{
During the 13th Islamic Summit Conference in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey on April 14-15, 2016, the Chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Al Haj Murad Ebrahim appealed to member-states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to sustain and strengthen the support to peace efforts in Southern Philippines by way of persistently influencing the next Philippine Government to immediately pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in the next congress and faithfully implement the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) through the agreed road map of implementation as well as in the humanitarian and socio-economic development programs.
In his message, the MILF chair expressed his gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chair of the 13th Islamic Summit Conference, His Majesty King Salman Bin Abduladziz of the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Iyad Ameen Madani, Chair of the OIC, and other heads of Islamic States for inviting the MILF to the 13th Islamic Summit Conference.
The full text of Chairman Murad’s message reads as follows:
I am humbled by the opportunity to be invited to the 13th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). At the same moment, I am expressing my personal as well as the collective gratitude of our Bangsamoro People for giving us the opportuniy to bring to the attention and care of Your Excellencies the prevailing situations in the Bangsamoro Homeland which is geographically situated in southern part of the Philippines.
We the Bangsamoro and our struggle for our right to self-determination has always been favored by this august assembly of Muslim countries, both the present and the past, to have occupied distinct pages of the history of the OIC.
As early as the Third Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in 1972 at Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Bangsamoro cause has unceasingly received the goodwill, solidarity and support of the OIC, be they moral, diplomatic, economic, religious, cultural, material and/or political in nature. For all of those assistance, we are perpetually indebted and grateful.
We the Bangsamoro continue to assert our inalienable right to chart our political future and pursue our development as a distinct people, nay as a nation different from the dominant Filipino nation but living within the broader Philipine state.
In the name of our most cherished Islam and our God-given freedom, our ancestors resisted Spanish invasion for more than 300 years beginning 1578 when the Spanish conquistadores met in the battle fields, for the first time, our valiant warriors in the island of Sulu where Islam set its stronghold since the thirteenth century”.
For almost 50 years beginning the 1900s, our ancestors also resisted the Americans under whose tutelage of early Filipino politicians resulted to the massive legalized land-grabbing of Bangsamoro ancestral domain as well as the lands inhabited, since time immemorial, of Mindanao’s indigenous peoples.
After World War II and under the then newly-independent Philippine Republic, which annexed immorally and unjustly the Bangsamoro homeland under the Philippine state, we were almost on the brink of losing our own national identity and culture, including our Islamic faith and tradiitons, because of the onslaught of integration policies vigorously pursued by the Philippine government.
When integration into the Filipino nation, which is predominantly Christian, did not succeed, a genocidal policy was used against us in the late 60s.
Massacres against defenseless Bangsamoro civilians were committed by the Philippine Constabulary as well as by government-organized and supported militias. We had no recourse but to arm and defend ourselves. It was in 1969 that Bangsamoro youth, myself included, decided to form a revolutionary front to protect our people, homeland and Islam against an oppressive government.
The grave situation then in Southern Philippines in the early years of 70s was denounced by Fourth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in 1973 at Benghazi, Libya.
We could have fought and won the war, which we almost did, but we heeded the appeal made by the OIC in Resolution Number 18 of the Fifth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in 1974 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We agreed, and continue to do so after almost 42 years, to find the most just, peaceful, civilized and negotiated political settlement to the Bangsamoro Question.
Your Excellencies, over this long period of time, our search for lasting and durable peace in the Bangsamoro homeland has already produced milestone agreements, notably the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, 1996 Final Agreement on the Implementation of the Tripoli Agreement, the 2001 Tripoli Agreement on Peace and lately the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
One may wonder why, in spite of four decades and several agreements already, the Bangsamoro Question or Problem is still not resolved.
The main reason, of course, is that all the aforementioned agreements have not been implemented properly because of the insincerity on the part of the Philippine government to comply faithfully with the letter and spirit, text and context of said agreements.
It is worth recalling that after the December 23, 1976 Tripoli Agreement, the Eight, Ninth and Tenth Foreign Ministers Conferences as well as the succeeding ones all clearly put the blame on the Philippine Government for the collapse of talks and ceasefire as well as repeatedly called on the Philippine Government to honor its commitment under the binding international agreement.
Admittedly, the peace talks took on a protracted character. But even with the conclusion of the 1996 Final Agreement on the implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, and the signing of the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the same dilatory approach is again growing evident in the manner of implementing these Agreements.
Take for instance the two-year old Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). The CAB serves as convergence of all the Peace Agreements of the Bangsamoro with the Government of the Philippines. It has to be translated into a legal document in the form of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, a process that is purely internal to the Government of the Philippines and an integral part of its commitments. Yet, even if the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law was already submitted on September 10, 2014 the Congress of the Philippines failed to enact it into law. The sad thing is that time was wasted away because oftentimes there was no quorum in both the Lower and Upper Houses of the Congress of Philippines whenever the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law was calendared in their agenda. Filipino spoilers of the peace process likewise worked very hard to prevent the passage of the Law.
As a result, the unacceptable status quo remains --- the same status quo that continues to deprive the Bangsamoro of their aged-old right to govern themselves in the light of their belief, historical experience, and acceptable prevailing democratic norms.
Thus, there is still no immediate end in sight to the sufferings of the Bangsamoro, which we have continuously endured for the last 40 years or more. The present charter of the so-called Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao can never deliver us from insecurity and violence, neither can it truly empower us to such an extent that we can decide our own affairs, nor can it return to us the control over our natural resources to such an extent that the latter would be use for our own development.
Since 1968, not less than 150,000 lives have been lost to the armed conflict and multi-billion pesos worth of properties were damaged, many of them already beyond repair. Even inspite of the peace talks, hostilities continued to happen on the ground especially when negotiation is in impasse.
Your Excellencies, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF, which I am privileged to lead since 2003 upon the demise of our Founder and shaheed Ustadz Salamat Hashim (Allahu Yarham), took cognizance of your positive response, as contained in the Cairo Final Communiqué of the Twelfth Session of the Islamic Summit Conference, to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) signed between the MILF and GPH under the facilitation of the Government of Malaysia. We joined Your Excellencies in affirming the need to relate the FAB to the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, more concretely by providing in the subsequent Annex on Power Sharing the consideration for specific powers already contained in previous agreements, as well as the review process of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement.
We highly appreciate the efforts of the OIC, through its Secretary-General and some Member States particularly Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Libya, Brunei and Egypt, in sustaining the peace processes as well as in extending humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation and development programs to at least lessen in certain degree the sufferings of the people in the affected areas. Other members of the International Community, such as the United Kingdom, Japan, the European Union and a number of its member-states, as well as Canada, Australia and others continue to actively support and play their roles in the structure of the peace process. United Nations agencies are also actively participating. However all these socio-economic efforts remain inconclusive until a political settlement addressing the root cause of the problem will be emplaced.
The Bangsamoro Basic Law is the key to the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. It would put in place the much-needed political solution to the Bangsamoro Problem. But the non-passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law might render all the Agreements as futile and may even engender massive frustration, extremism and radicalism. Further delay in the process will hasten the radicalization of our people and increase the chance of the so-called “Islamic State” or IS group to consolidate and win more adherents in the area. It is now evident that the IS and/or IS inspired group are capitalizing the frustration of the Bangsamoro people over the non-passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law to recruit more adherents and sympatizers especially among the youth and are moving towards the formation of a so called “ Islamic State Wilayah” in the Southeast Asia Region. Southern Philippines is very strategic to them and the conflict in the area could be easily capitalized.
The present devastation and destruction resulting from conflict and war in the Islamic World is already huge and very alarming. We need to exert every effort to ensure that such a situation will no longer be carried on to other areas.
Your Excellencies, we do not want the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro to suffer the same fate as the previous agreements. We always adhere to our conviction that the most civilized way to resolve conflict is through negotiated political settlement. In this respect, we cannot be faulted. Inspite of all setbacks, we have struggled to conclude an agreement that embodies the legitimate aspirations of our people. We could not ask for more except that the Government of Philippines demonstrates its sincerity and political will to honor and implement its commitments.
Your Excellencies, the Bangsamoro people are standing as one under the banner of the Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum or BCF. We commend the OIC Secretary-General for working actively in promoting the Unity of the Bangsamoro Ummah and other people in the area, as well as in providing for a mechanism for the convergence of the different peace agreements of the Bangsamoro with the Philippine government. We likewise express our utmost appreciation and gratitude to the Prime Minister of Malaysia H.E. Dato’ Seri Tun Razak and his government for the continued strong commitment and support to the GPH-MILF peace process and the final resolution of the conflict and war in Southern Philippines.
We reaffirm our solidarity to the people of Palestine and the struggles of Muslim Communities and Minorities in non-OIC Member States.
Lastly, we reiterate our gratitude to the OIC Secretary General and the host country Turkey for their facilitation for us to be in this Islamic Summit as well as for their continued strong support to the GPH-MILF peace process.
http://www.luwaran.com/home/index.php/news/76-international/684-milf-appeals-to-oic-to-sustain-and-strengthen-the-support-to-peace-efforts-in-southern-philippines
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.