ZAMBOANGA CITY, 26 June 2005 — Former fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have threatened to abandon the 1996 peace agreement they signed with Manila, accusing the government of reneging on its pact with the former separatist rebel group.
Some 1,400 former rebels ended a two-day plenum on Thursday in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao and many said they were disgruntled over the alleged failure of the government to honor the peace agreement.
Under the accord, Manila would provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in Muslim areas in the south and livelihood and housing assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to uplift their poor living standards. The government later granted autonomy to five Muslim provinces in the south called the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
After the peace agreement was signed, MNLF leader Nur Misuari became the governor of autonomous region. Despite the accord, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted.
In November 2001, on the eve of the ARMM elections, Misuari accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and launched a new rebellion in Jolo island, where more than 100 people were killed. Misuari is facing trial on rebellion charges.
Misuari was also removed as MNLF chairman after disgruntled senior members led by Muslimin Sema, the front’s secretary-general, accused the former militant leader of being incompetent. Misuari’s deputy Hatimil Hassan is now chairman of the MNLF.
But many MNLF members accused the government of failing to develop the areas, which remain in mired in poverty, heavily militarized and dependent financially on Manila. Some of the disgruntled former rebels have either joined either the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), now the country’s largest separatist rebel group, or the smaller and ruthless Abu Sayyaf group.
And Muslims in the south are most likely to fight for or support an armed separatist front when they perceive no alternative means to overcome discrimination and improve their living conditions.
Sema, also mayor of Cotabato City, said yesterday that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ignored the MNLF’s request to support its candidates for the Aug.8 ARMM elections.
“MNLF commanders all over Mindanao are getting restless over the perceived failure of the government to fulfill its obligations. I am afraid that if the government does not take this seriously, the negative sentiments of our armed combatants can run out of proportion and might lead to eventual abandonment of the agreement,” he said.
He said some 1,400 senior MNLF members have gathered in Maguindanao province for a two-day plenum that ended Friday.
“The assembly was intended to assess the status of the implementation of the peace agreement which is now at its most critical period. We want to arrest the growing disillusionment of our members, who believed that the Philippine government reneged on its major commitments stipulated in the peace pact,” Sema said.
The MNLF also assailed the government for endorsing non-MNLF candidates to the ARMM elections. “The MNLF believes the ARMM is the most appropriate vehicle for the implementation of the peace agreement. By endorsing non-MNLF members in the leadership of the ARMM, the government has sealed the fate of the peace agreement,” he said.
The MNLF passed a resolution on Friday urging its members to boycott the elections. “The MNLF leadership manifested its decision to boycott the ARMM election if only to manifest constructive sense of direction in sustaining peace,” it said.
Sema said the MNLF is maintaining its “one leadership, one organization” policy. He earlier warned of a bloody election because of the proliferation of illegal weapons now in the hands of political warlords and supporters.
“Unless the authorities seize all these weapons, I see the elections to be very bloody,” Sema said.
He said thousands of illegal weapons are believed in the hands of mostly politicians in the autonomous region that comprises the province of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan. Aside from political warlords, many illegal weapons are also in the hands of rebel groups, gun syndicates and lawless elements.
“This scenario is very scary, there are tens of thousands of illegal weapons out there and the government must act swiftly to prevent hostilities before and during elections in the Muslim autonomous region,” he said.
Sema sought the postponement of the polls until the authorities could guarantee a peaceful and honest elections.
But the political campaigns have began on Friday. More than 1.2 million Muslim voters in the autonomous region are to choose their new set of governor and vice governor and members to the Regional Legislative Assembly.
