The Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sat down on September 27 for a three-day negotiation in Malaysia, with a focus on MILF’s disarmament process.

Disarmament is an important part of the Annex on Normalisation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which will be implemented alongside the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), Chief Government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said.

Meanwhile, MILF Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar said a closed-door meeting will also discuss the BBL, with a hope that the issues will be resolved and the BBL will be passed.

The CAB peace agreement was signed between the Philippine government and the MILF on March 27 in Manila, which entails discussions on ratifying a bill to establish an Islamic autonomous area by mid-2016.

In return, 12,000 MILF members will lay down their arms and join the government’s efforts to improve living conditions for the Islamic community, which is one of the poorest and most disadvantaged groups in the 100 million-strong country.

As part of the agreement, the current Mindanao Islamic autonomous area that comprises five provinces will be replaced with a larger area called “Bangsamoro” with more political powers and financial resources.

The peace talks between the government and the MILF began in 1997, and aim to end the rebellion, which started in southern Philippines in the 1970s, claiming at least 120,000 lives and displacing over 2 million people.-VNA