By Prensa Latina
Manila : The Filipino government is close to reach a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after more than eight years of negotiations, assured Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Friday.
During a visit to the southern region of Mindanao, Macapagal said both parts are about to reach an agreement on a new draft on the Muslim territories in the south of the country.
Manila is convinced the conversations will end on a definite peace agreement.
Many times, deals with MILF have tried to get such a purpose, but always some kind of incident postpones the purpose.
Negotiations were stuck because of the negative of separatists to recognize the local Constitution.
MILF, the biggest separatist organization in Philippines with more than 12,000 activists, is fighting since 1978 for the authority on the areas it militarily controls, mainly the region of Mindanao.
One of the thorniest matters in the dialogue with the Philippine government has been the delivery of more than 1,000 Islamic barangays (neighborhoods) belonging to their old ancestral domains, of which the Executive only accepts to give them 600.
In 2001, both parts reached an agreement on security and the following year they signed another one on Rehabilitation and Development, leaving to conclude that of those “ancestral lands” which determines, among other things, the limits of the territory claimed by MILF and the exploitation of their natural resources.