MNLF wants return of Sulu to BARMM territory

COTABATO CITY — Officials of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have called on national lawmakers to work out the return of Sulu to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

MNLF officials, including Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin G. Sema, told reporters on Thursday that removing Sulu from the core territory of BARMM by the Supreme Court has serious implications on the government’s separate peace compacts with the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The High Tribunal’s action was based on a petition by Sulu Gov. Hadji Abdusakur M. Tan, who was against the fusion of their province with the Bangsamoro region.

“Sulu is an integral component of the collective aspiration of the Moro people in Southern Philippines for progress and peace via self-governance,” Mr. Sema, who is chairman of the MNLF’s central committee, said.

Mr. Sema said Sulu is the virtual birthplace of the Moro uprising for self-rule, in the context of Philippine sovereignty.

“We must not forget that what the MNLF fought for, first, was independence but agreed to autonomy. Now Sulu, which was the main flashpoint of the Mindanao secessionist conflict, was taken out from the Bangsamoro region,” he said.

Mr. Sema, BARMM Trade Minister Abuamri A. Taddik, MNLF officials, and leaders of the front’s Lupah-Sug State Revolutionary Committee in Sulu agreed to call on members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to cooperate in returning Sulu to the Bangsamoro region. Among the MNLF officials were: Uttoh Salem D. Cutan, Faizal G. Karon and Adzfar H. Usman, who are members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament.

The consensus was reached during their dialogue on Monday in Patikul town in Sulu.

“It is hurting for us to see Sulu taken out from the Bangsamoro region’s area of coverage,” Mr. Usman said.

Mr. Karon said he is optimistic that members of the national legislature will focus attention on their sentiments.

“This is all for peace and justice to all of those who perished in our struggle for self-rule during the early 1970s until the 1980s,” said Mr. Karon, who joined the MNLF as an adolescent and figured in deadly gunfights with government troops in seaside towns in what is now Sultan Kudarat province in region 12. — John Felix M. Unson