Negotiations are premised on mutual respect, sincerity, reciprocity, and  sometimes trade-off.

It may not be participated in by equals, both parties are supposed to be government by a spirit of mutual confidence.

Confidence building and the maintenance of mutual trust should be the first order of the day. Not distrust.

Unreasonalble demanda or impositions must be taken off the road to the negotiating table.

The fact that President Aquino met with top Moro Islamic Liberation Friont leadership in Japan  in  a  setting generally seen as befitting only equals as sovereign is already is already concession on the part of the government.

Embarrassing or  intimidating remarks could upset   or negatre the gains already achieved so far in the peace settlement.             Still, a senior MILF official virtually challenged President Aquino, by publicly asking the the latter whether he was willing to sacrifice his popularity for the sake of ending the armed conflict in Mindanao.

Michael Mastura, a senior member of the MILF,  spelled out the choices for P-Noy —popularity or peace? —in an interview with witha  major broadsheet  a week before the two sides resume formal peace talks.

“Is he (President Aquino) willing to cast (away) his politi-cal capital for this problem, for this process?” Mastura said.

In other words, is the President willing to compromise on the issue of substate in exchange for ending . the fighting that has dragged on for four decades and claimed tens i of thousands of lives?    

“The issues are clear. If they will accede to using our draft as

a working draft, that will fast-track everything,” Mastura said.

The MILF has dropped its demand for independence and instead called for the creation of a Muslim “substate” within the Republic.

The government panel is expected to present its counter-proposal when the negotiators return to the bargaining table next Monday in Kuala Lumpur. The two sides last held exploratory talks in April.

The proposed Muslim substate would exercise all government functions, except those of national defense, foreign affairs, currency and postal services, which would remain in the hands of the national government.

The scope of such a substate has yet to be defined but it could lead to the expansion of the cur-rent Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.        

P-Noy has indicated that Christians and Lumad to be affected by the proposal would be given a choice of whether they would want to be part of the substate.

Under the MILF proposal, me proposed substate would be gov-erned by a chief minister elected by an assembly It will have “asymmetrical relations” with the national government, similar to Hong Kong’s relations with China, according to MILF consultants.

The law that created the ARMM gives the regional government the right to explore and develop the region’s natural resources.        Harry Roque, a University of the Philippines law professor, and former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. have said that the creation of a substate would likely require an amendment to the Charter.