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Christians campaign in Mindanao for Muslim region

In the Philippines of the South, Christians support a campaign to ratify a law which paves the way for the creation of an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

Christians campaign in Mindanao for Muslim regionC

hristians in the southern Philippines are throwing their support behind a campaign for the ratification of a law that will pave the way for the creation of an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

Father Clifford Baira, director of social action for the archdiocese of Cotabato, said that Christian communities would not oppose the development of the proposed Bangsamoro region.

“Our simple formula is to involve the Bangsamoro people,” the priest said during the launch, on Dec. 10, of a campaign to ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which will be put to a vote next month in a plebiscite.

“Let [Muslims] be part of the governance in the inclusive quest for peace in Mindanao, said the priest before a crowd of about 15,000 Muslims.

In the Philippines there are about 10.7 million Muslims, about 11% of the total population of the world.

Most Muslims live in the southern part of the country, in parts of Mindanao, Palawan Island, and the Sulu Archipelago.

Nabil Tan, chairman of a government body responsible for implementing a peace deal with Moro rebels, stressed what he described as the “dividends of peace”  the law would bring to the region.

“This is for peace, the lasting peace we dreamed of for Mindanao,” he said to the same crowd.

Mohagher Iqbal, the leader of the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front ( MILF), said the comprehensive provisions of the law ensure that the proposed Bangsamoro region will support every sector.

“This is for all. No one will be left behind. This is for all of us,” the rebel leader said.

Four years after the Government concluded a peace deal with the MILF, the Bangsamoro Organic Law comes into effect.

The 2014 Comprehensive Bangsamoro Agreement ended the MILF’s armed struggle since it broke away in the late 1970s from the Moro National Liberation Front.

The new law provides for the creation of a “transitional” body that will promote the expansion of an established Muslim region, composed mostly of former rebel fighters.

Under the law, while the rebels are required to lay down their arms in phases, the national government will maintain police and military forces in the region.

Earlier Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato called for “continued dialogue” as an instrument for creating a just and sustainable peace in Mindanao.

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