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Duterte in 'brother to brother' meeting with MILF, MNLF leaders

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Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/nation/06/17/duterte-milf-mnlf-061716.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">President-elect Rodrigo Duterte met with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leaders at a restaurant in Davao City Friday night.</div></figcaption></figure></div><h3>Alonto: MNLF, MILF to support Duterte&#x27;s federalism proposal</h3><p>DAVAO CITY - President-elect Rodrigo Duterte met with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front at a hotel in Davao City on Friday evening.</p><p>Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim and his first vice-chairman Ghadzali Jaafar, as well as Moro National Liberation Front leader Datu Abul Khayr Alonto were among the key figures who met with the incoming president at around 9:30 p.m.</p><p>Alonto described the gathering as a &quot;brother-to-brother meeting.&quot;</p><p>He told reporters that the MILF and the MNLF have agreed to support Duterte&#x27;s proposal to shift to a federal form of government.</p><p>&quot;A federal system could very well put in place a government of transparency and accountability, and effectively address the peace and order problems including drug trafficking and kidnap for ransom,&quot; Alonto told reporters.</p><p>&quot;The president-elect has our commitment and our support, hindi sa salita, sa gawa. It&#x27;s high-time wag na yung mga salita-salita. All of the things we talked about, we have to do it,&quot; Alonto added.</p><p>The MNLF chairman said it is time to accept that a &quot;centralized form of government is a dismal failure&quot; as it is the reason &quot;why there is war in Mindanao.&quot;</p><p>Despite agreeing to the shift to a federal form of government, Alonto said they are still hopeful that the &quot;good aspects of the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be retained,&quot; and that the country will see the Bangsamoro as a federal state model.</p><p>When asked if the MILF and MNLF can finally patch things together and come up with a united front under Duterte, Alonto said, &quot;God willing, In Sha&#x27;Allah.&quot;</p><p>Alonto heads an MNLF faction separate from the one headed by founding chairman Nur Misuari that was behind the bloody Zamboanga siege in September 2013. </p><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameBorder="0" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FabscbnNEWS%2Fvideos%2F10154103436985168%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=600" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="600"></iframe><div><strong>CLOSING RANKS</strong></div><p>The MILF, the country&#x27;s largest rebel group, earlier said it has sought to <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/regions/06/14/16/moro-rebels-seek-united-front-for-peace-talks-with-duterte" target="_blank">close ranks</a> with the MNLF to push for a peace deal under Duterte.</p><p>The MILF has sent emissaries to Misuari to discuss a &quot;common approach&quot; after an accord it agreed with outgoing President Benigno Aquino failed to get congressional approval, Jaafar said.</p><p>The fugitive Misuari was &quot;very hopeful&quot; about the prospects of ending the four-decade-long rebellion under Duterte, who will assume office on June 30, Jaafar told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s unity in diversity,&quot; Jaafar said, adding there have been separate negotiations with MNLF central committee chairman Muslimin Sema since the start of the year.</p><p>Sema said the two groups could “merge” its respective peace deals with the government - the MNLF’s Tripoli Agreement of 1976 and a subsequent agreement in 1996, and the MILF’s Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014.</p><p>“We’re actually making it easy for government,” he told ABS-CBN News. “We are calling on other factions to come on board.”</p><p>Misuari has gone into hiding after being charged over the 2013 siege on the southern port city of Zamboanga.</p><p>The 2014 agreement between Aquino and the MILF would have granted wider autonomy to the country&#x27;s Muslim minority, but the peace process ground to a halt after 44 police commandos died in a botched anti-terrorist raid in the remote farming town of Mamasapano last year.</p>

Moro National Liberation Front leader Datu Abul Khayr Alonto said the MILF and the MNLF have agreed to support Duterte's proposal to shift to a federal form of government.

Duterte in 'brother to brother' meeting with MILF, MNLF leaders

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Duterte in 'brother to brother' meeting with MILF, MNLF leaders

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 18, 2016 12:44 AM PHT

|

Updated June 18, 2016 04:31 AM PHT

Read More:

MNLF

MILF

duterte

federalism

davao city

Mindanao

Bangsamoro

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