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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, June 23, 2024 (SDN) — Elections in the Philippines, including in the Bangsamoro region, are known to be characterized by irregularities: vote buying, ballot snatching, flying voters and, of course, violence.
Even in the United States, former president Donald Trump, now a convicted felon, claimed being robbed of victory in his re-election bid in November 2020, but the general consensus was that President Joe Biden won and defeated him — fair and square.
On Saturday, June 22, here at the Gymnasium of the Mindanao State University (MSU)-Maguindanao, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) led by its president Ahod Balawag “Al-Haj Murad” Ebrahim held its sixth General Assembly, with over 153,000 attendees from various parts of Southern Philippines.
Attendees came from the ranks of the Muslim, Christian, Indigenous People (IP) communities, from the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, and from the mainland — Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, and Maguindanao del Norte.
In his remarks at the assembly, UBJP Executive Vice President and Vice President for Central Mindanao Mohagher M. Iqbal called for a clean, fair, and honest election.
“Let’s be fair,” he enjoined the seven other regional political parties expected to participate in the parliamentary polls.
Iqbal, minister of education of the Ministry of the Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), one of the 15 primary governance instruments of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), called for fairness in the conduct of the scheduled political exercise, apparently having in mind past irregularities in many of the region’s local elections.
“Let us enjoin the other political parties (in the region) to practice fairness. Let the people vote. Have their votes counted because cheating is the root of evil,” the UBJP stalwart and chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Implementing Panel.
He cited the municipality of North Upi, Maguindanao del Norte, as one local government unit (LGU) where political exercises are fair and honest.
“So, this is our exhortation: Exercise fairness,” he reiterated, addressing UBJP’s political rivals.
Iqbal emphasized the UBJP being “my party, your party, our party”, meaning is own by the Bangsamoro people as it embraces a membership composed not only of Muslims, but also Christians and IPs.
2014 CAB a form of trust, and must be upheld; negates prospect of another war
This fact is borne by the UBJP’s structure that includes vice presidents for Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi (BASULTA) with Zamboanga City, Norther Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, Eastern Mindanao, Youth, Women, Settler Communities, Indigenous People, Traditional Leaders, and Ulama.
“This party can be trusted and relied on,” Iqbal said, because it is inclusive and embraces all the peoples of the Bangsamoro region. As vice president for Central Mindanao, he hosted the general assembly.
Also in his remarks, he explained UBJP’s platform that includes giving the people what is due them on the basis of Moral Governance, and that it also advocates and implements justice. People empowerment, he added, is the party’s second platform. Third, he said, is for public service programs on health, economy, and fourth, advocacy on how to preserve the gains of the peace process, among other of UBJP’s platform.
Although not perfect, the autonomy being enjoyed in the BARMM must be protected, he said, because it was won with blood, sweat and tears in the battle for self-determination.
Protecting the gains of the 2024 Comprehensive Agreement (CAB), he explained, is very important because “we can no longer negotiate, we can’t go to war because there is already a peace agreement” signed by the MILF and the Philippine government.
“If you signed and agreed on anything, you must honor it because it is a trust.”
Be thankful to the leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the MILF, Iqbal said, hold this autonomy close to your hearts, and nurture it, and the gains of the peace process continue to be in your hands.
He recalled the instances when the Chief Minister met President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., appealing to him on behalf of the peace agreement’s full implementation.
Iqbal said that Ebrahim appealed to the President that “what your father started (meaning the Mindanao/Bangsamoro peace process) will be fully implemented in your administration.”
Recall that the old Marcos’s administration started the peace process with the MNLF, producing the 1976 Tripoli Agreement.
On the other hand, the government-MILF peace process went through then Presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno S. Aquino III, and then started being implemented under then President Rodrigo R. Duterte, considered the “father and architect” of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and the BARMM.
And now, CAB’s implementation continues with the young Marcos, which prompted Ebrahim’s appeal.
Iqbal said it should be kept in mind that the national government still owes us.
He probably meant the remaining unimplemented provisions of the landmark peace accord. (/)