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Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Bangsamoro, A Nation Under Endless Tyranny

"Bangsamoro, A Nation Under Endless Tyranny" was the title of the book by Salah Jubair who's real name is Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the peace panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF). The book describes the hardships that our Moro brothers endure for over 400 years from the Spanish era, to the Americans then to the present Filipino government.

I have read the book so intently because I wanted to know why is it to hard to have a sustainable peace in Mindanao and thanks to the book because now I have some answers to that question. It cannot be argued that for over many years the Moros were never conquered by the Spanish nor by the Americans, hence they are really the unconquered people. Are they Filipinos? Nope, they are not Filipinos for they are Moros.

Are they a separate nation? Yes they are. They are distinct and separate in every aspect to us Filipinos. They have their own culture, religion, arts and laws. And with all due respect they had been in their land long before we, Christians had been in their lands.

Reading from the book, the Moros had suffered a long history of tyranny and oppression. They had been misunderstood, mishandled and ignored for a long time. They were viewed upon as second class citizens by their countrymen in this country.

Does their cause have legitimate grounds? Yes, it is very legitimate and I think it should be viewed with all due consideration of present as well as historical perspective. The granting of recognition by the current government of their ancestral domain through the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or BJE will be a great way to start the road to peace in Mindanao.

But this road to peace can only be traversed if both sides will listen to one another and bury the long hatchet of enmity for one another. Try to understand and respect their differences and work on their similarities. If the Moros want independence as they view that this is the solution then let them have the say and decide for that and the government should respect it.

For me, I think one state, two nations can be done and it will be the better option however considering the current political system in this country a fair and just government will be hard to come in the next few years.

This Christmas Season, I call upon my fellow Christians to not only pray for peace in our country and Mindanao but also to work towards achieving this peace both internally and externally.

Season's Greetings to all!


  1. you are very much misinformed by the delusions of our fellow muslims down south.

    the moro's and the northern filipinos share the same ancestral lineages and culture long before the spaniards came.
    The people of visayas were first conquered by the spaniards. Thus paving the way for christianity. then the north and some parts of the south.

    they wish to gain independence because they believe themselves different from their northern brethren based largely in fact to the difference in religious beliefs and opression. But the islamic community is not a majority in all areas of mindanao. they hold no historical basis to state that they are not filipinos.

    furthermore, if it's by suborigination that they identify nationality, then we are a country of a thousand nations. tagalogs,cebuanos,moros,kapampangan,ilocano... etc.

    they have a just cause to fight the present national government because it is as despicable as can be. even christians alike hate the present government and would fight if only we got united. but to state that they are not filipinos based on theological beliefs is one of the dumbest ideas they ever thought of.
    In america, the indigenous indians are the rightful owners of america. the invaders are the europeans who brought the coloured slaves of that time. But in the philippines, the moro's are just as filipino as people from the babuyan islands.

    the reason why peace is unattainable in the south is because of the government stupidity and muslim extremist prejudice.

  2. Filipinos means those conquered by King Philip thus the name Philippines. This is not a disillusion. Yes, they are not a majority in all areas in Mindanao now.. why? BEcause of the settler policy of previous governments were CHristians was settled in Mindanao to the detriment of Moro ancestral domain.

    Who is disillusioned?

    It depends on our perspectives.

  3. Thank you very much....for understanding the sentiments and grievances of the Bangsamoro people.May the Almighty God shower His Blessings to you and your family.

  4. Thank God there are now more people recognizing this. The more I look at problems like these, the more I believe that Philippines should think FEDERALISM.

  5. yes, the philippine archipelago was name such by the spaniards. in that self same archipelago, there are a number of tribes, sultanates and or kingdoms.

    many of them migrants from other parts of asia or the aborigines that either got assimilated or assimilated the new comers.

    they managed their own affairs through the barangays in the same way that each state in america manages itself.

    just cause the name philippines was a name given by foreigners, doesn't mean it denotes only xtian converts.

    Filipinos are the people in the philippine archipelago. not just the conquered.

    many settled in mindanao, true. But many went to the other parts of the country too. and who's to say not many of them converted to other faiths?

    they are fighting not for sovereignity of soil but by faith. because they don't want xtian rule.

    they are not even ethnically muslims at all. and we are not ethnically christians. The people of this archipelago worshiped in the manner of the western pagans, having many gods and deities. Islam is a middle eastern religion.

    where did filipinos come from? Indones (indonasia), malays (malaysia), negritos (black travelers from africa where it is now proven that some journeyed as far as australia). Who are the other settlers of this archipelago? Chinese, Japanese and other such neighbors we have now to name a few.

    they are dissillusioned by theological prejudice that they will make any reason to justify their want of their own MUSLIM run government.

  6. I'm not a Filipino, I'm a Proud Moro.

    Hope more Filipinos will understand and be more open to the issue of Moro Struggle for self-determination.

    Here are some of my blog posts regarding why Moro is NOT a Filipino.

    some related articles....

    Thanks for this posts.

  7. Indios and moro's?

    You refer to us as indio's?
    "US" meaning the non muslims.

    Indio is a spanish derogatory word that described people that they enslaved. They called the people of this archipelago indios (meaning idiots) in the same way that they called the aztecs indios.

    Moro is a word used by the spaniards to describe the southern people of the archipelago (as are the africans) just so they could generalize on the whole lot in the south un conquered yet by them at that time. But to them, you are nothing but indio's just as well.

    As I said before:

    This archipellago that is now called the Philippines as named by the spaniards, is made up of diverse tribes separated not only by language, bodies of water and religion, but also by its many governments before.

    The natives of this archipelago came from diverse parts of asia, as I have said before, and assimilated or were assimilated by the natives themselves. Our ethnical religion was paganic. It was never Christian or Islamic. Christianity was brought her by the Westerners. Islam was Brought here by the Middle Easterners.

    You say that the moro's and "INDIOS" are a separate group of people, I say you are wrong. If you wish to treat the people based on their ancient communities, then we are an archipelago of a thousand nations. To name a few, we have the Cebuano's, Kapampangan's, Illongo's and such.

    Are you telling me then that The European countries do not deserve to be called whole nations based on their racial lineages?

    The situation in our country is even far more simpler than theirs. We are only divided by theology/religion but are united by common ancestry based on the 3 races that came to the country.

    The reason why you "MORO's" want to separate yourselves from your fellowmen is because the government is run by Christians and based in the Northern Island of the archipelago. But let's cut it down a bit. You just want to be different because you are muslims. Plain and simple.

    Based on ancestry - you fail to prove your point because the ancestral lineages that you have are linked to those of the other parts of this archipelago. Try DNA testing and you will see that. But if you want it simple, look at how you look in the mirror. Indones, Malay, Negrito... you came from one of these... if not all.

    Based on religion - you fail to prove your point because before the arabs brought islam to this country, our ancestors worshiped the same diverse gods. Ex: Bathala.

    Based on Ancient Governments - You want the old governments? Then we would have a lot of that. Return the barangays, sultanates and kingdoms... how many did we have back then? But who exactly are we all but of the same stalk of a tree?

    Tell me then... what are the grounds by which you are not of this Unified Archipelago? Are you saying that We must have nations like Cebu, Maynilad, Davao, Sultan Kudarat, Sulu and what have you's?

    Pray tell... give me grounds that are not based on theological prejudice.

  8. Muslims are not the problem.They did not came to Luzon or Visayas to wreak havoc there.They are the one who is being conquered in their homeland as sovereign people.Read more about Philippine history and you'll understand.I wish you read the roots of all of this."Kung pupuntahan ko ung bahay mo at sisirain ko!(americans/christians) Ano ang gagawin mo sa bahay ko?"

  9. History speaks for itself... the real history tells us how injustice had been given to the Moros and besides they had not really been a part of this country in the first place. We should be thankful that now they are willing to join us and even unite with us... we should just respect each other.


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