Misuari: Part of the Mindanao problem NUR MISUARI represented the hopes and dreams of the people of Mindanao for a better life when he founded the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the early 1970s and mustered enough followers to fight for an independent homeland throughout that decade and well into the 1980s, despite the signing of the Tripoli Agreement of 1977 that was supposed to end the bloodshed. In 1996 the MNLF signed a comprehensive peace agreement with the Ramos administration that paved the way for the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which Misuari headed as governor for a good number of years. Sadly, under Misuari, the ARMM never managed to plant the seeds of sustained socioeconomic development in the region. During his term, Misuari, whenever he traveled to Manila, reportedly brought with him a virtual battalion of armed followers, often renting entire floors of five-star hotels in Makati City and, in the process, squandering millions of pesos in ARMM funds intended for development projects. The 1996 peace agreement between Manila and the MNLF should have led to peace and development in Mindanao. But Misuari missed the opportunity to do this not only by living like a monarch using government funds, but launching one military misadventure after another aimed at giving him back the political power that he desperately craves for. In Misuari’s latest escapade, six persons, including a soldier and a policeman, were killed, while 24 others were wounded, after an estimated 300 MNLF members attacked five barangays in Zamboanga City on Monday morning. The MNLF later held hostage more than 200 villagers and asked Indonesia to facilitate the talks for their release. The MNLF fighters, the military said, had planned to attack Zamboanga City Hall and hoist their flag there. In 2001 Misuari, then ARMM governor, led 600 rebels in attacking a military camp in Barangay Busbus, Jolo town, Sulu province, that resulted in the death of more than 100 people and the wounding of many others. He said the attack was meant to stop the ARMM elections because the national government did not consult him on the process. He fled to Malaysia to evade arrest, but Malaysian police arrested him later that year in Sabah. In 2007 the government ordered Misuari arrested on charges of terrorism, but he was later acquitted by the court after the prosecution failed to show evidence to convict him and his co-accused. The decades-old insurgency by Muslim rebels, first by the MNLF and later by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has already claimed 150,000 lives. While the MILF is now in the homestretch of its peace negotiations with the national government, the MNLF under Misuari insists on staging attacks against government forces for dubious political ends. What is clear from Misuari’s latest misadventure is that he can no longer be considered a part of the solution to the Mindanao problem. He is a big hindrance to the peace process in Mindanao and stands in the way of socioeconomic development in the region. The sooner Misuari realizes that the solution to the Mindanao problem lies at the negotiating table rather than in the battlefield, the better for all the Muslims in the southern Philippines.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 01:26:04 +0000
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