Consulting Personnel Training

We are stating under no uncertain terms our most vigorous objections to the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement as presented for signing today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This is a SELLOUT of all the good, law-abiding and tax-paying residents of Mindanao who have not been consulted nor whose opinions considered in the drafting of this sham deal.

This is a CAPITULATION of a National Government proven now to be feeble and inutile against a mere band of brigands and bandits, professional kidnappers, murderers, and thieves.

This is the SURRENDER of 87 million Filipinos and its Armed Forces of 113,500 active duty personnel and 131,000 reserve personnel, equipped and fed by taxes which we pay, to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and their 12,000-strong Bangsamoro Army.

This is the Government’s RANSOM to the blackmail, the extortion, and the ‘blood money’ that the MILF and its cohorts (i.e. MNLF, JI, Al Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, OIC, Malaysia) have constantly threatened our “strong republic” with.

This is an INSULT to the memory of all the pioneers, builders and leaders, both Muslim and Christian, Filipinos all, who have made Mindanao the home to 16 million, and an integral part of our one nation.

This is a BETRAYAL of the Constitution of the Republic, a public contract affirmed by Filipinos, and consistently rejected by the proponents of this Bangsamoro Homeland and their foreign allies.

WE ARE FILIPINOS. We regret that the President and her lieutenants have opted to kow tow to the demands of people who do not consider themselves Filipinos (i.e. Bangsamoro) or who are not Filipino at all (i.e. OIC, Malaysia, Jemaah Islamiyah, Al Qaeda).

WE ARE FILIPINOS. We are willing to shed our own blood to defend the nation which our forefathers fought hard to build. We have been struggling all our lives, this is just another phase in the continuing struggle of our nation.

WE ARE FILIPINOS. We have worked long and hard To follow the laws of the land, pay our just taxes on time, invested our lives and our families’ lives, supported our government, and we have done our part to make this republic worth every drop of blood that our forefathers shed for it.

NOW THEREFORE, with as much certainty as we are sure that the sun will once again rise at dawn tomorrow, we say this: if anybody, anyone, any thing or any group will move to dismember the country we so love… THEN THERE WILL BE WAR. BLOOD WILL BE SHED. AND, PEOPLE WILL DIE.

THIS IS NOT A THREAT. This is the reality of a Mindanao that is fed up and is raring to prove to the whole world that no one, no President nor Pauper can give us away, nor can anyone enslave us, even if it were at the point of a gun, for WE WILL FIGHT. WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN. AND, WITH THE HELP OF THE ALMIGHTY, WE SHALL ULTIMATELY BE VICTORIOUS.

WE STRONGLY APPEAL THEREFORE, to the good members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to let the real voice of the people of Mindanao be heard once and for all. We ask that you reject the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, and we ask that you reject any Government recognition that may be bestowed on a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. The people of Mindanao have already spoken twice, overwhelmingly, against these foreign impositions. To the Government: Do not ask us again, you might not like the answer.

FINALLY, REMEMBER ONLY THIS: Mindanao is neither Muslim nor Christian, but it is, and always will be, FILIPINO!

GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!

BCCI Chamber Office, JSA Executive Suites, Alano Corporate Plaza,
J. S. Alano Bldg., J. S. Alano Street, Isabela City,
Basilan, Philippines 7300

Antonio