The Daily Manila Shimbun

 

MILF ready to accept BOL rejection

January 21, 2019



Sultan Kudarat, Magundanao – The chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Al-haj Murad Ebrahim assured Filipino Muslim voters his group would respect a rejection of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

Answering questions from reporters after he voted at 10:23 am in his hometown school precinct here, he said, he would respect a “no” win in the elections. A negative vote in the plebiscite would scrap the BOL.

“We are ready to accept if there’s a no vote,” he said.

“Then we will continue to strive that that agreement be implemented. But it is now the duty of government to implement it,” he added.

Malacanang is confident of a landslide win for a yes vote in this plebiscite, the third to be held since 1977, when then President Ferdinand Marcos created the regional government composed by Regions 9 (Western Mindanao) and 12 (Central Mindanao), and in 2001, which sought to expand the original territory covered by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Violence was reported in Cotabato City, one of only two cities outside the ARMM areas, to be included in the plebiscite. The other is Isabela City, of Basilan, which belong to the ARMM.

On Sunday night a suspected motorcycle-riding man lobbed a grenade at a judge’s residence in Santa Maria Street, Rosario Heights along Sinsuat Avenue. His brother, a City Hall executive, said the incident appeared to be more related to the job of his brother as a judge.

Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi claimed alleged Moro Islamic Liberation Front leaders coerced “Christian voters” Polling precincts opened on time in many areas of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, but in Cotabato City, lines formed several minutes before the 7 am start.

Former Armed Forces Chief and Presidential Peace Adviser, Carlito Galvez, asked the MILF to pull out the unarmed elements of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Force (BIAF) on Sunday night.

The Comelec-accredited Bangsamoro Free Election Movement said the MILF unit pulled out by 8:00 pm,

“This would signify that it (MILF) it is now transforming the revolutionary process into a democratic process,” Murad told reporters, where he spoke at the gymnasium with several Maguindanao voters listening.

Murad was listed 88th slot as “Ebrahim, Ahod “Murad” Balawag” at Precinct 140-B of Simuay Junction Central Elementary School. .

“I see this as historic. We have been travelling for 50 years and it’s only now that we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he added. “With this development, we can now address peace,”

After the plebiscite, Murad said he hoped the Bangsamoro Transition Authority would be immediately established “and start to organize our governance”.

He appealed to donor countries and international donor agencies to continue helping them “and to maximize your help because our people would badly need them”.

The priority of the MILF-led BARMM would concentrate on education, medical care and services, social services and strategic infrastructure.

“We never closed the doors to peace process That’s also our advice to other people who are struggling. War is not the solution,” he said. “We resort to armed struggle just to defend ourselves,” he said. DMS