Manila, Muslim rebels signs peace deal

The Philippine government and Muslim rebels on Sunday agreed on a revenue-sharing formula for an autonomous region to be set up under a peace deal aimed at ending more than three decades of Islamic insurgency in the south. The agreement was signed by the chief negotiators of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government after six days of talks in Kuala Lumpur, which is brokering the peace talks, dpa reported. The MILF and the Philippine government signed in October a preliminary peace deal that calls for the creation of a new Muslim autonomous entity in the southern island group of Mindanao by 2016. The two panels are ironing out the details of the deal. Under the revenue-sharing agreement, 25 per cent of taxes collected in the new autonomous entity, to be called Bangsamoro, will go to the national government, while 75 per cent will go to the local government, dpa quoted an office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process in Manila as saying. The office added that “when it comes to natural resources, 75 per cent of income derived from exploration, development and utilization of metallic minerals within the region” will go to the Muslim autonomous government. Income derived from fossil fuels, such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal, and uranium will be shared equally between the central government and the autonomous Muslim government. The Philippine and MILF negotiators still need to discuss agreements on political power-sharing and demobilization of the rebel group’s 12,000 fighters, which observers said was expected to be difficult. The MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state since1978. It entered into peace negotiations with the Philippine government in 1997.