Muslim group supports Noynoy-Mar tandem

The Muslim Alliance for Noynoy Aquino (MANA) held its 1st general assembly in Metro Manila last Friday night with a declaration to yield at least two million votes outside the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for the Liberal Party standard bearer and his running-mate Senator Mar Roxas.

Aurora Corazon “Pinky” Aquino graced the MANA maiden assembly on behalf of her younger brother, the LP presidential bet, who she said could not make it due to his delayed provincial sortie in Cagayan.

She acknowledged MANA as one of the biggest groups rallying his brother’s bid, which has been drawing bandwagons of volunteers across the country including different individuals and sectors that, she said, were even chipping in campaign funds.

Pinky echoed her brother’s vow to pursue the visions and missions of their parents, the former Senator Ninoy Aquino Jr. and President Cory, for decent and just governance among all Filipinos including the Muslims’ cry for self-determination.

She swore in the MANA officers and delivered an extemporaneous message in between sobs after lawyer Paisalin Tago, MANA president, announced that the nationwide Muslim group was founded on their strong belief that Noynoy “inherited” his parents’ “big hearts” for the Muslim Filipinos.

Tago said the martyred Ninoy had exposed in the Senate the massacre of young Muslim Filipinos while undergoing secret military training in Bataan to attack purportedly Malaysia, prompting the formation of the separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). By ALI G. MACABALANG