MNLF: "Bring Bangsamoro Question to the UN," MNLF Vice-Chairman Olamit to Appeal to OIC

From the MNLF Website (Jun 25): "Bring Bangsamoro Question to the UN," MNLF Vice-Chairman Olamit to Appeal to OIC

MNLF Vice-Chairman Abdul Aziz Olamit of the Central Committee of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has recently expressed his willingness to appeal to the leadership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to bring the Bangsamoro Question to the attention of the United Nations (UN). The projected plea came immediately after the May 27-28, 2015 42nd Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Kuwait that highlighted the “Session of Joint Vision to Strengthen Tolerance and Reject Terrorism.” 

As representative of the Filipino-colonized Bangsamoro people of Mindanao, the MNLF has been annually invited to the OIC foreign ministers conference. The MNLF is holding a Permanent Observer status in the 57-nation global pan Islamic body. Since 1974, the OIC has embarked on helping search for the comprehensive solution to the Filipino-Moro war in Mindanao catalogued as the Bangsamoro Question similar to the Palestine Question in the Middle East.

The acting MNLF Vice-Chairman and concurrently chairman of MNLF-Davao City Revolutionary Committee (DCRC) has indorsed the revolutionary idea to MNLF Chairman Prof. Nur Misuari for approval in the forthcoming MNLF Central Committee meeting. He has personally envisioned for the MNLF leadership to appeal to the OIC since the Philippine government has had shown no sincerity and seriousness to implement the 1976 Tripoli Peace Agreement and the 1996 Jakarta MNLF-OIC-GRP Jakarta Peace Agreements that the OIC has always considered an “international binding agreement.”

He has keenly observed that the Manila government only resulted to dilly-dallying tactics for almost 40 years now since the forging of the 1976 Tripoli agreement. Worse, he further observed that the present Aquino government has totally ignored the 1996 Jakarta Final Peace Agreement that led to the 19-day September 2013 AFP-MNLF war inside Zamboanga City.

DID MAMASAPANO INVASION LEAD TO BBL “DEBACLE”?

 

The 2013 AFP-MNLF urban war happened because the Aquino dispensation showed no respect for the 1996 Jakarta peace agreement. It unilaterally decided to abrogate the peace process with the MNLF by ending the task of the Philippine government, OIC and MNLF in the Tripartite Ministerial Committee formed to review the 1996 Jakarta final agreement in order to arrive consensus towards the full and correct implementation of the international agreement. Instead, it maneuvered to pursue its hidden agenda with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to craft up the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) and subsequently Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL) that ended in a “debacle” after the January 25, 2015 Mamasapano invasion. The treacherous Mamasapano raid over the BIFM and MILF freedom fighters resulted in the killing of 44 Filipino colonialist PNP SAF invaders, 17 Bangsamoro fighters and 5 Muslim civilians.

 

Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo, who cited “injustice” as the root cause of the Mindanao war, has lamented that the biggest casualty in the Mamasapano tragedy is not only the lives lost but the “future” (referring to BBL). The target date June 11, 2015 of the passage of BBL in both Houses of Philippine Congress fizzled out due to the controversial events surrounding the enactment of the new autonomy law designed by the Aquino administration.

 

MNLF PROCLAMATION OF UFSBR IS BACK TO FREEDOM STRUGGLE

 

The political move to short-circuit the MNLF-OIC-GPH tripartite committee and disrespect of the Aquino regime towards the 1996 peace agreement also led the MNLF to revert back to its independence objective instead of autonomy. The MNLF leadership under Chairman Prof. Nur Misuari proclaimed the establishment of the United Federated States of Bangsamoro Republik (UFSBR) as Davao City the capital center on August 2013. The MNLF proceeded to successfully conduct peaceful rallies in Jolo, Basilan and Davao City to campaign for independence and self-determination. But the MNLF demonstrators and supporters were banned by the Zamboanga City government in holding a peaceful demonstration in the urban center. The suppression of peaceful assembly resulted in the September 2013 AFP-MNLF war and humanitarian disaster that included the burning of “10,160 houses and mosques” by AFP soldiers in driving away the MNLF freedom fighters.

The MNLF in tandem today with the freedom fighters of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), a breakaway group of the autonomy-seeking MILF under Chairman Murad Ebrahim, have pursued a militant liberation struggle for complete independence and national self-determination of the oppressed Bangsamoro people of Mindanao.

 WHAT AILS THE BBL?

In the recent Senate House hearing conducted by Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., chairman of the committee on local government, in determining the feasibility of BBL to achieve the highly-hyped Mindanao peace and to end the decades-long Mindanao war, it was found out that the Malacanang version BBL proved to be defective to guarantee peace. The senate committee head clearly noted: “After a series of meetings with the stakeholders, it became obvious to me that no substantive consultations had been held with them prior to or during negotiations. The Office of the Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) totally ignored the major stakeholders. The Sultanate of Sulu, the Moro National Liberation Front, the Lumads, the Indigenous People, the Christians, the local government and businesses were abandoned and removed from the negotiating process.”

On this note, both OPAPP and MILF collaborators have reasoned out that various negotiations with the stakeholders in Mindanao had been conducted to point out the merits of the passage of BBL that included meetings with the MNLF and other sectors. Nonetheless, the reality does not validate the actual situation. The reality cannot just be ignored that Malacanang and OPAPP have had maneuvered to divide the MNLF leadership and Bangsamoro people by creating MNLF factions to serve their colonial interest to deceive both the Filipino and Bangsamoro communities. And possibly the global community of nations that wish the half century-long Filipino-Moro war in Mindanao come to an end.

 

10-POINT OBSERVATION OF ONE RESPECTABLE ‘MAN OF PEACE’

 

Father Eliseo R. Mercado, a strong advocate of Mindanao peace and author of “The Moro People’s Struggle for Self-Determination,” in Facebook has written some relevant points on “MNLF beyond soundbites and rhetoric,” outlining the following observation: “

 

The OIC continues to recognize the MNLF as the legitimate and sole representative of the Bangsamoro people. For this reason the MNLF enjoys the membership as an Observer status in the OIC.

 

The OIC recognizes Chairman Prof. Nur Misuari as the Head of the MNLF as agreed upon last year of all the so-called factions of the MNLF in their Jeddah Manifesto.

 

The OIC is firmly committed to the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front.

 

The OIC, GPH and the MNLF are fully committed to review the implementation of the 1996 FPA and address all the gaps in said implementation.

 

The OIC takes cognizance of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro between the GPH and the MILF as partial fulfillment of the 1996 FPA.

 

The OIC seeks the unity between the MNLF and the MILF through the Bangsamoro Solidarity Forum, but sad to say, there is very little done in the said unification process.

 

All the leaders of the other so-called factions of the MNLF have signed the Jeddah Manifesto to acknowledging the leadership of Prof. Nur Misuari as the legitimate and sole chair of the MNLF.

 

Reverend Absalom Cerveza is the official spokesman of the MNLF and no one else.

 

The only authoritative person that represents the MNLF is one who carries the official mandate from Maas Nur Misuari. No one from the so-called factions and much less from pretenders can speak for and in behalf of the MNLF.

 

They are not recognized by MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari.

 

Note: Until the OIC changes its official position vis-à-vis MNLF headed by Maas Nur Misuari, the above ten points constitute the reality about the MNLF! All other claimants are bogus and or mirage!”

 

 

 

42ND KUWAIT OIC CALLS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF 1996 FINAL AGREEMENT 

MNLF Vice-Chairman Olamit has assessed that the result of the 42nd OIC Kuwait conference of foreign ministers held this year has expressed the clearest terms of the implementation of the MNLF-OIC-GRP Jakarta final peace agreement that the Aquino government totally ignored to implement.

 On the Bangsamoro Question, the 42nd Kuwait OIC Resolution has categorically “renewed its support to the Agreement on the implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Peace Agreement between the GPH and MNLF initialed on 30 August 1996 in Jakarta and officially signed in Manila on September 2, 1996.”

The OIC Resolution also “calls for quick and full implementation of the provisions of 1996 Final Agreement on implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement concluded between the GPH and the MNLF with good intention and genuine interest so that just and lasting peace and comprehensive development can be achieved for the Bangsamoro people.”

Furthermore, the OIC Resolution “calls upon the Secretary General to exert his efforts to find common grounds between the Parties to the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro and the 1996 Agreement on the implementation of the 1996 Peace Agreement and develop a mechanism to ensure that the gains of the 1996 Final Agreement on the implementation of the 1976 Peace Agreement are preserved and the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro are fully implemented with the end goal of integrating the gains achieved in these peace agreements in the Bangsamoro Basic Law.”

Moreover, it also “renews the mandate of the Peace Committee for Southern Philippines (PCSP) which is currently chaired by the Secretary General to

continue the necessary contacts with the GPH and the MNLF for the full implementation of the 1996 Final Agreement on the implementation of Tripoli Peace Agreement.”

Finally, it “calls on the Secretary General to hold another session of the tripartite meeting in order to overcome on the pending major difficulties and calls upon both parties namely the GPH and MNLF to show flexibility that would allow progress on the pending issues, and also calls upon the GPH to consider positively the request by MNLF on conducting a new plebiscite under neutral supervision to consult the population on whether they are willing to join the autonomous region.”

On the conduct of the present Aquino government to presumably solve the Filipino-Moro war in Mindanao, the 42nd Kuwait OIC conference “welcomes the conclusion of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for comprehensive peace in Mindanao and a first major step toward the implementation of the previous agreements as they are binding international commitments and still valid and ought to be fully implemented in the rest of the Bangsamoro homeland as stipulated in the aforementioned two agreements (referring to 1976 Tripoli Peace Agreement and 1996 Jakarta Final Agreement).”

LAKE LANAO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

On the alarming environmental crisis affecting the Bangsamoro homeland, particularly Lanao region, the OIC annual global meeting “calls upon the GPH to take urgent action to address the environmental problems reported caused by non-compliance with environmental standards in Lake Lanao and its environment which had serious environmental repercussions with adverse effects on people’s health, economic and social conditions.”

 In anticipation for the negative attitude of the Manila government to remain still heedless to the call of the OIC to implement the 1996 Jakarta Final Peace Agreement, the MNLF vice-chairman has therefore advocated the idea of the OIC elevating the Bangsamoro Question to the UN for final arbitration similar to the Palestine Question. He has stressed that only a comprehensive solution to the Bangsamoro Question can bring permanent and durable peace to war-ravaged Mindanao.

He has also expressed the necessity for the OIC to elevate the case of the oppressed Bangsamaoro people to the United Nations in order to end the genocidal war in Mindanao. He has always batted for peaceful arbitration instead of violent means to end the occupation of Mindanao by the Filipino colonizers.

IN SUPPORT OF ‘INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM’

On the idea of peacefully ending the 4-decades long Mindanao war, the MNLF Vice-Chairman shared the peaceful solution expressed by Reverend Absalom Cerveza, MNLF peace panel spokesman, that “Independence Referendum is the Correct Solution to the Bangsamoro Question, not ARMM or BBL.”        

On the controversial BBL issue, he shared the cautious opinion of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that the Aquino government should not rush the passage of BBL because at the end of the day it may court more violent hostilities in Mindanao similar to former President Corazon Aquino-created ARMM that only ended in a “failed experiment.”

In reality, the fake ARMM only produced more chaos, humanitarian disasters and misery for the Filipino-colonized Bangsamoro people of war-torn Mindanao. -osm/mnlfnet.com

http://mnlfnet.com/Articles/Editorial_25June2015_BRING%20BANGSAMORO%20QUESTION%20TO%20UN.htm