Negotiators from the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front announced the decision after a two-day meeting in Malaysia that marked the resumption of formal peace talks for the first time since President Benigno Aquino III took office in June.
The peace process seeks to end a decades-long armed struggle by the 11,000-strong rebel front for Muslim self-rule in the southern Philippines, the homeland of minority Muslims in this predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Both sides said in a statement that the mandate of a Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team in the south would be extended by a year. The team’s current mandate ends Feb. 14.
The team comprises about 40 members from Malaysia, Brunei and Libya who handle security issues involving a current cease-fire, while two Japanese representatives monitor socio-economic developments.
The two sides also agreed to continue arrangements for joint efforts to interdict criminal groups, particularly kidnap gangs whose members include rogue Moro rebels. That agreement has been credited with winning the release of kidnap victims in the past, including Irish missionary priest Rev. Michael Sinnott in 2009.
The negotiators said they hope to hold their next talks March 29.
Countries backing the peace process hope it would turn the resource-rich southern Philippines into an economic growth area instead of a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Formal talks collapsed in 2008 after the Philippine Supreme Court rejected a preliminary accord with the government of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that would have expanded an existing Muslim autonomous region in the south.
