JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) held Tuesday the fourth session of its tripartite meeting with the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on the continuing peace process in the southern Philippines. OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in an opening statement that for peace to become a reality, the Philippine government efforts should be accompanied by economic measures and infrastructure development, redress of injustices, appropriate resettlement of displaced people and equitable distribution of the resources in the southern Philippines. Ihsanoglu said the OIC had made considerable effort to “break the ice that has frozen” the peace agreement. “The two parties had previously agreed to form a joint legal group to formulate in a legal framework what was agreed upon to open the way for amendment to the republic's law 9054,” he said. “These negotiations are the fourth round of the trilateral meeting.” The Philippine delegation for the peace process is led by Teresita Contesa Dillis, advisor to the president of the Philippines, and who is taking part in the meetings for the first time. The meetings are scheduled to last two days. “In this session we will try to solve the problems of borders, creating a technique for the transitional rule and fixing the problems of wealth division,” Ihsanoglu told the Saudi Gazette. He stressed that the peace process in the Philippines should be accompanied by a comprehensive development so that the community in south will see tangible evidence of the positive changes brought about to firm up the peace process. Ihsanoglu said the peace process in Philippines has opened new horizons of hope and great expectations and the OIC, which has been the sponsor of the peace agreement signed between Manila and MNLF in 1996, will do its best to bring closer the views of both sides of the political spectrum. The 1996 agreement between Manila and the MNLF resulted in the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Apart from the peace pact signed by Manila and the MNLF, the Philippine government is currently holding peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a breakaway of the MNLF. The OIC chief urged both sides to work out ways to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that stood in the way of the full implementation of the peace process. Ihsanoglu invited both parties to reach common grounds and engage in an in-depth, transparent and sincere discussion of the issue of the delineation of the autonomous region in the southern Philippines and sharing of the natural resources and mineral wealth.
