MILF starts shift to non-armed political party with UBJP

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officially announced on Wednesday morning that it has started shifting from armed struggle to a democratic engagement as a non-armed political organization.

Sammy Al-Mansour, MILF military vice chairman, said the transformation began with the formation of its 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-Mansour, interim UBJP secretary-general, declared before a crowd of close to 100,000 people inside Camp Darapanan here.

Al-Mansour told the Philippine Daily Inquirer the three-day gathering from December 23 to 25 has been meant 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 a.m. Wednesday.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, UBJP interim vice-chair for Southern Mindanao, said the MILF would face new challenges as a revolutionary organization, including a struggle to “humanize politics” tainted by irregularities for decades.

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 at the close of the May 2010 to 1.2 million in mid-2012.

“This is the time that we are shifting our struggle to the democratic arena (where) we will humanize politics,” 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 the UBJP has been designed to be a principled political party, despite MILF leaders’ lack of experience in the mainstream politics.

But he said the MILF could offer principled politics based on the UBJP political platforms that: 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,” Iqbal said.

Al-Mansour said the UBJP preparation included the training of its members on running, management and lessons from rise and fall of political parties, as provided in 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 would be interim until such time that the Bangsamoro people have approved the party’s formation, ratified its by-laws and cast their votes in subsequent assemblies.

Earlier, Al-Mansour said the general assembly would be the party’s highest policy-making body. MILF Chair Murad Ebrahim, chairs the party as its concurrent president, backed by five vice-presidents, namely: Gadzali 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 traffic congestion in a small section of the 330-kilometer Cotabato-Davao highway here.