ZAMBOANGA CITY — Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari arrived in Manila to meet President Duterte on Thursday, after the Pasig regional trial court suspended the enforcement of his arrest warrant and all court proceedings against him for six months.

(As of this posting at 4:21 p.m. Thursday, Misuari is at Malacañang, giving a public statement about his meeting with President Duterte.)

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Randolph Parcasio, one of Misuari’s lawyers, confirmed on Thursday that Misuari was already in Manila, having left Sulu around 11:30 a.m. on a private jet with Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza.

He said Misuari was accompanied by MNLF vice chair Abdulkarim Misuari and two close-in aides.

“Misuari already arrived in Manila and is set to meet with President Duterte. That is the plan,” Parcasio said.

He said Duterte and Misuari would “discuss crucial points in the peace process and the issue of kidnappings in the island provinces of ARMM.”

“It is of course about the implementation of the peace agreement and how to go about it. They will also talk about an enabling law for an autonomous region and how it will relate to the overall plan of the government for federalism,” Parcasio said.

“They are also expected to talk about the issue of kidnappings and how to solve it,” Parcasio said.

The MNLF has been instrumental in the latest releases of captives of the Abu Sayyaf.

Parcasio also said that the public and the security sector should not worry about the suspension of the arrest warrant against Misuari.

He said his meeting with Duterte should be viewed from the perspective of gaining peace and healing the wounds of the past.

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“I believe the President is doing a lot to achieve peace in the country,” Parcasio said.

MNLF legal consultant Emmanuel Fontanilla said the suspension of the warrant and Misuari’s meeting with Duterte could be considered a big leap in the efforts to unite the people of Mindanao.

“It was unfortunate that the MNLF was neglected during the time of PNoy (former President Benigno Aquino III). Maybe the Bangsamoro people this time will unite under the Duterte administration,” Fontanilla said.

Earlier, the Pasig regional trial court granted a petition to put on hold the enforcement of Misuari’s warrant of arrest.

Parcasio said they officially received the resolution of the Regional Trial Court Branch 158 on Thursday, which suspended the proceedings and the enforcement of the warrant of arrest against the Moro leader.

Misuari stands accused of multiple murder and crimes against humanity in connection with the September 2013 siege of the city by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen. Over 100 people – including civilians – were killed in the three-week siege that also saw the displacement of over 120,000 individuals. Misuari chairs the larger MNLF faction that marched to Zamboanga City fully armed.

Parcasio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they received the court order “just this morning but the resolution was issued last October 27.”

He said Misuari was immediately notified about the development.

“Chairman Misuari welcomed this development as soon as he was notified this morning. I believe (Peace) Secretary (Jesus) Dureza also informed him about this development,” Parcasio said.

When news first broke about the court order, Zamboanga City prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron, who has been handling the cases against Misuari, said he had no idea the warrant has been lifted or the proceedings against Misuari have been suspended.

But Dureza, in a short text message to the Inquirer earlier on Thursday, confirmed the order and said he was currently in a meeting with Misuari in Manila.

Parcasio said they filed a motion for the suspension of proceedings and the serving of the warrant against Misuari and the court granted the Moro leader a six-month respite.

He said Judge Maria Rowena Modesto San Pedro signed the resolution.

Parcasio said Misuari’s camp would file another petition before the expiration of San Pedro’s order.

He said Misuari also committed to support the Duterte administration in matters of peace talks and agreements.

“Misuari, with or without the said court’s resolution will continue to work for peace,” Parcasio said.

“He is free now to attend all the meetings and conferences because of this resolution,” Parcasio said. SFM/rga

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MOST READ</s>MANILA: An influential leader of the Philippines’ decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency voiced support on Thursday for peace efforts after rebellion charges against him were suspended and he held a surprise meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari was flown on a government-commissioned plane more than 900 kilometers (550 miles) from his southern jungle stronghold to Manila for the meeting with Duterte at the presidential palace.

“I came here to thank him for restoring my freedom, if only partially,” Misuari said.

“Should he need our cooperation in his campaign for peace, you can count on us.”

Misuari, 77, had been in hiding since his forces allegedly launched attacks on civilians in the southern city of Zamboanga in 2013, leading to a three-week battle against the military that claimed about 200 lives.

The government of Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino, filed rebellion charges against Misuari, but he was able to remain on his southern island stronghold of Jolo under the protection of his armed followers.

Misuari, a charismatic scholar, founded the MNLF in 1972 to wage a guerrilla war for a separate Islamic state in the south of mainly Catholic Philippines. Most of the nation’s Muslim minority live in the southern region of Mindanao.

The conflict, which also involved other rebel groups, is believed to have claimed more than 120,000 lives and contributed to Mindanao remaining the nation’s poorest region.

Misuari signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996 in return for the creation of a Muslim autonomous area of which he became governor.

However the conflict persisted as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a splinter organization with more than 10,000 armed followers, continued the rebellion. The MILF in recent years also began negotiating for peace.

Misuari allegedly orchestrated the 2013 Zamboanga attacks because he felt the MNLF was being sidelined under the planned MILF peace deal with Aquino.

Duterte is aiming to forge a final peace agreement with both groups, although he has not announced concrete plans on how he would do that or settle their rivalries.

It also remains unclear how many armed followers Misuari still has, and how much control he continues to hold over the MNLF.

Misuari on Thursday insisted he remained a powerful force, and that thousands of men from other rebel groups had switched to become his followers.

“Most of the fighters are already with me,” he said.

Duterte told reporters he had personally ordered the rebellion charges against Misuari to be “lifted.”

However a court document showed the arrest warrant against Misuari had only been “suspended” for six months. AFP</s>MANILA, Philippines — A Muslim rebel leader emerged Thursday from three years of hiding in the southern Philippines to meet the president, who has reached out to him in efforts to tame a decadeslong Muslim rebellion.

Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front, emerged from hiding after a court suspended the serving of an arrest warrant for him for six months so he could hold talks with President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials. A Cabinet official fetched Misuari from southern Jolo island by jet.

An elated Duterte spoke on nationwide television to announce the rebel leader’s presence in the presidential palace in Manila. Unaware that he would be asked to speak, Misuari expressed in a rambling speech his support for the president, his anti-drug crackdown and a government offensive against ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants.

“I was already determined to stay put in the mountains were it not for his call,” Misuari said, referring to the president.

Duterte, who took office in June, has pursued peace talks with Misuari’s rebel front and a larger Muslim insurgent group but has ordered the military to destroy the smaller but brutal Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings.

Now in his 70s, Misuari denied what he said were media insinuations that his rebel group is a spent force. His rebels have helped negotiate for the release of some Abu Sayyaf hostages. Misuari said without offering any evidence that some Malaysian officials were involved in the ransom kidnappings.

A former university professor, Misuari instigated a Muslim separatist rebellion in the south during dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ rule in the 1970s, but accepted limited autonomy for minority Muslims in the south and signed a 1996 peace deal with the government. Many of his rebels, however, refused to lay down their arms and continued onand-off attacks.</s>MANILA, Philippines — A Muslim rebel leader emerged Thursday from three years of hiding in the southern Philippines to meet the president, who has reached out to him as part of efforts to tame a decadeslong Muslim rebellion.

Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari came out of hiding after a court suspended the serving of an arrest warrant for him for six months so he could hold talks with President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials. A Cabinet official fetched Misuari from southern Jolo island by jet.

An elated Duterte spoke on nationwide TV to announce the rebel leader's presence in the presidential palace in Manila. Unaware that he would be asked to speak, Misuari expressed support for the president, his anti-drug crackdown and a government offensive against ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants in a rambling speech.

"I was already determined to stay put in the mountains were it not for his call," Misuari said, referring to the president.

Duterte, who took office in June, has pursued peace talks with Misuari's rebel front and a larger Muslim insurgent group but has ordered the military to destroy the smaller but brutal Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings.

Now in his 70s, Misuari denied what he said were media insinuations that his rebel group is a spent force. His rebels have helped negotiate for the release of some Abu Sayyaf hostages. Misuari said without offering any evidence that some Malaysian officials were involved in the ransom kidnappings.

A former university professor, Misuari instigated a Muslim separatist rebellion in the south during dictator Ferdinand Marcos's rule in the 1970s, but accepted limited autonomy for minority Muslims in the south and signed a 1996 peace deal with the government. Many of his rebels, however, refused to lay down their arms and continued on-and-off attacks.

Although he has faded into the background and is now sickly, Misuari still commands a sizable armed group mostly on Jolo. Duterte has said he would not dare put him in police detention, where he could die.

"If he dies for whatever reason, we're compomised," Duterte said. "There is going to be a conflagration, it'll be hard for us. He's the only known leader who has the influence and the stature."</s>AFTER three years in hiding over rebellion charges, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari set foot in Malacañang on Thursday for a surprise meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, promising to cooperate in the pursuit of peace.

With his arrest warrants suspended at Duterte’s behest, Misuari was flown on a government-commissioned plane more than 900 kilometers from his Jolo, Sulu jungle stronghold to Manila for the Palace meeting.

Speaking from the presidential podium, Misuari described Duterte, a fellow Mindanaoan, as “the man whom I respect and trust.”

“I came here to thank him, first also for restoring my freedom, if only partially … I am so happy to be free again, owing to the initiative of our President,” he said.

“I believe, as I said during the campaign, that this one single man can provide solution to the problem of peace and order in our homeland,” Misuari said. “I promise that should he need our cooperation in his campaign for peace, you can count on us, Mr. President.”

Misuari, 77, had been in hiding since his forces allegedly launched attacks on civilians in Zamboanga City in 2013, leading to a three-week battle against the military that claimed about 200 lives.

The government of Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino 3rd, filed rebellion charges against Misuari, but he was able to remain on his southern island stronghold of Jolo under the protection of his armed followers.

 Misuari signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996 in return for the establishment of a Muslim autonomous area of which he became governor.

However the conflict persisted as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter organization with more than 10,000 armed followers, continued the rebellion. The MILF in recent years also began negotiating for peace.

Misuari allegedly orchestrated the 2013 Zamboanga attacks because he felt the MNLF was being sidelined under the planned MILF peace deal with Aquino.

Misuari, a charismatic scholar, founded the MNLF in 1972 to wage a guerrilla war for a separate Islamic state in the south of mainly Catholic Philippines. Most of the nation’s Muslim minority live in the southern region of Mindanao.

The conflict, which also involved other rebel groups, is believed to have claimed more than 120,000 lives and contributed to Mindanao remaining the nation’s poorest region.

Referring to Misuari as “Brother Nur” and “Chairman Misuari,” Duterte said he had ordered the rebellion charges in a Pasig City court suspended.

“I would like to assure Nur, brother Nur, that there was never any intention to deprive you of your liberty,” he said, as he recalled his meeting with Misuari when he was vice mayor of Davao City.

“It is with great happiness that I announce to the nation that Chairman Nur Misuari, our brother who heads the MNLF, has finally decided to just accept my invitation for him to talk to us,” the President said.

In his remarks, Duterte mentioned the “Bangsamoro Authority” as a “modality” for self-rule by the Moros, as well as his government’s planned shift to a federal form of government.

Duterte said he would resign once the shift to federalism is completed to pave the way for a new government with a “strong president but equally strong national parliamentary, subject to the rules of federalism which will provide a greater leeway, elbow room for governance for our people.”

Judge Maria Rowena San Pedro signed the order lifting the warrants against Misuari on October 27. Court proceedings will be suspended for six months.

Armed with the court order, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza flew by jet to Jolo, Sulu on Thursday to bring Misuari to Manila on instructions from President Duterte.

The former University of the Philippines professor expressed misgivings against media for supposedly reporting that the MNLF was a spent force.

“I’m not happy with the performance of some media people. They distort my statement. And some of them are insisting, before they used to insist, MNLF is a spent force,’” he said.

Misuari claims to control a bigger number of troops, including the rogue Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

But Misuari said: “I came here, foremost in my mind is how can we help our President finish his job through to the end of his six-year term. Because I know for a fact, he will not abandon his pledge to the people.”

Misuari said he had heeded the President’s request to “move against the Abu Sayyaf.”

Prior to the reunion with Duterte, Misuari helped secure the release of foreigners and locals kidnapped by the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group, including the Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad in September.

“I sent one battalion of my forces. So they (Abu Sayyaf) had no choice but to give [Sekkingstad] to us,” Misuari said.

Misuari then assured Duterte he had MNLF backing in the administration’s war on drugs, which has been criticized by the US and other quarters because of the spate of extrajudicial killings linked to campaign.

“They are destroying our children, our youths. Who will succeed us after this, when our citizens are already destroyed by these drugs?” he said.

Duterte told Misuari about his tirades against the US, mentioning American atrocities during the Filipino-American war, which he said had contributed to “a lot of injustice.”

“So we would like to ask that we work together with our Moro brothers and create a country that is really, that is just and that is good and that would be for the next generations to come.”</s>The recent meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari will spur the peace process with separatist rebels based mostly in Mindanao, a youth leader said on Saturday.

Sol Bayam, a member of MNLF-Youth, said the meeting “provided a dramatic symbolism in the commitment between President Duterte and chairman Misuari in achieving a lasting peace solution in Mindanao.”

He said that it is “the most correct way” to achieve peace in the South.

Bayam said that Duterte’s move to invite Misuari and other MNLF leaders in Malacañang showed that the president has a clear understanding of the historical and political backdrop of armed conflict in Mindanao.

“I had cleared this also with my elders—kasi ang nangyari doon sa [because what happened with the]BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law), with the previous administration, ang kinausap lang nila ‘yung [they only talked to the]MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front). Para sa akin, bilang taga Mindanao, hindi puwede ang selective approach [for me, being from Mindanao, a selective approach will not work],” he said.

“Kasi kung tutuusin [Because, in reality], with all due respect, mas binding ang signatory ng MNLF na hinahawakan ni Misuari [the approval of the MNLF faction that Misuari leads is more binding],” Bayam noted.

The MNLF founder arrived met Duterte on Thursday after the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City suspended for six months the enforcement of his arrest warrant.

“I came here to thank him for restoring my freedom, if only partially. I am so happy to be free again, owing to the initiative of our President,” the MNLF founder said.

“Just allow me to reiterate my sense of gratitude to the President and I promise that should he need our cooperation in his campaign for peace, you can count on us, Mr. President,” he added.</s>KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Suluk Solidarity Council (SSSC) regrets the allegation by Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari that a Malaysian leader was involved in a kidnapping in Sipadan, Semporna in 2000.

Its secretary, Mohd Zaki Harry Susanto said it was a very serious allegation and should not be taken lightly as it involves the good name of the country and the leader concerned.

“He (Misuari) should be responsible for the remark. The Malaysian Embassy in the Philippines with the aid of Manila, should reveal the identity of the Malaysian leader who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping.

“If the allegation is true, the government must take firm action against the traitor,” he told Bernama when commenting on media reports about Misuari’s allegation at a press conference after a meeting with the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte.

In the recent press conference, Misuari said the decision to stop all communication and negotiation with Malaysia forever was due to a conspiracy involving a Malaysian, which destroyed his honour and integrity.

Mohd Zaki said Misuari’s decision to end communication and negotiations with Malaysia was due to extreme frustration and loss of confidence in Malaysia.

“This situation is a clear signal for our security forces, especially Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom), to double efforts to maintain security.

“We fear that the remarks will arouse hatred towards Malaysia and will heighten security threats against Sabah.” – Bernama</s>Nur Misuari had been on the run since September 2013 and charged with leading a bloody rebellion, but Duterte welcomed him and the two discussed how to put an end to nearly five decades of insurgency in the south.

He was flown to the presidential palace from his base on Jolo island, home to the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants who run a lucrative kidnapping business and have beheaded foreign and Philippine captives.

Though the MNLF and Abu Sayyaf are not linked, Misuari has recently facilitated with negotiations to secure the release of several hostages.

"I cannot reject his invitation because I respect him," Misuari said of Duterte.

Duterte said he ordered a court to rescind the warrant so he and Misuari could discuss the stalled peace process and what to do about the Abu Sayyaf. Duterte has ordered Abu Sayyaf militants wiped out and has ruled out talks with them.

"We would be able to talk about the problem of our country, the revolution that you have led all these years and finally, understanding on a common ground with government," Duterte said.

The fight by Muslim militants for self-determination in the predominantly Roman Catholic country has seen more than 120,000 people killed and two million displaced.

The government has signed peace deals with two rival rebel factions but those have yet to be implemented because Congress failed under the previous administration to pass a law creating an autonomous Muslim region in the south.

The ceasefire between the government and the larger faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has held since 2004. The Misuari-led wing tried in 2013 to seize the mainly Christian city of Zamboanga, triggering a deadly month-long siege.
Muslim rebel group Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari meets with Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang Palace after receiving a reprieve from previous crimes of rebellion.