March 28 YMPN Ceremonies

Muslim Yuppies : Yep to Serve

by Samira Gutoc

They studied in Harvard, Oxford and the country's best schools but they have returned to their hometowns where conflict has displaced more than half-million people in the SOuthern Philippines.

Young Moro Professionals Network is a global group of like minded individuals who strive to use their skills and resources to serve the marginalized communities. They use the internet to expose the Mindanao situation.

According to one of the mentors of the YMPN, Abhoud Lingga, the last four decades of the Moro rebellion. two million refugees, at least 50,000 deaths . 535 mosques, 200 schools destroyed and 35 towns and cities affected .

YMPN launched MYSPEAK to bring together the stakeholders of the peacetalks including the MILF and MNLF. MYSPEAK stands for Mindanao Youth Speaking out on the Peace Process and current issues of the day. MYSPEAK 1 held on February 6 in AIM,, Makati tackled the Mindanao conflict and was moderated by recent Harvard Project for Asianand International Relations Presenter Karen Davila, Ten Outstanding Young Men Awardee of 2008.

MYSPEAK Team members include Aleem Guiapal, an AIM alumni fromMaguindanao, Director Rohaniza Sumndad of the Asia-America Initiative, environmentalist Jal Salic and Mohammad Tani Basman , former president of the University of the Philippine Muslim Student Association.

The YMPN chaired by UP Student Regent Shahana Abdulwahid will launch the Ramadhan Fair during EIDUL FItr holidays on September 21 at the Quezon City Theatre , QC Circle.

For details, check www.bangsamoro.com, www.ympn.org, www.ympnblogspot.com or visit their office at Jocfer Building (where Office on MuslimAffairs is located, and near EVER Mall), Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. Email secretariat@ympn.o

Moro Notes

MORO NOTES

July 29, 2009

Ramadhan Countdown – 23 days to go!

I bumped into National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales at the Centennial Airport. He confirmed the backchanelling efforts of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to renew the stalled GRP-MILF peacetalks. Both parties I heard were in Malaysia to iron out certain agreements prior to peacetalks. A day later , I got an email from GRP Peace Panel Chief Negotiator on a Joint Statement signed by Seguis and Mohagher Iqbal, MILF Panel Chairman signed in the presence of DATUK OTHMAN BIN ABDUL RAZAK stating they have “re-established official contact today under the auspices of the Malaysian Third Party Facilitator, to end nearly a year of impasse in the peace negotiations, and to complete the preparation for the resumption of the Talks.”

Prayers to former President and peace symbol Corazon Aquino.

In accordance with suspension of military actions, the MILF-styled SOMA, was distributed on July 25 to radio stations for announcement. Local officials in Maguindanao have confirmed that MILF forces positioned around neighboring towns of Datu Piang, Guindolongan, Talayan and Datu Saudi towns have started repositioning away from strategic areas (Philippine Star).

Presidential Peace Adviser (OPAPP) Undersecretary Nabil Tan updated that he will join a government delegation to Norway this August on efforts to revive the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-National Democratic Front (NDF) and GRP talks. On running for politics, Tan , former ARMM Vice-Governor and brother to Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, said he ain’t interested. A shame, a few Moro good men in politics.

Analyst Julkipli Wadi on the State of the Nation Address last July 27, “It (MILF) knows that, like in the past, Malacanang is back with its old antic in using the peace process as a magnet for more foreign assistance and investment in Mindanao instead of resolving the Mindanao conflict.”

Ali Reza Kunting, Secretariat Chief of the Manila lobby group, Muslim Inter-Organizational Meeting (MIOM) , updates that the group convened Muslim leaders last Sunday at Bacolod Inasal, Viramall to strengthen the advocacy for some SEVEN Muslim-related bills filed in Senate such as the Expansion of Shariah Courts, Office on Muslim Affairs being Upgraded to a Commission, Sheik Makdhum Mosque declared a National Heritage, Eidul Adha to be declared a National Holiday (which according to some Senate staff has undergone THIRD and Final Reading).

Piracy is not only an issue in the Philippine archipelago. It is also serious for Somalia. Somali hijackers attacked more than 130 merchant ships off Somalia last year, a rise of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center (AFP).

Mindanao State University (MSU) alumna lawyer Mylene Macumbal, the first Muslim lady bar topnotcher cites President Gloria Arroyo in the SONA, held her own in the spotlight. This was despite the many beauteous congresswomen and glittering first ladies of Senators and lady Senators , as she regaled in a Maranao-inaul woven straight maroon and blue-trimmed dress. Asked of her plans after topping the bar, she laughingly reminded her students who she teaches at MSU-Iligan to prepare for recitations.

Tsk, tsk. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is being charged anew with violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an uninvited American man who swam to her lakeside home and stayed for two days. She faces a possible five years in prison (AP).

Mindanao businessmen are converging in Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City on August 4-5, 2009 for the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP)-sponsored Business Forum to be attended by DBP Senior executives and Board Members such as former Civil Service Commission Secretary Patricia Sto Tomas and DBP President Reynaldo David.

Justice Abdulhakim Wahid of Zamboanga is the lone Muslim candidate to vie for the vacant post as Supreme Court Justice among five candidates.

Iran reiterated that it had no plans to build nuclear weapons. “We are a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and it is our right to have peaceful nuclear activities. Nuclear weapons have no place in our defense structure,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said (AFP).

Migrating to blog.ympn.org

Salaam!

In our effort to integrate www.YMPN.org and other YMPN sites 

We are migrating to blog.ympn.org

On 30 July 2009 we will be closing ympn.blogspot.com

All post will be on blog.ympn.org

YMPer Did it Again

YMPer ALEEM SIDDIQUI M. GUIAPAL did it again! He is went to Bangalore,India to attend the 9th International Workshop on Resource Mobilization (IWRM), which aimed to gather the best fund raising practitioners and trainers all over the world. Our very own ALEEM is one of the 250 delegates from around 30 countries all over the world. He attends this meeting after winning a Bursary Grant from the Organizers of the event, The Resource Alliance (TRA), a United Kingdom based charity who organizes IWRM annually.

To learn more about IWRM, TRA, and Aleem we invite you to read Mr. Edd Usman's article at BM.com

YMPN featured in Manila Bulletin 22 June 2009

YMPN advocacy in supporting the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill is featured in Page 7 of 22 June 2009 Manila Bulletin by Edd K. Usman.

Link to Facebook Note of the Article: YMPN and its Advocacy..

YMPer work at 2009 Virgin Labfest

ROGELIO "Ogie" BRAGA our very own theater artist and playwright will be showing two of his work at 2009 Virgin Labfest at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute, Cultural Center of the Philippines.

So Sanggibo A Ranon Na Piyatay O Satiman A Tadman ni Rogelio Braga,
director Riki Benedicto
June 24: 3pm, 8pm
July 3: 8pm
July 4: 3pm

Written by a Filipino playwright as an ars poetica to a Bangsa Moro freedom fighter Abdul Rahman Macapaar is a story of love, lost and remembrance. Stella, a hooker from the university belt during the Martial Law years remembers the 1971 Tacub Massacre in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, Abdul Rahman who longs for a Ranao he left to pursue a dream in Manila, and Aling Ella a spinster who remembers a lost love that haunts her like a ghost. So Sanggibo a Ranon na Piyatay o Satiman a Tadman is both a story of how ordinary people struggle for love, self-respect, freedom and maratabat amid a nation that harbors a dark past and an invitation to a journey in one of the sordid histories of Filipino Nationalism against the Bangsa Moro people.

Ang Bayot, Ang Meranao at ang Habal-Habal sa Isang Nakababagot na Paghihintay sa Kanto ng Lanao del Norte.
June 28: 3pm, 8pm
July 1: 8pm
July 2: 3pm

An unusual rendezvous of two beautiful and sharp-tongue outspoken creatures living at the margins of our society. Take a peak on their engagement as they courageously travel— devoid of any inhibitions, political correctness, and social graces—that rough and ‘older than history’ roads of discrimination, hypocrisy, bigotry, social divides, corruption and unspoken violence to arrive in a decent friendship. The play is a bitter yet funky peppered with a Radio Active Sago Project kick-ass take on the cruelties of our society that condones discrimination which is definitely not so cool.

Tickets to the Virgin Labfest are at P200 for main exhibition sets, P100 for the symposium and "Pay what you can" for play readings. For more details, please contact Tanghalang Pilipino at 8323661, or the CCP Box Office at 8323704.

If you had the opportunity to have watched the plays Ogie is interested to know your views and comments. You are welcome to email him at ogiebraga@yahoo.com

***

Ogie's plays and success in the theater industry is the first Note at Moro Note 19 June 2009. Get Your Moro Notes at http://twitdoc.com/c/963nmn.

Bangsamoro Forum

Need a place to discuss about Bangsamoro with fellow Moros. There is no place to go but Bangsamoro Forum.

Bangsamoro.com Up and Running!

Bangsamoro.com (BM.Com) is up and running! If you wish to share articles, photos, music and videos visit the site and email your contributions to trimedia@ympn.org or mail@ympn.org.

The site contains a link to Bangsamoro Forum, Bangsamoro E-Group, as well as links to YMPN Website and YMPN E-groups.

BM.com is a website for the Bangsamoro sponsored by YMPN. It was first launched on mid-2000.

Moro Notes 15 June 2009

Moro Notes 15 June 2009 is available. Click to this links to read:

• YMPN SCRIBD.
• YMPN Facebook Page Notes

ARMM Secretary Inspires a New Generation of Bangsamoro

Branded as the Thinker of his generation, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Deputy Executive Secretary and lawyer Ishak Mastura, an Ateneo graduate, urged the young Moro professionals to choose the path of identity assertion during the YMPN Night held on June 5 at the Mitmug Residence, Santos Street, Cotabato City.

Mastura quoted a book on identity to dramatize the need for Bangsamoro aspiration to be embraced. “Themes of memory, identity, destiny and freedom are seamlessly interwoven in a breathtaking tapestry; identity can only be founded on the recovery of memory, and it is only with a sense of identity that one can attain freedom to fulfill one’s destiny. Tigana features characters who have had their identities brutally torn from them, and the result is that they are left empty and searching for a way to fill the void in their souls. Their desperate attempts sometimes lead them in the wrong directions, towards things which are cruel and unnatural but provide temporary solace from the emptiness.”

Mastura was one of few young Muslims who traveled to Malaysia in August 2008 during the supposed signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) by the government (GRP) peace panel and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to be witnessed by the diplomatic community.

Tonight in the land formerly known as Kutawato Empire was a reunion of sorts for Mastura and other young lawyers such as Algamar Latiph, Raissa Jajurie, Edil Baddiri and Rasul Mitmug who collaborated to defend the MOA-AD before the Supreme Court which declared the MOA-AD unconstitutional.

Some 30 young Muslims joined Mastura from the Notre Dame University Law Student Government, Cotabato, Marawi , Davao, Zamboanga and Manila to renew ties in preparation for a Dialogue with Moro Elders supported by The Asia Foundation the next day with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Estosan Hotel and MILF in Sultan Kudarat Sunday.

Other young leaders present included Junior Chamber International Cotabato City President Gurlie Frondoza, Ibn Taimiyah School Administrator Ombra Imam, TAF consultant Alber Hussin, and Cotabato City Youth Affairs Officer Noran Uka.

Young Moro Professionals Network (YMPN) founding Chairperson and former Philippine Councilor’s League Secretary General Jehanne Mutin of Marawi City traced the history of YMPN to be a product of the all-out war of then President Erap Estrada in 2000. “Muslims who were privileged enough to be educated in Manila came together to make a difference.”

YMPN Chairperson and University of the Philippines Student Regent Shahana Abdulwahid of Zamboanga urged the young to be involved in academic discourse as well as active civic work through YMPN.

MYSPEAK Project Director Aleem Guiapal who has spoken in Harvard’s Project for Asia and International Relations as the first Filipino Paper Presenter and who will speak next month in Oxford credited YMPN for the recognition he has attained.

YMPN Mindanao Secretary General Drieza Lininding updated that the Moro elders were anticipating the dialogue to be fruitful in recognition of the role of professionals in the peace process.

“The young are the missing link in winning the negotiations”, said Guiapal.

MYSPEAK Dialogue Activity Head Engineer Don Loong , former Sulu Provincial Administrator, said the dialogue with the elders is crucial so that the lessons learned can be documented and studied by the young Moro pool of experts representing varied fields in development, media, governance, human rights, security, politics.

Humanitarian lawyer Zainuddin Malang brought the group earlier upon arrival to the evacuation areas in Datu Piang and Talayan in what he calls the internally displaced persons (IDP) Corridor, saying the nine months of evacuation (since the MOA-AD was aborted in August leading to armed exchanges between the MILF and the army) have taken its toll on the elderly and children. “Shelters are temporary. Food is scarce. Schools are homes. Who will tell these stories?” Malang challenged YMPN.

Samira Gutoc-Tomawis

10 June 2009