MILF appeals for MNLF cooperation in creation of Bangsamoro

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is calling on all faction of the Moro National Liberation Front to help in the drafting of the basic law that would govern the proposed Bangsamoro region under a new autonomy model.

The invitation, the MILF said in a statement posted on its website, would prove that the current peace agreement is inclusive.

The good provisions of the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the MNLF that gave rise to the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao could be part of the Bangsamoro Basic Law setting up the Bangsamoro autonomous entity,  the MILF said.

The MNLF, from which the MILF broke away in 1977, has criticized the preliminary agreements hammered out by the MILF and the government, calling them illegal in light of the existence of the 1996 peace agreement.

The other MNLF factions, particularly one led by former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and the so-called MNLF-Islamic Command Council, had also criticized the MILF agreements but now say they are taking a wait-and-see stance.

“We appeal to our brothers from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to come to grip with reality that during the current Aquino administration, the only viable and pursued peace track is the one with the MILF,” the MILF said.

What MNLF leaders should do is sit down with their counterparts in the MILF “to pluck the good [provisions] in the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement (GRP-MNLF FPA) in 1996 out and incorporate them into the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that is currently being crafted by the MILF-led 15-man Bangsamoro Transition Commission,” the MILF statement said.

“We ask our brothers from the MNLF not to take the issue as personal or one group has the monopoly of good knowledge, or worse, to assume that the MNLF or MILF has the sole franchise to solve the Bangsamoro Question,” it added.

The MILF said “the only real and desirable thing now is that we produce the best BBL for the future Bangsamoro Government.”

“This law is not for the MILF; it is for our people as a whole,” it added.