[ManilaStandard] The Moro National Liberation Front recently elected a new vice chairman following the expulsion of its former deputy whom Nur Misuari had described as a government collaborator.Sultan Firdausi Abbas, an MNLF founder, revealed the appointment of Sultan Pundama Sani - the Sultan of Guimba in Lanao del Sur - as the group’s new vice chairman replacing Jimmy Labawan, who was ousted by Misuari for insubordination.
According to Abbas, Sani was unanimously elected on the imprimatur of Misuari and other high-ranking MNLF militants during a conference in in Southern Mindanao, as part of the group's reorganization. Abbas said, "The new vice chairman is one of the three living active veterans of the top 90—the first batch of Moro trainees including Chairman Misuari who were sent to train in Sabah, Malaysia, in 1969 by the Union of Islamic Forces Organization under the leadership of Sultan of Bayang, Rashid Lucman, chairman and then Congressman of Lanao del Sur, and Sultan of Dayawan, Macapanton Yahya Abbas Jr., Secretary-General pursuant to the agreement with then Prime Minister Tungku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia in 1969, which was forged in Penang."
Labawan was ousted after Misuari accused him of misrepresenting the MNLF in recent negotiations relating to the resumption of the stalled tripartite review talks of the 1996 final peace agreement between the Philippines and the MNLF.