Misuari urged to support deal with MILF

DAVAO City Representative Karlo Alexei Nograles has urged former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari to support the newly-signed Bangsamoro framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Nograles, also the House Assistant Minority Floor Leader, expressed concern over the reported refusal of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chieftain to accept the pact.

"The efforts of government and our Muslim brothers, represented by the (MILF) leadership, deserve to be supported by the entire Filipino people," he said, adding that agreement is a concrete step to national reconciliation and lasting peace.

Misuari earlier denounced the peace pact and described it as "recipe for another big, big war in Mindanao."

He claimed that thousands of armed fighters bolted the MILF and joined the MILF to protest the freshly signed agreement.

If Misuari and his group will make good of their threat to continue their armed struggle, Nograles said "this only promotes the cycle of violence in Mindanao and will be duplication of what the MILF did later after the government and the MNLF signed a peace agreement during the Ramos administration."

Instead of becoming a roadblock to people's aspiration for peace in Mindanao, Nograles urged Misuari to help in the effort to forge an enduring solution that would end the vicious cycle of conflict in the region.

"Chairman Nur can contribute so much by simply supporting this new endeavor to silence the guns in Mindanao. Nobody wins in war. We are all victims of violence," Nograles stressed.