The 21st Round of the Exploratory Talks were held in the Imperial Sheraton Hotel,Kuala Lampur,Malaysia on April 27 and April 28,2011.Having originally been schedualed for the 29th and 30th of March but delayed per MILF request.The talks opened at 930AM with a Closed Door Executive Session with only the Chairmen of both Panels and 1 Panel Member each.The MILF Chairman Mohagher Iqbal was accompanied by Datu Michael O.Mastura.GPH Chairman Mario Victor"Marvic"Leonen was with Panel Member Prof.Miriam Coronel Ferrer.Joining them in the hotel's Penang Room was embattled Facilitator Datuk Othman bin 'Abd Razak who was accompanied by his replacement (yep,they finally mamaged to get the spy out of the process),Tengku Dato' Abd' Ghafar bin Tengku Mohammad.Ghafar,as he is known in shorthand,actually predates Razak's own involvement in the Talks.Back in the Winter of 2001 as new President Gloria M.Arroyo was desperately seeking Malaysian intervention to re-ignite the failed GHP-MILF Peace Process Ghafar had been delegated by his government to liason with MILF founder Chairman Hashim Salamat.In fact,Ghafar made more than 1 trip to Buliok Complex,Salamat's new headquarters after the fall of Camp Abubakar in the 2000 War.
Razak informally introduced his replacement and after a few brief exchanges on the schedule of the two day long Talks they all left the room at 1109AM.At 1112AM the Full Panels convened along with the ICG (International Contact Group).ICG is composed of foreign governmental representatives and NGO delegates who participate in the Peace Process as Observers.In Closed Door Session (Session I) the Formal Introduction of Ghafar took place and the 1st Session adjourned for Lunch at 1159AM.Razak left the hotel at 1230PM and so ends his 9 years as Facilitator.
At 2PM Session II began with both Panels' Chairmen offering their Opening Remarks,no suprises there.Both read for 3 pages of notes though as always Iqbal took longer.
The 2nd Day's proceedings,Session III began at 930AM with an"Update"on the 25 MILF/BIAF members incarcerated by the Philippine Government.The list is considerably longer but the MILF has had to pick and choose after realising there was no way that all its members were going to be released for jail.The highest ranking member among the 25 is Central Committee member Eduard"Abraham Yap Alonto"Guerra.
At 10AM the AFP's (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Advisor to the GPH Peace Panel,Brigadier General Restituto Aguilar and his compatriot Major General Carlos Sol,GPH Chairperson of the CCCH (Committee on Cessation of Hostilities) Secretariat were ushered into the Session to offer their opinions on Kumander Kato.Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato is the former Commanding Officer of the BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,MILF's military arm) 105 Base Command.After single handedly igniting the 2008 War with his invasion of the Ilonggo Triangle in North Cotabato Province,Kato and the MILF Central Committee turned on each other.In early 2010 Kato was relieved of his Command and transferred to the MILF Shari'a Court (Islamic Court) as a Legal Aide.Naturally this angered Kato and so he threw down the gauntlet.In March of 2010 he founded an entirely new,much more radical insurgency group,"BIFF."BIFF,or Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters,have remained low key thus far but are very well armed and are roughly 600 strong.600 is more than any single BIAF Base Command.
GPH Panel Chairman Marvic Leonen pushed aggressively for a quantification of the issue from his MILF counterpart but all Iqbal would do is offer that while they are doing their best to rein Kato in they still consider him part of the apparattus and therefore consider it an entirely internal matter.In the words of Iqbal;"Don't worry about Kato,leave him to us."Yes Iqbal,because until now you have done a great job at controlling Kato,or anyone in the BIAF really.Session III ended at 1039AM with a coffee break.Resuming at 1100AM the Talks focused on AHJAG,the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group.AHJAG was created very early on in the Peace Process,in May of 2002,though not implemented until December,2004.Its sole purpose is to provide a platform for interaction and co-operating on the criminality within the MILF/BIAF AOR (Area of Responsibility,i.e."Area in which the MILF has a determined presence").Specifically it aims to curtail the rampant KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) that innundates most any Base Command AOR.To realise the importance of this little discussed entity,consider that the 2003 Buliok Complex War took place because an AFP anti-KFR operation came a tad bit too close to a BIAF Base Command.Had the MILF/BIAF and AFP been interacting as they were supposed to have been doing (the AHJAG Agreement was already 14 months old at that point but had never been implemented) the conflict almost certainly would have never taken place.
AHJAG's re-activation had been settled during the previous Round,Round 20 which took place on the 9th and 10th of February,and which gave AHJAG a brand new 12 month mandate to have begun on March 1,2011.At the MILF's request this was delayed until April 1.On April 19,2011 the entity had its first conclave under this new mandate.Held at the Ritz Hotel's Garden Oases [sic] in Davao City.AHJAG's HQ element,or"Core,"has 8 members.4 from the Government and 4 from the MILF/BIAF with 1 from each side serving as Co-Chairman.
Next on the agenda of course was the infamous 2 hour lunch,from 12PM to 2PM.With only 48 precious hours to try and save the lives of many thousands of their terrorised countrymen and women the noble Panelists stuffed their faces on the Malaysian tab.Returning at 2PM for the 4th and final Session,Closed Door,the group got into an Update on the status of IMT-5.The IMT,or International Monitoring Team is composed of members from Malaysia,which leads it,along with Brunei,Libya,Japan,and this year the EU and Norway.The last 2 will be serving on their first IMT Mission.I will delve into all the ins and outs of both the IMT AND AHJAG in entries all their own.
The Panel then devoted the better part of 4 hours clarifying and re-iterating the text of the Revised Comprehensive Compact Draft.Even the spelling was dissected.Close to 4PM Datu Michael O.Mastura blew his cool,which he does nearly every Round.Screaming,he accused the GPH Peace Panel of"nitpicking."Surely an attorney would understand just how vulnerable documents are to misinterpretation.Surely an ex-Constitutional Delegate would acknowledge the gravity of such proceedings.Surely an ex-Congressman would know fully well that every"t"needs to be crossed and every"I"needs to have its dot.Talk about immaturity,petulance and just plain gauche,that my friends is Datu Mike.
The meeting took a"time out"to let Mastura's blood pressure drop and resumed proceedings after almost 15 minutes.From that point on it was relatively smooth sailing.Finishing the"nitpicking"everyone leaving the Penang Room at 645PM that evening was in a jubilant mood.The GPH Panel has agreed to relegate Kumander Kato and BIFF to an internal MILF matter.AHJAG and IMT went as expected and merely were Progress Reviews.The GPH has also agreed to turnover its own Revised Comprehensive Compact Draft having registered the MILF's current vision on the those vital issues.The 2 sides have tenatively scheduled the 22nd Round for April 28 and 29th,again in Kuala Lampur.
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