Young Moros Marsh Peace 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.

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