Bill declaring March 18 as Bangsamoro Day filed

From the Manila Bulletin (Aug 8, 2020): Bill declaring March 18 as Bangsamoro Day filed (By Charissa Luci-Atienza)

Anak Mindanao (AMIN) partylist Rep. Amihilda Sangcopan has filed a bill declaring March 18 of every year as the Bangsamoro Day in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to commemorate the infamous 1968 Jabidah Massacre.

She filed House Bill No. 7000 seeking the declaration of March 18 as the Bangsamoro Day to commemorate the massacre of young Bangsamoro men on Corregidor Island on March 18, 1968.


“This year marks the 52nd anniversary of the infamous Jabidah Massacre. The declaration of March 18 as Bangsamoro Day will give the Bangsamoro people a chance to revisit the struggles of their forbears as they move towards the dream of being recognised as a unified political unit existing harmoniously with the lumads and even the migrant settlers,” she said in her bill’s explanatory note.

“The commemoration of the Jabidah Massacre will capture and integrate in the history of the Bangsamoro people the turbulent days that unified the Muslim ethnic groups towards the fulfilment of their aspiration as an empowered and self-directed people,” Sangcopan said.

She said the Jabidah Massacre first came to public attention on March 18, 1968 when two fishermen rescued a man named Jibin Arula from the waters just off Caballo Island on Manila Bay.

https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/08/bill-declaring-march-18-as-bangsamoro-day-filed/