Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-tjl
By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
AL NOR HOTEL, Cotabato City, June 1, 2023 (SDN) — Sacrificing their lives, families, and comfort for the Bangsamoro struggle, members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) deserve nothing less than a full recognition from the Bangsamoro government.
As Member of Parliament (MP) and Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), often says, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was not given for free, on a silver platter, by the national government.
“You should nurture it because it was paid for with blood, sweat and tears by your fathers and brothers,” Iqbal told young learners in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi when he visited the island provinces of the region on May 10 to 15.
Coming with a top-level party, he delivered and distributed around Php70 million worth of IT equipment, educational supplies, and livelihood kits for Sulu and Tawi-Tawi teachers and learners, and vocational training finishers.
Now, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) which runs the BARMM under Moral Governance of the MILF has filed BTA Bill No. 44 that seeks to establish an office focused on providing comprehensive support to MNLF and MILF “veterans”. The bill is otherwise known as the Bangsamoro Veteran Mujahideen Act of 2022.
It would be called, once approved, the Bangsamoro Veteran Mujahideen Affairs Office (BVMAO) to be under operational supervision of the Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS) as one of its component divisions.
The proposed office’s functions cover financial, medical, social, and other forms of assistance in recognition of the former MNLF and MILF combatants’ sacrifices — mujahideen and mujahidat — who defended and fought for the Bangsamoro cause.
A “Veteran Mujahideen” is defined by the legislative measure as MNLF and MILF members who are 55 years of age or older at the time of the effectivity of the bill. They should also have been able to render revolutionary services in the protracted wars for self-determination that pitted the MNLF and the MILF against the national government for at least 20 years spanning 1969 to 2014.
In relation with the filing of the bill, the BTA conducted simultaneous public hearing in the cities of Marawi and Cotabato which brought together the two Moro groups’ officers and members. Female members with their children also attended. It was a cited to behold as the twin events united the two, sometimes warring, groups.
It was a “historic event”, MP Basit Abbas described the public consultation here in Cotabato City, seat of BARMM governance.
“This is very significant because we feel that both MNLF and MILF are united. We disregard(ded) our faction. We put aside our differences and work(ed) together for the interest of all mujahideen and mujahidat,” Abbas observed.
The presence of the former combatants in the consultation made clear the bill’s importance to them, the regional legislator said. He added they endured great hardships as they fought for the Bangsamoro people and generations ahead.
Commander of 118th Base Command calls on fellow veterans to exercise ‘sabar’
Attendees in the Cotabato City consultation included top commanders, such as Ustadhz Abdulwahid Tundok, head of the MILF 118th Base Command. He lauded the BARMM Parliament for the bill’s filing, describing it as “a long-awaited recognition of their sacrifices”.
Tundok underscored how important is putting up an office dedicated to addressing the MNLF and MILF veterans’ multifarious needs, covering livelihood programs, medical, assistance, social welfare programs, educational opportunities for their children, and psychological support for the trauma they endured.
The commander of the 118th Base Command urged his fellow former combatants to exercise “sabar” (patience) as the Bangsamoro government is still in transition stage as it builds its foundation.
In the same consultation, Mrs. Rumina Malaguiok, wife of the renowned Top 90 MNLF cadre Yusof “Commander Tani” Malaguiok, shared with overflowing passion her experiences since 1970 in the Mindanao war’s front lines. She was then working as a field medical personnel. She detailed how difficult working in terrible conditions with bullets whizzing by, and enemy mortars flying here and there.
“To know that the (Bangsamoro government) is considering an office to support veterans like us is a glimmer of hope. It shows that our efforts have not been in vain, and our contributions are being recognized,” said Mrs. Malaguiok.
Over in the consultation held on the same day in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, hundreds attended to listen and give their thoughts and strike a dialogue with Parliament members.
One of the attendees commended the solons pushing Bill No. 44, describing it as a “historic legislative measure”.
The MNLF and MILF members also aired concerns on qualifications of beneficiaries, women’s representation, benefits, and privileges arising from the bill.
BTA Parliament’s Committee on Social Services and Development led the public consultations, with the presence as well of Deputy Floor Leader Atty. Anna Tarhata Basman.
Presiding Chair Atty. Raissa Jajurie assured the MNLF and MILF members the Parliament will carefully consider their inputs and suggestions. (/)
_________
Source: Bangsamoro Parliament