Malacañang has insisted that President Arroyo did not know the details of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) contrary to the recent claim of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza told reporters Wednesday that Esperon was "quoted out of context" in his statements last Monday during the anniversary of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) that the peace negotiators take their cue and guidance from the President when it comes to their actions in the peace talks.

Dureza said Arroyo was only aware of the general framework of the agreement on ancestral domain, but she had reiterated to the peace negotiators that it should be consistent with the Philippine constitution.

He also said Arroyo was against the inclusion in the new and expanded Bangsamoro homeland, barangays that are not contiguous to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The president, he said, would not have approved provisions that would create a separate state for the Muslims in the south.

Dureza also reiterated that the government will no longer sign the MOA-AD "in its present form or in any other form."

He also downplayed Esperon's statement that the MOA-AD will still be used as a reference point in the peace talks.

Instead, Dureza said the peace negotiations will be guided by the results of consultations and dialogue with the various stakeholders in Mindanao.

Such consultations will then be used as the basis for future negotiations not only with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) but also with other rebel groups.