It was a meeting that was 46 years in the making.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) welcomed the “historic” meeting between Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Ahod Ebrahim, two key figures in the decades-long fight of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) for autonomy, on Sunday, Sept. 11.
Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said that Murad, along with Members Parliament (MPs) Abdulraof Macacua, Randolf Parcassio, and Abdulkarim Misuari, visited the house of Misuari for a “first ever meeting” between the two Bangsamoro leaders “after 46 years of separation.”
“What we are witnessing here are Bangsamoro leaders taking a reconciliatory position to heed the call of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for unity in the country,” Galvez said.
“A united Bangsamoro will usher a genuine and inclusive peace not just in BARMM but also throughout the country. More good things are expected to happen,” he added.
The meeting was described by Galvez as a “fitting gift” to commemorate the 105th birth anniversary of the late dictator and former president, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., on Sunday.
According to Galvez, Marcos Sr. “started the peace process between the national government and the Moro leaders with the signing of the Tripoli Agreement in 1976.”
The Tripoli Agreement was signed by the MNLF and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines in 1976 to give them a semi-autonomy in several disputed areas in Mindanao. These areas were later called the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and now known as BARMM.
Accordingly, the signing of the Tripoli Agreement angered some of the leaders of the MNLF who wanted a full autonomy status. This led to the formation of a breakaway faction which was later established as the MILF.
But nearly five decades since the split, the leaders of MNLF and MILF met again, only they were not bearing guns in a battlefield but discussing ways to preserve peace in the country.
“The meeting among the two Bangsamoro leaders also coincide as the country is celebrating the National Peace Consciousness Month this September,” Galvez noted.