The Philippine government is committed to signing a comprehensive peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group in or before February next year, a senior government official said Friday.

Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Marvic Leonen expressed optimism in forging a final peace accord following the secret meeting between President Benigno Aquino III and MILF leader Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, in Tokyo, Japan Thursday night.

"One year or earlier is a reasonable period," said Leonen in a press conference in the Malacanang presidential palace after arriving from Tokyo.

Leonen was one of the high-ranking officials who accompanied Aquino in Japan. He said the one year period started in February this year when the government and the MILF peace panels first held their formal meeting under the Aquino administration.

During the two-hour meeting between Aquino and Murad, Leonen said, the two agreed that the implementation of any peace agreement should happen within the current administration.

"Both agreed to fast track the negotiations," Leonen added.

The Philippine government and the MILF are expected to hold the next round of talks on Aug. 22-24 in Malaysia, which is the third party facilitator.

The MILF has been fighting government troops for decades to establish a self-rule Muslim state in the south of the predominantly Catholic country. Peace talks between the government and the MILF stalled in August 2008 following the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. A final peace deal with the government will touch the issues of autonomy and the civil settlement of the rebel group's 11,800-strong guerrilla fighters.

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