Duterte warns that if anything happens to Misuari while under the government’s care, it’s a kiss goodbye to peace in Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte has advised the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to spare Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari from any arrest once he shows up from where he is hiding in Jolo, Sulu.
Misuari has hidden from an unknown place in Jolo after his armed men organized a siege in Zamboanga City in September 2013.
According to Duterte, Misuari is sick and has aged and has no reasons to run away anymore.
The president also said that he does not want anything untoward to happen to the MNLF chairman while under government custody.
Duterte believes that Misuari, who he claims as his friend, is the supreme authority in Jolo and the entire Sulu which makes it important to ensure his safety and welfare while the peace process in Mindanao is in progress.
He warned that if anything wrong happens to Misuari while he s under the care of the government, it would mean a ‘kiss goodbye’ to the attainment of peace, particularly at Bangsamoro (the state led by Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF under the powers of their chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim) and the Bangsatausug which is undert Misuari’s MNLF.
“We still have enough land in the entire Republic of the Philippines to make everybody happy. MN, and I have yet to hear from Nur but I said, but I said if Nur, if he comes out of his hiding place in Jolo. My advice to you guys, the army and the police and everybody is that let him be, let him be. Si Nur, uhh, I would not say sick, I hope he is well, but matanda na yan, hindi na yan tatakbo. And the last thing that I would want is really is, God forbid, huwag sana, na kung may mangyari sa kaniya nasa custody natin. So there’s nobody of significance in that area who has the pre-eminence like Nur Misuari”, said Duterte.