President Benigno Aquino III held a secret informal meeting with Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo  yesterday to “discuss possible approaches to moving the peace process forward.”

It was the first time that a Philippine President met with a leader of the MILF since peace negotiations started 14 years ago.

Aquino quietly left for Tokyo Thursday evening on board a chartered flight. He was accompanied by Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and Government of the Philippines Peace Panel Chair Marvic Leonen. He was back home at 10 a.m. yesterday

Leonen said the meeting that started at 8:30 p.m. lasted for two hours. He said the talks “jumpstarts” and “boosted” the process for a fundamental peace accord that officials hope will be reached in a year’s time.

Murad was joined by some members of the Central Committee, the MILF’s negotiating panel and some base commanders.

Only the President, Murad and their note takers were inside the meeting room.

In a press briefing yesterday, Leonen said the informal meeting was “cordial but consisted of a frank and candid exchange of views about the frames of the continuing peace talks and some possible approaches that the parties can take to bring about a peaceful settlement.”

“Both agreed that the implementation of any agreement should happen within the current administration. Both agreed to fast track the negotiations,” he added.

He said Aquino sought the meeting before the government’s submission of its agenda for the talks.

Leonen said the hush-hush meeting was held in Tokyo to avoid “a security nightmare.”

Three years ago, the Supreme Court stopped a deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The scrapping of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain triggered a series of attacks by rogue MILF units in the South, displacing hundreds of thousands of residents in Central Mindanao and Sarangani province.

Leonen said the MILF did not seek independence, only a “sub state” under Philippine jurisdiction. He declined to reveal other details of the meeting, but expressed confidence that a peace process will be sealed under the leadership of Aquino.

Lacierda called the meeting “fruitful,” saying it established deeper trust between the two parties.

The government and MILF peace panels met on June 27 in Kuala Lumpur. The next formal exploratory talks were set on August 15 in Kuala Lumpur.