ISABELA CITY, Basilan Province — Members of the central committee and senior leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) organization have revealed that “politics” is the next chapter of their struggle for self-governance.
MNLF Basilan State chairman Muslimin Asalim Jakilan said that their next phase of struggle is no longer through armed confrontation but through “politics.”
The MNLF, Jakilan said, is now preparing to attain their goal for self-governance through a political contest next year.
Jakilan said the organization is joining the 1st Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) regional elections in 2025.
Jakilan explained, “Politics is about making agreements between people so they can live together in groups such as tribes and cities.”
“We will join in the political contest next year with the MILF and other political groups who would also want to seek a political position in the BARMM,” Jakilan said.
According to Jakilan, they are now starting to inform the MNLF members that the front will join the political contest next year.
The MNLF, he added, is now in thick of preparations for their forthcoming election clash with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders and other political groups in the 1st BARMM regional elections next year.
Jakilan lamented, “The only organization that strives for self-governance was the MNLF. So, the MNLF should be in governance and not junk us out of the circle.” He declined to mention the group junking them out of the circle.
As this developed, Jakilan, a Member of Parliament (MP) of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority of BARMM said MNLF leaders held the first Bangsamoro Party (BaPa) provincial Assembly at the municipal Gym in Barangay Tuburan proper in Tuburan on Thursday last week
“We have to revive our enthusiasm, our commitment and direction or purpose in life.. so that was the purpose of the assembly,” he said.
The MNLF will also campaign for peaceful and orderly elections in 2025, the MNLF leaders jointly said.