The Implementing Panels of government of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front sign on Tuesday the Joint Statement after their special meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Parties signed the Terms of Reference of the GPH and MILF Peace Implementing Panels. (Photo by Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The implementing panels of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front inked the Terms of Reference for the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday.
In a special meeting, the Parties signed the five-page document which lays out the parameters and guidelines on how the Parties will implement the CAB.
According to the Terms of Reference, the Implementing Panels, which has five members each, “are mandated to ensure the efficient and effective implementation” of the CAB and other agreements signed by both Parties.
The Parties agreed that the GPH Implementing Panel shall work on the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law in Congress while the MILF Implementing Panel shall monitor the progress of the legislative process. Both Parties shall also, if necessary, review the peace process mechanisms and ensure that it is in accordance with the implementation phase of the GPH-MILF peace process.
The Parties shall also carry out the phasing and sequencing of the programs for implementation under the normalization process, “including decommissioning which shall be parallel and commensurate to the movement of the legislative track, specifically the BBL.
In the Joint Statement signed by the Parties on March 21, the government and the MILF peace implementing panels also extended the respective mandates of the International Monitoring Team and the Adhoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) for another year until March 2018.
The IMT is the team mandated to monitor the ceasefire agreements between the government and the MILF while the AHJAG is the mechanism between the government and the MILF which responds to criminality and terrorism in areas where MILF are present.
The Parties also welcomed Dato’ Kamarudin bin Mustafa, who officially assumed the role of Malaysian Third Party Facilitator and/or Special Adviser.
“The Parties also expressed appreciation for the contribution to the GPH-MILF peace process of the former Third Party Facilitator, the late YM Tengku Dato’ Ab Ghafar bin Tengku Mohamed,” the Joint Statement reads.
Mustafa served the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in various capacities in Pakistan, Hongkong, Indonesia, Brunei, USA, Ghana, Russia and Sweden.
He served as Malaysian Ambassador to Russia in 2002 to 2005 and in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland from 2007 to 2011. (davaotoday.com)
