Kusog Mindanaw, bloody wars and BARMM

First of 2 parts

LAST November 11, Vice President Sara Duterte keynoted the Kusog Mindanaw Conference in Davao City. For the past 28 years, most conferences have been conducted in Davao, being the most convenient venue for participants coming from all regions and provinces of Mindanao from Jolo, Sulu, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, the Cotabatos and the Davao provinces.

Kusog (dynamism/force) Mindanaw was a brainchild of Mindanaw NGOs — Technical Assistance Center for the Development of Rural and Urban Poor (Tacdrup), Mindanaw Congress of Development NGOS Network (Mincode) and Mindanaw Peace Advocates Conference (MPAC) — with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). Born out of a grudge against the concept of “centralized everything” in Metro Manila, it was meant to counter this enigma and derisive local dictum of “imperial Manila.”

A logical solution to this conundrum is federalism, the main pillar of Kusog, the longings for Mindanawnons

to govern themselves (local autonomy), to plot the direction of their political lives without the control of the central government but still existing within the ambit of the Filipino nation. The urgency for the realization of federalism exists principally in Mindanao, and it bears the real cost of perpetuating the unitary system of government.

It was to this end that Kusog was created. It was meant to be a platform for consensus-building on Mindanaw-nons’ concerns which invariably are as diverse and picturesque as the mishmash of cultures already in place by the mid-20th century. The founders opted to shape the debate on Mindanao. The exigency became apparent with the dark clouds of conflict and violence descending upon this “land of promise.”

Seeds of conflict

It will be recalled that in the earlier part of the century, the Commonwealth government encouraged Filipinos from Luzon and Visayas to “go south” and populate the sparsely inhabited island with subsidized settlements and awards of hectares of choice arable lands. The post-World War 2 years from 1948 to 1960 drastically increased Mindanao’s population, more than doubling the rate of the national average. As in many migrations since pre-Hispanic times, the displacement of the original inhabitants didn’t input well into the socio-cultural equations. The largely Christian influx and encroachments into the Indigenous peoples, the aboriginals, the katutubo and the different Muslim tribes by the immigrants from the other islands in the Philippines, unrestrained and even abetted by government sanctions will later on prove to be contentious, erupting into violence and inter-cultural discords.

Thus, a vehicle on the mass base level for discourse initiated by nongovernment organizations, encompassing the various conflicted stakeholders was an imperative. An immediate effect of this dialogue among Mindanaw-nons was the unintended but welcome redirection of the internecine conflicts toward people in government — principally the centralized authority. This seething anger was further fed by the neglect by the central government until it burst at the seams. Various tribes and minority groups, principally the Muslims, translated such resentment into armed struggle. Antecedents of these conflicts go back to the Hispanic era where the sword and the kris crossed — the Catholic and the Muslim faiths. Upon the advent of the Americans, the suppression and conflict persisted, perhaps symbolized by the still widely unrecognized Bud Dajo massacre by the Americans of the Tausug tribe in Jolo.

Attempt at secession — MNLF

The subjugation and the Mindanao Muslims’ long resistance against Hispanic and American rule and the various Philippine administrations induced leading royal families and sultanates to tolerate Hadji Kamlon’s uprising in 1953, planting the seeds of separation

and independence. People from both faiths agitated ineffectively for independence. Consequently, the Muslim Independence Movement (MIM) headed by Udtog Matalam established the first formal opposition to the Philippine government (GOP) in 1968. Unheeded, this eventually turned into a formal rebellion in 1969 in the formation of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), led by Nur Misuari, a Tausug. President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law in 1972. Subsequently the MNLF declared a formal rebellion. Blood flowed!

A series of peace negotiations went nowhere. But in March 1977, an agreement was hammered out in Tripoli, Libya, providing for autonomy for 13 provinces and nine cities in Mindanao and Sulu. This crucial provision was never implemented. Conflict resumed. Still, after the EDSA Revolution when President Cory Aquino assumed office, government and MNLF representatives signed the Jeddah Accord on Jan. 3, 1987. The MNLF agreed to abandon its campaign for independence in favor of autonomy for Mindanao. A referendum was held on Feb. 2, 1987 and failed. Hostilities resumed.

But a final agreement was signed in September of 1996 which provided for the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Nur Misuari was appointed governor — but the warrior, successful in battle, was a failure in the bureaucracy. He conducted another failed rebellion and was driven to exile.

The MILF

In late 1977, Hashim Salamat, an MNLF leader, broke away from Misuari and established the MILF. Government troops and MILF forces clashed over the years, exacerbated by President Joseph Estrada’s declaration of an “all-out war” against the MILF on March 21, 2000. During the intervening years, armed conflict in Mindanao was the norm, interrupted by a series of ceasefires and the death of MILF chairman Salamat, who was succeeded by Al Haj Murad Ebrahim. At the cusp of a peace agreement with the GOP, a splinter group of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), emerged as a dangerous irritant, culminating in that infamous Mamasapano massacre in 2005, exposing the incompetence of President PNoy.

All sides, probably tiring of the centuries-old conflicts, a final peace agreement was signed with the crafting of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, replacing the ARMM with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in February 2019.

Seeds of federalism and discord

The BARMM as composed may partially answer the longing for federalism. Born out of an organic law by the GOP, it provided for the establishment for an autonomous administrative region composed of predominantly Muslim provinces: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-tawi. As presently structured, the BARMM exists within the laws passed under the 1987 Constitution. Those skeptical of the BARMM maintain its creation as unconstitutional, arguing that powers given to it are solely reserved for the Philippine Congress — and therefore can be taken away! Other objections run the gamut of illegal taxing powers of BARMM to the disadvantage of other regions. But the ticklish provisions are those that involve the indigenous inhabitants who are neither Christian, Catholic nor of the Islamic faith. They are at a disadvantage and vulnerable to the Muslim-controlled BARMM government. And more importantly, to the application of the Shariah law to all Muslims although this does not apply to the non-Muslims within the territory.

But there are serious implications and apprehensions. Even now comparisons are being made to a similar autonomous region perceived to be failing: the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong within China. Similar to the BARMM, Hong Kong maintains separate legal, administrative and judicial systems from the rest of China, from the time it was separated from Great Britain in 1999. Since then, its political freedoms and cultural life have been reverted back to China.

Many people in and outside of Mindanao believe that BARMM will eventually suffer the same fate as Hong Kong. To be continued next week, Nov. 23, 2022 For comments: lito.lorenzana@cdpi.asia