By Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim said his visit to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City Monday highlights the strong and solid partnership between the two institutions.
“Today, I am truly honored to join our partners in peace, from the highest leadership of the AFP, down to the lowest ranking elements of this institution to reciprocate the visit of your Chief-of-Staff, General Carlito Galvez, Jr. when he visited Camp Darapanan last October 6, 2018. This visit is a concrete manifestation, not only of the solid partnership of our institutions, but a testament of an enduring personal friendship built upon the solid foundation of our mutual commitment to work for peace and see through the dawn of day not just for the Bangsamoro but for this country as well,” Murad said in his speech.
The MILF chairman also said words cannot express his gratitude and those of his people, of being honored in AFP headquarters considering that he left school to fight the very same institution who honored him and his party.
“More than four decades ago, I walked out of a university without completing my engineering degree. Many of my Bangsamoro colleagues, I know did the same. Since then, I have avoided military installations and camps. And to be very candid, during those war years, I have thought only of destroying or neutralizing military camps and I never imagined during those dark days, that I will one day step inside a military camp and be feted with this exceptional honor by what used to be our adversary,” he added.
Murad, however, clarified that MILF never considered the AFP or any soldier as their enemy and emphasized that their enemies are oppression and injustice.
“This is the teaching of Islam and this is what we have always adhered to in the Code of Conduct of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces. In pursuit, however, of our struggle for the right to self-determination of our people, we saw then the AFP as the instrument of the injustices committed against our people such as the loss of our homeland, discrimination and prejudices, massacres, as well as the denial of our freedom to practice our religion,” he added.
Murad said this was very true during the martial law years under the Marcos regime.
“The resort to an armed struggle was a last and difficult option from what we view then was a genocidal war being pursued by the Marcos regime against our people,” the MILF chair emphasized.
He, however, was also quick to point out that the AFP started its gradual transformation during the 1986 EDSA Revolution where the military refused to heed the order to kill or maim the people it has sworn to defend and protect.
“From this early sign, you have slowly trodden the path of justice and professionalism despite the many challenges. Like many organizations, you have had your fair share of successes and failures,” the MILF chair stressed.
Meanwhile, Galvez said the visit of Murad and his party to Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City highlights the strong trust and confidence of the MILF leadership to the AFP and the national government.
“On October 6, we paid a visit to MILF Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat (Maguindanao) and we declared war over between the AFP and the MILF,” he added.
During the above-mentioned visit, 6,000 men and women of the MILF lined the five-kilometer road in Sultan Kudarat to welcome him and his party. Galvez said the visits done by the AFP and MILF manifest the strong mutual desire of both parties to forge a just and lasting peace for the Bangsamoro Region.
