MILF: Protesters greet peace bikers in Mindanao

Protests greeted the peace advocates who went on a 36-kilometer bike journey for peace in Mindanao on Sunday, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said. According to an article posted on the MILF website on Monday, placard-bearing protesters greeted the participants of the "Bike for Peace 2011." "When the bikers passed-by Tamontaka Road of this City there the first group of youth 'protesters' armed with placards staged and extended along the highway," the MILF said. "They repeatedly chanted 'Kasunduan hindi Bike!,' meaning 'Agreement not Bike!' which caught by surprise the bikers, who included the group of Secretary Teresita “Ging" Deles, Dean Marvic Leonen, head of the GPH peace panel, and his colleague," the MILF added. The Bike for Peace project, spearheaded by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), was held in support of the ongoing peace processes in Mindanao. The MILF said another group of protesters composed of Moro and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) also greeted the bikers with their placards in the villages of Tenorio and Labungan, both in Datu Odin Sinsuat town. Another batch waited with their protest placards in Kibleg and Mirab in North Upi, Maguindanao. Near the town hall of Nuro, some soldiers forced some protesters to forego their activity but the protesters refused, the MILF said. "We want for the government to focus on important things first … this is to sign an agreement with the MILF that would pave the way for the peace that we wanted to have in Mindanao)," it quoted one of the protesters as saying. The biking event, which had the slogan “Going the extra mile for peace in Mindanao," was held from Cotabato City to North Upi, Maguindanao on Sunday. The bikers were from government line agencies, the military, police, and non-government organizations. They left Cotabato City at 6:15 a.m. Leonen, reacting to the messages on the placards, said “Hindi tayo magmadali dapat, ang ibigay natin ay doable na kaya ng gobyerno para hindi tayo magkamali." Leonen added that if the MILF "will agree on our proposal, then on June 28 we [could] have the MOA." - VVP, GMA News