MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–On Wednesday, when the national anthem was played, President Aquino and all those on the stage at Malacañang’s Rizal Hall placed their right hands over their hearts—except for one man.
Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), faced the Philippine flag as a sign of respect, but did not place his hand over his heart.
Pledging allegiance to the country and flag of the government he had fought for decades would take time, even with a peace agreement signed and the draft of a bill that would establish a Bangsamoro autonomous region submitted to Congress by the President.
The meaning of the gesture of Iqbal and his fellow MILF members when the national anthem was played went largely unnoticed.
Certainly, the Inquirer learned, it was not an act of defiance. It was a process, not something that could be imposed right away even if the MILF and the government were close to completing the peace process.
The Inquirer learned that at the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro at the Palace in October 2012, the MILF informed Malacañang protocol of this peculiarity when it confirmed its officials would attend the event.
The MILF said its officials, led by its chair, Murad Ebrahim, would stand at attention and face the Philippine flag as a sign of respect.
The MILF also said that, indeed, the Moros are Filipinos.
Iqbal told the Inquirer Wednesday that there was really “no intention” behind his not placing his hand over his heart when the national anthem was played.
“I have been with the struggle for 40 years and then all of a sudden you are under the glare of the cameras. There is no intention there,” Iqbal said.
He spent 17 of those 40 years as the MILF’s chief negotiator in the peace process.
It does take time to adopt it, according to Maguindanao (1st District) and Cotabato City Rep. Sandra Sema, wife of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Muslimin Sema.
It also took a while before Sema’s husband and his fellow members of the MNLF learned to place their hands over their hearts as a symbol of allegiance to country and flag, even after they reached a peace agreement with the government in 1996.
“There’s a confidence-building measure that comes with it because they have fought for so long,” Sema said.
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