Opening Statement of Panel Chair Marvic Leonen on the 24th GPH-MILF Formal Exploratory Talks

Bismillahir rahmanir raheem.

(Salutations)

We are thankful that we have arrived safely again here in Kuala Lumpur to negotiate very important points for this round of talks.

First and foremost, I would like to say that we have new members of the panel, these are very distinguished individuals from Mindanao. Of course, they are no strangers to the panel of the MILF because they were here in the meeting last year and one of them has been a longstanding consultant ever since I took my watch as chair of the panel for the Government of the Philippines. I speak of Dr. Hamid Barra. He is now a regular member of the panel. Dr. Hamid Barra takes the place of Mayor Piang as a regular member of the panel. Mayor Piang is now an alternate member of the panel. Being a local executive, a mayor, we have made arrangements for him to still be a member of the panel to represent the indigenous peoples and local government while at the same attending to critical issues in his area.

Doctor Hamid Barra was a former president of the National Ulama Council, he is now chair of that council. He’s a respected Islamic laws lawyer having studied here in Malaysia. He has guided our panel in very difficult issues pertaining to Islamic laws in the past.

Also a new member of our panel is Ms. Yasmin Busran-Lao, she’s also known to many of you. She is very active in civil society. She is now also very active with respect to the transformation of the ARMM. I think she has pioneered in terms of questions on the Bangsamoro women, especially with respect to gender equality.

With the two additional members of our panel, we now have a complete set of five. And soon we will be also making announcements in due time about the installation of alternate members of our panel. Again, we hope that this composition will serve as fuel for the negotiations in terms of crafting the substantive part of our talks.

There is no doubt that the entire Republic of the Philippines will benefit with a region for Bangsamoro peoples that is not only genuinely autonomous but also one where the principles of good and effective governance is in place.  We all stand to benefit from an autonomous government that can be democratically elected in free, clean and honest elections ensured by security forces that are neutral from political interests and a vibrant and assertive civil society.  It goes without saying that elections can be relevant only when there are real choices between sincere and capable political parties who offer principled leaders. In a democratic set up, at minimum, electoral exercises provide the mandate and ensure that we truly have a fighting chance of allowing the governed to actively participate and hold our leaders to account.

We also know that no autonomy would be genuine unless there is a clear working relationship with the national government in many aspects.  National government is relevant.  This can be clearly seen even in the document of the MILF, the proposed Revised Comprehensive Compact. It certainly takes prominence in our own proposals.

It is also clear that any autonomous relationship should include the equitable sharing of wealth and the generation of revenues to make the autonomous government credible in producing opportunities for its people in an environmentally sustainable manner as well as allow the national government to provide the kind of assistance that should be expected of it.

We know we share with you this vision and that much of what we need to discuss would be how to get there and how this new political rearrangement would look like.

The better part of wisdom that we can discern from human history is that our grandest solutions get refined as we set it in practice.  The better part of wisdom therefore requires that we be certain that our solutions work, not only through the reasons we exchange across this table, but also through the crucible of practice--of learning and being able to adjust from our own experiences as we implement our vision.

We are in political negotiations, and our solutions take place also in a political context.  As we have reiterated time and again, this is an administration that wants to see the solution to the Bangsamoro question in motion when it leaves in a little over four years time.  This means that we should both meet the challenge of crafting an agreement soon enough, so that it could be implemented and then assessed and then adjusted before the next term of the next President of the Republic.  In our reckoning, the golden opportunity to craft such an agreement is this first quarter of this year.  Our standing instructions from our President are to work earnestly and with due and deliberate dispatch careful to consult all constituents that we also represent along the way.

We think that this is possible.  Share with us this vision.  Within this first quarter, let us attempt to craft an agreement. Thank you.
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