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Manila: Local leaders led thousands of Christian and Muslim residents in holding protest rallies against the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Philippine government and a major Muslim group for the establishment of a wider autonomous area for Filipino-Muslims in the southern Philippines.
Leading some 5,000 people in a rally outside the Municipal Hall, Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City said, "Residents and local leaders from neighbouring towns and provinces in Mindanao joined our protest action to dramatise our opposition to the expansion of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao and the establishment of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, for the sake of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front."
"Don't dismember Mindanao," warned a protester's placard in Zamboanga.
"We want a united Mindanao, Mrs President," said a placard addressed to President Gloria Arroyo.
Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators should not sign a memorandum of agreement for autonomous region's expansion and the establishment of the entity for Filipino-Muslims in the south, they said.
Lobregat also led other local government leaders in formally filing before the Supreme Court a petition to stop the signing of the proposed memorandum of agreement in Malaysia.
At least eight villages in Zamboanga City, including Lobregat's ancestral home, were included in the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz addressed angry protesters in front of the municipal hall, saying, "In 1998 and 2001, Iligan City rejected to be part of the autonomous region. I don't want another eight villages in Iligan to go through another referendum for autonomy, or to be part of the BJE."
Vice-Governor Manny Piñol of North Cotabato scheduled a protest rally today on the signing of the memorandum of agreement by government and MILF negotiators in Malaysia.
- with inputs from
Ed General, Correspondent, Mindanao
Agreement halted
The Philippines' Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order yesterday halting a territorial deal between the government and Muslim separatists in the latest setback for peace in the nation's volatile south.
The agreement between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf), the country's largest Muslim rebel group, was set to be signed in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday after more than ten years of stop-start talks.
"There will be no signing today," Jesus Dureza, President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman, said.
- Reuters
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