Iligan City on Bangsa-Moro Ancestral Domain

Last sunday, after the mass at the St. Michael's cathedral church here in Iligan City, one announcement is asking everybody to join the scheduled mass rally. This happened today, Monday, at 8 o'clock in the morning in front of the City's post office. The said rally is a protest actions against the inclusion of eight of the city’s 44 barangays among some 700 villages in Mindanao that are being considered for inclusion in the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity under the government-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreement. The eight barangays, however, will be part of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity only if they vote for inclusion in the August 2009 plebiscite. The eight barangays are Digkilaan, Dulag, Hindang, Kalilangan, Lanipao, Mainit, Panoroganan and Rogongon. Officials say the land area of these barangays constitutes 87% of the city’s total land area and are reportedly not predominantly Moro. City officials said they plan to hold public assemblies in the eight villages to know the sentiments of the affected residents.
Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Vicente Belmonte Jr. meanwhile is expected to deliver a privilege speech in the house of Representatives to oppose the addition of eight barangays of Iligan City and other barangays under Lanao del Norte. Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said 66,502.14 hectares or 81.76 percent of Iligan lands will go to the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity if the MOA is approved. Cruz added that majority of Iligan City constituents does not want to be included in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao based from the 1989 and 2001 plebiscite.