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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
THE Arroyo government said it would recognize
the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) representative who will
attend the upcoming tripartite meeting this month as long as he gets
the nod by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
The MNLF must resolve its leadership row and the
government will not intervene in its internal affairs, Executive
Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters in an interview last week.
Concerns arose recently after the MNLF elected
Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen Sema as MNLF’s new head after former
MNLF Chair Nur Misuari was allowed to post bail by a Makati court
last week in connection with rebellion charges he is facing.
“It’s MNLF’s internal affairs and the
Philippine government has nothing to do with it. MNLF must resolve
its own leadership row in preparation for the tripartite meeting
this May,” Ermita said.
Sema was elected head of the MNLF after the
front’s Central Committee unanimously elected him as chairman on
April 1 in Pagadian City. He replaces Misuari, now facing rebellion
charges.
With two-thirds of the Central Committee’s
members and more than 300 ground commanders in attendance, the
three-day assembly settles the “leadership crisis and absence of
policy directions” engendered in part by the refusal of Misuari in
2000 to abide with the decision of the then “Council of 15,”
elevating him to the position of chairman emeritus.
Sema said he expects resistance to his
leadership only by those whom he called as having a “different
direction in the pursuit of the MNLF’s goals.” He stressed that
the Front is not “fractured” and that a reorganization is in the
offing.
Last month, Misuari, the former governor of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has been allowed to post bail
by a local court.
The Makati court gave the order in accordance
with the instructions of the Cabinet security cluster, the
Department of Justice said.
Misuari was arrested in Malaysia in November 25,
2001 after Philippine authorities filed rebellion charges against
him. He was deported to the Philippines in 2002 and has been in jail
since then although he was allowed to post bail totaling P50,000
last week.
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