by JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL, Manila Times - The man who would have been king of Filipino Muslims tried to keep a straight face after having been humiliated by Imperial Manila.
“That was a wrong signal.” This was the sharp reaction of Chairman Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to President Benigno Aquino 3rd holding secret talks with Chaiman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Japan on Thursday.
Misuari, during an exclusive interview with The Manila Times on Friday, said that President Aquino should come clean with the MNLF and the Muslims in the Philippines on the real score of his hasty meeting with Murad in Tokyo.
The President “should inform us (MNLF) and the Bangsamoro people as to whether (the Aquino administration) has abandoned the GRP-MNLF peace agreement so that our people will not be misled (about) the actual situation,” the MNLF chairman added.
GRP stands for Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Bangsamoro is the political term used by both the MNLF and the MILF in describing Filipino Muslims largely found in the country’s southern Mindanao.
According to Misuari, the MNLF and the government have thoroughly discussed some of the contentious issues in the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the two sides.
Such issues, which he said have not been fully implemented, are those on the provisional government and the delineation of territory—both embodied in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement—and on the mines and minerals.
The MNLF chief pointed out that it was clear that in the delineation of territory—including Palawan, Sulu and many parts of Mindanao —the 1976 Tripoli Agreement would be the reference point.
On the mines and minerals, he said that except for uranium, everything underneath could be explored for economic purposes by the Filipino Muslims.
Misuari, however, added that he still has high hopes that Mr. Aquino will honor the legacy left behind by the President’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, during whose term the 1987 Jeddah Peace Accord was signed.
He appealed to the Aquino administration not to spoil the progress that the peace process involving the government and the MNLF has made.
“We are almost at the finish line,” Misuari said.
He announced that the MNLF panel will meet again with its government counterpart from August 12 to 15, possibly at the Indonesian Embassy in Makati City (Metro Manila).
