[h=3]By CRIS LARANO And CELINE FERNANDEZ[/h]MANILA—The Philippine government announced a framework agreement Sunday meant to end more than four decades of secessionist conflict in Mindanao, the country's resource-rich but impoverished southern region.
President Benigno Aquino said that government negotiators and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels had agreed to create a new political entity in Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao to replace a previous autonomous region that had failed to end the rebellion.
Mr. Aquino said the new agreement, reached after five days of discussions in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur, should put an end to "a cycle of violence that has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 Filipinos—soldiers, warriors and innocent civilians who all needlessly shed their blood."
Mr. Aquino said that the agreement created a new political entity, called Bangsamoro, meaning the Moro nation or people, replacing the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao that grew out of the 1987 Philippine Constitution adopted during the presidency of Aquino's mother, Corazon.
Negotiators for the Islamic Front couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Philippines chief negotiator Marvic Leonen issued a statement in Kuala Lumpur saying that the agreement Sunday laid the groundwork for a new region but still required significant work on power- and wealth-sharing details.
Negotiators were targeting a final pact by year-end, Mr. Leonen said. It would require enabling legislation in Congress, followed by a plebiscite.
Elections for all offices will be held across the region in 2013, Mr. Leonen said.
The former autonomous region centered on the government's agreement with the larger Moro National Liberation Front. The MILF, with 11,000 armed followers, split from the larger group and didn't accept the agreement, and the region was ultimately plagued by graft and mismanagement.
Mr. Aquino called the former arrangement "a failed experiment" that only worsened poverty.
The new agreement is essentially a framework that the government hopes will create a larger and better-run autonomous region with more participants, Mr. Aquino said.
"We are doing everything to ensure that other Bangsamoro stakeholders are brought in to this process so that this peace can be claimed and sustained by all,'' Mr. Aquino said.
Write to Cris Larano at [email protected] and Celine Fernandez at [email protected]
President Benigno Aquino said that government negotiators and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels had agreed to create a new political entity in Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao to replace a previous autonomous region that had failed to end the rebellion.
Mr. Aquino said the new agreement, reached after five days of discussions in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur, should put an end to "a cycle of violence that has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 Filipinos—soldiers, warriors and innocent civilians who all needlessly shed their blood."
Mr. Aquino said that the agreement created a new political entity, called Bangsamoro, meaning the Moro nation or people, replacing the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao that grew out of the 1987 Philippine Constitution adopted during the presidency of Aquino's mother, Corazon.
Negotiators for the Islamic Front couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Philippines chief negotiator Marvic Leonen issued a statement in Kuala Lumpur saying that the agreement Sunday laid the groundwork for a new region but still required significant work on power- and wealth-sharing details.
Negotiators were targeting a final pact by year-end, Mr. Leonen said. It would require enabling legislation in Congress, followed by a plebiscite.
Elections for all offices will be held across the region in 2013, Mr. Leonen said.
The former autonomous region centered on the government's agreement with the larger Moro National Liberation Front. The MILF, with 11,000 armed followers, split from the larger group and didn't accept the agreement, and the region was ultimately plagued by graft and mismanagement.
Mr. Aquino called the former arrangement "a failed experiment" that only worsened poverty.
The new agreement is essentially a framework that the government hopes will create a larger and better-run autonomous region with more participants, Mr. Aquino said.
"We are doing everything to ensure that other Bangsamoro stakeholders are brought in to this process so that this peace can be claimed and sustained by all,'' Mr. Aquino said.
Write to Cris Larano at [email protected] and Celine Fernandez at [email protected]