MNLF leaders urge boycot of ARMM elections

The mainstream Moro National Liberation Front announced Sunday their group will boycot the Aug. 11 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections.

This decision was approved during the Bangsamoro People’s Congress attended by some 300 key MNLF leaders held in Marawi City over the weekend. 

“The front will not participate in the ARMM Aug. 11 elections,” MNLF spokesman for Mindanao lawyer Emmanuel Fontanilla told The STAR yesterday. Fontanilla did not explain the reason behind their non-participation to the forthcoming political exercise in the ARMM. However, he described the recent elections of Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema as MNLF chairman as a “great deception of the Bangsamoro People.” 

In the two-day congress the BNPP as a whole, had condemned Sema’s elections as new MNLF chair.

In a resolution, the group also approved the creation of the Bangsamoro National People’s Parliament (BNPP) to replace the present existing Bangsamoro People’s Congress (BPC).

The MNLF congress chaired by Zain Jali, unanimously elected detained MNLF chieftain and former ARMM governor Nur Misuari as BNPP head.

Misuari, who refused to acknowledge Sema’s election as MNLF chair, is currently under house arrest for rebellion charges.

Aside from key MNLF leaders and ground commanders, the Marawi Congress, Fontanilla also noted the influx of Christian leaders as well as Mindanao tribal leaders into the two-day gathering.