MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, May 4 (PIA) -- The acting governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said the government sees a major pact for a political settlement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) taking place during the term of President Benigno S. Aquino III, which will end in 2016. Officer-In-Charge ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said he was being “optimistic that they can come up with a consensus to sign a peace agreement, especially if it does not take a constitutional amendment.”
“As far as the government is concerned, that is my feeling… And so also from the other side, we are receiving a similar feedback,” said Hataman told a delegation from a Japanese aid institution here on Labor Day.
Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, president of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), met ARMM officials and MILF leaders in separate occasions during his country’s aid delegation visit to the Muslim Mindanao region.
After meeting MILF leaders in Camp Darapanan, Tanaka said he shared Hataman’s optimism that a “new political reality” was in the offing, with the current development in the peace process.
Both parties have noted Japan’s increasing role in the peace process, after hosting a meeting between the President and key MILF leaders in Tokyo mid last year.
Hataman said President Benigno S Aquino III becomes the second President to do so, after his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, met Nur Misuari to start the peace process with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which he led.
The meeting, Hataman said, led to the post-Aquino administration signing of the final peace agreement between the government and the MNLF on September 2, 1996.
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