Leaders see new means to settle GRP-MNLF discord

COTABATO CITY — Leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front are confident the Feb. 6 to 8 tripartite in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will "open new avenues" leading to the resolution of perceived kinks in the GRP-MNLF final peace pact.

Highly-placed MNLF sources identified with jailed former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Nur Misuari have confirmed the dates of the tripartite meeting, set by the Organization of Islamic Conference.

The OIC, a pan-Islamic group of 58 Muslim states, including wealthy Arab petroleum countries, helped broker the Sept. 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace accord.

Representatives of Malacañang will join the meeting as one of the three parties to the multi-lateral initiative of addressing the misunderstandings on the implementation of the peace pact.

The tripartite meeting was recommended by the OIC after its evaluation last May of the implementation of the GRP-MNLF truce.

The MNLF has long been ranting on the alleged failure of the government to comply with certain provisions of the peace pact, which paved the way for the integration of some 8,000 qualified guerillas into the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police.

"We are optimistic the tripartite meeting will usher in a consensus among the MNLF, the government and the OIC on how we can peacefully address all of the misunderstandings on the peace agreement," said Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, who is the MNLF’s secretary-general.

Sema said the MNLF has always been open to the peaceful resolution of the problems shrouding the truce.

"Even if there were misunderstandings between the government and the MNLF, we in the MNLF never turned our backs from the Sept. 2, 1996 peace accord between the government and the MNLF," Sema said.

For the MNLF, sensitive provisions of the peace accord, particularly those centered on the supposed involvement of former rebels in governance, have not taken off due to various political and administrative constraints that the front and the government failed to efficiently iron out bilaterally.

Misuari has reportedly chosen 20 of his lieutenants to represent the MNLF in the tripartite meeting.

Misuari has been jailed since 2002 for leading a failed mutiny in Jolo, Sulu on November 2001, about three weeks before the ARMM’s fourth regional elections, which he feared would only boot him out of power.

Instead of supporting Misuari as administration re-electionist candidate for ARMM governor, President Arroyo anointed physician Parouk Hussin as Malacañang’s favored bet for regional governor in the same political exercise.