By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: At least four countries have opposed the Philippines’ bid for an observer status in the 57-state Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Sunday.
The rebel group said the conference was not considering granting the Philippines an observer status after Turkey objected to it. Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran have supported Turkey’s objection.
Philippine government propagandists said Syria and Egypt were supporting Manila’s bid after President Gloria Arroyo recently visited the two countries. Indonesia, Iraq and Bahrain were also supporting the Philippines.
The MILF and the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which has a permanent observer status in the conference, are strongly opposed to the Philippine bid.
The MILF said Syria and Egypt were “silent” over the Philippine bid after the Turkey objected to it.
“Syria and Egypt are silent. The OIC decision is by consensus, and all it takes is one state to oppose the Philippine bid for an observer status is enough to defeat a motion,” said Mohagher Iqbal, a senior MILF leader.
Manila has been trying since 2003 to have an observer status in the influential Muslim body, but it failed to gather enough supports from member states in the OIC. It said having an observer status in the OIC would help the government’s peace process with Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines.
Human rights issue
The MILF has repeatedly accused the Philippine government of violating human rights of Muslims in Mindanao. Peace talks between the MILF and Manila collapsed last year after the government reneged on a deal that would have granted homeland to some four million Muslims in the restive region.
“The bid of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for observer status in the 57-states Organization of Islamic Conference is adding insult to injury. It is irksome that the oppressor tries to represent the very people that it oppressed. What can be expected in such representation, if not more mutation of Moro voices and repression of their rights?” the MILF said in a separate statement.
It added that some 600,000 civilians who fled government offensives in Mindanao are suffering in makeshift tents and evacuation centers and that more were escaping the military operations against the MILF.
The MNLF has also sent a letter late last month to the body’s Secretary General Professor Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu stating its opposition to the Philippine bid for an observer status.
Alhag Abdulbaki Aboubakr, the MNLF’s secretary general for Foreign Relations, in his letter enumerated the following:
1. The MNLF is already recognized by the OIC as the sole and legitimate representative of the Muslims in the Philippines. The entry of the Republic of the Philippines as an observer will duplicate the role of the MNLF as the sole and legitimate representative.
2. The Philippine Constitution prohibits any support to religion. Under the existing law entitled “Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” the use of government funds to support religion/religious projects and programs is a crime because “it is injurious to the state.” For example, the construction of mosques, madrasa and other infrastructure projects to advance the teachings of Islam is prohibited under the Constitution and Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act law.
3. The Philippines constitutionally, culturally, socially and religiously does not and cannot represent the Muslims’ aspiration in any fora, let alone the Ismalic body. The so-called “interfaith” program of the government is just paying lip service to religious tolerance the fact being that the government’s heavily favored Christianized society is discriminatory to Muslims.
4. The government has been committing acts violating the human rights of Muslim citizens and continues to do so until the present with impunity.
5. Crimes concomitant with the repressive acts of the Philippines against the Muslim people consisting of massacres, torture, illegal arrests and detentions, indiscriminate aerial bombings, and disappearances, arson and others have never found justice and those acts continue to be committed today by law enforcement agents;
6. The territories of the Muslims have shrunk tremendously because of: a) the government sponsored migration of Filipinos from northern Philippines; b) land grabbing, legal maneuvering or unilateral legislation. As a result Muslims had been “minoritized” in their homeland.
7. Philippine articulation on the Muslim issue shall always be tainted with vested interest of the highly partisan politics of the powers that be in the country.
8. The Philippines is a violator of peace covenants as exemplified by the non-implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement between the MNLF and the government, 1996 Peace Agreement, let alone the 1986 GRP-MNLF Jeddah, as proof of the government’s failure to comply with its international commitment and obligation. The conference continues to urge the Philippines to implement the 1996 Peace Agreement until the present.
9. Statistics show that the provinces predominantly Muslims in Southern Philippines particularly within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Regions IX and XI receive the lowest government expenditure compared to areas where there are a Christian majority. For this reason the Muslims provinces are the poorest in the country, despite the fact that about 80 percent of the national income is derived from Mindanao, the homeland of the Muslims and milking cow of the country.
10. The repressive policy toward the Muslims in the Philippines have caused massive internal displacement and evacuation to Sabah of more than two million persons. Thousands of Muslims are languishing in jails and some of them were mercilessly massacred in cold blood in Camp Bagong Diwa jail in Manila.
11. The interest of the Muslims cannot be properly articulated by the Philippines because of the very high partisanship of the political ruling elite, which is biased for the Christian majority.
12. The injustices, oppression, and genocidal war committed against the Muslims must not be awarded by an OIC observer status.
13. The Philippines takes pride of its crucial split vote in the UN General Assembly in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 (from the heartland of Palestine) must not be rewarded with a grant of an observer status in the OIC.
14. The proposed entry of Philippines as observer in the OIC will degrade the honor and dignity of the Muslims in the arena of the Islamic ummah and will deliver a deathblow to their struggle for freedom and self-determination.
There was no immediate statement from the government about the latest development.
The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations.
Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/may/25/yehey/top_stories/20090525top5.html
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