MISAMIS ORIENTAL, March 28 (PNA) -– Provincial Governor Yevgeny Vincente B. Emano on Friday hailed the signing of the Bangsamoro peace accord with the national government as “the new dawn for a new Mindanao.”
“As Mindanaoans, we thank the Supreme God Almighty and rejoice with our Muslim brothers and sisters on the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro Framework,” Emano said in a statement released Thursday.
Emano underscored the sacrifices and endurance of the Bangsamoro people in their struggle for freedom and independence for centuries against foreign invaders and against all odds.
He said that the Bangsamoro people are Filipinos no less than any of the country’s heroes who exhibited a distinct degree of bravery because the Bangsamoro people shed blood, in the same battlefields as the country’s heroes have done in the past.
Emano said that the Comprehensive Agreement finally defines the identity of the Bangsamoro people as Filipinos subject to the same Constitution and salute to the same national flag.
“Most important of all, the Comprehensive Agreement is a recognition of the importance of our beloved Mindanao and the significance it plays in national development. It acknowledges that the restoration of pride to its inhabitants, particularly the Bangsamoro, is a recognition that people precedes all kinds of development,” Emano added.
He said that “it is only when people are factored into the development of a place such place as Mindanao, becomes an integral part of the nation and essential to national development.” (PNA)