WHILE in a meeting with President Duterte at the Palace, who would have thought that Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari would have the gall to say he would go to war if the Chief Executive fails to fulfill his promise to shift to a federal form of government?
In a news report, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya gave the assurance that the government’s advocacy for the shift has never wavered. In fact, he said, government agencies are working together to finalize the elements of the Bayanihan Federalism which was developed by the Consultative Committee assigned to review the 1987 Constitution.
Malaya said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Federalism and Constitutional Reform, led by Secretary Eduardo Año, and its committees have been meeting regularly for the past months to prepare for the opening of the new Congress come June. They supposedly had hopes that Misuari would help the IATF advocate for federalism so that more people would understand why such system is needed.
Also included in the IATF besides the DILG are the Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Presidential Communications Operations Office, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, Civil Service Commission, Presidential Management Staff, Office of the Cabinet Secretariat, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Finance, Development Academy of the Philippines, and the University of the Philippines Law Center.
With all these agencies working in unison, the question is will the MNLF founding chairman have the patience to wait for the results of government efforts to achieve the shift that he desires?
Misuari has been a rebel most of his life. He once was governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). But when things did not go his way, he became the headache of government leaders and was known for resorting to violence with the assistance of his loyal MNLF followers.
It’s a good thing that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter group from the MNLF, has already stated that it has no plans of going to war if the government fails to shift to federalism. MILF Chairman Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim said the present Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) is already acceptable to them and they would all be supportive if there would be federalism.
We all want the decades-old war in southern Philippines to end, Chairman Nur. Resorting to violence or going to war is not the answer.
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