3 MNLF factions pick Nur as common representative

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—The meeting was intended to unify the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It ended with three factions of the former agreeing to move as one for a common goal.

During the June 11-12 meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three factions of the MNLF—Habib Mudjahab Hashim’s MNLF Islamic Command Council, the Executive Committee of 15 led by Muslimin Sema and Nur Misuari’s group, represented by lawyer Randolph Parcasio—signed an agreement to have “a unified, solid position toward efforts to arrive at a political, just and lasting peaceful solution” to the Bangsamoro question.

Hashim, in a phone interview with the Inquirer on June 26, said the three groups also agreed to have Misuari as their representative.

Misuari, however, has been in hiding since his men attacked Zamboanga City in September last year. He will be represented by Parcasio.

“We have discussed with MNLF senior leaders, together with OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), to intervene and seek for the lifting of Misuari’s arrest warrant,” Hashim said.

The new group, in a statement that Hashim sent to the Inquirer, said it maintained the “oneness of the MNLF under the leadership of MNLF founding leader and central committee chair Nur Misuari.”

The statement was signed by Hashim, Sema, Parcasio, Ustadz Abdulbaki Abubakar, Jimmy Labawan, Abdul Jabbar Narra, Yahodza Simpal, Hatimil Hassan, Shakiruddin Bajin and Mashur Jundam.

Hashim said no formal talks happened between the MNLF and the MILF.

“We just greeted each other,” he said.

The MILF recently signed a peace agreement with the government. The MNLF, on the other hand, has been complaining that the government failed to fully implement the provisions of the peace deal that it signed in 1996. The MILF is a breakaway group of the MNLF.

In a text message, lawyer Emmanuel Fontanillas, who belongs to Misuari’s group, confirmed the unification.

“Yes, they are now united and that is expected, since he (Misuari) is the originator of the modern struggle. Eventually, all fronts will unite under him,” Fontanillas said.

Misuari was not invited to the Jeddah meeting initiated by the OIC.

But Hashim said they were in constant contact with Misuari during the two-day meeting.

The MNLF senior leaders also agreed that Parcasio would be the spokesperson of the “MNLF Jeddah Formula.”

Hashim said they hoped that the Department of Justice would review the cases filed against Misuari.

Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the decision to lift the warrant of arrest against Misuari was for the Regional Trial Court in Taguig to decide.

“I believe that the court will appreciate the merits of the case,” Salazar said. Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao