PRESS RELEASE

Mindanao YSPEAK
A Maranao fashionista, Yakan legislator, UP Student Regent and actor Diether
Ocampo.
What did they have in common?
Love for Mindanao and all the trimmings that come with it. Mindanao which has
seen one of the longest conflicts in Asian history between Moro rebels and the
government is often ignored for the vast potentials and talent of its very young
and mobile populace.
Doing a peace talks of their own to bridge the divide between Manila and
Mindanao , Young Muslim Professionals Network (YMPN) will use a different
tactic parallel to the peace talks to help in the peace advocacy.
“We are an untapped sector with so much to tap from because of our education
and passion for peace. We explore mainstream medium whether in the form of
media advocacy, web (youtube), music, fora, corporate presentation, even a
ethnic fashion show in the Metro to get our message across,” said YMPN-
Mindanao convenor Samira Gutoc.
"The failure of the MOA-AD is for Manila to rethink what would solve the Moro
problem," said Drieza Lininding of the Mindanao Alliance for Peace. He said
the MOA-AD must still be rethought as a solution the Mindanao problem.
"It may have been junked but such was the fruit of a mutually agreed process,"
he said during the Yspeak Press Conference organized by YMPN at Sulo Hotel
today.
Rep. Mujiv Hataman of Anak Mindanao affirmed that discrimination in the
workplace, housing and even education “will not just go away overnight. Making
people aware of this bad experiences against us who have experienced being
shunned away and have to change our names to hide our Muslim identity. Thus
our advocacy of the Anti-Discrimination Bill now pending in Senate after the
Lower Houses' Approval.”
They in a group called the YMPN asserted that they will not wait for the GRP-
MILF peacetalks to end for the professionals and young to get involved. “We
must walk the peace now,” said Pendatu Disimban, former youth commissioner
and president of the ASSALAM Bangsamoro People’s Association.
“We want equal access to opportunities. Just like America, where the blacks were
once discriminated, we don’t want discrimination against Muslims to happen
here,” said Diether Ocampo, of the KIDS Foundation and the first celebrity to
endorse the peace advocacy of Muslim yuppies in the Metro through YMPN.
Moro fashion advocate Jehanne Mutin, consultant of the Marawi City
Government, said media must report and cover not only the body counts in the
Mindanao conflict . “More than combatants, it is women and children who are
the biggest casualties and victims of armed conflict.
“Young people want to be heard, they are very much involved in peace,” said
Shahana Abdulwahid , the first Muslim woman to be Student Regent of the
country’s premier state university, the University of the Philippines .
This March , YMPN in coordination with ASSALAM Bangsamoro People’s
Association and Anak Mindanao announced the launching of a Peace Caravan
on March 11-18 to commemorate Bangsamoro Month to culminate in the
launching of the Peace Wreath in Corregidor to remember Muslim military
recruits who were allegedly massacred in March 1968 in the same province.