Thousands gather in Maguindanao for MILF assembly

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Chants of “Allahu Akbar (God is great)” reverberated along major streets of this city as thousands of people trooped to Camp Darapanan in nearby Maguindanao for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s two-day Bangsamoro Leaders’ Assembly starting on Friday.

Security on roads leading to the MILF’s main base was tight as police and military authorities checked out every vehicle.

Traffic was snail-paced along portions of the Cotabato-Davao highway as hundreds of vehicles clogged a two-kilometer stretch in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Kudarat.

Wearing black long-sleeves shirts emblazoned with the MILF logo, guerillas on board dump trucks and 10-wheel chanted “Allahu Akbar” as they passed Sinsuat Avenue in the city.

Von Al Haq, speaking for the MILF, said the participants could exceed 500,000 as delegations from other parts of the country had yet to arrive.

Hotels in Cotabato City have been fully booked by journalists, diplomats and national officials.

Ordinanrily Camp Darapanan is an eight-minute ride from the city center but the trip to Barangay Simuay took four to five hours Friday due to heavy traffic.

Aside from vehicles parked on both sides of the road, some of the participants who could not be accommodated inside Camp Darapanan put up shanties along the roadsides, rendering the national highway even narrower.

“This is the biggest gathering ever,” Al Haq said. “But the inconvenience is nothing compared to the objective of the consultation – that is to let Bangsamoro voices be heard,” he added.

President Aquino’s peace adviser, Teresita Deles, and chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen will be joining the gathering, touted to be the biggest Bangsamoro assembly in Mindanao.

In 2005, a similar assembly was also held but Al Haq said this year’s assembly is bigger.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief, said Deles and Leonen had confirmed their participation in the two-day gathering of Moro community leaders who will be consulted on the progress of the peace talks between the government and the MILF.

“Both peace advocates have confirmed their participation and we are very glad,” Jaafar said.

Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo, chief of the 6th Infantry Division, said he will personally attend the assembly for two reasons.

“I will attend because I was invited and I would like to show that the military is supportive of the government’s peace initiatives, the gathering being part of the peace process,” Ardo told reporters.

Soldiers were deployed around the vicinity of Camp Darapanan, the MILF’s stronghold, to secure participants, he said.