ZAMBOANGA CITY, 17 June 2007 — Malacañang yesterday appointed a Roman Catholic priest as its chief peace negotiator with the country’s largest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Jesus Dureza, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s adviser on the peace process, said Fr. Eliseo Mercado Jr. will take the place of Secretary Silvestre Afable, who resigned for unspecified reasons.

Dureza said Mercado’s long experience in peace-making would ensure a “continuity in the efforts to move forward the peace process.”

Mercado, the former president of the Notre Dame University in the southern Philippines and a student of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, has been involved in peace-making activities in Mindanao, in partnership with Muslim scholars and NGOs.

“There will be a seamless transition in the changing of the guard in the GRP (government) peace panel,” said Dureza, who once headed the panel.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye confirmed Afable’s resignation from the panel and the new appointment.

“We confirm that Secretary Afable has resigned and has discussed the matter with President Arroyo,” Bunye said.

There was no immediate statement from Mercado, who is now based in the Vatican and said to be suffering from a heart disease.

While welcoming Mercado’s appointment, MILF leaders were worried that Afable’s resignation could set back the six-year old peace talks.

“This is a setback,” Mohaqher Iqbal, the rebels’ chief peace negotiator, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“This is not a very good indication. This could affect the entire peace process. At a personal level, we could be starting all over again.” Mercado’s close ties with the MILF could also become a problem as he may not enjoy the backing of the powerful military, analysts said.

“He’s an outsider,” Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies in Cotabato City, told Reuters. “The chief negotiator should be someone who enjoys the support of the president and more political clout to make the military toe the line.”

Still, Iqbal said MILF leaders “are really hoping for an early resumption of the peace talks.”

The government officials gave no reason for Afable’s decision to quit the peace panel, where he has served since the two sides agreed to return to negotiations after hostilities erupted in February 2003.

But one of his colleagues on the panel told Reuters: “He was getting frustrated because he was not getting enough support from the president and from her security officials.

“He felt there were some people in the Cabinet who were not serious in finding a lasting solution to the Muslim rebellion in the south.”

A Malaysian official familiar with the peace process said it was too early to say if Afable’s resignation would affect the talks. “He has been very effective in building trust with MILF leaders,” the Malaysian official told Reuters, referring to Afable. “He has contributed a lot in narrowing the gap and has deep understanding of the complexity of the process.”

Malaysia is brokering the peace talks, but negotiations ended last year in Kuala Lumpur with no concrete agreement. Both sides failed to agree on the most contentious issue, the size and wealth of a proposed Muslim homeland.

Despite the stalled talks, backroom negotiations continued, resulting in a breakthrough in December when Manila agreed to grant Muslims the right of self-determination.

The MILF wants the autonomous region to include the existing Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao or ARMM plus areas in the provinces Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Palawan where there are big Muslim and indigenous populations.

The existing ARMM consists of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sharif Kabunsuan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi plus the city of Marawi.

Government peace negotiators previously offered the ARMM only.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference, which is supporting the peace talks, has sent dozens of observers to Mindanao to help oversee the cease-fire agreement between the government and the MILF. The group is composed of soldiers and policemen from Brunei, Libya and Malaysia. Japan also sent a representative to join the truce observers. (With input from Reuters)