Religious leaders belonging to the Bangsamoro Supreme Ulama Council (BSUC) led by Sheikh Jamil Yahya said Thursday that they have scheduled a rally after the month of Ramadan to bring to the attention of Malacañang the concerns and grievances of the local Muslims.

Yahya is a grand imam at a big mosque in Marawi City.

As head of BSUC, the Saudi Arabia-educated Muslim cleric was responsible for the "fatwa" (opinion) during the May 10, 2010 elections declaring un-Islamic voting for three candidates.

He also served as a "mutawwa" (religious police) in Saudi Arabia for some years.

The Manila Bulletin met Yahya at the Golden Mosque on Globo de Oro Street, Quiapo, Manila, and relayed their plans to hold a rally after the Ramadan, Islam's holy month of intense worship through fasting, prayers, and other acts of worship.

"Muslim communities in the Philippines are wondering why P-Noy (President Benigno S. Aquino III) has not appointed Muslims to significant positions in his administration. Muslim voters gave their votes to him overwhelmingly," said Yahya, who revealed that BSUC officials could have been millionaires now if they accepted offers in exchange for their fatwa's withdrawal.

"I told those who came to us that Islam is not for sell," the militant aleem (plural of ulama) said.

Yahya said the planned rally was supposed to be before the Ramadan, but it did not push through.

"We have to air our concerns and grievances peacefully so the new administration can hear us," he said, recalling that former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had Muslims in her Cabinet as secretaries," said Yahya, referring to Maguindanao Rep. Simeon A. Datumanong (justice and public works) and Nasser Pangandaman (agrarian reform).

Aquino has re-appointed former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)-Reformist chairman Dimasangcay Pundato undersecretary at the Office of the President Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

The landmark 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) between Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and MNLF calls for the appointment of qualified Muslims to the Cabinet, Judiciary (including the Supreme Court), government corporations, among others.