Manila: A body that will coordinate efforts of the two mainstream Moro groups working towards self-determination has been formed under the auspices of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

After a two-day meeting in the Philippine capital, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) agreed to put into operation the Bangsamoro (Moro nation or peoples) Coordination Forum or the BCF.

OIC Special Envoy Ambassador Sayyid Kassim Al Masri announced the activation of the BCF during a meeting on October 15 with government representatives headed by Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles as well as MILF and MNLF officials led respectively by Mohagher Iqbal and Randolf Parcasio.

The meeting was also attended by Egyptian Ambassador Mahmoud Mustafa who currently chairs the OIC-Peace Committee on Southern Philippines (PCSP) as well as Hassan Al Abdein, OIC Department of Minorities and Communities.

The BCF is expected to ease the enmity between the two main armed Moro groups, both of which had signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government.

In a document made available to Gulf News, it was emphasised during the meetings held on October 13 and 14 that “unity is indispensable to the success of the Bangsamoro struggle and that there are no basic differences between their fronts as both are seeking to achieve peace, justice and fair solutions to the problem facing the Moro people.”

The MILF and the MNLF, in the same meetings, likewise committed to coordinate their actions towards achieving the aspirations of the Bangsamoro through the BCF.

The BCF would be made up of ten members each from the MNLF and the MILF.

Under the terms agreed upon by the MNLF and the MILF, the BCF will serve as a venue to discuss issues confronting the Bangsamoro including “finding common grounds” on the multifarious peace agreements signed by previous governments with the two Moro groups.

These peace pacts include the 1976 Tripoli Agreement with the MNLF and the government under then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr and the 1996 pact forged between the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos and the MNLF then led by its chair Nur Misuari; as well as the March 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro sealed between the incumbent leadership under President Benigno Aquino III and the MILF.

The creation of the BCF was initially agreed upon in a meeting between MILF Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and MNLF Founding Chair Nur Misuari in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on May 18, 2010, through the invitation of the OIC Secretary General. The succeeding meetings of the Parties on the establishment of the BCF were held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from December 6-7, 2011 and June 12 this year.

According to Quintos-Deles, the activation of the coordination mechanism between the two Moro fronts, “is a positive and very welcome development especially at this juncture of the peace process when the Bangsamoro Basic Law is being deliberated in Congress.

“We are talking of the same territory and the same people, as such it is good to know that the MILF and MNLF have agreed to consolidate their efforts for peace and development so that all of these can be integrated in the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” she said adding: “We are appreciative of the efforts of the OIC in making this possible.”

The OIC, which is made up of Muslim countries, is considered as the “second largest inter-governmental organisation after the United Nations.”