Like in all previous elections, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not participate in the Presidential Elections in May 2016. This has been the policy of the MILF since its inception in September 1977.
The reasons for this hands-off policy are varied and clear. First, up to this time the MILF is still a revolutionary organization, and as such, it operates largely outside the ambit of governmental set-up and rules and regulations. Until the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is enacted into law and the Bangsamoro Government is established, the MILF will remain a revolutionary organization.
Second, the MILF believes and pursues a very different method of choosing leaders of society. The existing system where candidates, using money, power, and every imaginable tricks available, to outdo and defeat their rivals is in the end counterproductive to both winners and losers.
And third, the current efforts to solve the Bangsamoro Question, mainly via the passage of the BBL, are still hanging in the balance. Therefore, participating in such a highly partisan and divisive exercises, such as in the forthcoming elections in May 2016, will not only bring enmity and animosity among the ranks and file of the MILF but can be a menu for disintegration.
However, the MILF will not prevent its members from casting their votes in favor of their chosen candidates, especially those running for the presidential office. If exercised with caution and clear purpose, voting the right candidate, especially if he or she wins, is a great service to this country. Good leaders always make a difference in the lives of the people.
Right now there are four aspirants to the presidency namely, Senator Miriam Santiago, Senator Grace Llamansares-Poe, former Secretary Mar Roxas, and Vice President Jejomar Binay. We do not and will not pass judgment on them. It is up for the people to determine who is the better leader in their judgment.
However, in so far as the search for solution to the Bangsamoro Question is concerned, the choice of candidates should be on the basis of their past and their current actuation including their pronouncements on the BBL. More importantly, they should be asked of their policy regarding the Moros and the armed conflict in Mindanao. If they don’t have it yet, ask them to come out with it now. It is time that we should assert our rights strongly and vigorously.
The Moro voting strength is more or less two million nationwide. In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the number of registered voters already reached 1.5 million. It is huge enough to swing the pendulum in favor of whoever gets the bulk of it.
Surely, the issue of the BBL is a big factor in determining how a Moro voter would cast his or her vote. At no time in the past that they are united than today by identifying themselves with the proposed basic law. Except for an insignificant few, everybody is with the BBL, especially its success in Congress.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/621-milf-s-hands-off-in-2016-elections
Second, the MILF believes and pursues a very different method of choosing leaders of society. The existing system where candidates, using money, power, and every imaginable tricks available, to outdo and defeat their rivals is in the end counterproductive to both winners and losers.
And third, the current efforts to solve the Bangsamoro Question, mainly via the passage of the BBL, are still hanging in the balance. Therefore, participating in such a highly partisan and divisive exercises, such as in the forthcoming elections in May 2016, will not only bring enmity and animosity among the ranks and file of the MILF but can be a menu for disintegration.
However, the MILF will not prevent its members from casting their votes in favor of their chosen candidates, especially those running for the presidential office. If exercised with caution and clear purpose, voting the right candidate, especially if he or she wins, is a great service to this country. Good leaders always make a difference in the lives of the people.
Right now there are four aspirants to the presidency namely, Senator Miriam Santiago, Senator Grace Llamansares-Poe, former Secretary Mar Roxas, and Vice President Jejomar Binay. We do not and will not pass judgment on them. It is up for the people to determine who is the better leader in their judgment.
However, in so far as the search for solution to the Bangsamoro Question is concerned, the choice of candidates should be on the basis of their past and their current actuation including their pronouncements on the BBL. More importantly, they should be asked of their policy regarding the Moros and the armed conflict in Mindanao. If they don’t have it yet, ask them to come out with it now. It is time that we should assert our rights strongly and vigorously.
The Moro voting strength is more or less two million nationwide. In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the number of registered voters already reached 1.5 million. It is huge enough to swing the pendulum in favor of whoever gets the bulk of it.
Surely, the issue of the BBL is a big factor in determining how a Moro voter would cast his or her vote. At no time in the past that they are united than today by identifying themselves with the proposed basic law. Except for an insignificant few, everybody is with the BBL, especially its success in Congress.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/621-milf-s-hands-off-in-2016-elections
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