BMNews – MNLF Peace Panel spokesman Reverend Absalom Cerveza repeatedly tweeted recently in Twitter: “When will Filipino colonialist land-grabbers stop war crime against humanity in
This was in reaction to the oppressive action of Philippine
colonialism under President Benigno S. Aquino III to arrest Chairman Nur
Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The MNLF Christian leader
of Filipino-colonized Mindanao also said that
any attempt of the Philippine military forces to arrest Chairman Misuari could
be considered “act of war” after his declaration of independence for the
Bangsamoro Republik now pending before the United Nations (UN). He further
explained that the MNLF petition for complete independence and national
self-determination of the Muslim and Animist Lumad natives as well as conscious
Christians of Mindanao was already submitted to the UN Committee on
Decolonization. Thus he concluded that the petition in the United Nations would
render any criminal case filed by the Philippine colonial government against
the MNLF chairman and other MNLF leaders as “war crimes” under the jurisdiction
of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is also recalled that the October
30-November 3, 1980 Antwerp, Belgium Permanent People’s Tribunal, headed by the
American Nobel Prize winner Dr. George Wald, acknowledged in its judgment that
the Bangsamoro people are entitled to the right of national self-determination.
It strongly condemned what it called the “programme of displacement and
physical extinction” that was waged by the Philippine Marcos government against
the oppressed Bangsamoro people. It said that such program had already deprived
the Indigenous peoples (Muslim and Lumad natives) of Filipino-occupied Mindanao of much of their ancestral land and made roughly
half of their number refugees and exiles. The Belgium Tribunal concluded that
the cumulative effect of this program has been its commission of the “crime of
genocide” against the Bangsamoro people.
IMPACT OF AUGUST 12 1ST ANNIVERSARY DECLARATION
OF BANGSAMORO REPUBLIK ON PHILIPPINE COLONIALISM
The 1st Anniversary celebration of the declaration of independence of the United Federated States of Bangsamoro Republik (UFSBR) by MNLF Central Committee Chairman Nur Misuari in Cloud 9,
On
his routine tour to the visitation of the MNLF Jabal Nur and MQ (for Muammar
al-Qadaffi) military camps in Mindanao peninsula, the MNLF chairman was
occasioned to celebrate the 1st Anniversary independence declaration of the
Bangsamoro Republik in the MNLF Cloud 9 island camp last August 12, 2014. In
the celebration gathering, he exhorted the MNLF Mujahidin and Mujahidat as well
as the gaosbaogbog mass supporters to militantly pursue the freedom struggle by
any means possible. He underscored the developmental reality that it has now
become possible for the Bangsamoro people and freedom fighters because
Philippine colonialism cannot be trusted to implement international peace
agreements. And the present Aquino government has shown no respect for the
MNLF-OIC-GRP Jakarta Peace Agreements of September 2, 1996.
In full battle gear, the Commander-in-Chief of the MNLF-Bangsamoro Armed Forces (BAF) addressed the assembly of close to 3,000 freedom fighters and mass supporters. He was accompanied by the MNLF Secretary General Ustaj Murshi Ibrahim, Bangsamoro National People’s Congress Chairman Ustaj Sharif Zain Jali, MNLF Foreign Affairs Secretary General Ustaj Abdulbaki Abubakar and other military, political and religious leaders in commemorating the significance of the August 12, 2013 proclamation of the complete independence of the United Federated States of Bangsamoro Republik. The UFSBR Highlander, Christian and Muslim officialdom have considered
BETRAYAL OF
He
lamented the sad fact that Mindanao peace was
betrayed by Philippine colonialism under President Ferdinand E. Marcos that
reneged in implementing the letter and spirit of the Tripoli Peace Agreement.
Instead it unilaterally established a two-fold autonomous government in Mindanao that was rejected by the OIC and MNLF. Thus the
betrayal of Mindanao peace by the Philippine
Marcos government led to the resumption of the worsening Filipino-Moro war that
even resulted in the killing of the 1st Tabak Division Commander Brig. Gen.
Teofisto Bautista, Sr. and several AFP national officers in Danag, Patikul in
1977.
He
also emphasized that the active MNLF freedom struggle was again stymied in 1986
by the peace negotiations called by Philippine colonialism under President
Corazon C. Aquino, who even strategized to meet face-to-face the MNLF chairman
in Jolo sometime in December 1986. Although the peace talks resulted in the
signing of the Jeddah Peace Accord of January 3, 1987, it was not correctly
implemented by the Philippine Aquino government. But, similar to the Marcos
government, the Aquino administration unilaterally established its own autonomy
version characterized by the 4-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM). This was again rejected by the OIC and MNLF. The betrayal of Mindanao
peace by the Philippine Aquino government led to more blood-letting in war-torn
Mindanao .
He
further mentioned the political events in 1992 when the MNLF again was invited
by Philippine colonialism under President Fidel V. Ramos to give Mindanao peace maximum chance. This led again the MNLF in
abandoning militant free-dom struggle to engage the Philippine Ramos government
in more than three years peace talks, forging the September 2, 1996
MNLF-OIC-GRP Jakarta Peace Agreements. Departing from the deceptive political
strategy of both the Marcos and Aquino government, the Ramos administration
decreed the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement by establishing the
13-province and 9-city Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development
(SPCPD) with the 4-province ARMM as component political empowerment, so to
speak. It invited the MNLF chieftain to become SPCPD chairman and ARMM
governor. Closer to implementing the letter and spirit of the Tripoli peace
agreement contained in the 1996 Jakarta Peace Agreements, the political formula
of the Philippine Ramos government could have finally solved the Filipino-Moro
war, giving way to Mindanao peace. But the succeeding Filipino colonialist
rulers, President Joseph E. Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who both later
figured in plunder case arrest and imprisonment, had different ideas in
betraying Mindanao peace.
Bereft
of political will on improving the peace solution prescribed by the Philippine
Ramos government but literally abandoning it, the short-lived Philippine
Estrada government prided with its “all-out war” policy. It embarked in
crushing the MNLF-splintered group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces
and capturing the Abubakar as-Siddique camp in Maguindanao. But the continued
genocide war resulted in appalling humanitarian disaster situation, causing the
dislocation of half million Muslim, Highlander and Christian refugees. The
Estrada administration opted to betray Mindanao
peace again by planning to unilaterally establish its own version ARMM. But
this was overtaken by political events when it was toppled down from existence
by another so-called Edsa people power.
However,
the exact betrayal of Mindanao peace again for
the third time was accomplished by Philippine colonialism under President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Duplicating the colonial strategy of the Marcos and
Aquino government, it unilaterally implemented the 1996 Jakarta Peace
Agreements aided by the pork barrel-conscious Philippine Congress in
establishing the present 5-province ARMM. Ridiculed as nothing more than a
farcical political regional political entity, the current ARMM has only become
the “cheating capital” of Philippine elections.
The
MNLF chairman finally expressed dismay on the events leading to the betrayal of
Mindanao peace by the leading Filipino
colonizers. The stark betrayal compelled him to abandon altogether the ARMM
governorship in year end 2001 under the Arroyo government. The crucial event
led to the submission of the MNLF petition to freedom and independence from
Philippine colonialism to the UN on December 10, 2001. And it also led to the
resumption of Filipino-Moro war in Mindanao triggered by the provoked AFP-MNLF
battle in Jolo Island
In
his closing remarks, he cited the conspiracy of the Mahathir and Arroyo regime
to silence him and to possibly end the MNLF-launched Bangsamoro people’s
freedom struggle by contriving to imprison him for a trumped up charge of
rebellion. He pointed out that despite his incarceration for almost five years
under the Arroyo prison cell this did not end the Mindanao
conflict. Instead it heightened during the 20-day September 2013 battle between
the colonial Philippine occupation forces and MNLF freedom fighters in Zamboanga City
The
AFP-MNLF war resulted when MNLF members and mass supporters from all over Mindanao were barred from holding a peaceful rally in the
city. Worse, some members were even harassed, arrested and tortured by
Philippine military soldiers. Just like the February 1974 AFP-MNLF war in Jolo
that witnessed the burning of almost the entire town by AFP land, sea and air
bombardments, the September 2013 Zamboanga City AFP-MNLF war registered the
burning of around 10,160 civilian houses and mosques by Filipino military soldiers.
This also caused unparalleled humanitarian disaster condition that until now
remains completely without solution because thousands of dislocated fire
victims are still languishing in tents in the city grandstand with hundred
children dying.
OPENING
THE DOOR TO PEACEFUL SOLUTION
On
the other hand, the Davao City-based MNLF Spokesman and Legal Counsel Atty.
Emmanuel Fontanilla admitted the holding of the August 12, 2014 1st Anniversary
Bangsamoro Republik independence declaration in Mindanao
Island with the presence of the MNLF
chairman, including the other celebration activities in other areas in Mindanao .
He
expressed the hope though that with the first public appearance of the MNLF
chairman in Mindanao, this would impress upon the Philippine government to
follow the wish of the OIC to address peacefully the Mindanao
war. It should be emphasized that the OIC has rejected the GPH-MILF Basic
Bangsamoro Law (BBL) project of the Aquino government as contrary to the letter
and spirit of the 1996 Jakarta Peace Agreements.
“We
have already abdicated the use of violence and we want to resolve this
peacefully,” Atty. Fontanilla said. –BMNews Correspondent,
UFSBR
http://mnlfnet.com/BMNews_New/BMNews_03Sept2014_When%20Will%20Filipino%20Colonialist%20Land-Grabbers%20Stop%20-%20Cerveza.htm
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