Mastura to file motion before SC in defense of FAB, CAB

COTABATO
CITY – A lawyer and elected delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention will
file on October 27 an urgent motion for leave to intervene and to admit attached comment-in-intervention before the Supreme Court in defense of the
Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro (CAB) which have been questioned before the highest court of the land.

Datu
Michael O. Mastura will file the motion in defense of FAB and CAB in light of
earlier petitions filed, among others, by the Philippine Constitutional
Association (PHILCONSA) asking the highest court to nullify the FAB and CAB.

A
senior member of the MILF Peace negotiating panel, former member of House of
Representatives, a historian, lawyer, prolific writer and scholar Mastura’s slofty
act of filing this Intervention case is inspired by his maratabat” for the
Bangsamoro nation.

A ‘maratabat
that all the sons and daughters of Moroland ought to feel and share in this
crucial time when we are facing a most perilous trial that will test the
collective will and determination of the Bangsamoro people as to whether to
remain as colonized subjects under the status quo or be a free people exercising
the right to self-determination,” saida statement released by Atty. Mary Ann Arnado
of Mindanao Peoples Caucus and Atty. Ishak Mastura of the Regional Board of
Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RBOI-ARMM).

Let
us show to all and sundry that Datu Mike is not alone in his mission, nor is he
alone in his maratabat, and that we stand together with him because his maratabat
is our maratabat, it is every Bangsamoro's maratabat, and the maratabat of the
entire Moro Nation itself,” Arnado and Mastura said.

Mastura,
more known as Datu Mike,” is a direct descendant of the great Sultan Kudarat
who in history is acknowledged as one of the finest leaders and heroes of
Muslim Mindanao.

A
Datu by birthright title, Mastura is the son, of Datu Usngan, who was the son
of Hadji Datu Talusan, who was the son of Sultan Mastura, who was the son of
Sultan Kudarat II and great, great grandson of Sultan Kudarat I and so forth in
the line to the Sultan of the Sultanate of Maguindanao beginning the 16th
century.

On October
27 at 9:30 a.m. he will be at the Supreme Court to file his intervention,
Insha'Allah. Let us be there to file it with him. Let us be there for this is
all our fight - for justice, for freedom, for Bangsamoro,” the statement said.

Arnado saidDatu Mikeseeks to intervene in this case in his personal capacity as a native born successor generation of Moro ancestry and as bearer of heritage of indigenous institutions in Muslim Mindanao. He seeks to intervene in order to provide an opportunity for the Bangsamoro people to be heard before the Supreme Court as their own identity is pilloried, their allegiance to this Republic harshly questioned, and their genuine aspiration for freedom, justice and peace repeatedly suppressed by the sheer tyranny of the majority of this country, Arnado said. The cardinal rule on due process dictates that before the Honorable Supreme Court exercise it’s power of judicial review and decide on the fate of the FAB and CAB, the Bangsamoro people through the humble Intervention need first to be heard and properly understood, she added. After
his appearance before the SC along Padre Faura Street in Manila, he will host press
conference at 10:30 a.m. at Max Restaurant (fronting the Court of Appeals).