‘Don’t leave out MNLF’

Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong. Photo from congress.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong said the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) must not be excluded from the process of drafting the basic law.

The MNLF, the main Muslim insurgency until it signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996, has felt largely left out of this new accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a faction of the MNLF that broke away in protest against the 1996 accord.

MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari has expressed his opposition to the deal being worked out by the government and the MILF. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that resulted from the 1996 agreement will be dissolved and replaced by the new Bangsamoro entity.

Followers of Misuari laid siege to parts of Zamboanga City last September which resulted in the death of more than 100 people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more.

The government must bring the MNLF into the picture in order to quell any future dissent, Loong said.

“If we’re not going to do that, there could be continuous disunification,” he said.

Loong said what he would want is for the Bangsamoro basic law to incorporate the agreements of 1976 (the Tripoli Agreement) and 1996 between the government and the MNLF.

“We had a bad experience when we enacted the basic law addressing only the concerns of the MNLF, not the concerns of the MILF, and they refused to agree and they continued the struggle, so the conflict was not resolved,” the Sulu lawmaker said.

He believes the MNLF would be willing to sit down and talk if they really want peace.

“If their concern is really for the Bangsamoro, I can’t think of any reason for them to reject any offer to them if they are invited to sit in the discussions,” said Loong.