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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Some 300 former Moro National
Liberation Front rebels gathered Monday in Zamboanga City in the
southern Philippines to campaign for peace.
“We are here gathered to unify our people and
to work for everlasting peace in Mindanao,” said Muslimin Sema,
the new leader of the MNLF, once the largest Muslim rebel group
fighting for independence in the southern Philippines.
The MNLF Central Committee named Sema, the
group’s secretary-general, as its new chairman, replacing Nur
Misuari. But Misuari did not recognize Sema as the legitimate ruler
of the MNLF.
It was the second time in nearly a decade that
Misuari, who founded the MNLF, was removed by his own commanders.
Sema is a member of the so-called MNLF Council of 15, which first
ousted Misuari, accusing the latter of being incompetent as governor
of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Misuari signed a peace deal with Manila in
September 1996 ending decades of bloody war. After the peace
agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of the Muslim
autonomous region.
And in November 2001, on the eve of the
elections in the Muslim autonomous region, Misuari accused the
government of reneging on the peace agreement, and launched a new
rebellion in Sulu province in an effort to stop the elections.
Misuari then escaped by boat to Malaysia, where
he had been arrested and deported to the Philippines.
MNLF proposal
The three-day summit, Sema said, is also aimed
at strengthening the MNLF and to review the provisions of the peace
agreement. He said a “twelve-point policy of direction” of the
MNLF would be presented during the conference, along with the
approval of a new MNLF charter at the end of the summit.
A proposal for the governor of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao to be appointed by the President from
members of the MNLF, instead of holding elections every three years,
is being seriously considered.
He also insisted that the ARMM was created as
part of a peace deal between the MNLF and Manila, and under its
provisions, an MNLF member must sit as governor of the six-province
autonomous region.
“Admittedly the existence of the ARMM is the
product attributed to the Bangsamoro people’s struggle for
self-determination in a way to address the age-long political
conflict. Undoubtedly, therefore, the MNLF is the legitimate
claimant to ARMM to speak of its role in governance,” Sema said.
He said the MNLF has endorsed Alvarez Isnaji,
the mayor of Indanan town in Sulu province, to be the governor of
the autonomous region.
“In order to get rid of election-related
violence, excessive spending and corruption, the MNLF is seeking
preferably the prerogative of the President to appoint an MNLF
candidate to be the ARMM governor. Anyhow, the President plays a
vital role insofar as ARMM governorship is concerned,” Sema said.
Zaldy Ampatuan, a former town mayor in
Maguindanao province, is the current governor of the Muslim
autonomous region after he won the polls against Parouk Hussin, a
senior MNLF leader.
Ampatuan, as governor of the Muslim autonomous
region, introduced reforms and fought corruption in government. He
also prioritized development projects in areas where there are MNLF
communities in support to the peace agreement.
Sema said the MNLF has been eased out from the
mainstream of governance in the ARMM. “This situation is an
obstacle to the peace agreement. In as much as the MNLF is still
aspiring for active participation in all levels of governance
appropriate both in regional and national political mainstreams,
power sharing in governance to involve the MNLF principally should
be taken as a measure to erase the obstacle,” he said.
Although Sema is pushing for an MNLF leadership
in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, he also praised
Ampatuan because of his many accomplishments in Basilan, Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi, Lanao, Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan.
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