Peace advocates appeal to Senate to heed people’s desire for peace in Mindanao

JOLO, Sulu (PNA) -- Key leaders in this island province have asked lawmakers, particularly Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. whose Senate committee is set to conduct a public hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on Wednesday, to heed the Mindanaoans’ call for peace in the South. The Senate should read the sign of the times. People want peace in Mindanao, as shown by a recent survey that more Filipinos want peaceful negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” said Octavio Dinampo, executive director of the Tulung Lupah Sug Inc., in reference to a recent Social Weather Station’s survey which showed 45 percent of Filipinos prefer peaceful negotiations with the MILF.Alih Aiyub, secretary general of the National Ulama Conference, pleaded with lawmakers to stop using or exploiting the current public debate and discourse on the BBL for their personal political agenda. Please set aside politicking because peace agreements like the BBL mean our life and death and an end to violence and poverty in Mindanao. Please stop playing with our lives, please be part of history, Senator Marcos, so we can make our country great again,” he said.Senator Marcos, chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government, is expected to arrive here on Wednesday to resume his committee hearings on the BBL which was delayed due to the Mamasapano incident.The BBL aims at legalizing the creation of the new Bangsamoro region to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The BBL is an offshoot of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that was signed between the Philippine government and the MILF after more than 17 years of peace negotiations on March 27, 2014.For Abubakar B. Mohammad, president of Moro Reform Movement, there is a need to come up with law that will bring genuine autonomy to Bangsamoro. Nothing should disturb or divert the attention of Senators and Representatives from the fact that what matters most to the Bangsamoro peace negotiators is no other than whether or not the Bangsamoro people shall be given a just share of the wealth and powers accruing from the Bangsamoro,” he said. For only thus can we hope to achieve justice, peace and development or solidarity of the Filipino people in the southern Philippines,” he continued. We are not hopeless. I believe that President Benigno S. Aquino III is sincere in his advocacy to give justice, peace and development to all the Filipinos including, of course, the Moros or Bangsamoro who are still part and parcel citizens of the Republic of the Philippines,” he added. (PNA)LAP/PR/EDS