Thursday, July 31, 2014

MILF: Moro CSOs Call on PNoy to Respect the Bangsamoro Basic Law

From the MILF Website (Jul 30): Moro CSOs Call on PNoy to Respect the Bangsamoro Basic Law

“In the name of peace, Mr President, we appeal to Government of the Philippines to implement faithfully its commitment embodied in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” this is among other appeals of the more or less one thousand members of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from different parts of Central Mindanao that staged Peace Rally at the Cotabato City Plaza on July 28, 2014.
  
The said activity was organized by the Sulong Bangsamoro Movement (SBM), a coalition of different CSOs operating in Central Mindanao established to have a more organized response to the present development of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace process that brought deep frustration among Bangsamoro people who have been longing for peace and justice for so long a time.

“This is just a first of many actions we will do in the future to help and push especially the government to be faithful in its commitment in the peace process,” Mahdie Amella, SBN Chairman.

“Mr President, fulfil the dream of your father to establish a Meaningful Autonomy for the Bangsamoro. We love you, Mr President, please don’t betray us,” he emotionally called on President Aquino.

Mahdie, also an Executive Director of the Mindanao Action for Peace and Development Initiative (MAPAD), opined that watered-down and diluted Bangsamoro Basic Law will not be acceptable to the Bangsamoro. He also appealed to all Bangsamoro to be firm in fighting for the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“This is our right to have our own constitution, it should not be made for us,” he said.

He explained that the very reason why government failed to resolve the Bangsamoro question is that it has never given democratic space for the Bangsamoro to exercise its right to self-determination. He added that all political solutions designed by the government to address the political problem were all imposed upon the Bangsamoro.

Jehan Usop, representative of the Moro Women Development and Cultural Center (MWDECC), appealed to President Aquino and his legal team to respect the BTC BBL draft.

“Mr President, BBL is a result of the many consultations conducted by the BTC and CSOs, and it is copy-pasted from the agreement, therefore, your legal team has no authority to mangle it, and diluting it, Mr President, is anti-peace,” she said.

“Mr President, the Bangsamoro is also your boss, and please listen to us: Amend the Philippine constitution to accommodate the BBL rather than mangling it. Don’t let agreement adjust to the constitution; it should be the constitution to adjust to the agreement for the sake of peace. Submit and defend it to congress,” she appealed.

She added that rallyists are supposed to be enjoying the Eid al-Fitr festival with their families but it did not happen because of what the Office of the President and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) did on BBL.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/1116-moro-csos-call-on-pnoy-to-respect-the-bangsamoro-basic-law

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