Young Moros Marsh Reace Rally

Published by Jun Filed under Bangsamoro

Last January 6 at around 8 o’clock in the morning, hundreds, if not thousands of Young Moros, from different groups and organizations of various schools and colleges in the City of Marawi and Lanao del Sur, gathered and Marshed in Quezon Avenue of the city for the MARSH PEACE RALLY urging the National Government to continue Peace Negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front by Respecting and Honoring the Initialed MOAD-AD. They joined also the international community’s condemnation of the attacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip of Palestine that kills hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands mostly children and women. The crowds chanting “RESPECT AND HONOR THE INITIALED MOA-AD”, “STOP BOMBING GAZA”!

Aleem Ilias Macarandas led the prayer before the Marsh. Omarsharief Pangandaman of Tarompong Radio Forum (596) and a Human Rightist was in the affair.


Heres the MANIFESTO:

Bangsamoro Youth Marsh Peace Rally on the Occasion of the Visit of the President of the Republic of the Philippines, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the Province of Lanao del Sur, January 6, 2009.

WHEREAS, We, the Young Bangsamoro, rejoice in our identify as the offsprings and today’s young generation of the Bangsamoro and as such, proud inheritors of an undying will to assert our people’s freedom and our sovereign rights over territories and our destiny as a nation;

WHEREAS, We are fully aware of the long history of our people’s struggle against foreign oppression and happily bear in mind that our freedom-fighters have consistently demonstrated their wisdom, dignity and magnanimity, in adhering to the principles of justice and peace and in peaceful means of conflict resolution when ever their enemies lean towards peace;

WHEREAS, We are painfully conscious that all the peace treaties and agreements entered into by the Bangsamoro have not been honored or implemented by their counterparts in the negotiations, from way back during the American occupation down to the present administration of the government of the Republic of the Philippines, the latest of which is the deliberate abortion of the initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), carefully crafted over more than ten years;

WHEREAS, we are fully cognizant of the reality that the series of betrayals and immoral conduct of the leaders of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines is the rout cause of the sustained instability, violence grossly underdeveloped, marginalized and indignified condition of our people and communities, most especially, the hopelessness against a bright, peaceful and prosperous future for the Bangsamoro Young Generation and successor generations;

WE, THEREFORE, on record, issue forth the following questions to Her Excellency, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, on the occasion of her visit in our Province of Lanao del Sur this 6th day of January 2009, and for which we demand unequivocal answers as is our right, and as is only right should the President still assert her rule over us, and faithful to her sworn duty to provide equal protection to all her constituency;

1. Wherefore have you come, Madame President?

2. Do you come as the President of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, who has embroiled our representative in an eleven-year span of peace negotiation, with a historic final document that is certainly the best solution to the conflict, and right on its final approval, Your Excellency turned about and declared your determination not to sign (even at the point of a gun), a presidential declaration vehemently stated even long before the Supreme Court could issue its final decision on the unconstitutionality of the MOA-AD?

3. Is your visit with the blessings of Justice Puno, and the permission of the three Kings of Mindanao Piñol, Cruz and Lobregat? And like Alexander the Great, ride rough shod with no grass allowed to stand in his way?

4. What are you bringing to our people? Can your Excellency bring out hope in the nailed coffin of the MOA-AD? Do you bring equal protection for us and if so, are you bringing at least 13,000 arms for our civilians as you did to non-moro civilians in Mindanao?

5. What can you do for us in the remaining months of your Presidential reign? Your Excellency cannot promise a constitutional change to legitimize the MOA-AD because your powerful opponents took that away from you. The only remaining option is the declaration of Martial Law. Have you come to use us, as Dictator Marcos did, to justify the declaration? Wherefore, have you come this late and no avail?

6. What gift are you bringing to our people and to us, the Young Bangsamoro?

As for us, the MOA-AD is a living document it is not open for re-negotiation if in re-negotiation, the little that is left to us, is further lost to us for we bound ourselves to respect the rights of other peoples in Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan, the Bangsamoro Homeland and territory.

We are the Young Bangsamoro. We are learning much of democracy under the tutelage of the GRP. WE AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE.

Done in the Islamic City of Marawi on 06 January 2009.

Stop the bombings and other atrocities against civilians

STATEMENT

Stop the bombings and other atrocities against civilians
by Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum
Friday, 10 July 2009

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum (BMYLF), the broadest coalition of Moro youth organizations in Mindanao strongly condemns the recent series of bombings in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, Cotabato City, Iligan City and Jolo, Sulu that killed 12 persons and injured almost hundred of innocent civilians.

The BMYLF expresses its sympathy and condolence to the families of the victims of these atrocities even as we pray for the immediate recovery of the injured civilians. These incidents can only be a handiwork of individuals or groups with evil motives to create chaos that foment further animosities between Muslim and Christians to serve their own selfish agenda.

Indeed, the BMYLF is aghast and abhors these forms of carnage as it is alarmed by the escalation of violence in Mindanao and the growing number of civilian casualties and displaced persons. The BMYLF wonders if these incidents are not part and parcel of the recently disclosed document “Operation August Moon”. The results of these hostilities are more than enough to prove that resorting to violence will never be the solution of the aged-old problem of Mindanao.

It is with these premises that the BMYLF make the following urgent calls to all concerned particularly the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to wit:

1. Stop the war;
2. Immediately resume the peace talks between the MILF and the GRP;
3. Re-activate the Joint Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, Ceasefire
Mechanism and Ad Hoc joint Action Group.
4. For the AFP and MILF-BIAF to respect and adhere to the principles of
International Humanitarian Law, Geneva Conventions 1-1V and Protocols 1-II
5. Immediately form Independent Fact Finding Committee to conduct an in-depth
investigation of the recent bombings and hostilities in Mindanao; and
6. Appeal to the international community particularly the European Union (EU) and
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to help push through the peace process
in Mindanao in order to arrive at a final political settlement.




Finally, the BMYLF further reiterates that the conflict in Mindanao can only be resolved through dialogue and calls upon all parties to act with utmost restraint and jointly work for a lasting solution to the Bangsamoro problem.

SAVE THE INNOCENT CIVILIANS!

Reference:

RAHIB PAYAPAT
Spokesperson



Source: http://www.mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6660&Itemid=95

SOLDIERS RAID EVACUATION CENTER IN N. COTABATO

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Early last month, Rakman Suleik and his 17-year-old son Samsudin, together with a few others, fled from the fighting between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Aleosan, North Cotabato. They had evacuated, to safety or so they thought, at the house of a certain Colonel Maguid of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Barangay (village) Nalapaan in Pikit, North Cotabato.

But even in the house that had served as their refuge, they would not be safe from atrocities by soldiers.

A few minutes past midnight on Oct. 16, the evacuees at Colonel Maguid’s house heard violent raps on the door. A man from outside gave them five seconds to open the door, after which, he threatened, the house would be fired upon.

Ustadz Omar Salasal and his wife opened the door, whereupon soldiers barged in bearing bolos. They threatened to hack the evacuees with the bolos, ordered them to lie on the floor face down, and started beating them up. “Inapakan ako sa mukha (They stepped on my face),” Salasal told the delegates of a recent National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission (NIHM) to Pikit, North Cotabato and Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

The women and children were then separated from the men and locked up in a room. One of the soldiers then asked Salasal’s wife if there was anyone upstairs. She answered in the negative, but the soldier refused to believe her and dragged her upstairs. The soldier saw Rakman there, hiding in the ceiling, and ordered him to go down.

“Kinaladkad si Rakman at tinadyakan noong pababa sila ng hagdan (They dragged Rakman and kicked him as they were descending the stairs),” Salasal told the NIHM delegates.

Samsudin said he saw his father being beaten up. “Binugbog ang tatay ko, pinilipit ang tainga niya, at napaiyak siya dahil sa paninipa sa likod niya (My father was beaten up, his ears were twisted, and he broke into tears because his back was being kicked)” he said.

A few moments later, Samsudin said, he was accosted by the soldiers, who asked him who his father is. “No’ng malamang tatay ko si Rakman, sinipa ako at inapakan sa ulo, at saka inilabas ako (When they learned Rakman is my father, they kicked me and stepped on my head, and brought me out),” he said.

As all these were taking place, Salasal said, Colonel Maguid’s mother was pleading with the soldiers not to hurt the civilians. A soldier responded by taking one of the flashlights in the house and inserting it into the mouth of Colonel Maguid’s mother.

After that, the soldiers took Rakman and Samsudin outside the house and beat them up some more before speeding away with them in an Army truck. When the soldiers -– whom Salasal had identified as belonging to the 40th Infantry Battalion by the lettering on the Army truck they had used in the raid –- had gone a considerable distance, the other evacuees fled.

Samsudin said they were taken near another evacuation center, where the soldiers tied them to an ipil-ipil tree and continued beating them up.

Rakman is now detained at the Aleosan Municipal Jail. The soldiers had brought them there after beating them up while tied to the ipil-ipil tree.

“Do’n na lang po namin nalamang may kaso sa kanya (It was only there that we learned there is a case against him),” Samsudin said. “Hindi po alam ng tatay ko na may kaso pala siya (My father didn’t know that there was a case against him).”

“Hindi ko po alam kung bakit kami ang tinatarget (I don’t know why we were being targeted),” Samsudin told the NIHM delegates.

As of Oct. 24, there was still no definite information as to whether or not Rakman had been charged with any offense. (Bulatlat.com)
posted by Alexander Martin Remollino


Source: http://ourthoughtsarefree.blogspot.com/

ON BEING A MORO AND A MUSLIM

(A Statement from the Office of Anak Mindanao Party List Representative Mujiv S. Hataman on the Privilege Speech of Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin)

When the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front caused a wave of protests among different sectors of society, we feared the resurging of anti-Moro discrimination and prejudice.

Though we believed that the said Memorandum of Agreement could have been a major breakthrough in the peace process, we adhered and respected the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court, acknowledging the right to information and consultation raised by the protesters. We welcomed this opportunity for calmness, rationality and objectivity in the discussion and study of the Agreement, thereby easing our aforementioned fear.

However, today (August 6, 2008) our fear stared right in front of us, right in the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, coming from the least expected person, as we have revered and esteemed him for his eloquence, brilliance and uncorrupted stance in major public controversies in the past.

Exercising utmost prudence, we did not settle for what the news reported. We asked for a copy of the mentioned Privilege Speech of the Honorable Representative Teddy Boy Locsin, and much to our grief, the words in the actual Speech only served to confirm our fears.

We recognize the oppositions against the content of the Agreement, even the process by which it was carried out. But to put forward arguments based on misconceptions about Islam and derogatory statements about the Moro people is uncalled for, especially from a statesman such as the Honorable Representative.

If a highly educated, respected authority like Congressman Locsin thought and felt this way towards the Moro people and Muslims in general, one can only surmise what an ordinary non-Moro, non-Muslim thinks about us.

It is for this consideration, that we are compelled to negate some points raised by the good Congressman, made not in bad faith, we would like to believe, but out of the lack of acquaintance with the Moro People’s History and the dynamics of Islam.

Enumerated in the Speech under Items Four, Five and Six are what the Representative say will result from the MOA – an allusion to the establishment of an anarchic, Afghanistan-style government, “an educational system teaching even undemocratic political values along with intolerant religious ideas,” “without any of the civilized limitations in the Bill of Rights, such as equal protection of the laws, due process, and the prohibition against such cruel and unusual punishments as stoning to death a woman taken in adultery or just suspected. Indeed, it shall possess absolute powers without any prohibition against the discrimination, abuse and enslavement of women, which happens in some Muslim states.”

We do not deny the fact that these occur in countries where Muslims are a majority (there are questions among Muslim authorities on the use of the term “Islamic State” as the claim of some countries to be such is still highly debated upon), but they are also occurrences in many non-Muslim nations. Yes there are Muslims who allege that these are Islamic teachings, but many Muslims believe that these are misrepresentations arising from conservative interpretation of Islam, contrary to the true essence of Islam as established in Qur’anic hermeneutical exegesis. We are not in the position to lecture on Islamic theology and we know that this is not the proper forum. However, allow us to share the following Rights prescribed in Islam:

1. BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS:

1. The Right to Life
2. The Right to the Safety of Life
3. Respect for the Chastity of Women
4. The Right to a Basic Standard of Life
5. Individual’s Right to Freedom
6. The Right to Justice
7. Equality of Human Beings
8. The Right to Co-operate and not to Co-operate

2. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS IN AN ISLAMIC STATE:

1. The Security of Life and Property
2. The Protection of Honor
3. The Sanctity and Security of Private Life
4. The Security of Personal Freedom
5. The Right to Protest Against Tyranny
6. Freedom of Expression
7. Freedom of Association
8. Freedom of Conscience and Conviction
9. Protection of Religious Sentiments
10. Protection from Arbitrary Imprisonment
11. The Right to Basic Necessities of Life
12. Equality Before Law
13. Rulers not above the Law
14. The Right to Avoid Sin
15. The Right to Participate in the Affairs of the State


3. RIGHTS OF ENEMIES AT WAR:

1. The Rights of the Non-Combatants
2. The Rights of the Combatants
o Right Against Torture with fire
o Protection of the Wounded
o The Prisoner of War should not be Slain
o No one should be tied to be killed
o No looting and destruction in the enemy’s country
o Sanctity of Property
o Sanctity of a Dead Body
o Return of Corpses of the Enemy
o Prohibition of Breach of Treaties
o Rules about Declaration of War

These Fundamental Rights were laid down by Islam six hundred years before the concept of human rights was said to be introduced in the Magna Carta of Britain. They are Rights due to every single being, regardless of race, sex or religion. Muslims are to uphold these Rights with utmost compliance because in the words of the Muslim scholar, Syed Maududi, “…when we speak of human rights in Islam we really mean that these rights have been granted by God; they have not been granted by any king or by any legislative assembly. The rights granted by the kings or the legislative assemblies, can also be withdrawn in the same manner in which they are conferred. But since in Islam human rights have been conferred by God, no legislative assembly in the world, or any government on earth has the right or authority to make any amendment or change in the rights conferred by God. No one has the right to abrogate them or withdraw them. Nor are they the basic human rights which are conferred on paper for the sake of show and exhibition and denied in actual life when the show is over. Nor are they like philosophical concepts which have no sanctions behind them.”

Furthermore, no less than the Prophet (S.A.W.) said, “On the day of judgment, rights will be given to those to whom they are due (and wrongs will be redressed…)

The violation by some Muslims of this decree does not justify the attribution of cruelty to all Muslims or to Islam in general.

We hope to have shed a speck of light on the issue of Islam, Human Rights and Democracy. Allow us now to clarify some points raised about the Moro People and our Struggle for Right to Self-Determination.

Rep. Locsin started his speech by saying it is easy for one (such as Rep. Dilangalen) to approach the issue calmly, for he stands to gain an entirely new country. May we remind or if indeed he is ignorant of the fact, inform his honor that the Moro’s struggle is not about GAINING a new country, but about REGAINING what was unjustly taken away from us. And in this particular agreement, this opportunity of regaining what is rightfully ours is not even without conditions.

The Moro people is not what he called new-minted citizens. Sir, we have been a civilized people long before the Spaniards came. We were a sovereign nation 448 years before the Philippines even became one. Our government had treaty relations with the Spaniards, the French and the Americans. Long before Magellan discovered the Philippines, Jolo was already serving as one of the international trading ports in the Malayan world, frequented by Arab, Chinese and other Asian traders. We had a defined land territory and we are not solely seafarers as mentioned.

Perhaps the good Congressman forgot, Manila started as a Muslim community ruled by Rajah Sulayman.

If we have become the lowly people that we are now, bereft of civility and dignity as many see us to be, we can only point to a stepmother who has forsaken us after forcibly taking us along with our legitimate inheritance into her custody. From the very beginning, the Moro people were not remiss in their resistance against inclusion in the Philippines. But despite pleas, petitions and clamors in every means imaginable, the interest of the Moro people was never sufficiently addressed or at the very least heard. In the drafting of the 1935 Constitution, a group of Moros wrote a letter to the Constitutional Convention, asking for a guarantee of their political, economic and socio-cultural survival as a people. This found no space in the said Constitution. The letter was not even read. It is said that in protest of this injustice, a Christian Filipino delegate from Lanao, Hon. Tomas Cabili did not sign the Constitution.

But despite these, many of us grew up to be loving, respectful and obedient children of this nation. But just like illegitimate children, we are forever challenged to prove our loyalty, to struggle in order to gain respect and acceptance or even just to belong. We are eternally striving to prove our worth and to at least get the attention that we deserve but never had. And in times when we cry, longing for our identity in our own home, we are called insurgents, rebels, traitors and dealt with as such.

The Filipino nation has not and from the recent debacles about the peace process, will never be able to accept us unconditionally for who and what we are. Yet, the Filipino nation denies us, even a glimpse of hope to regain our lives. What can be more cruel than that?

This is not to serve the interest of the peace process, more so push for the contentious Memorandum of Agreement. Public debates on the issue are everywhere. This is a mere attempt to provide an alternative perspective on what has been said, particularly in the subject Privilege Speech, which we know, represents the feelings and insights of many of our Christian Filipino brothers and sisters.

Lastly, the said Speech also questioned the intervention of the Malaysian government. We cannot speak in behalf of Malaysia. But this we can say, the Moro People’s Right to Self-Determination is a universally upheld Right. Between Malaysia, who recognizes this right, and one who is not aware of, much more support this right, who now is bereft of the spirit of human rights, democracy and justice?


Source: http://blog.wyzemoro.com/on-being-a-moro-and-a-muslim/