President Rodrigo Duterte said he was “in a hurry” to make a pact with Moro National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur Misuari days after the MNLF threatened to “go to war” once the government failed to push for federalism.
In a speech during the campaign rally of the ruling PDP-Laban party in South Cotabato on Tuesday night, Duterte said the government had to arrange an agreement again with the MNLF.
“Here in Mindanao we were also grappling with so many fronts. I am dealing with the drug problem and at the same time I am in a hurry to strike a deal with Nur Misuari,” Duterte said.
He said the Bangsamoro Organic Law was “satisfactory” to Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ebrahim. However, Misuari seemed to have a different take on the new Bangsamoro government.
“The BOL is satisfactory according to Murad, as it is. So long as it is implemented correctly,” Duterte said.
“Meanwhile, for Misuari, we have to deal with him again. And I hope that we could find the space, the time,and the issues that would be more acceptable to everybody, to both the Lumads, the Christian and the Moro.”
Duterte made his comments a week after he revealed that Misuari said he would go to war against the government should it fail to implement federalism.
Duterte said Misuari had told him that he wanted federalism even after the BOL, a product of the government’s negotiations with the MILF, was ratified.
The 80-year-old Moro revolutionary then told the Duterte administration that it would go to war if the government “did not give” the merits of federalism to the breakaway faction.
“There are people that you need. And there are people that you have to support like Murad, like Misuari. You cannot kill them. If you killed them, then it would be an accident to all of us,” Duterte said.
“Then we no longer can prevent trouble. No one would control it.”
Just last week, Misuari and Duterte met in Malacañang, their second in less than a month after the BOL was ratified.
In previous reports, Duterte ordered Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process Carlito Galvez to craft a new deal with the MNLF.
Last month, the Sandiganbayan allowed Misuari, who is facing graft and malversation cases, to leave the country to attend several Islamic conventions abroad.
The President had previously admitted that he somehow influenced the anti-graft court to allow the MNLF leader to leave the country despite the charges against the latter.
Aside from graft cases, the rebel leader also faces rebellion charges for the 2013 Zamboanga siege.