One interesting statement that came out of the Jeddah MNLF [Moro National Liberation Front] Meeting last June 11, 2014 following the OIC Foreign Ministers Conference was the alleged unity of all MNLF factions on a common agenda and a common leadership. The representatives of Chairman Nur Misuari (Uz. Abdulbaki Abubakar, Abdul Jabbar Narra, Dr. Mashur Jundam and Yahodza Simpal), the leadership of the MNLF Council of 14 (Muslimin Sema and Hatimil Hassan), MNLF-Islamic Command Council Chair Habib Muduahab Hashim, and Jimmy Labawan, Shakiruddin Bajin and Atty. Randolph Parcasio have all signed the unity statement.
No doubt, the MNLF unity statement is a concrete response to the OIC’s appeal for unity within the Bangsamoro in pursuing peace in the Southern Philippines. It establishes the continuum in the peace process between the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, and the 1996 Jakarta Final Peace Agreement between the GPH and the MNLF. Leaders of the MNLF acknowledge that the CAB is a partial fulfillment of the requirements of both the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Jakarta Agreement.
The united MNLF leadership expresses some reservations on the provisions of the CAB that are inconsistent with the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Final Peace Accord. However, it expresses openness to pursue collaborative efforts to build the communalities between and among the three peace agreements in order to strengthen and enhance self-rule in the Southern Philippines.
The MNLF unity statement shows to all and sundry that the MNLF is ONE in pursuing the MNLF-OIC-GPH Tripartite Review on the full implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Accord by resolving the three remaining issues, namely: (1) definition/sharing of revenues and strategic minerals; (2) transitory mechanism/provisional government/plebiscite; and (3) territory.
The unity within all the factions of the MNLF is based on the now known Jeddah Formula referring to the OIC-recognized MNLF leadership that was present at the first MNLF-OIC-GPH Tripartite Conference in Jeddah in 2007.
These same leaders, meeting in Jeddah on June 11, 2014, now commit themselves to maintain unity among all the factions and groups of the MNLF on the common agenda and position of arriving at a political, just and lasting peaceful solution to the long-standing problem of the Bangsamoro people and Muslims in the Southern Philippines.
In the same unity statement, they all acknowledged the leadership of MNLF founding leader and central committee chairman Prof. Nur P. Misuari. And they have also resolved that all the MNLF leaders on the ground shall work toward a unified leadership.
When I got wind of the said unity statement, I thought that this is it! Finally the MNLF leadership has come back to its senses and re-establishes the much-longed for unity among the various factions and groups. I am one of the early jubilant crowds that welcomed the MNLF unity. Seeing all the signatures of the who’s who in the MNLF that have become estranged for years is a marvel in itself.
The joy remained until I was reminded that the ONE SIGNIFICANT signature is NOT in the said unity statement. My immediate answer to the observation is simply to state the fact that "he was not there at the historic meeting but definitely he was ably represented by his lieutenants." To my dismay, I was told that there were many occasions in the past when the "lieutenants," who do NOT carry full authority, could not commit the Chair to any unity agreement.
In short, the MNLF unity statement dated June 11, 2014 is the unity of all those who were present and actually signed the document. It does NOT, in any way, commit to the agreement the MNLF founding leader and central committee chair—Prof. Nur P. Misuari.
Is the MNLF unity for REAL or simply a MIRAGE?
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