Government, MNLF meet postponed due to lack of OIC representation

COTABATO CITY — The second tripartite dialogue with the Philippine government (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) scheduled today has been postponed for lack of representation from the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), officials said.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Segis said OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ishanuglo has not confirmed his attendance to the three-way conference as scheduled.

“The general secretariat of the OIC has not communicated with Philippine government yet on that regard,” he said.

Seguis, whose office is acting as conduit to the OIC, admitted that the second tripartite meeting at the Indonesian embassy in Manila may not take off as scheduled.

Lawyer Randolph Parcasio, representing former MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari to the tripartite meeting, also said Ishanuglo has not confirmed his attendance to the conference in Manila.

The second tripartite meeting will be held in the Indonesian Embassy in Manila where the GRP will be the key participant in reviewing its 1996 peace agreement with the MNLF as brokered by the OIC.

The 11-year-old truce is now the subject of an extensive tripartite review due to perceived weaknesses of some of its provisions.

The three parties involved in the initiative will meet to discuss efforts of the MNLF and the government in assessing five key issues – education, Shari’a, political representation, regional security force, and natural resources – set as parameters for the enhancement of the 1996 peace pact.

Parcasio stressed the tripartite meeting cannot push through without the OIC’s secretary-general.

He said the MNLF is certain the OIC will reset the supposed tripartite meeting in Manila on Monday.

Misuari earlier asked the OIC to hold the meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia instead of having it held at the Indonesian embassy in Manila.

Observers are worried that the ongoing tripartite review of the GRP-MNLF truce can worsen factionalism in the MNLF,  the once solid rebel force now crisscrossed by gaping factional divides.

Eleven ranking leaders of the MNLF, some of them members of the defunct “Council of 15,” which took over the front’s leadership from Misuari in April 2000, wrote last week questioning the propriety of the former leader’s designation of non-MNLF members to the five joint working groups (JWGs) involved in the ongoing review of the peace agreement.

The five JWGs, comprised of government representatives, officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and those chosen by Misuari to represent the MNLF, are now studying the possible enhancement of the 11-year-old truce.

The 11 signatories assailed Misuari’s choice of representatives to the JWG and questioned the propriety of the designation of Parcasio as chairman of the MNLF’s panel to the tripartite review of the peace agreement.

Parcasio, a human rights lawyer, according to the complaining MNLF leaders, is not an organic member of the front.

Parcasio, a human rights lawyer, is a known protégé of Misuari and was his executive secretary when he was governor of the ARMM from 1996 to 2001.

Parcasio represented Misuari in the Nov. 10-12 first tripartite meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Parcasio, for his part, said Misuari, as founding chairman of the MNLF, has the sole prerogative to select his choice of representatives to the JWG and the panel representing the front in the tripartite activity.