MILF lauds PRRD for ‘siding with Bangsamoro’

By Edwin Fernandez and Noel Punzalan/PNA

PEACE ASSEMBLY. President Rodrigo Duterte speaks before a peace gathering for the raification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in Cotabato City on Friday (Jan. 18), several days ahead of the scheduled Jan. 21 plebiscite for the proposed formation of the new Bangsamoro political entity. (Photo by PNA Cotabato)

COTABATO CITY — The chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has commended President Rodrigo Duterte for making the dream of every Moro a reality with the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chair of the MILF, was all praises for the President during the peace assembly for the ratification of Republic Act No. 11054 or the BOL at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex (SKCC), the provisional seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao here Friday afternoon.

“We have come (to) the finishing line of our struggle as we transition from revolution to governance,” Murad said, adding that if not for Duterte, their struggle for self-determination may have remained a dream.

“We notice that you are always on our side to see to it that the will of the people is heard,” he told the President.

“Siguro kung hindi kayo naging president, wala pa tayong BOL, wala pa tayong Bangsamoro government (Had you not become president, we have no BOL, we have no Bangsamoro government),” Murad said.

Addressing the crowd of about 500 inside the SKCC and more than 5,000 outside the venue but within the 10-hectare ARMM compound, Murad said, “Let me appeal to you. Let us give this BOL a chance because it will only come once. It may not come again if we won’t take it.”

Duterte has urged the Bangsamoro people and non-Muslims to vote for “yes” on Monday to ratify the BOL.

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