(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the creation of a body that will coordinate between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front in a bid to thresh out security issues in Sulu.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 27, days after President Duterte met with MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari in Davao.
Panelo said the President made the announcement during that meeting.
“The GPH-MNLF Coordinating Committee will serve as a venue to seek for the cooperation of the MNLF to achieve immediate peace in Sulu by, among others, helping in combatting the Abu Sayyaf Group and convincing MNLF relatives to return to the folds of the law,” Panelo said.
According to Panelo, Duterte instructed the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity led by Peace Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. to convene the body by the second week of September in Davao “for agenda setting and for the start of discussions.”
Panelo said that Misuari had wanted the involvement of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the consultations to determine the remaining compliance of the national government in the 1996 peace agreement with the MNLF.
“In resolving the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao, every undertaking that may lead to a lasting peace and prosperity to that region must be tried and tested until its fruition,” Panelo said.
He said the President “will walk the extra mile to bring harmony to the country and the nation.”
“The GPH-MNLF Coordinating Committee can expect the full support of the Office of the President as we move towards our common goal of resolving the conflict that have caused deaths, suffering, and dislocation…,” he added.
On Aug. 20, Galvez said the President told him to look into the possibility of creating a regional government for areas under the influence of the MNLF.
Sulu had opted out of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, whose leaders were mostly members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the MNLF’s rival.