MANILA - The Philippine government remains optimistic that peace negotiation with the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will push through in January as politically negotiated settlement is needed as soon as possible.

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Marvic Leonen, head of the government panel negotiating with the MILF, said Tuesday the issue on the Malaysian facilitator will be addressed soon.

"We agree that the facilitator issue needs to be resolved. We however remain confident that the proper officials in Malaysia already know our concerns," Leonen said in a briefing.

The government has been asking for the replacement of Malaysian facilitator, Datuk Othman bin Abd'Razak, whom it accused of being bias towards the MILF.  The MILF, however, asked Malaysia to maintain Othman.

Leonen said the government has already communicated the issue on the facilitator to Kuala Lumpur through the proper channels.

"We understand that the good offices they offer for the talks will take all these issues into consideration. We have informed them that we desire to have an acceptable politically negotiated settlement at the soonest possible time," he explained.

He added that the government is hoping that negotiations with the MILF will resume in January.

"We hope that the MILF can share that optimism," Leonen said

Leonen said a politically negotiated settlement is needed at the soonest possible time so that the energies of all can be channeled to addressing justice, lasting peace, sustainable development and prosperity for all peoples in Mindanao.

He admitted that administrative and security concerns do arise while peace negotiations are ongoing. But he said that the government prefers these concerns to be discussed with the counterparts from the MILF as well as work on these issues first.

Leonen added the administration continued with consultations with relevant sectors on many of the issues raised by the MILF.

"We think that this is what negotiating in good faith means. It also is the better part of prudence since issues taken out of context do contribute to environments which can only foster more violence," the chief negotiator said.

He also asked all concerned sectors to help in addressing the problems in the spirit of finding lasting solutions to a complex problem.