This was the largest Islamic separatist group in the Philippines from 1971 to 1996. Having proposed negotiations with the Philippines government, the Moro National Liberation Front seeks an independence Islamic state.
Organized in 1969 by a group of ninety Moro youths it was made public only in the early 1970s, when martial law was declared by president Ferdinand Marcos. In 1972, Nur Misuari a political professor at the University of the Philippines in Manila assumed control of the group.
In 1973, the Moro National Liberation Front had a military force do 15,000 combatants and Nur Misuari launched military operations.
By 1975, the fighting between the Moro National Liberation Front and the armed forces had escalated into large scale, conventional warfare.
In December 1976, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Marcos government signed the Tripoli Agreement. Part of the agreement mandated a referendum that would allow for political autonomy in 13 provinces and 9 cities in the southern Philippines.
The Muslim, dissatisfied with way Marcos implemented the agreement and disagreement inside the Moro secessionist movement caused the Moro National Liberation Front to split into two factions: Moro National Liberation Front headed by Nur Misuari and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front headed by Hashim Salamat. Moro Islamic Liberation Front was formed by Hashim Salamat in 1984 to continue the struggle, for both regional independence and the formation of an Islamic state.
By 1979, a number of the Moro leaders stated that they no longer sought autonomy but that their goal was independence.
In 1996 Moro National Liberation Front made new peace with the Philippines government, and Nur Misuari became governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed a cease-fire in 1997, but more radical splinter movements continue the armed struggle in the name of Islam.
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
