KORONADAL CITY – The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) urged its forces “to stay away” from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and remain neutral in the face of attacks launched by the rival rebel group in Central Mindanao.
Rodrigo Fabillon, acting chief of staff of the MNLF-Bangsamoro Armed Forces (BAF), said founding chairman Nur Misuari has urged MNLF forces to stay away from the conflict between the government and the MILF.
Fabillon, an Islam-convert, said Misuari also told him to issue an order prohibiting the MNLF forces to forge a tactical alliance with the MILF rebels.
“Let us focus on calling the government to initiate steps that may lead to the full implementation of the 1996 GRP-MNLF peace agreement,” Fabillon said.
“The conflict between the government and the MILF is not our problem. Let us allow the government to look for ways how to placate the MILF,” he said.
The MNLF, founded by Misuari more than forty years ago, is the largest separatist group fighting for a separate Moro homeland in the southern Philippines.
The MNLF signed the peace agreement with the government in 1996, paving the way for the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The MILF, on the other hand, broke away from the MNLF and did not recognize the creation of the ARMM.
With its more than 12,000 guerrillas, the MILF is pushing for the creation of a Bangsamoro homeland, as reflected in the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that was supposed to be signed with the government.
But the Supreme Court had put on hold the signing of the agreement because of constitutional issues.
Following the aborted signing of the MOA-AD, the MILF is forcing the issue by occupying villages in North Cotabato, triggering intense fighting for two weeks and forcing evacuation of over 100,000 civilians.
Fabillon, on the other hand, revealed the MNLF would not recognize the MOA the government and the MILF would sign.