The MILF-Zamboanga City Political Committee is now engage in viable initiatives through open consultations with its members and the Moro residents in the city.
On November 17, 2013, the committee, in consultation with its members and the local Moro residents in the area, proposed and agreed to build multi-purpose hall made of light materials at Barangay Cawit, this city for the MILF- 3rd District Provincial Political Committee.
The hall shall serve as venue for peace building and consultation meetings and other related activities as well as to make the committee even more accessible to the Moro populace in the area. This is also in line with the goal of the committee and the Bangsamoro Leadership & Management Institute (BLMI) of reaching out to the Moros and non-Moros in the contiguous areas through peace building and advocacies so that they can be well- updated.
A member of the political committee and resident of Barangay Cawit, offered his 4-hectare lot for the proposed multi-purpose hall. The construction shall be undertaken by the political district officers in due time, if Allah wills.
The committee chairman of the MILF in Zamboanga city; other officers, accompanied by Mr. Taha Daranda, a ZAMBAS -Field Coordinator for the Community, Livelihood, Needs, Assessment & Planning (CLNAP) of Sajahatra Bangsamoro; and this writer, BLMI’s Research Officer joined the group in mapping out and identifying the Bangsamoro communities in Zamboanga city.
The group was able to identify areas in Zamboanga City coastal areas as “Bangsamoro haven” considering that the areas are predominantly ppulated by Moros and due to the resident’s openness and overwhelming support to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB)One committee officer said, “We need to be visible to the Zamboanga City local government unit and the Moro populace in our peace building interventions for this is our common concerns despite that we are in the contiguous area due to the large number of Moros residing in Cawit and coastal barangays of the city”.
“To relieve people’s doubt and confusions on the Moro Front, the MILF must show its utmost concern by looking after the welfare of every Moro, wherever they are to be able to sustain the principle of inclusivity of the peace process”, he stressed.
As part of the Bangsamoro community profiling, the group also conducted interviews and assessments on the plight of the Bangsamoro in the region particularly in Zamboanga city where a large number of Moros are still lingering in different evacuation centers after their houses were burned to ashes and their valuable Items looted after they left their houses during the Zamboanga siege last September 9 to 21, on instruction by city officials.
History reveals that the Bangamoro were the original inhabitants of Zamboanga City even prior to the coming of the conquistadors and dominate the coastal barangays. This was also mentioned by former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr. when he visited Zamboanga City this year, but the heavy influx of immigrants from Luzon and Visayas through government legal acts drastically changed that reality resulting to the Moros adverse marginalization from that time on until today. Thus the Moros became a minority in their own ancestral homeland which once upon a time far advanced, civilized and emerged ahead than their brothers in Luzon and the VIsayas. This reality is also true in the entire Zamboanga peninsula and mainland Mindanao where the Moros are socially and economically undeveloped.
The Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) signed between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on October 15, 2012 at Malacañang Palace, Manila, once again brought the Bangsamoro issue into International limelight with the GPH and the MILF trying to find political solutions to the Mindanao question through the negotiation table. Once a comprehensive peace agreement is reached by the two parties, all stakeholders shall enjoy the blessings of peace and prosperity in Mindanao.
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