The term moro might not be liked by some. (it's like some N. Americans dislike being called "Indians", same with Filipinos as "indios".) And furthermore, due to the fact that "Moros" are not all in one tribe nor identity, the resentment is noted. But for the generic terminology, forgive me if i have chosen so. This is the history of our brave brothers, the Mindanaoan Muslim Tribes, or the Bansamoro (put it in the tagalog, bansa ng moro, or moro nation)
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The Bangsamoro Struggle for Self-Determination
by Guiamel M. Alim | Executive Director, Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc.
June 1995
The Bangsa Moro struggle for self-determination is already a struggle of generations. The longest in Asia and maybe the whole world, it started in the 16th century and up to now there is no clear indiator yet as to when it will end. Other peoples' struggle in the world have either succeeded or been totally crushed. The Moro struggle is still going on. It is an ongoing struggle for survival, cultural identity and for the right to self-determination.
The Bangsa Moro : Who are they?
Bangsa Moro ("the Moro People") is the generic name for the 13 ethnolinguistic Muslim tribes in the Philippines which constitute a quarter of the population in Mindanao in the Southern Philippines. They number from 5-6 million and are found in every major island of the country. They share a distinct culture, speak different dialects, are varied in their social formation but share a common belief in Islam. This is a uniting factor among the different groups.
Of the 13 groups, there are three major groups on the bases of population and their leadership. These are the Maguindanaons (the people of the flooded plains), the Maranaos (people living around the lake) and the Tausogs (people of the current). These major groups have rallied the support of the Bangsa Moro in their struggle for self-determination.
The history of the struggle
The Bangsa Moro struggle for self-determination cannot be placed in proper perspective without a brief account of the Islamic era which began in the year 1310 A.D. through the efforts of Arab traders, travellers, sufis (saintly Muslims) and Muslim missionaries. Islam as a way of life (politics, governance, economic systems, justice systems, etc.) spread and soon Islamic principalities in Sulu and Maguindanao were established. In the 15th century and early 16th century, the Sultanate of Sulu and Maguindanao came into being. Each sultanate was independent, had sovereign power and had diplomatic and trade relations with other countries in the region.
Other Muslim principalities known as emirates, like those of Rajah Solaiman in Manila and the emirates of Panay and Mindoro, were also born. This goes to show that Islam stands on record as the first political institution, the first institutional religion, the first educational system and the first civilization in the Philippines, and that its economy was far advanced than those of the other indigenous communities. But before the Bangsa Moro could fully grow into full nationstatehood, a series of foreign colonial interventions came their way.
Colonial Aggression against the Bangsa Moro
The Spanish invasion and colonial aggression about 160 years after the existence of the Islamic Sultanates and principalities marked the beginning of Spanish tutelage and the halt of Islamic advancement in the northern islands of Luzon and Visayas. In Mindanao, the Moro relentlessly fought against Western colonialism for a span of more than 300 years.
The Spanish expedition in Mindanao in the second half of the 16th century with 1,500 Christianized indios also signaled the beginning of centuries of wars and bitter relations between the Christians and the Muslims in the Philippines. The Spanish colonizers succeeded in imparting to the Christianized majority their chauvinist outlook of the Moro people and the other indigenous people. The moro-moro play, for example, which became an integral part of many a folk and religious festival, instilled in the conquered peoples the belief that everything wicked and treacherous is synonymous with the Muslims and that everything noble and good was done by Christians. The Moros were vilified as juramentados, herejes, feroces, etc. who will burn in hell.
Today, this relationship, characterized by mutual prejudices between the Muslims and the Christians, have become a blocking factor in their cooperation and harmonious co-existence. The Hispanization and Christianization of early Filipinos provided a strong base for the Spanish anti-Muslim campaign, militarily and otherwise, even after the Treaty of Paris on December 19, 1898 which ceded the Philippines to America for $20 million. Spanish aggression did not subjugate the Moro people who remained determined to resist any colonial rule in their homeland.
America delivered the death blow to their right to self-determination
The Moro people fiercely fought against American imperialism. However, unlike her predecessor, the Americans did not solely depend on the use of military force and divide-and-rule tactics to quell the Moro resistance. They employed several policies of attraction, namely: establishing the so-called Moro province which will look after the welfare of the Moro prople. However, the same Moro province was meant to administratively facilitate colonization of the Moro people.
An amnesty program allowed Moro rebels to surrender to American authorities. An education program which granted free higher education to sons and daughters of Moro leaders and the forging of agreements like that of the Bates Treaty with the Moro leaders were all part of the convenient colonization process. As effective conquest tools, the Americans had been able to neutralize Moro resistance and delivered the death blow to the Bangsa Moro struggle for self-determination.
After gaining political control, the American colonial government declared the entire archipelago as public land, including those considered by the Bangsa Moro as their ancestral homeland. They established foreign education, put up foreign government, brought in settlers from the North and started the exploitation of Mindanao's rich resources. Thus the beginning of the minoritization and marginalization of the Bangsa Moro. The impact of such colonial machination is still very much felt today.
Legally, the Bangsa Moro lost their lands because of the Torrens land titling system. They became acculturated due to the public school system which is foreign to their culture. The indigenous political system was replaced with a new system. Today, many of their territories are either controlled by elite settlers or by foreign multinational corporations.
After ensuring its continuous political control and economic interest in the Philippines, the Americans granted independence to the Philippines. Despite protest from the Moro leaders, Mindanao was annexed to the soon-to-be-independent Philippines. Thus, the most awaited transfer of power and reins of government to the Filipino elite.
The post-colonial annexation of the Bangsa Moro homeland to the Philippines
While the Filipino elites of Luzon and Visayas joyfully celebrated what they considered to be the beginning of their freedom and independence and the birth of a new nation, the Bangsa Moro considered the event as the death of their own freedom, independence and long-held sovereignty.
The succeeding presidents of the Republic pursued the task of nation-building that integrated the non-Christians to the mainstream of Filipino culture. In so doing, they used the carrot-and-stick approach against the resisting indigenous people. They continued the scholarship program, the Torrens system, co-opted traditional leaders and brought in more settlers.
Land-grabbing, legal and otherwise, became rampant. The settlers became conscious to grab political power. They organized and armed a Christian extremist group, the Ilaga, to protect their interests, namely, to acquire more land and grab power. On the other hand, the Moro people organized their own defense force and resisted the encroachment of settlers into their territories. The short-lived and traditional-leaders-led Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM) was organized.
Soon the situation turned out of control. Civil war broke out. The succeeding events saw Christian settlers fighting against the Moro people in a war where both protagonists turned out to be the losers in the end.
Despite the neutralization of the MIM, there were no signs of the turmoil in Mindanao abating, until the worst episode of Muslim-Christian conflict in the early '70s, when a series of massacres against the Moro people was committed. This also partly justified the declaration of martial law or the continuance of Marcos rule.
Martial Law and the Birth of new resistance
At the height of the much-talked-about Martial Law and responding to the imminent danger of ethnocide, a new revolutionary movement, more aggressive and youth-led, came into being. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) pursued the struggle for Muslim independence. Moro society rallied behind the move to create an independent state. A destructive war ensued between the MNLF and the AFP that would reach its peak from 1972 - 1975. Christian settlers were allowed to arm themselves to join the war. Seventy percent of the total AFP strength, with all the available war materiel, was used in Mindanao to neutralize the Moro resistance.
All told, the war was disastrous, on the one hand. So many lives were lost--150,000-200,000. The value of properties destroyed was put in billions, including government infrastructure. Some 200,000 refugees fled to Sabah, Malaysia and hundreds of thousands of local refugees wandered around for safety. Many have become permanent refugees in many urban centers in Mindanao.
In urban areas, the refugees feel safe but their lives are miserable. They have no permanent jobs. They stay in congested areas. They become manual laborers, pedicab drivers, domestic helpers and sidewalk vendors tending ambulant stalls along roadways. Many Moro women become prostitutes; others married Christian men. The impact of war is also disastrous to children. Moro children are prone to violence. Poverty forced many school-age children to join parents to eke out a living or stay home to take care of small kids.
On the other hand, the MNLF in particular and the Bangsa Moro in general, consider the war, inspite its disastrous impact, both in terms of lives and properties lost, as an initial victory of the struggle. This is so, because the soon-to-be-signed Tripoli Agreement was a formal written document which made the Philippine government recognize the Moro people's right to self-determination.
The Marcos government and the infamous Tripoli Agreement
The Marcos government was pressured from both within the country and outside to stop the costly war. The war has become known in Muslim countries especially the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference). The government was spending big amounts of money to sustain the war. Investors were shying away and parents of soldiers who died in the war were showing concern over the death of their sons in a war where there is no winner but only losers.
All these pressures made the Marcos government sign an agreement with the MNLF known as the Tripoli Agreement of 1976. The agreement was aimed at providing a political negotiated settlement to the Moro problem through the grant of autonomy to the Muslims in the Southern Philippines. The government insisted on a plebiscite to settle the territories of the autonomous government as allegedly provided for in the agreement.
The MNLF did not recognize the result of the plebiscite, thus the negotiations bogged down. In the meantime, Marcos won over many of the MNLF ranks through various forms of attraction, ranging from amnesty to luxurious government posts. He pursued the creation of two administrative autonomous regions. This was reminiscent of the province set up under the colonial American regime. Another legacy was the creation of the Muslim Affairs Office directly under the Office of the President. All these were meant to appease the Moro people. Amid all these government programs, the armed struggle continued, though quietly.
A splittist group within the ranks of the MNLF broke away and formed what later would be known as the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front). The MILF, which is dominated by the Maguindaons, is asserting Islamic ideology as distint from the nationalist tendency of the MNLF, although both are for the implementation of the Tripoli Agreement. The MILF is continuously building up its organized and armed strength.
The Cory Aquino policies to the Moro problem
Under the Aquino government, another attempt at negotiated settlement was made with the MNLF. The focus of the negotiation was also the Tripoli Agreement. But before anything could be agreed upon, the new Philippine Constitution was ratified. The talks bogged down.
The Constitution provides for a commission to draft an Organic Act that would shape the autonomous government in the region. This has become the legal basis for the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindaqnao (ARMM). Four provinces out of 13 provinces voted to join. This is far from what the Tripoli Agreement provides.
The ARMM is essentially an extension of the elite-dominated Congress. It has not lived up to the expectations of its constituents. It has not made any significant improvement both in the economic life of the people and their security. In fact, it has become a congregation of the Moro elite as an extension arm of the President. Worse, it has become a source of corruption and polarization of the Bangsa Moro.
http://www.los-indios-bravos.com/english/eng_proj_04.html