By Joyce Pangco Pa?ares

Iligan City ? President Arroyo has set a Jan. 20 deadline for the newly reconstituted negotiating panel of the government to come up with a plan to address the concerns raised by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

According to a source in the panel, the team will recommend using the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act to accommodate some of the economic demands of the Moro rebels, especially those related to their envisioned Bangsamoro homeland.

?The law gives us an elbow room to arrive at a consensus on some of the previous demands of the MILF that some sector see as unconstitutional,? said the source who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the issue.

But government chief negotiator Rafael Seguis said any new strategy to deal with the MILF concerns will be based on the series of consultations done with key stakeholders in Mindanao. Future meetings with the advisory council being formed that will include members of Congress will also help shape this strategy, Seguis said.

?We will consult our panel of advisers not just from Congress but also with legal luminaries to give us a tool on how to deal with the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain. The President has instructed us to submit the new framework and strategy no later than Jan. 20,? Seguis said.

Seguis and presidential adviser on the peace process Hermogenes Esperon Jr. are one fting another homeland agreement that will require amending the 1987 Constitution.

?One of the contentious issues in the previous MoA-AD was the granting to right to self-determination to the MILF in utilizing the natural resources within their homeland. While the Constitution gives the national government the sole authority to utilize strategic minerals, IPRA says the indigenous peoples are allowed to do so,? the source said.

Under this law, strategic minerals include energy resources such as uranium, coal, petroleum, fossil fuels, and mineral oil; lakes, river, and lagoons; and national reserves and marine parks, as well as forest and watershed reserves.

The law says that ancestral domain refers to all areas generally belonging to the indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples, including former Sectoral Congressman Ronald Adamat was chosen as panel member not only because he represents the sector of the Lumad indigenous group but also because he was the co-author of IPRA.

?Some of the demands of the MILF on ancestral domain rights can very well fall under the IPRA law. So having the law?s co-author in the panel will ensure that what we agree to with the MILF are well within the bounds of the law,? Esperon said.

During Tuesday?s Cabinet meeting here in Iligan, the National Security Council said that Malaysia will remain as the facilitator of the peace talks but only Brunei and Libya will remain in the International Monitoring Team.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said the monitoring team must be put in place first to ensure that the ceasefire pact between government troops and MILF rebels continue to hold.

Gonzales and Esperon are leaving this month for Tripoli and Brunei, respectively, to finalize the terms of reference for the new monitoring team.

Libya, which has six monitors in Iligan City, has committed to send 25 more peacekeepers while Brunei, which has 10, will increase its delegation of ceasefire monitors with 30 more.