League of Bangsamoro Organizations to conduct Solidarity Rally for Palestine in Cotabato City
COTABATO CITY (April 9, 2025) — The League of Bangsamoro Organizations (LBO) Inc., which has over 600 member organizations throughout the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and other areas in the Philippines with Bangsamoro, will hold a historic Solidarity Rally for Palestine this April 9, 2025, Wednesday from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Cotabato City Plaza.
In an interview, Mahdie C. Amella, an LBO spokesperson said that the purpose of the gathering is to express solidarity and concern for our brothers and sisters affected by the war in Gaza, including a call for justice, unity, and peace.
LBO invites all attendees to wear clothes like white, black, or the colors of the Palestinian flag—red, green, white, and black.
Amella added that those who can make placards should bring them to the program, including the Palestine flag, or banners of support, and show discipline and respect throughout the program. The gathering will also include a congregation prayer of Salatul Magrib, so everyone is advised to perform wudhu before attending and bring their own sajadah or prayer mat.
Representatives from Metro Manila, Zamboanga, and other areas in the country are also expected to give messages via video message in addition to speeches from representatives of various sectors—youth, women, traditional leaders, religious groups, civil society, and government—at the City Plaza stage.
Amella also said that the program will include the acceptance of donations for Gaza, as a boost to the charity campaign. This is the second time that the LBO will stage a rally in support of Palestine, last October 16, 2023, an estimated 12,000 Bangsamoro people gathered at Cotabato City Plaza dubbed as “Bangsamoro Rally for Free Palestine.”
According to information gathered by the BMN and BangsamoroToday, the LBO will hold a Press Conference to accommodate media representatives with their questions. Program spokesperson Ustadh Khairuddin Midtimbang will sit in on the press conference that will also be held at the Cotabato City Plaza.
If recalled, the LBO has issued a condemnation statement on the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocidal campaign of Israeli forces in Gaza released on March 20, 2025, in Cotabato City, which has strongly denounced the systematic aggression and war crimes committed against the Palestinian people. “The deliberate targeting of civilians, the destruction of homes, hospitals, and humanitarian infrastructures, and the ongoing blockade that deprives Gaza of essential supplies are clear violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law”, LBO stressed.
Meanwhile, there was also Resolution No. 442 passed by the Bangsamoro Parliament last October 17, called “for an end to the hostilities and attacks against the civilian population of Palestine, especially in Gaza, and allow their safe return to their homeland, their humane and dignified treatment therein, and the complete rehabilitation thereof.”
This resolution condemned acts of violence and collective punishment against the Palestinian people and called for the unconditional cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas as well as for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for Gaza. (Tu Alid Alfonso, BMN/BangsamoroToday)
