Mindanao leaders laud PNoy's 4th SONA

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- Local officials, sectoral leaders and peace activists lauded President Benigno Aquino III’s promise to put up by 2015 the Bangsamoro political entity during his state of the nation address Monday.

“We have no doubt the President is indeed sincere in dealing with Mindanao’s Moro people,” commented Ghadzali Jaafar, the vice chairman for political affairs of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Jaafar reiterated the MILF is also  sincere in pursuing peace talks with Malacañang.

The peace talks, which began January 7, 1997, is now supported by foreign peace-building groups and international organizations, including the governments of Japan, Norway, the European Union, Malaysia, and other member-states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The vice-governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, said President Aquino’s resolve to wind up his peace talks with the MILF before his presidency ends in 2016 was a “vote of confidence” for peace brokers of the government and the rebel group.

“Talagang nasa tuwid na daan na tayo ngayon kung ang pag-uusapan ay ang Mindanao peace process,” Lucman said.

Tawi-Tawi’s newly-elected representative to Congress, Hadja Ruby Sahali, also hailed President Aquino’s visions of a peaceful Moro homeland in his SONA.

“The commitment was very explicit and very profound,” Sahali said, adding that her younger sibling, Tawi-Tawi Gov. Nurbert Sahali also  lauded the president's SONA.

President Aquino said in his SONA that peace in the conflict-stricken south is within reach, urging Filipinos to contribute toward the successful establishment of the new Bangsamoro political entity in 2015.

“Umaasa po ako sa pakikiambag ng bawat Pilipino sa layunin natin para sa Bangsamoro,” he said.

The envisioned Bangsamoro region will replace the ARMM, which the President had previously labeled as a “failed experiment.”

“Ipakita po natin sa kanilang hindi sila nagkamali sa pagpili sa direksyon ng kapayapaan; handa tayong ipahiram ang lakas ng buong bansa upang i-angat ang mga probinsya sa Muslim Mindanao, na kabilang sa mga pinakamaralita nating mga lalawigan,” Aquino said in his SONA.

A Moro cleric, Esmael Ebrahim, who is a commissioner in the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos, said Aquino's re-affirmation of the commitment to the Mindanao peace process through the SONA, delivered during the Ramadan, was very meaningful for Muslims.

Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims, where they fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle, or between 28 to 29 days, and focus on good deeds and reparation for wrongdoings.

Sahali, meanwhile, said she is certain re-elected Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr., who is representing the fourth district of Quezon City to the House of Representatives, will also focus utmost attention to the decades-old Mindanao Moro issue.

“I voted for him during our election of a House speaker because I believe in his leadership and I am certain he will give attention to the Moro communities in Southern Philippines,” said Sahali, former Tawi-Tawi vice governor, who had also served as social welfare secretary of ARMM from 2005 to 2007.    - John Unson