From the Daily Tribune (Jul 4): BBL ‘one-sided’ in favor of gov’t — communists
Despite the near success of the Aquino administration’s negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a new Moro rebel group affiliated with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) based in Mindanao tags the contested Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as one that “only favors the government.”
In a belated statement released by the Moro Resistance and Liberation Organization (MRLO) after their 10th founding anniversary last June 20, Jihad Al Kursi, the group’s spokesman, said that the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF is double-bladed.
“We should open our eyes to the two-pronged (double-bladed) approach to the peace negotiation. President Aquino, who takes his cue from the US counterinsurgency and anti-terror program, is using the all-out offensives as an excuse to force the MILF to succumb not only to a compromised exit agreement, but to a watered-down version of the BBL,” Al Kursi said in an email.
“The formation of the new political body was cunningly subjected to the executive and legislative processes. After almost a year of deliberation, the provisions in the proposed BBLwhich should reflect the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), have been taken out,” Al Kursi added.
Al Kursi also lambasted President Aquino for not handling the Mamasapano massacre incident well that causing a sort of religious discrimination towards the Moro people that even got worse after military forces launched “all-out offensives” that “displaced more than 100,000 residents, wounded several civilians and destroyed houses, mosques and farmlands.”
“Instead of addressing the controversy arising in the Mamasapano tragedy, President Aquino’s apologists and attack dogs launched an anti-terror tirade against the MILF bordering on anti-Moro hysteria,” Al Kursi said.
The MRLO also scored the MILF for agreeing to surrender arms through the decommissioning of their Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) where 55 high-powered firearms and 20 crew-served weapons along with 145 combatants were surrendered last month in a ceremony graced by President Aquino himself.
“The decommissioning symbolizes the MILF’s abandonment of its revolutionary path to struggle for the right to self-determination and against national oppression by the Aquino administration,” Al Kursi declares, adding that the event symbolizes the removal of their armed forces “that serves as defense for the Moro people against military attacks and plunder of its natural resources found in Mindanao.”
The rebel group suggests that the peace talks between the government and the MILF should have been “a venue to express the genuine demands and democratic interests of the Moro people on self-determination, had been reduced to a constitutional issue.”
Al Kursi also said that their group remains firm in their armed rebellion for the Moro people’s “right to self-determination.”
“MRLO believes that the only way to stop the attack on our Moro brethren is for the Moro people to return to the revolutionary way of addressing the conflict, through armed struggle,” Al Kursi said.
In July 1999, the MILF agreed to form an alliance to defend “common territories” together with the communists in Mindanao. The MRLO did not mention anything about the said pact.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/bbl-one-sided-in-favor-of-gov-t-communists
The Moro Resistance and Liberation Organization (MRLO) is a shadowy organization whose existence seems centered on issuing periodic propaganda statements that advocate "armed struggle" as the way to achieve the Moros "right to self determination." The group is a member of the clandestine CPP political organization, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
ReplyDeleteThe MRLO has been critical of the GRP-MILF peace process and lambasts the MILF for its abandonment of revolutionary armed struggle. The reason for this criticism is simple. At one point during the GRP-MILF conflict the Philippine military had around 80% of its combat power stationed in Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago to keep the MILF (and Abu Sayyaf) in check. This stretched the Philippine Army thin and gave the Maoist New People's Army room to maneuver unchecked in a number of areas throughout the Philippines.
Since the GRP-MILF peace agreement, the Philippine military has been realigning its forces with emphasis on dealing with the NPA threat. The CPP would like nothing more than to see the MILF return to the field and the fighting resume between it and the Philippine military. This would take the pressure off the NPA and allow it to expand its influence and recruit new members. Hence the MRLO statement below calling for a return to military confrontation with the Philippine government:
"“MRLO believes that the only way to stop the attack on our Moro brethren is for the Moro people to return to the revolutionary way of addressing the conflict, through armed struggle,”