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

YMPN in Facebook

Young Moro Professionals Network utilizes Facebook to communicate with its members and to easily share information to Moro Professionals.

Sometime ago it only used the group feature of facebook to gather its members and other Young Moro Professionals in Facebook. To better served its members and its community, YMPN has opened a Facebook Pages, which act like a facebook account for organizations, products, and public personalities.

Visit YMPN Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Young-Moro-Professionals-Network/92089808517 and YMPN Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7758095884.

MOST INSTITUTE to Present Chef Tato in Muslim Cookery

Most Institute will hold a Halal Cookery event in Davao this coming June 5, 2009. A leading culinary school in the Philippines, MOST will exhibit the skills of its prized Muslim chef instructor, ABDULATIF "Chef Tato" SAMOD SANGCUPAN.

Chef Tato, as he is popularly known in the YMPN family, is a Senior Chef Instructor of the MOST INSTITUTE, Quezon City Philippines. He also had his stint as a Executive Sous Chef/ Culinary Arts Instructor of IIMIT-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a Senior Chef de Partie/Specialty Chef MACROASIA-EUREST Catering Services Inc. (a world class airline food caterers owned by the Lucio Tan Group of Companies), and Specialty Chef of MIASCOR Catering Services Inc. of Ninoy Aquino Internaional Airport. He is also a Consultant for Halal food to some food establishments in the Philippines. He prepared meals for Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, PM Mohamad Mahathir of Malaysia, President Bill Clinton, and the visiting Princes of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Philippines.

The venue will be at the MOST INSTITUTE Davao Campus located at LTS Bldg. Magsaysay Ave., Davao City. For more information, interested parties can contact the following numbers: 0917-6231130, 0917-6231130, (02)911-5122, and (02)912-7189, or visit www.mostinstitute.org for more inquiries.

ABS-CBN.COM features Diether and Aleem

YMPer Aleem Siddiqui Guiapal was featured with Diether Ocampo in a headline news at the ABS-CBN website last Thursday, May 21, 2009. It was in recognition of their participation at the HPAIR 2009 Harvard Conference. The article also made mention of the Mindanao Youth Speak (MYSPEAK) peace-building program of the Young Moro Professionals Network, Inc. where Aleem serves as MYSPEAK Program Director and Diether as an adviser. To read the full article, please check:

http://www.abs-cbn.com/headlines/Article/3522/ABS-CBN-s-Diether-Ocampo-and-other-HPAIR-Alumni-s-paper-admitted-to-Oxford-.aspx

Young Moro Professionals cited in National Muslim Conference

YMPs should be supported.

"Young Moro Professionals Network is heard here and abroad. We should support them," said Director Baser Datu-imam during the National Conference of Grassroots Muslim Leaders for Peace and Solidarity held on May 15 at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

More than 50 Maranaos attended the event to unify the clan leaders of the Moriatao Diwan of Bayang town, Lanao del Sur. Prominent individuals who come from Bayang include the late former Congressman Rashid Lucman, founder of the Bangsamoro Liberation ORganization, Former Governor Saidamen Pangarungan, Aleem Jamil Yahya, former Youth Commissioner Pendatun Disimban, who all came to lend their support.

A  resolution was passed to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process on the following:

- support for the Anti-Discrimination Bill now pending in Senate
- support for the GRP-MILF peace process

YMPN Membership Convenor and MYspeak project manager Samira Gutoc was invited to speak on the role of YMPN in peacebuilding. She started by mentioning the historic role of Bayang in fighting colonization against Americans, a "memory which must be preserved and remembered by Filipinos."

She urged the elders and the youth to bridge the gap by working on promoting  a "better Muslim development partnership" that would encourage the talents of the working Maranao in Manila to be enhanced.

"YMPN is a group that supports you and other Muslim associations'  work through information advocacy," she said. "But Maranao money and industry must also consider expanding itself to consider Tausug and other ethnic groups' contributions so that a Moro paradigm and thus MORE IMPACT  is created ."

She reported the dialogues on intrafaith peacebuilding conducted among Moro youths in Davao City and Zamboanga City to be a precursor to dialogues with MILF and MNLF leaders who represent the Bangsamoro in the largest Muslim grouping of nations , Organization of Islamic Conference.

YMPN supports Christian-Muslim Peace Camp

YMPN, through Convenors Baibonn Sangid (Bangsamoro Culture & History), Jane Marie Dimacisil (Moro Fund), and Abdulhamid Alawi, Jr. (Dawah), once again extended support to the Communication Foundation for Asia (CFA) in holding its 2^nd Peace Camp with the theme “Christian and Muslim Youth – Spreading the Message of Peace and Unity” at the CFA compound in Sta. Mesa, Manila last April 27 to May 2, 2009. 

Ms. Sangid provided valuable inputs to the Project Team in designing the six-day program while Ms. Dimacisil served as one of the Peace Camp facilitators.  Mr. Alawi initiated Islamic reflections among Muslim students and addressed participants and other stakeholders during the culminating program on May 2, 2009.

Peace Camp 2 brought together 50 Christian and Muslim high school students from four schools in Metro Manila—Ramon Avanceña High School, Taguig National High School, Culiat High School, and the Nazarene Catholic School—to develop deeper understanding and appreciation of cultural or religious differences, and to help promote peace and unity in their respective schools upon their return from the peace camp.  Aside from lectures on peace, participants joined workshops on painting, music, photography and slideshow presentation, and creative dramatics, with emphasis on how these can serve as an important medium for peace.  Sons of YMPer Jolly Lais, Nuh and Haron, were among the 50 who participated.

Consistent with YMPN’s goal of promoting peace and a positive image of Islam, Mr. Alawi shared during the culminating program that Allah has made people different so that we may take the effort to know each other.  Citing Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) as the best example, he also advised participants to do their best to leave a good impression when dealing with others and to give extra efforts like service and charity—stressing the importance of sharing interfaith lessons which campers have learned with others in their community.

The first CFA Peace Camp was launched in 2006 with Christian and Muslim students from a high school in Quiapo, Manila, with YMPer Aradelria Belleng sharing her skills as one of the peace camp facilitators.  Similar to the first peace camp, workshop output of Peace Camp 2 participants will be showcased in various provinces through a Traveling Exhibit.  The two-year Peace Camp project also hopes to make follow-ups on peace and unity projects initiated and implemented by camp participants in their respective schools.

For more information on the project, visit www.cfamedia.org

Welcome to Parenthood, Atty. Ras & Atty. Toie! :-)

YMPN congratulates new parents RAS & TOIE with the arrival of their healthy 6.8-pound baby ABDUL RASHID BIRUAR MITMUG at 5:49am of May 4, 2009! Alhamdulillah! :-)

May you both enjoy every moment of parenthood and may baby Abdul Rashid grow up to be a loving child and a good Muslim like his parents, inshaALLAH! ;-)

All the very best!

YMPN MYSpeak

On 6 February 2009 YMPN organized a Mindanao Youth Speaks Conference at AIM Conference Center Makati which presented a YMPN organized Round Table Discussion on Peace Building at Davao City on November 28, 2008 and at Zamboanga City on Dec 19-22, 2008. One of the guest during the presentation is US Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney.

On February 17, 2009, YMPN held a Press Conference regarding the Mindanao Youth Speak Conference at Sulo Hotel. Pictures of the Event:

Link to MYSPEAK Program Documents

Mabrouk to all our Muslim New Lawyers

Mabrouk to all our Muslim New Lawyers! WE are all PROUD of YOU.

***

A special mention to MYLENE AMEROL-MACUMBAL, 2008 Bar Examinations No. 2. "A Bar Topcher in her Own Right", as ABC-CBN News put it.

***

This congratulations is echoed all over the Bangsamoro (including international Moro OFW). It is featured by various sites specially by our 2 Moro legal sites MUSLAF and MLC-Ph. Both of the sites contains the list of our Muslim New Lawyers.

YMPN Salutes Aleem Guiapal

ALEEEM GUIAPAL is another YMPer to be proud of. He is first Filipino paper presentor in Harvard Conference, Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations, USA on February 21, 2009. (Click link for YouTube Presentation) He maintains his blog On The Winning Game of Life. His Asian Institute of Management Thesis about YMPN which is "Organizational Strategy for the Young Moro Professionals Network, Inc" was presented and Paper has been selected (for Leadership) among entries in the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Academic Conference 2008 at PJ Hilton, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 21-24, 2008. He is also a prolific contributor to Associated Content.

Aleem's most recent contribution to YMPN is the heading the team which brought us MYSpeak last 6 February 2009 at AIM Conference Center Makati which presented a YMPN organized Round Table Discussion on Peace Building at Davao City on November 28, 2008 and at Zamboanga City on Dec 19-22, 2008. One of the guest during the presentation is US Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney.

He is recenltly featured in UNO and Star Stud Mag with Diether Ocampo.

YMPN BULLETIN link to 2 Moro Legal Sites

YMPN Bulletin is linked by Muslim Legal Assistance Foundation (MUSLAF) and Muslim Lawyers Circle Philippines (MLC-Ph).

MUSLAF is a provides legal aid to indigents, primarily Muslims. It also provides legal support to Moro issues. It was the first Muslim Legal Group which filed a 3rd Party Petition in defense of the MOA-AD. To know more about MUSLAF and its advocacies visit its site at www.muslaf.blogspot.com.

MLC-Ph is not an organization or association of Muslim Lawyers. It is a bulletin board for Muslim Lawyers. It has links to Muslim Lawyers who blogs, resources on Mindanao Peace Process, and to other Moro blogs. Read articles, comments, and opinions written by Moro Lawyers by visiting MLC-PH at www.muslimlawyerscircleph.blogspot.com.