THE military extended its condolences to the family and members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) over the death of MNLF leader and former government official Yusop Jikiri.
“The AFP joins every peace-loving Filipino in mourning the passing away of Yusop Jikiri, the beloved chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front [MNLF],” the military said in a statement through spokesman Major Gen. Edgard Arevalo. Jikiri died on Saturday in Pasil, Indanan, Sulu reportedly due to a bone ailment. Reports said he was 69.
Although Jikiri has been recognized as the chairman of the MNLF, the main group of the MNLF led by its founding chairman Nur Misuari, however, considered him as representing only a faction of the former secessionist group.
Before becoming the chairman of a supposedly breakaway group of the MNLF, Jikiri was a member of the House of Representatives and had also served as a governor of Sulu.
“His work with the MNLF and in Sulu as one of its former Governors and Congressional representatives were instrumental in the forging of a strong partnership between the AFP and the MNLF in the quest for peace that culminated in the realization of the GPH-MNLF Peace Agreement,” Arevalo said.
Arevalo said the former governor was a prime mover of peace between the government and the Moros. “He is 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,” Arevalo said.