Bangsamoro Solons Want to Declare Burial Ground of MILF Founder Salamat Hashim, Alim Mimbantas Historical Shrines

edd1994

4 years ago

BARMM News

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Sheikh Salamat Hashim, founding chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in a file photograph taken by Edd K. Usman in Buliok Complex, the MILF camp after the group abandoned Camp Abubakar As-Assidique in Matanog, Maguindanao. This photograph was taken on the morning of September 11, 2001, believed to be his last picture by a journalist before he died in July 2003. The occasion was the visit of Libyan Ambassador Salem Adam with Muslimin Sema, who headed an MNLF faction, and Ustadhz Ahmad Noor Darping, a missionary working for Libya. Buliok Complex was attacked and bombed by the military on the orders of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Muslims across the world were celebrating Eid’l Adha on February 11, 2003. The bombs fell as the MILF founder was leading the Eid’l Fitr early morning prayers. It was believed he was hurt in the attack. Buliok Complex, a 60-hectare area straddles Pagalungan, Maguindanao, and Pikit, North Cotabato.

COTABATO CITY — Bangsamoro Parliament legislators have filed a bill declaring the burial site of the late Sheikh Salamat Hashim and the late Alim Abdul Aziz Mimbantas as Bangsamoro Historical Shrines.

They filed Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Bill No. 182 during the Parliament’s plenary on March 23, 2022.

Hashim was the founder and chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which he organized in 1977 as he split from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chaired by Founding Chairman Nur P. Misuari. Mimbantas served as Hashim’s vice chairman for military affairs in the MILF.

Member of the Parliament (MP) Attorney Paisalin Tago, principal author of BTA Bill No. 182, noted that the two Bangsamoro leaders are “worthy of commemoration for their ideals, principles, works, and sacrifices for the Bangsamoro people.”

Sheikh Hashim and Alim Mimbantas were both buried in Camp Bushra Somiorong in Butig, Lanao del Sur, one of the major camps recognized by the peace panel of the Philippine government (GPH) in the Mindanao peace process with the MILF.

The proposed measure further noted that the historical shrine should be preserved or reconstructed whenever necessary as much as possible in its original form.

As stated in the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the Bangsamoro government is empowered to declare historical shrines and cultural sites to preserve for posterity the Bangsamoro heritage.

Once approved, the Bangsamoro Commission on the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH) will supervise and control the reconstruction and preservation of the historical shrine. (LTAIS- Public Information, Publication, and Media Relations Division) — (/)