MANILA — Bangsamoro Government, through the Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS), led the 54th commemoration of the Jabidah Massacre on March 18, at the Mindanao Garden of Peace in Corregidor Island, Cavite.
BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim said the Jabidah narrative “would become the seeds of the modern Bangsamoro struggle.”
[Read related article: Remembering Jabidah and the seeds of the struggle]
“The BARMM government and the entire Bangsamoro will continue to commemorate the sacrifices of the Bangsamoro martyrs,” Ebrahim said in his speech read by MPOS Minister Hussein Muñoz during the activity.
“We will take its lessons to a new facet of promising stories of peacebuilding and socio-economic development to the Bangsamoro so the tragic losses from the pasts will never happen again. This is our commitment towards justice and reconciliation,” Ebrahim added.
Meanwhile, Muñoz said the commemoration is a form of recognition to the despairs experienced by the Bangsamoro.
“It is an initiative towards healing the past, reconciliation, and unity of all the peoples in the country,” he said.
For Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) Chairman Marjanie Macasalong, the Jabidah Massacre is a unifying factor for the Bangsamoro “to rectify the historical injustices committed against the Moro people.”
“We are committed to continue the Bangsamoro struggle for the self-determination albeit in different battlefield [development],” said Macasalong.
The commemoration of the Jabidah Massacre is in line with the Proclamation No. 0001, series of 2021, issued by Chief Minister Ahod B. Ebrahim, declaring every March of the year as “Bangsamoro History Month” in the region.
This year’s Bangsamoro History Month bears the theme “Strengthening BARMM through the lessons of the past and the promises of the future.”
It highlights the long history of the Bangsamoro and some of its most unforgettable chapters, including the Bud Dajo Massacre, the Jabidah Massacre, the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the inauguration of BARMM, and inaugural session of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, among others. (Majid Nur /BIO)
