The Jeddah Peace Talks between the Government and the Moro National Liberation Front opened on January 18 and ended on January 29, 1975. The two panels plunged into the negotiations without any preliminaries. IT closed with neither side agreeing to anything except to meet again in the first week of April. The differences in their positions were irreconcilable.
The last meeting of the two panels on January 29 was adjourned with the agreement that the two panels (not necessarily with the same composition) would meet in the first week of April of the same year. Judge Hamid Lukman read Misuari’s final rejoinder before the panels since the MNLF Chairman had sent a note earlier that he came down with bronchitis.
Seven Government Proposals
Refined and submitted on January 29, the seven proposals of the government, which the MNLF panel refused to discuss earlier, embody all the ideas that had emerged in the course of he discussions, including many coming from the mediator OIC Secretary General Tohamy himself. These are summarized below.
- A cease -fire;
- “Muslimization” of existing national government programs for Mindanao development;
- Philippine Government guarantees for the security, integrity, rights and interest of the Muslim peoples of the area, including the return of their ancestral lands, and assurances of the grant to them of the local autonomy as provided for in the present Constitution of the Philippines;
- Incorporation of the MNLF fighting forces into the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the withdrawal of Army units with the taking over of security duties by local police and Constabulary units;
- Securing of external assistance and their channeling through government agencies;
- A measure intended to ensure the implementation of all agreements, and
- The national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines.
Source: B.R. Rodil Kalinaw Mindanao; The Story of the GRP-MNLF Peace Process, 1975-1996