ILOILO CITY, Philippines, January 20 (IslamOnline.net) - Stalled peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would finally commence next month, Filipino and Malaysian leaders announced Tuesday, January 20.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed to schedule the new round of talks between Manila and the MILF in Kuala Lumpur by the second week of February.

Threshing out outstanding issues and pursuing a climate of peace in the southern part of this Southeast Asian state would be the focus of the new round of talks.

Arroyo told a press conference she is both honored and happy that the Malaysian leader is committed to help achieve a lasting peace to Mindanao.

"The Filipino people are grateful for Malaysia’s unwavering support, especially in providing the indispensable bridge of understanding between our government and the MILF," she said, stressing that the Badawi government enjoys the trust and confidence of the domestic and global community.

Arroyo, who was celebrating her third year in office, welcomed Badawi "not only because he is an old friend who has known the Philippines for more than 30years," but also because of Malaysia’s pivotal role "to find a just and lasting solution to the search for peace in Southern Philippines."

She said the Philippines is also looking forward to the deepening of relations between the two countries in many ways.

"We are together not only as partners in the search for peace. We are also partners in the search for prosperity in our part of the world," Arroyo said.

"We are only too willing to help in the peace process to improve the situation in Southern Philippines," replied her Malaysian guest.

"It is our intention that we want to move the peace process forward," he said.

Malaysia is facilitating the negotiations with Brunei, Bangladesh, Bahrain and Libya, which were representing the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

It also heads the 25-member team tasked to review the implementation of a ceasefire agreement forged by both parties.

Anticipating the announcement of peace talks resumption, MILF said on Friday, January 16, that it would explore new political option to the Mindanao problem once the formal peace talks are resumed.

Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat, said in a statement sent to IslamOnline.net that MILF peace negotiators are batting for a new formula as political option to the Mindanao problem, which is one of the contentious subject areas of the negotiations.

He said the Bangsamoro civil society has rejected the old formula under the autonomous government.

"Autonomy has failed to solve the Mindanao problem as proven by past experience," he said.

"Why insist on autonomy if it is a failure?

"Certainly, autonomy or federalism is inconsistent with the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people," Mantawil stressed.

For some three decades, the Bangsamoro, a minority in this Christian-dominated country, have been struggling for the return of their "usurped freedom and independence" from the Philippine government.

They want back their homeland, which "was illegally and illegitimate annexed to the Philippine Republic in 1946."

Arroyo and Badawi also announced a joint venture agreement between Petronas, the national oil company of Malaysia, and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) to explore and drill for oil in offshore Mindoro Island to the tune of P825 million (U.S.$150 million).

The joint exploration, Arroyo said, will help increase the government’s energy self-sufficiency program, which under her administration has already reached 53 percent.

"This will be another fruit of our efforts to develop our indigenous energy resources," she said.

Arroyo added that the new petroleum service contract is expected to further lure renewed interest in the country’s petroleum exploration industry.

Petronas’ entry into the PNOC-EC project was a culmination of Arroyo’s visit to Malaysia in November 2001 and bilateral talks between the two heads of state during the ASEAN-Japan summit, hosted by Tokyo in December last year.

The two leaders also agreed to support the capacity-building program in Southern Philippines particularly the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area).

"If the program would push through, especially human resource development, that would be able to help in many ways the people of Southern Philippines so that they can later on be more active, there will be more economic activities, and they will be joining the mainstream of national economy and development of the Philippines," Badawi said.

He offered training opportunities through Malaysia’s chemical-economic cooperation program for interested Filipinos as part of the capacity building efforts.