Government and MILF sign Agreement on Civilian Protection

After a hard and prolonged discussion, the MILF and Philippine government peace negotiators finally signed the Agreement on Civilian Protection today at Kuala Lumpur. This historic agreement pushed further the GRP-MILF Peace Talks to formal resumption.

The Framework Agreement on the formation of the International Contact Group (ICG) and the Agreement on the Protection of Civilians are essential mechanisms to prevent the repeat of the debacle in Kuala Lumpur on August 5, 2008 when the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was not signed by the government, as well resulting displacement of more than 600,000 people in Mindanao.

The ICG serves as guarantee that both the government and MILF comply with all signed agreements.

The GRP Peace Panel was composed of: Amb. Rafael Seguis, chairman; Atty. Bong Montessa, Amb. Ed Malaya, and Director Mark Ryan Sullivan, while the MILF delegation was led by Mohagher Iqbal, chairman,  Atty. Michael Mastura, Bobby Maulana Alonto, and Jun Mantawil.  Datuk Othman Bin Abdul Razak, as usual, acted as facilitator.