Youth Appeals to PGMA on the Impasse of the GRP-MILF Peace process

Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum

Press Statement
August 19, 2008
MORO YOUTH LEADERS PUSH FOR PEACE

The Philippine government is once more trying to dupe the Bangsamoro people in its persistent desire to suppress the Moro’s inherent and legitimate right to govern themselves in accordance with the prescriptions of the Holy Qur’an. Still not contented with giving us bogus autonomy named Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which literally further divided not only the Bangsamoro homeland but the Bangsamoro people themselves, the imperial Manila is again granting deceptive concessions in the peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The government has also never showed it can implement agreements it entered into with the Bangsamoro people, like the Final Peace Agreement of 1996 with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

However, with the recent SONA of President Arroyo, worries and frustrations surface all over again for not giving an emphasis on the peace process that the government engages on with the MILF. Further, the situation has been worsened by the issuance of the Supreme Court of the Temporary Restraining Order on MOA-AD instigated by some peace saboteurs and politicians like Cotabato Vice Provincial Governor Emmanuel Piňol, Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, Congressman Teodoro Locsin, Senator Francis Escudero and United Opposition Spokesperson Adel Tamano, to name a few, who have vested interests in Mindanao and some cabinet officials of the government who have been praying that the peace agreement won’t be realized. Obviously, the government as in the previous dealings with other legitimate revolutionary fronts doesn’t want peace to reign in the Bangsamoro Homeland.

The present scenario only reminisces the agonies and miserable experiences of the Bangsamoro in the hands of the Philippine Government that added insult, injury and even attacked the dignity of the Muslims not only in the Philippines but through out the globe.

With this heartless and deliberate act of some demons disguised as politicians and with the strategies of the Philippine government on how to deceive the Bangsamoro People, the Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum, a broadest alliance of Bangsamoro Youth Leaders in Mindanao and in the country is again expressing its doubt on the sincerity of the government to address the problems of the Bangsamoro people.

Therefore, now, more than ever, is the compelling time for all peace-loving citizens of Mindanao especially the Bangsamoro Youth to join hands and become an agent and a catalyst in achieving peace by all means. This is the idea that binds us together in our commitment and desire to have a lasting peace in our own Homeland. Towards this end, we put forward the following commitment and calls:

1. Condemning in the strongest term Vice Gov. Pinol, Mayor Lobregat, Rep. Locsin and other allies of PGMA who are anti-Moro and renown saboteurs of peace. Indeed, these personalities deserve to be thrown out of Bangsamoro Homeland;

2. Appealing to the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision on the MOA-AD and finally lift the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in order for the Peace Process to push through the signing;

3. Reiterating our all-out support to the Moro Revolutionary fronts in the struggle towards the attainment of Freedom and Right to Self Determination of the Bangsamoro People;

4. Reminding the MILF to be vigilant and cautious in dealing with the Philippine government which is an expert in the art of treachery and fraudulence;

5. Reiterating further our call for the Bangsamoro People, MNLF and MILF leadership to unite and to revert to the original objective of struggle, which is “independence” of the Bangsamoro people of Mindanao as an option in order to achieve our aspiration for total peace, justice, development and freedom pursuant to the inalienable right as a people being guaranteed by the Charter of the United Nations;

6. Finally, we appeal to the international Muslim community to help us in pushing the talks forward to attain the kind of peace that we want, not what others want for us.

Irrevocably, the BMYLF shall continue the struggle Fii Sabillah through to the end. Whenever and wherever we are needed, there we must be!

Rahib Kudto
National President, UNYPAD
United Youth for Peace and Development
Contact No. 0926-2557608

Ardan D. Sali
Secretary General
Bangsamoro Youth Assembly
Contact No. 0918-2378384

Bobby Benito
Executive Director
Bangsamoro Center for JustPeace
Contact No.0919-7245492