President Rodrigo Duterte discussed federalism during his meeting with Moro National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur Misuari, the Palace said Thursday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the recent meeting with Misuari, which happened Wednesday evening, was not new as the President regularly meets with the MNLF chief.
“This is not new in the sense that the President has been meeting Nur Misuari. But the only thing I got was that they talked about federalism,” Roque said.
The meeting in Davao City was the first since Duterte signed into law Republic Act no. 11054 or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
After the BOL signing several weeks ago, the President had said that he could grant the wish of Misuari should he wanted to create a possible separate autonomous region for his group.
“I can create also an autonomy for him if that’s what he wants, and pending the federal system implementation, he can just wait for it if he trusts me,” the President told Misuari in a speech in Zamboanga, adding that he has three years to change the Constitution.
Duterte believes that the BOL, which grants wider autonomy to the Muslims in the south, will pave the way for a more genuine and lasting peace in the Mindanao region.
The law abolishes the ARMM and will create a new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in its place. The BAR territorial jurisdiction includes the original ARMM provinces such as Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, and Sulu; six towns in Lanao del Norte; 39 barangays in North Cotabato; Cotabato City, and Isabela City in Basilan.
Misuari served as the ARMM governor after the MNLF struck a peace deal with former President Fidel Ramos in 1996.