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Moro youths to revive call for independence


DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Sixteen Moro youth organizations have declared that they would revert to their original objective and raise the call for Bangsamoro independence following the government's failure to implement agreements forged with the Moro fronts in Mindanao. The warning came after a meeting of the 16 organizations called by the Bangsamoro Young Leaders Forum (BYLF) here over the weekend. During that meet, the Moro youths expressed dismay with the government's handling of the peace processes in Mindanao, referring to the pacts forged with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In their statement titled "Stop divide and rule and dilly-dallying tactic; Honor commitments to the peace process," the youth leaders who came from nine provinces and five cities in Mindanao, presented their demands for the government and Moro fronts. The BYLF demanded the following: o full implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement and the holding of the 3rd tri-partite meeting in Davao City and o the immediate resumption of the GRP-MILF talks and the subsequent signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain based on the agreed consensus points; The Moro youth leaders also appealed to the international community to help "push the peace processes to arrive at a final political settlement" as they also called on the Moro fronts "not to be deceived by the treachery of government." Adzfar Usman, a youth leader from the province of Jolo, said: "It is crystal clear—this government will not grant us our right to self-determination—we have to struggle for it. This government could not even implement simple agreements it entered into with the Bangsamoro people." The sentiment of Usman and over 30 other youth leaders who gathered at the Mergrande Resort here on May 4 to 5 was reflected in a manifesto they sent to journalists. In it, they explained that the demand for independence was "an option to achieve their aspiration for total peace, justice, development and freedom pursuant to their inalienable right as a people being guaranteed by the Charter of the United Nations." The youth manifesto came at the height of Mindanaoans' frustrations over Malacanang's failure to heed the peace groups' call. Some groups have also appealed to the Malaysian government to extend the tour of duty of its contingents to the International Monitoring Team. Drieza Lininding, co-founder of the Free the Bangsamoro Movement, cited in his workshop report to the plenary that "aside from the colonial masters in Malacanang, we also have Moro political leaders who do not have a common understanding of our assertion for the right to self-determination." "Some of these officials think that if the MNLF or the MILF wins struggle, they would no longer be in power," Lininding said. The Moro youths, in their discussions at the meeting over the weekend, noted that even the two revolutionary organizations, the MNLF and the MILF, are not united in their "beliefs, ideologies and strategies." The youths urged the two groups to "come to common terms, consolidate their ranks to further strengthen the Bangsamoro peoples' quest for freedom and to define their own destiny as self-governing and independent peoples." The youths also noted that some Moro revolutionaries engaged in armed struggle "do not even pray and are doing evil things that we should avoid if we want Allah to help us achieve victory." The group's campaign, the leaders said, will be launched on July 4, the traditional Philippine-American Friendship Day, which the MYLF declared as "Bangsamoro Colonization Day." The organizations convened by BYLF are the National Bangsamoro Youth Association (NABAYA), United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD), Bangsamoro Youth Assembly (BMYA), Young Moro Professional (YMP), IQRAA Islam Foundation, Inc., Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace (BCJP), Alliance of Bangsamoro Women for Special Concern (ABWSC), United Youth of the Philippines (UNYPHIL), HOMELAND Nation of Freedom, Learned Kagan Foundation, Inc. Mindanao Proactive Professional, Inc., Coalition of Muslim Organization (CMO), Bangsamoro Young Professional Student Alliance, and the Youth for Knowledge Based Society Ittihadush Shabab Al Muslimin Inc. - GMANews.TV
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