Editorial posted to the MILF Website (Dec 2): Moro self-rule has antecedent
The ongoing rumbling for federalism in the country is a natural way of expression, in pursuit of people’s right of determination. The MILF neither supports nor disapproves of it. Let it be distinct and separate from the ambit of the current GPH-MILF discourses in solving the Bangsamoro Question or Problem.
Of course, federalism movements have been strong in Bicol, Negros, Bohol, Cebu, and Northern Mindanao. This has been abetted strongly by over-centralism of powers and resources in “Imperial Manila”. Imagine two brothers and a brother and sister, who are members of the Senate, come only from Metropolitan Manila.
However, unlike other assertions, the Bangsamoro people’s quest for genuine self-rule has a longer history; in fact, the past is replete with evidences of Moro sovereignty and later of real autonomy. For 320 years, Mindanao remained a virtual independent country from the control of Spain. The Sultanate of Sulu and Sultanates of Maguindanao and Buayan, not to mention the other players, continued to control much of this region. Spanish sovereignty was only effectively implemented inside their garrisons and fortifications. During the American regime, Moro affairs were administered separately from Luzon and Visayas through the creation of the Moro Province in 1903. (The Mountain Province, which was mainly populated by indigenous tribes, was also created to administer their affairs).
This is the reason that for those who are complaining during congressional hearings on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) about giving many concessions to the MILF and the Moros in Mindanao should read history very well and reflect on it sincerely. They are either well-intentioned, due to lack of foreknowledge of correct history or are outright “spoilers” who hate anything associated with Moros and Islam in this country.
The BBL did not come from nowhere; it is the offshoot of more than four decades of fighting between Moro and government forces and 17 years of long, hard, and arduous negotiations. It is written in the blood of Moro martyrs, past and current, and a menu to frustrate any secession bid in the future. If a good law comes out of Congress, it will bind the whole nation and country and could signal its progress and development. Peace and tranquility would gradually happen in Mindanao.
If we only have to make an earnest computation, what the Moros are getting from the BBL is much, much below the losses they have incurred as a result of this “imposed war” on them. They lost their sovereignty, more of than 70% of their ancestral landholdings, and were virtually reduced to second-class citizens, oppressed, persecuted, and marginalized. They were looked down, hated, and despised.
Of course, the BBL is not a magic formula for empowerment and to uplift the living conditions of the Bangsamoro people. Much of the success could depend on themselves. Freeing people from bondage comes mainly from within themselves. Blaming the government for all the messes in their life is cowardice to face the truth. Let us be men and, insha Allah, we can stand on our feet, with minimal help from the Central Government, because we are still part of this country.
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