Misuari warns of war sans federalism in PH – Duterte

President Rodrigo Duterte meets Moro National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur Misuari at Malacañang in this August 2017 photo. ABS-CBN

MANILA – Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari warned of a war should the government fail to pursue a federal shift, said President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a speech in Marikina City on Wednesday evening, the President said that was what they discussed when Misuari visited him at the Malacañang on Tuesday night.

Sabi niya, ‘O sige. Pero ito ang gusto ko, federalism’ Sabi ni Misuari and I am making it public and you can ask the persons who were there,” the President said.

He added: “Sabi ni Misuari, ‘If you do not give it to me, let me be very honest: I will go to war’.”

Duterte said he told Misuari that he would form a panel because “you cannot negotiate secretly here.” He explained to Misuari the panel will tackle “what kind of federalism he wants.”

Misuari is a former governor of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the entity superseded by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Misuari is tagged in the siege of Zamboanga City in 2013 amid the MNLF’s exclusion from government’s then still ongoing peace negotiations with the MILF. The government signed its peace deal with the MILF in 2014./PN

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