Suara Bangsamoro wants to bring the Filipino Muslims' problems and concerns to the halls of Congress

By Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, April 4 (IslamOnline.net) - It’s not only in the Philippine Senate that Filipino Muslims would like to have a strong representation but in the House of Representatives, or the lower chamber of Congress, as well.

Through the Suara Bangsamoro party-list group, Filipino Muslims would like to “assert their right to self-determination and work for the dismantling of all oppressive and discriminatory laws, action plans, and programs of social institutions that trample upon and deny the Moro people their basic human rights.”

Amirah Ali Lidasan, one of the three candidates of Suara Bangsamoro, said it is high time that the Bangsamoro people, who have suffered from discrimination and oppression in this Christian-dominated Southeast Asian state, be strongly represented in the legislature.

“We believe there is a need to bring our concerns, problems and issues in the legislature,” she told IslamOnline.net Sunday, April 4. “While we are bringing up these issues and concerns in other forums and through various means, we believe the House of Representatives would be a very potent battleground to fight many ills that have left us as victims.”

Besides Lidasan, Wahab Ibrahim Guialal and Esmael Abdula are the other nominees.

Suara Bangsamoro wants to promote a self-reliant economy through genuine industrialization, land reform and sustainable development programs to curtail the continuing plunder of the natural resources of Bangsamoro by selfish vested interest.

It also vowed to strengthen unity and cooperation between the Bangsamoro and the Filipino people by pursuing collective actions on common problems and common aspirations and interfaith-dialogues.

It wanted to institute programs and mechanisms that shall address the continuing displacement of the Moro people from their homeland, initiate measures that would stop corporate plunder of and intrusion into the Bangsamoro land and resources, and promote initiatives that shall safeguard the economic rights of the Moro communities in their places of re-settlement and their workplaces abroad.

Should the party’s three nominees be elected, they would work for the attainment of peace based on social justice and support the peace talks that address the root causes of the armed conflict in Mindanao.

They would also uphold the people's basic human rights and freedom and ensure justice for all victims of human rights violations by initiating corresponding support programs, promoting and enhancing the cultural heritage of the Bangsamoro for better understanding and appreciation by their Christian and ethnic brethren.

Suara Bangsamoro also wants to contribute to the formulation of a foreign policy that is independent and mutually beneficial to both the Filipino Muslims and the Filipino people and that shall promote closer fraternal unity with the Islamic countries and the rest of the world.

Three Muslims - Amina Rasul, Parouk Hussin and Didagen Dilangalen - are vying for seats in the 24-member Philippine Senate “to be the voice of the Filipino Muslims” in the upper house of the legislature.

The Philippine Congress has two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Laws could originate from either chambers. The bicameral committee then meets to have one version of the bill. Both chambers then separately approve or junk a bill. If the bill is approved, it is submitted to the president for approval.

Voters across the country vote for senators, while district representatives are voted by the electorates in their congressional district, which are clusters of towns. Party-list representatives, like Suara Bangsamoro, are voted nationwide.

Twenty percent of the 260 seats in the House of Representatives are reserved for party-list. Every two percent of total votes cast gets a seat in the House, with each party allowed only a maximum of three seats.

The party-list system is one of proportional representation in which voters choose among parties rather than among candidates. Votes are awarded to parties in proportion to the votes they receive.

The party-list system is seen to help create a healthy democracy, providing a citizens’ voice in Congress and in local government.

The Philippine party-list system aims to increase the representation, particularly of “marginalized and underrepresented” sectors and enhance transparency and accountability, leading to more efficient government.