SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao, 3 June — Independence! This is the collective cry of about 2.5 million Bangsamoro participants who are attending the ongoing 2nd Bangsamoro People’s Consultative Assembly being held at Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao from June 1 to 3, 2001.
Spearheading the assembly is the Ulama-Professional Executive Council (UPEC) headed by Professor Abhoud Syed Mansur Lingga, who was also elected yesterday afternoon as the Chairman of the 2nd Bangsamoro People’s Consultative Assembly.
In a statement Professor Lingga said “We have voluntarily assembled ourselves to once again openly express and manifest the collective desire and intent of our people to retrieve their god-given birthright as a free and independent nation, on the inalienable right of the oppressed and colonized peoples to self-determination and freedom.”
The assembly’s declaration cited historical documents that would prove that the Bangsamoro people have been consistently opposing the “illegal and immoral usurpation” of their homeland and its annexation into the Philippine Commonwealth and eventually into the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.
Among this documents are the Zamboanga Declaration of Rights and Purposes on February 1, 1924 and the Dansalan Declaration of March 18, 1935.
The first document refers to a position to the US Congress demanding that 50 years after the grant of independence to the Filipino people, a plebiscite shall be held for the Bangsamoro people to decide whether they want to join the new Republic, remain a territory of the United States, or be granted a separate independent state.
The Dansalan Declaration, which was written in the present day Marawi City is an appeal addressed to the United States Congress and American people not to include Mindanao and Sulu in the grant of independence to the Filipinos.
The assembly further declared that:
1. The only just, meaningful, and permanent solution to the Mindanao problem is the complete independence of the Bangsamoro people and the Bangsamoro territories that Republic of the Philippines unjustly occupies.
2. That pursuant to this declaration of Bangsamoro independence and in the spirit of justice and human brotherhood, we also extend recognition and support to the same right to self-determination for the indigenous highland tribal communities and the Christian settlers of Mindanao if and when they so opt to exercise this right.
3. In the forthcoming peace negotiations between the MILF and the GRP, we are giving our full support and mandate to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to represent the assembly in the said negotiations, as well as in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the United Nations.
Should the MILF choose to deviate from the assembly’s demand for complete independence and accept a compromise formula to accomodate Manila’s demands, this mandate and support are deemed automatically rescinded and withdrawn, and we shall pursue the struggle through other means that Allah, the Most High, will give us or grant us the honor of martyrdom.
In a related development, the Union of Overseas Bangsamoro (UOB) expressed full support to the assembly’s declaration that independence is the only viable solution to the Bangsamoro problem.
Other non-Muslim sectors such as the Iglesia Ni Kristo and independence movement represented by Atty. Elly Pamatong also were represented and expressed support during the assembly.
