The MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE
Whom the gods wish to destroy,
they first make mad.
There is world-wide outrage against the massacre in Maguindanao. This is mainly because at least a dozen journalists, most of them non-Moro Filipinos, were included in the carnage.
Many Moros were wondering if the massacre included only Moros and no journalists, would there have been such an outrage? These thoughts are valid because in Maguindanao, massacres happen once in a while, and the world’s media never gave a hoot about them. The fact that the victims’ families and/or the military immediately spotted the heavy-duty backhoe and immediately assumed that it was used to dig the graves of the victim could only mean that this must have been an old M.O. (modus operandi) of the powers that be in Maguindanao. The Mangudadatus, it must be noted, were very close to the Ampatuans and were therefore part of the power clique in Maguindanao.
THE DOMINANT MAJORITY AGENDA
The Christian Filipinos and misguided Moros are busy painting the picture that the whole Muslim-dominated regions are full of lawlessness and violence and ruled by warring feudal lords-cum-politicians.The decades-old struggle of the Bangsa Moro for self-determination is thus reduced to nothing. The narrative that is gaining popularity is that the whole Moro conflict is nothing but the violence among warring Moro clans.
First of all, the Mangudadatus and the Ampatuans did not have a “long-standing feud”, as widely reported in the media. If anything, they had a long-standing alliance.
Second, there were no rapes and beheadings. The media are having a heyday in picturing Moros as “barbaric”. There was not enough time for the criminals to rape, unless they have some members who are priapic (those who have a perpetual hard-on). There were no beheading too because it is doubtful that some members were carrying kris and bolos instead of hand guns and long arms. Some of the victims heads must have been shattered by bullets from shotguns and other long arms shot point blank. Also, the backhoe crushed the cars with the victims’ bodies still inside.
What the criminals did were indeed barbaric. But there were no rapes or beheading. That would be medieval. The criminals were more “modern and high-tech”.
They also imply that only the military and national police can give the place a semblance of peace and order. That is why the administration’s presidential bet, a supposedly intelligent Harvard graduate (LlM) Gilbert Teodoro, says that his solution to the Moro problem is “to put in more troops.”
I used to have high regard for Harvard University. But I simply don’t see the intelligence in most Filipino politicians who took their Masters in Harvard. But then, even George Bush, Jr. took his Masters degree from Harvard.
MILITARY CONTROL
Can any politician in any part of the country have as much power as the Ampatuans without full military, police and presidential backing? Of course not.
Mindanao or Maguindanao does not operate in a political vacuum. Political power in Mindanao can only be obtained through presidential and military support.
The power of the senior Ampatuan has not been seen in Mindanao since the Marcos era. Then President Marcos gave 101% support to Ali Dimaporo of Lanao. Dimaporo had the full backing of Marcos and his military. The only group that could stand up, and stood up, against Dimaporo was the MNLF.
In 2001, President Arroyo gave the senior Ampatuan full backing. Even before that, the military was already supporting him. Through the Arroyo years, Ampatuan gained so much clout over the President. His relatives who were not elected were given juicy positions by Ms. Arroyo.
In 2007, the Filipinos witnessed the massive election cheating in Maguindanao, which made a total mockery of the election and legal processes.
In the massacre of the Mangudadatus, the hand of the military was obvious. First, the request by the Mangudadatus to the police and military for escort were turned down. Second, there was the presence of police among the killers. Third, a big part of the killers came from the CAFGUs or government-deputized paramilitary units.
The government’s reaction to the killings was to put in more troops, to which the media and the Filipino people applauded. The military is ALREADY in control of Maguindanao. Why are they sending more troops? To protect their puppets, the Ampatuans?
PREVENTIVE SUSPENSION
If the Arroyo administration truly wants justice to prevail, the first thing it should have done was to SUSPEND all the Ampatuans from their elective positions and put in caretaker governors and mayors. This way, the Ampatuans would be dis-empowered and could not intimidate would-be witnesses to the criminal investigation.
The top military and police commanders should have been immediately relieved of duty for their incompetence, if not collusion with the criminals.
MY THEORY
SCENARIO:
The Mangudadatus are suddenly stopped along the highway on their way to COMELEC. The perpetrators strafe the first few cars of the convoy with bullets, making sure all the occupants are dead. Half of the convoy are then escorted to a nearby isolated place and killed. They are thrown into the freshly dug huge hole and their cars crushed. The backhoe then covers the grave.
Meanwhile, military and police come to the crime scene along the highway. The military claims that the ambush has the “signature” of the MILF. When others look for the rest of the convoy, the military/police say that they must have been kidnapped, which means that the Abu Sayyaf could be involved.
The Ampatuans, who are close allies and even kins of the Mangudadatus, come in and announce that they will do everything to capture the perpetrators of the heinous crimes.
The media cry to high heavens for justice. The Christian Filipinos clamor for all-out war against the MILF and Abu Sayyaf.
The President announces State of Emergency all over Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The ruling party and the Ampatuans can then do anything they want for Election 2010
Another scenario like this in another part of the country, then all will be set for Martial Law.
The above scenario was the plan. Had it succeeded, it would have been a masterstroke. The MILF and/or Abu Sayyaf would be blamed for the mass murder; the military, police and the Ampatuans would have carte blanche to fortify themselves with tons of money to buy the latest firepower to pursue the imaginary culprits; Martial Law would be declared all over ARMM and the set would be staged for the eventual martial rule all over the country. At the very least, the 2010 elections in the ARMM areas would be completely rigged.
But the planners forgot Murphy’s Law,. i.e. if there’s anything that can go wrong, it will go wrong.
What the planners did not foresee was Mrs. Mangudadatu calling her husband the Vice Mayor via the cellphone. The wife told the husband that Datu Andal, Jr. a.k.a. as Unsay blocked their way and was asking them to go out of their vehicles.
With this single phone call, perhaps done in just one minute, the scenario goes to naught. There is now nothing that could convince the Mangudadatus that the Ampatuans were not the culprits.
In Gilbert Teodoro’s press con, he kept on alluding to the MILF. Even Executive Sec. Eduardo Ermita also mentioned that the MILF once ambushed the Ampatuans.
Even if the government will continue with the scenario and will claim that the MILF or the Abu Sayyaf were the criminals, the Mangudadatus will not believe them. The media or the Christian Filipinos might believe that but certainly not the Buluan Vice Mayor and his kinsmen.
END OF THE AMPATUAN GLORY DAYS
The Ampatuans must now really be fearful for their lives and their fortune. Their patron and benefactress will soon be leaving Malacanang. And the whole Mangudadatu clan of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao will presumably not rest until vengeance is theirs.
Philippines Denied Observer Status in OIC
In 2004, the Philippine government had the funny idea that it should be granted an OBSERVER STATUS at the OIC instead of the MNLF. Finally, after FIVE YEARS, the OIC said “NO!”.
Surprisingly, our neighbor INDONESIA supported the Philippine proposal. The Philippines also got the support of US-occupied Iraq and Anglo-American-controlled island of Bahrain. If the Bahrainis can have country of its own, it is a crime that the Bangsa Moro nation is still fighting to have country to call its own.
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25 May 2009
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) decided not to grant the Philippines observer status at its opening session. The Philippines first applied for an observer status way back in 2004, but it has yet to be approved.
The OIC’s 36th meeting of foreign ministers, which was held in Syrian capital city of Damascus, ended on Sunday.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Philippine opposition group which is campaigning against observor status for the Philippines, claims that Turkey led the group of countries which opposed the Philippine bid for observer status. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Yemen strongly supported Turkey’s position. The reason the MILF gives for their opposition is the ongoing problems between the government and the country’s Moro Muslim minority.
However, Indonesia, the traditional ally of the Philippines, asked OIC foreign ministers to grant the Philippines an observer status. The motion was seconded by Bahrain and Iraq.
The Philippines sent a 33-man delegation to the conference. Two opposition groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) sent 22 delegates, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sent only three.
MILF said Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, the chairman, wrote official letters to the foreign ministers of Muslim states, requesting them to oppose the Philippine bid.
The Philippine government denies they were denied observer status due to the ongoing problems with the country’s Muslim minorities and dismiss such claims as MILF propaganda.
Philippine Foreign Affairs undersecretary Rafael Seguis maintained that all OIC member states welcome the Philippines’ admission as observer.
“Some of them, however, would like to defer admission on procedural basis, reason being that rules for observer status under new Islamic Charter have not been adopted yet while many others want to admit GRP now,” Seguis said in a text message to reporters.
Sequis is currently in Damascus, Syria after attending the 36th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM). He is also the head of the government panel negotiating with the MILF.
Seguis hastened to add that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has no wish to replace the MNLF in the OIC as observer, but seeks to work closely with the Islamic group as well as the MNLF in an atmosphere of cooperation that will bring about peace and development, and where all sides are given the chance to be heard.
CONTINUING MORO OPPRESSION
courtesy of MediaBangsaMoro
NO NEWS ON MINDANAO WAR?
It has been months since the non-signing of the Memo of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the Gorvernment of the Republic of the Philppines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The uproar against it led by a Christian settler in Mindanao (Pinol) , one Ilonggo senator (Roxas) and one Ilonggo former senator and Senate President (Drilon) became so great that President Arroyo backed out of the agreement and the Supreme Court declared it illegal.
Piqued by the government’s refusal to sign the agreement after almost four years of negotiations, two commanders of the MILF, Commanders Bravo and Kato allegedly went down from the hills and attacked a couple of Christian villages . The government answered with all the might and fury it could muster.
To promote the protest against the MOA-AD, the media bombarded the people with reports of the fighting in Mindanao, putting the blame on the two commanders who the government and the media called “rogue” elements of the MILF.
Funny thing is, while the MILF did not disown the two commanders, they announced that they would not join the fighting since they were still hoping for peace.
Was this another moro-moro (farcical stage play)? The government had a heyday of blowing away Moro villages and people while they claimed to hunt for the two commanders.
Now that the Supreme Court had declared the MOA unconstitutional, the media had stopped reporting on the clashes in Mindanao.
So what’s going on there now?
Here’s what the MILF website luwaran.com says:
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Government terroristic aerial bombings kill civilian, farm animals
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) unleashed again the brunt of her terrorism against the aggrieved and oppressed Bangsamoro people. Four innocent civilians were brutally wounded and one was killed by the indiscriminate air strikes of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in some barangays of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Killed by this inhuman state terrorism was Sindak Ismael, 30 years old. The wounded civilians were identified as Haja Bai Masla Zangkala, 45 years old, Haja Apisa Ibrahim, 47 years old, Rudy Kamsa, 23 years old and Fatima Kamsa, 12 years old elementary pupil.
Seven (7) farm animals were also killed by the government air strikes using three (3) war planes.
There was no actual ground forces encounter when the government aircrafts came to fire their bombs which killed and wounded innocent civilians.
“This government is killing us,” said Abdul Kamsa, relative of the victims.
“We are calling on the authorities and international communities to look into these government atrocities against civilians and to give justice to the victims,” he said.
Workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were witness to the brutal indiscriminate air strikes being unleashed by the government war planes against innocent civilians.
The ICRC people were distributing claim stubs for their relief assistance for the affected persons when the bombs fell at nearby village.
“Even ICRC people had been actually experiencing the deliberate violation of International Humanitarian Laws and human rights by the government,” conveyed a human rights expert to Luwaran.
“Certainly, no amount of development and relief assistance from the donor countries and agencies can make up for the deliberate killings, sufferings and devastations inflicted on more than half a million innocent civilians by the indiscriminate military actions of the government,” he said.
The aerial bombing stopped after five (5) in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Moro civilians in Barangay Rangeban, Midsayap, Cotabato are being fired upon by the Bantay Bayan or armed civilians of Midsayap everytime they go to their farms.
Accordingly, these Muslim civilians had been complaining to authorities but no action had been made to stop the Bantay Bayan, an act construed as condoning the criminal acts against the oppressed Muslim civilians.
In Basilan, the AFP war planes bombarded the MILF forces in some barangays of Maluso. This again had proven that the military actions of the government are not only against the forces of Commander Umbra Kato and Commander Bravo but against the entire MILF.
MILF’s Umbra Kato on YouTube
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) Commander Umbra Kato is alleged by the government to be a “lost command” of the MILF and is being relentlessly pursued by the Philippine military.
In this video interview done on Sept. 23, 2008, Kato, who says he’s the Commanding officer of MILF’s 105th commans, insists that he is not a “lost command” and challenges the people who says he is to texplain or define what is “lost command.”
On July 1 of this year, he says, the soldiers invaded his colleagues who are “living silently in their own place”. He says that his friends simply fought back.
He accuses the military of terrorism, saying that driving people out of their place is a terrorist act. He says that they had to fight back because they have nowhere else to go. If they go to Luzon or Visayas (the other islands in the archipelago), the people of Luzon and Visayas would be angrier as they would not want them (Kato et al) to claim their lands.
Here, Kato is alluding to the basic cause of the conflict – the people of Luzon and Visayas have occupied Mindanao and now claims it for themselves.
The interviewer asked Kato why the government put a price on his head – 10 million pesos.
Kato answered that it is an indication that the government has already run out of tactics to employ against him. They (the military) used air strikes, artiller, ground forces with heavy weapons and armored vehicles. “But we are still here,” he says.
Putting a bounty on somebody’s head is an old tactic used by the “enemies of Islam”, Kato says. He explained that even the enemies of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) had put a bounty on the prophets head worth say, 100 camels.
When asked why the conflict escalated to other parts of Maguindanao, Kato answered that he thinks it has been the plan of President Arroyo to start trouble in Mindanao to justify the non-signing of the MOA.
PHIL. ARMED FORCES BURN MORO HOUSES, KILL CIVILIANS
September 11, 2008
Some seven houses of civilians were reportedly burned down by the government forces in Barangay Sambulawan, Datu Piang, Maguindanao last September 9, 2008 at 4pm . Owners hit government soldiers “direct and indirect” involvement in this atrocities.
Makmod, one of the victims, chided on the unabated burning of houses that had took place right before the eyes of the military.
Hundreds of houses had been charred down in the provinces of North Cotabato and Maguindanao since the government launched joint police and military actions against the MILF in early August this year.
But these government operations had not been yielding decisive success despite employing excessive forces and incurring big deficits to national coffer.
Now, not less than a hundred thousands of Muslim civilians, to include children and aged, are still staying and severely suffering inside more one hundred evacuation sites and makeshifts along the roads and under the trees.
This poor constituency from this part of the country had long been deprived of government basic services and now what they are getting from the government are bombs and bullets in the wake of brutal indiscriminate ferocious military onslaught.
Cases of various illnesses had been rising and many more will meet their death at evacuation, according to reports of social and health workers.
Displaced communities are afraid to go back to their residences due to absence of security assurance yet the government has not indicated when to stop its operations.
Six civilians were hit and killed by the air strikes of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Barangay Tee, Datu Piang, Maguindanao. Two other civilians were also wounded during the air strikes.
That incident clouded even further the desire of the civilians to go back to their respective communities.
Hundred of farmers in Maguindanao are calling on the government to allow them to go back to their farms to harvest what remains to their produce. But unfortunately, the military had been ignoring the plea. Accordingly, the military are avoiding exposure of the extent of damages on civilian properties and sources of livelihood created by the gruesome government operations.
All concerned institutions, to include international bodies, must immediately look into to the prevailing plight of the civilians in the middle of ongoing military operations particularly in Maguindanao in order to avert occurrence of impending humanitarian crisis.
Media outfits being the “fiscalizers” are urged to document, report and expose the excesses, conduct unbecoming and human rights violations being committed by militaries and government authorities against Muslim communities down south of Philippines.
Certainly, the government is failing, if not the ultimate cause, of the looming humanitarian problem during this blessed month of Ramadhan.
FOR MORO AGREEMENTS:PLEBISCITE FOR MOROS ONLY
The stalled and now very controversial GRP-MILF AGREEMENT has made many things apparent. First is the extreme dislike of the Christian majority to give the Moros any semblance of distinct identity. They still maintain and promote the myth of the one-nation one-people. That is of course understandable because they are the great majority. They get all the advantages while the Bangsa Moro people slowly but surely are driven into oblivion.
Second, it showed the apparent naivety of the Moros to believe in the sincerity of the government and the political and constitutional processes. Agreeing to a PLEBISCITE in specific locations is a very bad idea. And Congress – both houses – could never be hoped to craft a law favoring the Bangsa Moro’s real aspirations.
TERRITORY
The Bangsa Moro Homeland or territory must be composed of, at the MINIMUM, the areas specified in the Tripoli Agreement of 1976. Nothing less.
At most, it should be the land territory of the Sultanate of Maguindanao, Sultanate of Sulu, Rajaship of Buayan, the Maranao Confederacy and other Moro datuships as of 1898, the signing of the Treaty of Paris between America and Spain. This is because Spain had absolutely no right to cede what was not theirs. The Americans realized this and so they signed a separate treaty (the Bates Treaty) with the Sultan of Sulu.
Or, let the territory be according to the Moro Province created by the Americans which comprised all territory lying south of the 8th parallel latitude except Palawan and the eastern portion of the northwest peninsula of Mindanao. This includes the whole of Lanao, Davao, Cotabato, Zamboanga and Sulu before these provinces were dismembered later.
But Palawan was given to the Sultan of Sulu by the Sultan of Brunei at the same time as Sabah. If Palawan could not be part of the Bangsa Moro homeland, it should be given back to its first owners – Brunei — or be part of the Malaysian Federation like Sabah.
There was neither rhyme nor reason for the Americans to give the Moro province to the Philippines to form a Philippine Republic in 1946.
The Moro Province was NEVER a part of the Philippine Revolution of 1896 or 1898 or the Philippine Republic of Aguinaldo.
A cursory glance at history – real history not the fiction of Most Filipino historians – show that the Moros and Indios were never one people. Never until 1946. But the various Moro rebellions and the MNLF and MILF wars show that the Moros are not satisfied with being a second-class citizen in the Philippine Republic.
The ARMM territory is not recognized by most Moros as the totality of their Homeland.
PLEBISCITE
If future negotiations would occur, the Moros should insist that a plebiscite must be FOR MOROS ONLY. That is, only Moros should be asked because it concerns their future, their lands, their inheritance and legacy. And they are the indigenous peoples of Mindanao and Sulu.
They are the ones struggling for self-determination. The settlers have no business participating in such plebiscites or referenda.
The non-Muslim indigenous inhabitants of Mindanao and Sulu should of course be asked, too. Historically, they had always been considered Moros or Moro allies.
Moreover, there are MORE Moros living outside ARMM than those living in the ARMM. The plebiscite therefore should include ALL MOROS ALL OVER THE PHILIPPINES.
WHO ARE THE MOROS?
Perhaps it would also be better to define who the Moros are. Maybe a good definition would be the following:
A Moro is anyone who has at least one parent or two grand parents who are full-blooded Moros.
A full-blooded Moro is one whose parents (father and mother) were born in Mindanao to Muslim parents indigenous to Mindanao.
Exception to this rule are the members of indigenous peoples of Mindanao who are usually referred to as Moros but many of whom are non-Muslims like the Yakans.
NO MORE AGREEMENTS
The Tripoli and Jakarta Agreements with the MNLF did not solve the Moro Problem. Neither will the agreement with the MILF.
The aspirations for a true and real freedom will always be in the heart of every Moro, even those who kowtow to the powers that be. There will be no peace in Mindanao if the Moros continue to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune simply because they are Moros.
The Moros need to unite and petition the United Nation for DECOLONIZATION and ask it to conduct a plebiscite for the Moros. They can also petition the OIC to help them in the U.N.
If the UN could create a state for the European Jews in Palestine and call it Israel, and could create a country called Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, which was nothing but a neglected trading post in the colonial times, then it should be easier to create a sovereign Bangsa Moro Federal State which has territory, people, and a long history as independent and sovereign states.
MILF – GRP AGREEMENT: DEATH TO PEACE AGREEMENTS
From Reflections on the Bangsa Moro
“Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let loose the dogs of war.”
Now that the cat is out of the bag, the dogs are let loose. For years, the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been hammering out a peace agreement that would satisfy both parties. This has been done under the auspices of the Malaysian government with the blessings and cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
But was it really done to satisfy both parties? Or was the MILF merely hoodwinked into believing that the Philippine government was sincere? Because of the so-called peace process, which is what the GRP-MILF negotiations is called, the MILF has been co-opted into a “non-revolutionary” existence and abiding by the Ceasefire Agreement.
Yet while the ‘peace process’ was going on, the government’s propaganda machine continually picture the MILF as a band of bandits, allied with the Abu Sayyaf, responsible for killings and bombings including beheading 10 Marines. At least twice, Philippine courts issued warrants of arrests for MILF leaders, including the top leadership, as if they were ordinary criminals subject to Philippine laws.
But the MILF persevered in the ‘peace process’. And just when they were about to cross the finish line, the cat was let out of the bag, and the dogs are everywhere ready to tear it to pieces.
TRIPOLI AGREEMENT ET AL
The MILF should have learned from the Tripoli Agreement. The Moros were winning the war in the 1970s. President Marcos begged for a Ceasefire. The Tripoli Agreement was signed. Then Marcos distorted the Agreement by claiming “constitutional process”. Everything the Moros fought for was turned upside down by the government which gave the Moros a non-autonomous “autonomous government” instead.
When Marcos left, Cory Aquino completed Marcos’s “constitutional process” via the 1987 Constitution and Organic Act (RA 6734) to systemically destroy the Tripoli Agreement. Together with my brother and other Moros, we filed a petition at the Supreme Court (GR 89651) questioning the Organic Act. Of course, the court ruled against us.
Our prime argument was that the Tripoli Agreement was an international treaty and binding to the Philippine government. It was thus part of the law of the land.
And since the Tripoli Agreement was in conflict with the Organic Act, the Organic Act should be deemed invalid.
The Supreme Court did not rule on the validity of the Tripoli Agreement but it declared:
Assuming for the sake of argument that the Tripoli Agreement is a binding treaty or international agreement, it would then constitute part of the law of the land. But as internal law it would not be superior to R.A. No. 6734, an enactment of the Congress of the Philippines, rather it would be in the same class as the latter … Thus, if at all, R.A. No. 6734 would be amendatory of the Tripoli Agreement, being a subsequent law.
From this ruling, it would seem that the government can sign any treaty or agreement with the Moros, and simply pass a subsequent law that would radically amend it. As simple as that.
The Organic Act was the final straw that broke the Tripoli Agreement. Because of the Organic Act, the Bangsa Moro homeland was reduced to a handful of provinces and did not even include Cotabato City. At first, even Marawi City opted out but joined the ARMM later.
JAKARTA ACCORD AND MISUARI’S FALL
In 1996, Misuari was persuaded (some say strong-armed) to sign the Jakarta Accord and to come back to the Philippines. And so he did amidst the applause of Filipinos, OIC leaders and some Moros.
But the honeymoon was short-lived. From a virtual head-of-state recognized by many Muslim countries, Nur Misuari was ignominiously arrested and imprisoned by the Philippine government for years. Only recently, Misuari was released on bail and is now drumming up support in Mindanao.
Misuari, presumably, opposes the GRP-MILF pact. He says he has nothing to do with it.
AN END TO ALL AGREEMENTS
The recent developments have shown to all and sundry – including foreign observers – that the Philippine government cannot be trusted with peace agreements. The Philippine government will sign a million peace agreements but it will never abide by them. This has been proven by the Tripoli Agreement, the Jakarta Accord, the Final Peace Agreement and now, the Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
It is high time that the Bangsa Moro people wake up to reality.
NO WAR – NO PEACE
The no peace-no war situation is Mindanao should stop as it has been hindering the growth of the country and hampering the lives of the people. While our Asian neighbors leapfrog into 21st century as newly industrialized countries and world’s leading economies, the Philippine government last year trumpeted as its greatest achievement a GDP growth of 7.3 % — its highest since 1976, the year the Tripoli Agreement was signed and the country was in the grip of Martial Law.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Philippines was the second most progressive economy in Asia (next only to Japan). But then the Mindanao war erupted. And from then on the Philippines has become “the sick man of Asia.” Isn’t there a clear connection?
From the 1970s to today, the standard of living of our Asian neighbors – Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, India, etc. have improved hundreds-fold. While the poor Filipino standard of living has even declined such that the government last year was so happy to have reached a GDP growth it hasn’t had since the 1970s. This is a crime to the people of the Philippines.
And the only reason that that GDP growth was achieved was because millions of Filipinos have to slave away abroad, working hard to earn precious dollars and send them to their relatives back home.
A stop to the no-war no-peace situation in Mindanao is the only way for the country to develop as it will stop the billions of pesos spent on military spending, encourage foreign investments in the country and promote tourism in Mindanao and elsewhere.
But there will be no peace if the Bangsa Moro peoples will be deprived of their heritage, culture, lands and resources as well as the opportunities for a decent way of life.
The RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION
It is the right of every nation, every people to determine its own destiny, its own path. The Bangsa Moro cannot rely on the other party’s good faith.
One peaceful way for the Bangsa Moro people is to petition the United Nations to conduct a clean and honest Referendum for and by the Moro people to determine what they want – Independence, Greater Autonomy in a Federal State or Integration with the dominant Filipino people in one nation-state. And everybody should abide by the results.
The alternative to real peace is real war.
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MORO homeland is Mindanao, Sulu, Palawan
The GRP – MILF Peace Agreement — on Ancestral Domain has the Indios – otherwise known as Filipinos — up in arms against their government. They are aghast that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines ((GRP) has agreed to give a few hundred square kilometers of territory to what would be called the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
But the territory mentioned in that agreement is nothing compared to the Bangsa Moro homeland envisioned in the Tripoli Agreement. In the the Tripoli Agreement, the Homeland is composed of 13 (now 14 since Sarangani was made into a new province) provinces; namely: Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur, Palawan and South Cotabato, which included Sarangani and all the cities in those provinces.
In the Final Peace Agreement signed between the GRP and the MNLF in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1996 states that it constitutes “the full implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement in letter and spirit…”
The MILF – GRP agreement therefore adds nothing to the moro territory. Instead, it greatly reduced it by agreeing to have only the present ARMM and a few more villages.
The Bangsa Moro homeland is based on historical rights. The Sultanate of Maguindanao and Sulu and the Rajaship of Buayan were recognized by foreign powers — the British, Spanish and Dutch empires. Even the US had treaties with the Sultanate of Sulu. The Ranao Confederacy (Pat a Pangampung ku Ranaw) was never conquered by the Spaniards. In fact, Spain’s only claim to Mindanao was the establishment of a few forts peopled with a sprinkling of Spaniards and settlements of Indios from the Visayas.
Spain had absolutely no right to cede Moroland to the Americans in the 1898 Treaty of Paris because it had not conquered Moroland.
America realized that fact so it signed the Bates Treaty with the Sulu Sultanate afterwards.
In 1946, America had no right to include Moroland to the Philippines when it granted the Indios independence.
In a bizarre twist of fate, the unconquered Moroland became the colonies of the former subject peoples of Spain and America, the Indios who now call themselves Filipinos.
With laws such as the “Colonization of Mindanao Act”, the Indios promptly colonized Moroland by sending millions of Indios to grab the lands and resources of the indigenous peoples of Moroland.
The 1968 Jabidah Massacre and the series of massacres that followed in the early 1970s woke the Moro people from a long slumber. And so the Moros rose up as a people in the 1970s.
The Tripoli Agreement, the Jakarta Accord and the MILF-GRP MOA are but mere setbacks in the centuries-long struggle of the Moros for Freedom, Islam and Homeland.
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