MORO NOTES15 June 2009Samira Gutoc TomawisWelcome to the millions of students who start the school year this June! But manyyoung people in conflict affected areas in Maguindanao cannot go to school. It isheart-wrenching to see that while TV time airs about Hayden, Belo, Korina-Marwedding, Moro out-of-school kids or babies born in gyms and school-buildingsturned evacuation camps do not get any coverage at all.***It’s 70 plus days until Eidul Fitr, the biggest Islamic holiday, and Young MoroProfessional Network’s (YMPN) Ramadhan Fair is gearing to be at its biggest sinceit started in 2006 to include an expo of Moro products at Mall of Asia, a show inGreenhills, a forum in Intramuros. “If there’s a Christmas countdown and Xmascelebrations, why can’t there be for Ramadhan as well?” said Baibon Sangid,International Ramadhan Fair Chairperson and YMPN’s Convenor for History andCulture.***Backchanneling seems to be the buzzword in the Government of the Republic of thePhilippines (GRP)-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on and off talks since1997. An OPAPP official brushes aside the pessimism that a Gloria presidency willnot leave any legacy in the peace talks after a failed signing of the Memorandumof Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in August 2008 causing the currentstalemate. Informal efforts at convincing both sides to get back to treshing theother components of a peace pact are underway. But from the sound of many MNLFleaders and lawyers, the GRP-MILF track seems to going the same way of promises toa never-never land.So much blame on government violating the spirit of peace agreements but are thereother reasons as well? Check what is happening on the ground, advised GRP PeacePanel Chair and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who visited theevacuation centers in Maguindanao for the first time last June 6-8. Currently, theMoro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is supposedly implementing the 1996 GRP-MNLFPeace Agreement under the auspices of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)which recognizes the MNLF as the Philippine Observer in this 57-nation memberbody. Yet, ARMM remains the poorest region.***Pussycat Doll’s publicity song aired on MTV to promote their Philippine concert isby Indian-Muslim AR Rahman who composed the upbeat lyrics entitled, JAI HO . TheOscar-winning song won twice for the film, Slumdog Millionaire. Rahman becomes thefirst Indian to win the coveted Oscars.***Islamic Development Bank (IDB) officials were supposedly visiting Mindanaorecently but secretly. According to an IDB partner, this is because many proposedprojects have been denied by them. Philippine budget in the major Islamic donoragency has supposedly declined throughout the years. Does this have anything to dowith the management by natives and locals of the projects here?
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