A Hope for Mindanao’s Moros

Zaynab Ampatuan, 27, hardly looks like one who has experienced being driven from home by bombs and bullets courtesy of the military. But she has � and more than twice. Her experiences with the oppression of Muslims in the Philippines led her to become an advocate for the Moro cause.

Zaynab’s Cause. Suara Bangsamoro Party’s party-list nominee Zaynab Ampatuan speaks at a campaign rally in Manila, Feb. 13.(Bulatlat photo)

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat

MANILA — Petite and slim Zaynab Ampatuan, 27, deputy secretary-general and one of the party-list nominees of the Suara Bangsamoro (Voice of the Moro People) Party for this year�s elections, hardly looks like one who has experienced being driven from home by bombs and bullets courtesy of the military. But she has � and more than twice.

In 2000, then President Joseph Estrada declared �all-out war� against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The �all-out war� took a heavy toll mostly on civilians in Mindanao. Military offensives in areas claimed by authorities as MILF strongholds have sporadically taken place under the Arroyo regime, even as the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is engaged in peace negotiations with the group.

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