KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (IslamOnline) - Is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ready to run for Senate polls in the May 14 elections in the Philippines? A prominent peace adviser to the MILF on Thursday said he has gained the blessing of the group to run for a Senate seat.
He said his clearance by the MILF showed the movement was ready to end the long war in the Philippines. His statements raised hopes in Manila that the group would finally enter mainstream politics and integrate itself into society.
Even though IslamOnline could not reach any of the MILF members to confirm the information, it is has been asserted that the MILF would find it difficult to abandon the military option in the long-running conflict.
Its Public Relations Officer, Eid Kabalu, said in an interview to IslamOnline that his movement was ready for talks with the Arroyo regime, but that end product of these talks must at all cost be total independence of Mindanao.
However, Moner Bajunaid a professor at the Mindanao State University (MSU) in General Santos City, declared that MILF chairman Hashim Salamat had given him the group's blessings to run for office.
"I decided to run as senator because of my desire to achieve peace and give Muslims in Mindanao a voice in the national scene," he said, adding that he is confident the Islamic community from all over the country would support his bid, especially with the support Salamat promised him.
The professor of Islam at MSU is the only viable candidate for the Philippine Democratic Socialist Party, under which he would run.
"MILF chairman Salamat told me I have nothing to fear, as the Moro people are all behind me. He bade me good luck when I told him I have filed my certificate of candidacy for senator," Bajunaid said.
Bajunaid rose to prominence when he became an active negotiator as peace adviser of the separatist group a few years back.
peace talks were suspended last year as the MILF peace panel pulled out from the negotiation table after former president Joseph Estrada declared an all-out war against the group last year.
According to Bajunaid, the MILF was very much disappointed when Estrada ordered the all-out war against the group that resulted in the capture of the group's 46 camps, including the main Abubakar camp.
Bajunaid said the group was not supporting him financially as it is the policy of the MILF not to extend monetary support to individuals seeking elective positions.
But he said he was confident the MILF would respond positively to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's call to resume negotiations.
He disclosed that the MILF is in the process of constituting members of its peace panel that would resume negotiations with the government.
