The game changer as revealed above [in Part 2 of this series of columns about the Bangsamoro that had Part 1 on Oct. 18 and Part 2 on Oct. 25] was the turnaround of Misuari and his MNLF and their turning their back on their erstwhile benefactor. This occurred when Marcos by dangling a lucrative oil deal was able to persuade Gaddafi to cut off his supply of arms to the secessionists through Malaysia. Forced to be good Misuari then cut a deal with the Philippine government in 1976 under what is known as the Tripoli Agreement. Foiled, Malaysia then co-opted, conscripted, the MILF (a breakaway group from Misuari’s MNLF) by supplying it with arms and logistics to continue the secessionist campaign in MIndanao.
The Tripoli Agreement, however, which was brokered by the Organization of the Islamic Conference made up of some 70 Muslim states, gained traction and under the Ramos administration, which signed the 1996 Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the MNLF and led to the constitutionally sanctioned creation of the ARMM and laws of the Republic governing the nature, functions, powers etc. of this autonomous region for the Filipino Muslims. The ARMM despite the excesses of its original head Nur Misuari continued to thrive and even went through a few democratic electoral exercises. The question now is: Why suddenly did President Aquino describe this viable, legal and constitutional creation as a failed experiment? The answer lies in two factors – the restiveness of the Sabah state which felt shortchanged by the federal government of Malaysia and the clumsy attempts of the Sultanate of Sulu to reclaim lost territories by conducting guerrilla raids on the porous Sabah border, a stone’s throw away from the Sulu archipelago. Given the strong Filipino Tausug population in Sabah with divided loyalties, Malaysia needed to undermine the status quo in ARMM and substitute pro-Malaysian governance in Central Mindanao.
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