FORMER MNLF CHIEF DIES

MORO National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman and former Sulu governor Yusop Jikiri died on Saturday, the MNLF announced on Sunday. He was 66.

The announcement from the MNLF Central Committee did not mention the cause of death but local reports said Jikiri succumbed to bone cancer.

“Indeed his untimely passing was beyond our expectation and a great loss to our Bangsamoro struggle and Jihad Fe Sabilillah,” the MNLF said. “The vacuum of leadership which he left behind is hard to fill.”

It also stressed that the death of Yusop, an MNLF faction leader, would not “degrade” the MNLF members and state leadership, as it vowed to pursue Jikiri’s legacies, policies and programs “of bringing the Bangsamoro struggle to its height and formidability.”

Jikiri led a faction of the MNLF that rallied behind the government for the passage of Republic Act 11054 that established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The other faction was led by Nur Misuari, who opposed the Bangsamoro law, but had warmer relationship with President Rodrigo Duterte.

“The MNLF leadership would like also to assure the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Philippine government,” the MNLF said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines ( AFP) also mourned the death of Jikiri, whom it described as “one of the strong pillars who advocated trust and respect as key to achieving lasting peace and development not only in the province of Sulu, but of the Bangsamoro.”

“We hope that he will serve as an example and inspiration to each and every Filipino because of what he started and what he already did to push for peace all over the country,” AFP spokesman Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said in a statement.