Cagayan de Oro City — The ongoing Mindanao state of the national consultative conference in Western and Central Mindanao has rekindled the failed 1986 declaration of independence by then former Army Colonel Alexander Noble, which briefly took over the headquarters of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in this city.

Founding members of the defunct Mindanao Independence Movement recalled that the bloodless takeover of the army headquarters highlighted the futility of armed struggle in the quest for the independence of Mindanao.

Benito Ranque, convenor of the Mindanao-wide consultation, said participants of the consultative conference from Western, Central, and Northern Mindanao have aired similar sentiments that a peaceful transition of political power does not depend on the power of the gun.

He said the failed declaration of Mindanao independence was submitted to the United Nations, but no country endorsed it because armed struggle is already obsolete and no country would recognize a military takeover.

Ranque said even the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), during the consultative conference at the Jonel Hall in this city, submitted a resolution abandoning armed struggle and joined the call for Mindanao independence peacefully, adopting what they call the “Kosovo model.”

“Armed struggle is already obsolete. We join the call of independence peacefully using the Kosovo model, to the United Nations to conduct a plebiscite and let the people decide,” he told delegates from Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, and Lanao del Norte.

“Armed struggle is already obsolete, as proven in Syria and other countries. Adopt the peaceful strategy used by Kosovo in attaining self-rule,” he said.

MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari also declared the independence of Mindanao in 2013 after then President Benigno Aquino III terminated the peace talks for the final review of the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement brokered by the OIC.

The MNLF flag was hoisted in Davao City as the start of their campaign to gain recognition from the international community.

Misuari declared Davao as the capital of the Bangsamoro Republik.

Their second attempt to raise the flag in Zamboanga City was foiled when government forces intercepted an MNLF contingent from Sulu, triggering three weeks of fighting between government forces and the MNLF.

The Mindanao-wide consultative conference aims to allow Mindanaoans to come up with a united stand on the current state of the country, which has practically isolated Mindanao in the political development of the nation.

The series of meetings was held in Sultan Kudarat for Central Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, in Northern Mindanao, and in January, the last leg will be in the Caraga region.

The series of consultative conferences will culminate in the first week of February with a major manifesto and resolution to be declared in Zamboanga City.

The original declaration was spearheaded by the late lawyer Reuben Canoy, who led a convention in 1986.

Canoy, in his book Quest for Mindanao Independence, recalled how Muslims from Brooke’s Point, Palawan, and tribal leaders from Bukidnon and Davao expressed their support for an independent Mindanao. On 16 July 1986, the movement formally submitted its petition for federal statehood to the UN Secretariat in New York.

A founding member of the Mindanao Independence Movement said the campaign could be revived if an independent country like China or Russia recognizes Mindanao’s independence, which could then elevate its status to a belligerent entity under international law.