Next Duterte-Misuari meet set on December 6: Go

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with Moro National Liberation Front Founding Chairman Nur Misuari at the Malacañan Palace on November 11, 2019.

MANILA – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari will meet again on December 6, Senator Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Palace reporters, Go said the President and the MNLF leader have yet to finalize their meeting place to discuss their resolve to put an end to the decades-old conflict in Mindanao.

“So sa December 6, magkakaroon sila ng panibagong meeting, along with the MNLF officials and on the part of the government of the Philippines (So on December 6, they will hold another meeting, along with the MNLF officials and on the part of the government of the Philippines),” Go, Duterte’s former special aide, said on the sidelines of an event at Malacañan Palace.

“Usapan nila, palitan, Manila, Davao and even Zamboanga. Sabi ni Pangulo, kung saan sa tingin ninyo, convenient on both parties, kung saan sila pwedeng mag-usap (They agreed to hold the meeting either in Manila, Davao, and even Zamboanga. The President said the meeting place should be convenient for both parties who will talk peace),” he added.

The national government and the MNLF are expected to finalize the creation of a peace coordinating committee in December.

This developed following Duterte’s meeting with Misuari at Malacañan Palace on Monday.

Duterte, during his August 23 meeting with Misuari, was the first one to express desire for the immediate creation of the peace panel between the national government and MNLF.

In 1996, the MNLF forged a peace pact with the national government that saw the creation of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where Misuari ruled as a governor.

The ARMM, however, was replaced by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) following the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law anchored on the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a group that broke away from the MNLF several years before the 1996 peace deal.

The MNLF, under the leadership of Misuari, has been questioning the supposed inequitable distributions of positions at the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, an interim governing body of the BARMM.

In March, Duterte said he was “in a hurry” to strike a deal with Misuari, in an effort to end the Moro rebellion and achieve peace in Mindanao.