MNLF lawyer says group not against BBL

From the Business World (Dec 15): MNLF lawyer says group not against BBL

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The legal counsel of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has categorically stated the group is not opposed to the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Lawyer Randolph C. Parcasio said the MNLF, particularly the faction under the leadership of Nur MIsuari, maintains its position that it will allow Congress to decide on the proposal to create a new Bangsamoro political and geographic entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The ARMM was created in August 1989 following a peace deal between the MNLF and the government.

The BBL is based on the peace agreement signed by the government with another Moro group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which broke away from the MNLF in the late 1970s.

“The MNLF is not opposed to the BBL, because the official position of the MNLF is let the legislature take its natural course. As we have stated in the Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum, the MNLF position is ’No Comment’ out of reciprocity. That is the same position the MILF accorded to the MNLF when we negotiated the Final Peace Agreement, they did not interfere,” Mr. Parcasio said during a forum here last week.

The Regional Forum on Peace and Security was attended by some 200 civil society and religious leaders from the Zamboanga-Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi subregion.

Mr. Parcasio’s pronouncement indicates a shift in the MNLF’s purported antagonism towards the BBL and its antecedent Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) forged between the government and the MILF in 2014.

MNLF members under Mr. Misuari attacked Zamboanga City in September 2013 to demonstrate their opposition to the government-MILF deal as it was being finalized in Malaysia at that time.

Mr. Parcasio, in his 40-minute talk, also updated the forum on the status of the review, which has been ongoing for years now, by the MNLF with the Philippine government on the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

He lamented that while it only took three years to negotiate the FPA, it has taken almost 10 years so far to discuss its implementation, with at least three major provisions still under contention.

Mr. Parcasio also discussed the status of current efforts led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to unify the leaderships of the MILF with the MNLF.

The MILF broke away from the MNLF after disagreements over ideological issues following the Tripoli Agreement, which the OIC brokered in 1976.

Then and now, the MNLF under Mr. Misuari wants to establish a secularist “Bangsamoro Republik” while the MILF was aiming for an Islamic state, according to MNLF commander Amilpasa Bandaring.

Under the CAB, the MILF has dropped its call for an independent Islamic state in favor of regional autonomy based on a parliamentary political system.

The strategic unification of the MILF and MNLF is considered to be critical to the success of the peace process, a goal shared primarily by the OIC.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the OIC said, “We urge the leaders of both the MNLF and the MILF to consolidate their coordination and cooperation through the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum (BCF) and to engage other stakeholders in order to close ranks and strengthen and consolidate their cooperation and unity and maintain their peaceful struggle for the common cause.”

Mr. Parcasio also said at the forum, “Unity (of the MILF and MNLF) is indispensable to the success of the Bangsamoro struggle. There is no basic difference between the two fronts as both are seeking to achieve justice, peace and fair solution to the problem of the Bangsamoro people, to coordinate their efforts in order to consolidate their movements towards achieving the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.”

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