‘We will humanize politics’—MILF

CAMP DARAPANAN, Maguindanao — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officially declared Wednesday morning that it was shifting from armed struggle to democratic engagements as a non-armed political organization.Sammy Al-Mansour, MILF military vice chairman, said the transformation began with the organizing of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) and the presentation of its platform of principled politics to the Bangsamoro people. Today, we are shifting from armed to parliamentary struggle,” Al-Manshour, interim UBJP secretary-general, told a crowd of close to 100,000 people here. Al-Mansour said the three-day gathering from December 23 to 25 had also been held to comply with a requirement set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for a political party to have visible supporters and constituents.MILF security personnel manning the camp’s entrance gates had summed up the number of entry-registrants to 91,801 individuals, as of 11:00 a.m. Wednesday.MILF chief negotiator Mohaguer Iqbal, UBJP interim vice-chairman for Southern Mindanao, said the MILF was facing new challenges as a revolutionary organization, including the struggle to humanize politics” tainted in decades by irregularities.Iqbal said he was informed that the Comelec has passed a resolution providing for a three-day re-registration periods on January 9-11, 2015 in the Bangsamoro proposed core territories, mainly the five provinces comprising the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).Comelec figures have indicated that the number of ARMM registered voters varied from 1.7 million prior to the May 2010 elections to 1.2 million in July 2012. From armed struggle, we have been through years of peace negotiation starting in July of 1977, and this is the time that we are shifting our struggle to the democratic arena (where) we will humanize politics, as we move from bullets to ballots, or so they say,” Iqbal declared. War is temporary and is meant to be temporary in all revolutionary timetables, because the people cannot bear with situations of war and in communities in state of conflict most of the time,” Iqbal added.Iqbal said UBJP is designed to become a principled political party, despite MILF leaders’ lack of experience in the mainstream politics.But he said the MILF can offer principled politics based on the UBJP political platforms thatand 1) the party should be run and managed by the Bangsamoro for the Bangsamoro people 2) it has to be pro-people and inclusive 3) it has its own standards of discipline 4) the party should have human resources above all forms of assets and 5) it has to be service-oriented. None of us here can claim that we have enough experience in the realm of politics, having been to armed struggle and to on-and-off peace negotiations for so long.Al-Mansour said the UBJP preparation also included training programs for its members on running, management and lessons from rise and fall of political parties, from courses offered by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung through the Institute of Autonomy and Governance (KAF-IAG) and study tours to the Malaysian ruling Umno party.Al-Mansour said all appointments in the UBJP were made interim until such time the Bangsamoro people have sealed its approval to the party’s formation and ratify its by-laws and cast their votes in approval in subsequent assemblies.Earlier, Al-Mansour said the general assembly would be the party’s highest policy-making body. MILF Chairman Al-Haj Murad Ibrahim, chairs the party as its concurrent president, backed by five vice-presidents, namelyand Gazali Jafaar (Central Mindanao) Hussin Munoz (Eastern Mindanao) Alim Ali Solaiman (Northern Mindanao) Mohaqer Iqbal (Southern Mindanao) and Ma’amor Estino (Western Mindanao).Lawyer Raiza Jajurie has also been named deputy party president for women’s affairs.The UBJP assembly had also caused slight traffic congestion in a small section of the 330-kilometer Cotabato-Davao highway here.