agree on the power-sharing annex of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement as the 41st round of exploratory talks ended on Sunday. In an interview with ANC, GPH peace panel chief Miriam Coronel Ferrer said the MILF presented details of the Bangsamoro's ministerial form of government, which the government panel had to study thoroughly before they can arrive at a consensus. She said the meeting could no longer be extended because their host, Malaysia, will be celebrating the Eid'l Adha holiday. But Ferrer insisted the meeting was productive. "More or less, we agreed there would be a ministerial form of government for the Bangsamoro political entity but this round they came up with a set of provisions that details the design and processes that will govern this ministerial form of government. We had to go through one-by-one all these features they have put together and that took a lot of time," she said. Ferrer said the two parties will meet again in due time to resolve unsettled issues but communication lines will remain open. "As soon as we're able, we'll probably go through a process of exchanging notes. In the meantime in order to facilitate before we come to Kualu Lumpur, we're really hoping that a lot of issues have been discussed informally through channels," he said. MORNINGS@ANC, Octovber 14, 2013