Election hopefuls urged to address Mindanao question

Manila: The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is urging candidates running in the May elections to come out with their own stand on how to resolve the decades-old conflict in Mindanao.

Mohammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, said it is vital for candidates vying to become the Philippines' 15th president to issue their respective stand on an issue affecting Moros who comprise a sizable portion of the country's population.

"The next president of the Philippines will directly affect the MILF and the current peace process," Ameen was quoted in a report by the MILF's Luwaran website.

An estimated seven million inhabitants of the Philippines are Moros, the majority of them are in Mindanao.

Ameen urged all presidential candidates to come up with a very clear platform on the Moro question and the peace process, explaining that those who have a clear policy to resolve the issue in Mindanao "will be attractive to our millions of supporters or sympathisers."

Credibility

The official also said that with its hundreds of thousands of supporters, the MILF can be a force to be reckoned with in the elections.

He said the MILF has the clout and credibility and capability to mobilise huge numbers of people in any given instance, citing the number of massive consultations it sponsored in the past.

Ameen said that while the Central Committee of the MILF as a general guiding principle, "maintains a "hands-off policy on Philippine elections," it cannot ignore the impact of the May 10 polls on the overall sphere of the Moro question in general, and the 13-year-old government-MILF peace process in particular.

Mass support

Ameen also explained that the MILF policy of non-interference in Philippine elections "does not include preventing its mass supporters from voting in elections especially for those candidates who have pro-people [advocacies] and those who have genuine interest in the peaceful, just, and comprehensive resolution of the conflict and the Moro question in Mindanao."

Moros in Mindanao have been fighting for decades to establish their own distinct entity where they can freely practise their own religion and customs and benefit from the resources of their land.

For decades, Moro areas in Mindanao were mired in poverty due in part to the indifference of the Manila-based leadership and the political manoeuvrings of local and national politicians.

Although there had been peace negotiations with past governments, it is during the administration of present President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo where substantial ground has been covered in peace negotiations.