Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Excellency Ambassador Rezlan Jenie, the presiding officer of this 3rd Session of the OIC-GRP-MNLF Tripartite Meeting, His Excellency Dr. Adel Merdad, vice chairman of this peace talks and Head of the delegation from the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Ambassador Sayyid Kassim Al-Masry, the Special Envoy of the OIC for Southern Philippines for Peace, His Excellency Ambassador Mohammedou Al-Doudou of Senegal, His Excellency Ambassador Talal Al-Daus, Director of Muslim Minorities & Communities of the OIC, distinguished representatives of the Ministerial Committee of the Twelve, the distinguished delegation from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, my brothers and sisters in the MNLF delegation, brothers and sisters who are present here to witness this proceeding, Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi taala wa barakatuhu.
When I came to this session, I came with a very heavy heart, aware as I am of what happened in the past. We have been hearing platitude after platitude about peace, but the sad experiences of our people are these: Every time we agreed on a peace agreement, all what we achieved were temporary peace, but finally we ended up in a bloodshed.
Second experience of our people: Every time we have peace talks like this, and we failed to achieve anything across the table, willy-nilly, there will be outbreak of war.
I came here to appeal to all of you to search your conscience and to make a resolution to break the cycle of terror and war in our Homeland. Since the time of Marcos, I was always at the head of my delegation. But sad to note despite the concessions we made, concession after concession, all what we got was tragedy, suffering and misery imposed on our people.
I negotiated and signed the Tripoli Agreement on the 23rd of December 1976, and we intended to declare ceasefire on the 20th of January 1977; a follow up peace talks occurred in August. But since we did not reach any agreement at all, what happened was -- there was an outbreak of war. Remember the Tabuh Danag Incident on October 10, 1977! The whole leadership of the Tabak Division, the most equipped and the most powerful Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, were wiped out in a matter of minutes in the hands of the Moro National Liberation Front.
I was delivering my address at the Palaise de Nacion in Algiers when this incident occurred. I asked my brothers who have knowledge about this incident. I said what happened? Well, they told me, Marcos made an indiscretion to declare before the media ordering his commanders in the field to go out and search for MNLF leaders and members, and to talk to them---with or without Nur Misuari.
That stoked the war. We have just signed a peace agreement and declared the ceasefire but Marcos was so arbitrary. What happened later on, we decided to ask jurists from all over the world. Because so many lives, tens of thousands of lives, were wasted in this war despite the fact that we have already entered into peace agreement, still they decided to impose war on us.
What happened?
In Belgium, Marcos was tried by Tribunal and he was pronounced as having committed a heinous crime against humanity. Jurists from many parts of the globe went to Belgium at our invitation.
That was the first.
And then came Corazon Aquino. If we are only keen enough to understand, it was my decision in Madrid that put her to power. You ask Butz Aquino, you ask Norberto Gonzales, you ask their companions what happened in Madrid in the First week of January 1986, barely a month before the snap elections in the 7th of February the same year. They were pleading with me for help.
I asked why? There’s going to be election. Cory is running. And she was facing heavy odds. Because according to the findings of all their campaign managers, Marcos was going to win a landslide victory. I said can you tell me why. Butz Aquino said that in Luzon and in Visayas the outcome will be almost even, but when the outcome of the snap election would come from Mindanao, it would be landslide victory for Marcos.
Corazon Aquino, before sending her brother-in-law to Madrid to see me there, had already made intimation to withdraw from the race but somebody told her: “Madame, don’t make too fast a decision, let’s wait for Nur Misuari. He can help us turn the tide against Marcos in Mindanao.”
That’s exactly what they did. They asked for my help and finally we decided. We helped her on condition that Corazon Aquino, once she would come to power, must comply with all the promises and commitments of her late husband. Ninoy Aquino had visited me in Damascus and Saudi Arabia, and promised: “Brother Nur, if we come to power, if the opposition would come to power, surely we will recognize and support the Bangsamoro people’s right to self-determination and independence.” This was published all over the world.
What happened after we supported her? There was a big problem. Marcos went to the University of the Philippines Law College and harangued the Lady. Marcos charged her of having committed heinous crime along with her brother-in-law for entering into agreement with Nur Misuari in Madrid to topple his government. But what was the reply of the Lady. After she had kept herself in Cebu to avoid arrest, she returned back to Manila and made statement in the media, “If I win in this coming snap elections, the first thing I’ll do is to meet Nur Misuari in any part of the world, to extend my gratitude to him and his people.”
Exactly that’s what happened. On the 5th of September 1986, she flew, against the advice of the generals, to Jolo. We had a Summit Meeting with her and we launched the negotiations for peace. But what happened after we signed the Jeddah Accord in 1987, we came again to it. Why? I must tell you according to my information the Lady had entrusted the solution of the problem to the hands of the late Cardinal Sin.
Nothing happened after that despite the assistance we gave her to put her to power.
Then came Ramos. Our people were against him, and Ramos knows this. Because Ramos was known among us as the chief architect of the war in Mindanao. So once he becomes president, he would start making preparation for war, offensive war of course. But what happened instead Ramos sent his delegation to Tripoli, Libya headed by the present Executive Secretary Ermita; sought my cooperation and so we had a 3-day meeting and we signed an agreement to launch the peace talks.
It took us, Excellencies, four solid years starting in October 1992 until we signed in Manila the agreement called the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. Four solid years it took us just to complete the talks.
What happened after that?
After we signed agreement with Marcos, after we signed agreement with Aquino, after we signed agreement with Ramos, what came about were but a short period of peace. And then the flame of war overtook us. Hundreds of thousands of lives had been wasted in the process. That’s for the sake of autonomy!
Originally we were demanding for independence. We declared in our Manifesto that there would be no any talks with the Philippine government. But the OIC filed that fateful Resolution in Kuala Lumpur in July 1974 during the 5th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers there, calling for the resolution of the problem on the basis of autonomy.
What happened?
Now, as His Excellency was saying earlier, it’s 33 years gone since we signed the 1976 Peace Agreement, and so many years after that. We are again in the same predicament. We are in the crossroad. I mentioned all these antecedents just to awaken the conscience of our brothers because, to me, maybe this is the last chance.
This is our last chance. If we will not succeed in this peace talks, if we will not be able to produce anything positive, then it will leave us with no other choice but to take a departure from this Formula. And probably we will return back to our original intention of seeking independence for our people. This is the message I wanted to convey to you for your guidance so that you will not misunderstand us.
Now I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, please let us break this cycle of war. Let us break the cycle of tragedy and misery. The Philippine government has no right to impose this war on us and on our innocent people. You resort to all kinds of weapons of war to destroy us.
I am appealing to you, please let us work together. Let us produce good results here. And let us once again break this cycle of tragedy, of misery in our Homeland. Otherwise the MNLF will be left with no choice but to seek other means of resolving the problem.
Wa Billahi tawfiq wal hidayah … Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi taala wa barakatuhu.
*** Transcribed by Professor Salic Amerodin
MNLF General Secretariat
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