MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is optimistic that the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) will not do anything foolish now that the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) has been signed.
Duterte, who has expressed readiness to listen to the demands of MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari, stressed he does not want to wage a war against his own countrymen.
“Nur is just biding his time. I do not know his real intention. But I trust that Nur would not do anything that’s foolish,” Duterte said during the unveiling of a drug rehabilitation center in Bukidnon last Friday.
“He knows that I will yield to him. I really want peace,” he added.
Duterte previously said he was ready to provide Misuari autonomy if the MNLF leader asks for it.
Misuari founded the MNLF in 1972 to push for the establishment of an independent Moro state. The MNLF and the Philippine government signed the Tripoli Agreement in 1976, which paved the way for the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) two decades later.
Misuari has been critical of the peace agreement signed by the government and the MNLF breakaway group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014. He claimed the deal violated existing agreements between the government and the MNLF.
Misuari was charged with rebellion in connection with the 2013 Zamboanga siege, which left close to 200 rebels and more than 20 government troops dead.
The BOL, which will create a new Bangsamoro region with greater economic and political powers, will implement the 2014 peace agreement between the government and the MILF.