Nur snobs ‘Bangsamoro’ hearing

From the Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Sep 19): Nur snobs ‘Bangsamoro’ hearing

MORO National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari will not appear before any House hearing on the discussion of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

In a statement sent to Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by lawyer Elly Pamatong’s group United States Allied Freedom Fighters of the East (Usaffe), Misuari was quoted as saying: “I am not going to appear or serve as resource person before the fact-finding committee of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos in Manila. There is no more need for that.”

Pamatong is the international spokesman and legal counsel of the MNLF.

Misauri, however, said Marcos and his committee members “are welcome to see and meet me here in Jolo, particularly in one of my camps, where they can conduct a senate hearing in aid of legislation.”

“I have already repeatedly expressed my basic opposition toward the Framework Agreement, CAB and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), and GRP (Philippine government) knows everything there is to know about my views on the Bangsamoro and their dream for independence,” Misuari said.

Misuari’s statement came in the wake of the call of Marcos, chair of the Senate committee on local government, to allow the former to speak before the body.

Marcos said Misuari should become part of the process because if both the MNLF and its splinter group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are left out of the equation, then the whole exercise “will not succeed.”

For his part, Cagayan de Oro second district Representative Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the House ad hoc committee on the BBL, also wanted to invite Misuari and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) leader Ameril Umbra Kato during the committee deliberations of the BBL at the Lower House.

At the Senate, the local government and peace, unification and reconciliation committees are tasked with the BBL deliberation, while the ad hoc committee is its counterpart in the Lower House.

The reason for this, Rodriguez said in an interview, is for Misuari and Kato to be given the chance to speak up and let their views be heard on the BBL before the legislators.

Both lawmakers have urged for the suspension of Misuari’s and Kato’s warrants of arrest so they could attend the committee hearings.

“Misuari, who [is] currently surrounded by roughly 30,000 fully armed freedom fighters, is willing to fight to the very end if only to uphold and defend the blood-sanctified Tripoli Agreement of 1976 and the Final Peace Agreement of 1996,” the Usaffe statement said, adding that “For GRP to bring Misuari to his knees, reliable sources say GRP may have to sacrifice 15- to 20,000 lives to do it.”

The statement said Misuari has already fully cooperated in good faith with the international committee in implementing the Tripoli Agreement of 1976, “in fact, he (Misuari) said, he allowed 30,000 of his best fighters to join the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the greater interest of peace.”

“But, he said he felt betrayed because, after that, GRP struck another agreement with Malaysia through the MILF that would virtually give [Minsupala] to Malaysia thereby bringing about tragic territorial dismemberment,” it added.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2014/09/19/nur-snobs-bangsamoro-hearing-366365