There he was, the President of the Republic in talks with Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that has tried, but failed so far, to carve out a separate Bangsamoro in the MinSuPala area in the South.

For lack of a formal joint communiqué, it is too early to say if the President made a step forward, backward or sideward or just continued to mark time when he went to this secret meeting in Japan with the MILF chief.

All that we have to go by are press releases and remarks of the President’s companions in the one-on-one at a hotel near Narita airport.

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IMBALANCE: The President of the Republic met, apparently as an equal, the chief of a “liberation front” — a tag synonymous to a separatist group despite claims that the MILF now wants only a so-called “sub-state” and not a separate Bangsamaro.

But the meeting did not define “sub-state.” Neither did it produce a joint statement at least to disclose the two parties’ avowed intentions and to serve as reference point for followup discussion and public debate.

Press releases and off-the-cuff remarks are never a reliable basis for enforcing compliance of supposed commitments of states.

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CREDENTIALS: The matter of credentials alone appears to have been glossed over.

There is no question about President Aquino’s being the sole spokesman of the Philippine republic in such matters as sovereignty and foreign relations. But can we say the same thing with Murad and his armed group?

Back to the basic question: Is the MILF the sole legal representative and popularly designated voice of Muslim Mindanao?

By what process — such as maybe a democratically conducted election or referendum — did it acquire authority to speak for Muslim Mindanao?

Who or what prodded President Aquino to recognize the MILF? Was it the arguments of his peace team or the suggestion of the White House?

And, before we forget, will the MILF leaders please say for the record if they are Filipinos? We have to know if we are talking to our countrymen or to foreigners.

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NO GUARANTEE: These are not idle questions. It has been shown that the MILF that is claiming to enjoy mass support is not even in control of its own commanders.

Still fresh in the public mind is the rampage of its fighters led by rogue commanders who went berserk – on their own or on instructions of higher-ups — when the Supreme Court threw out I 2008 the projected Memorandum of Agreement creating a Bangsamoro.

What is our guarantee that if a peace accord is signed with the MILF’s present leaders no splinter group will emerge and then demand that the government also talk to it for a new or separate settlement?

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U.S. ENDORSEMENT: The MILF itself is just a breakaway group of the older Moro Islamic Liberation Front that was resurrected and recognized in 1986 by then President Cory Aquino, mother of the incumbent President talking to Murad.

Note that until now the MNLF is the only Muslim liberation front in the Philippines given observer standing by the Organization of Islamic Conference. The MILF still does not have this coveted status.

And then, there is the terrorist Abu Sayyaf band whose membership reportedly ebbs and flows with that of the MILF.

It could be that the MILF truly speaks for the Muslim population, but it would help firm up the foundation of the peace talks by presenting its credentials instead of leaning on a mere endorsement from the White House.

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BELLIGERENCY: Since the Philippine government has allowed this domestic conflict to be internationalized beyond control, such formal papers as credentials and official communiqués – and later a written agreement – are crucial documents.

In the same way that we do not run a government by delivering ghost-written speeches, we cannot make peace accords stick by referring to press releases and interview notes with members of a peace panel.

To have an intelligent debate on this matter of paramount public interest, there should be at least a joint communiqué on that Narita meeting, if an official transcript of the minutes is not yet available.

That (1) the one-on-one involving the President did not confer on the MILF a status of belligerency and (2) the MILF has abandoned its demand for a separate Bangsamoro are merely in the press releases of the Philippine peace team.

We want to hear it officially, in writing, from the MILF to believe it.

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ANWAR VISIT: Listening to former Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim talk last Thursday, one muses that if only our leaders were animated by the same goodwill and concern for the human person that he evinced, we could achieve peace in Mindanao sooner.

With a small group chatting over dinner with Anwar at Dasmarinas Village, I was impressed by his humanity and his grasp of regional politics and the Asian mind.

He delivered Friday a lecture at UP Diliman on the influence of great Filipinos Jose Rizal and Ninoy Aquino on Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders.

In a press conference that same day at Club Filipino with his friend former President Erap Estrada, Anwar said: “Rizal is our (Malaysian) hero. He is a great Malay. The man fought because of his courage and conviction.”

Estrada said he was ready to go to Malaysia to help campaign for Anwar in their coming elections. In a light vein he said: “We’re men of conviction. That’s why we were convicted.” (Anwar, a threat to the leadership in Kuala Lumpur, had been jailed on trumped-up charges.)