Refocusing Perspectives

"The BBL was finished in July and its done in a hurry. The MILF will mainly focus for its legislation; we will support and monitor for its legislation. However, the government will push for federal form of government. This can change the condition when the congress is transformed into a constituents assembly. We do not know the position of the MILF chair on this concerns but I hope this will not render the sacrifices of the BTC for BBL. The BTC meets at Malacanang today as we speak and I beg off for my presence there because convening the Maranao people to discuss our plight is more important to me. Remember that the BTC is led by the MILF. I, as a commissioner represents the MNLF as a vice chairman of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs. The MNLF will wait with what the MILF will do relating to BBL ’s legislation. The Bangsa Maranao congress is an aggrupation or convention of all leaders of Bangsa Maranao. The term Bangsamoro term has been used, abused and misus

Mr. President, I vote NO for the extension of martial law even if your party mates may vote otherwise. I joined with the rest of my Muslim friends who stand against the extension of Martial Law. I join with the rest of those who resist the opinion of lawyer Salvador Panelo that this country needs constitutional dictatorship. Like any authoritarian rule, constitutional dictatorship bestows to an individual or institution to formulate binding rules, directives, and decisions over circumstances unhindered by legal checks and balance -- including the potential excesses in the exercise of authority. Normally, in times of crisis, the executive merely announces the emergence of a crisis and congress bestows statutory grants of power. But this legislative process has been willfully sidelined by our lawmakers, thus, affording the executive such transcendence over the law. Ergo, in the absence of public deliberation, congress indirectly granted practically unreviewed discretion of the e

“If tears can only be collected...” The feast of Eid’l Fitr this year is the most emotional celebration. Marawi residents, under normal circumstances, could have converged in the oval of Mindanao State University-main campus for their collective prayer. But with Marawi Crisis still unresolved, they gathered at the amphitheater of Iligan city while others settled in available spaces of evacuees’ host communities. “Of more than a hundred mosques in Marawi, only three mosques are available for prayers. Many of our imams, like our constituents, are also evacuees,” said Zia Alonto, spokesperson of the province of Lanao del Sur's crisis situation. “This is the most emotional Eid’l Fitr for us because many of us can’t be with our families for the feast. This is supposed to be a day for forgiveness and thanksgiving, but our situation deprived us the opportunity to be closer with our families,” Zia said. “I wish this is the last Eid to celebrate as evacuee,”said lawyer Halillah

I was clicking a document on my laptop few months ago inside a quiet hotel, besides the wide pool, around 275 kilometers far from home, and was quaintly figuring out what the content meant.  Word by word, I was searching any reflective feeling inside.  I wanted to feel. But can't sense anything. Instead, I was unfolding the layers of political dynamics I have endured in the last few years. I was instead weighing how much democratic space and freedom are required to maintain the rigor of a balance life-- where heaving human rights and exhaling the world's wild flowers will still be feasible. I thought it wasn't an awareness of numbness because I remember I was still very declarative and straightforward in relating about it with my two friends over dinner. Between sipping the hot soup and chopping grilled chicken, I was able to clearly map out my sentiment over a document; like it doesn't mean to me at all; like it was an object I can freely dismiss.  It was a no