PHILIPPINES: Filipino Muslims hold vigil for peace deal.

Record ID: 349686

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Filipino Muslims hold vigil for peace deal.
  • Date: 14th October 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF LOCAL ARTIST DATU KHOMEINI CANSA BANSUAN, KNOWN AS "KING OF MORO SONGS", SINGING AND DANCING ON STAGE
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8E65UA1NGBSDAO17CK5IWDTGX
  • Story Text: Filipino Muslims travel on motorcade from Mindanao to Manila to hold a vigil ahead of peace agreement signing

    Muslims from Mindanao travelled to Manila on Sunday (October 14) to hold a vigil near the presidential palace, a day before the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the country's largest rebel group.
    Around 2,500 peace deal supporters, including Muslims, Christians, joined the overnight vigil in the capital.
    The deal ends a 40-year conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people and hampered development in the resource-rich Mindanao region in the southern Philippines.
    More than 1,000 peace advocates travelled from Muslim communities in the provinces of Cotabato, Marawi, Maguindanao and Davao in southern Philippines on what they dubbed as the "Caravan for Peace". Some had crossed more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) via ferry linkages and overland to reach Manila.
    They said they will be holding vigil until signatures are affixed on the peace agreement, set to be signed on Monday (October 15) in front of President Benigno Aquino, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Murad Ebrahim, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
    Kuala Lumpur had hosted several rounds of the peace talks.
    Aquino plans to transform the Muslim-majority areas on Mindanao, the country's third-biggest island with large untapped mineral deposits and fertile grasslands, into a self-governing political entity known as Bangsamoro by the end of his term in 2016.
    "We believe that this is more comprehensive, and it would answer the grievances of the decade-old problem of the Bangsamoro people," said Richard Sanlocan, President of the Alliance of Kagan Organization, which brings together Muslim tribes in southern Philippines.
    Islam has been present in the southern Philippines since the 14th century, and local rulers mostly remained independent from Spanish colonial rule. Filipino Muslims point to such narratives and their religious identity as reasons for their claim to autonomy.
    The caravan organizers said they represented the aspirations of those who live in conflict-affected areas, and they are grateful for the opportunity to see a peace deal materialize during their lifetime.
    "This is what we have been asking from Allah, that this deal pushes through because Muslims in Mindanao have long been hoping for peace," said Noria Butuan Saamba, President of the Filipino Muslim Movement for Development of Economy and Society.
    Hopes of peace have been raised in the past only to be dashed, most recently in 2008 when the Supreme Court declared a deal unconstitutional in a decision that set off rebel attacks and a fierce military offensive that displaced 750,000 people.
    The prospects seem brighter now, analysts say, because Aquino commands strong political capital and has committed to a final settlement by the end of his term.
    The exact size and composition of the Bangsamoro will be decided by plebiscites, and the MILF and the government still need to thrash out details of their broad agreement in the months ahead as a 15-member commission drafts a law by 2015 to send to Congress.
    The Autonomous Region Of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is the current form of self-governance established 12 years ago to subdue rebellions in Mindanao, has largely been seen as a failed experiment and is criticised for corruption and lawlessness.
    "If this peace agreement will be realistic and pragmatic, depending on the results of the plebiscite or legislation and the transition commission, all conflicts will be resolved," said Mujiv Hataman, current regional governor of the ARMM.
    The peace demonstrators also lit candles to symbolise peace and diversity among different religious groups in the Philippines, where Muslims comprise 14 percent of the predominantly Roman Catholic population.
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