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The Bangsamoro Question and National Democratic Option by Prof.
Jun Valila and The State of Moro Armed Conflict in the Philippines
Unresolved National by Question or Question of Governance by Rizal
Buendia
A Critical Essay by
Jam A. Ritual
BSTMOUMN 1-C
MIDTERM PAPER
1. Describe how the American colonialists together with the succeeding regimes
dispossessed the Moros of their ancestral domains?
In Philippine history, the Moro Wars were a series of scattered conflicts on
Mindanao, Philippines, between American troops and Muslim bands. The Moro fought
for religious rather than political reasons, and their activities had little to do with the
Philippine revolutionaries who led the Philippine-American War.
After the relative peace of Mindanao, the American aggressors began the
systematic dispossession of the Moro people from their lands. Melencio (1994) and
McKeana (1998) list the various actions taken by Americans to root out the Muslims
from their ancestral area, among those were, The Land Registration Act (Act No. 496)
required the registration of all lands occupied by any person, group, or corporation.
Most Moros lost their communal lands in this way. Public Land Act No. 718 was enacted
by the Philippine Commission in April 1903. This decreed null and void all land grants
made by Moro sultans and datus. Public Act No. 926, enacted in October 1903, decreed
that all lands not registered under Act No. 496 were public lands, and therefore
available for homesteading, sale, or lease to individuals or corporations. The Mining
Law of 1905 declared all public lands as free, open for exploration, occupation, and
purchase even by Americans. The Cadastral Act of 1907 facilitated the acquisition of
new landholdings. Acts 2254 and 2280 of 1913 created agricultural colonies and
encouraged Filipino migrants from the north to settle in the so-called public lands in
Mindanao and Sulu. Act 2254 awarded the Filipino settler a sixteen-hectare lot while
Moros were allowed to own only eight hectares. The Public Land Act 2874 in 1919
allowed a Filipino to own a twenty-four-hectare lot, while a Moro was allowed only ten
hectares. Legislative Act 4197, enacted in February 1935, was also known as the
Quirino-Recto Colonization Act. The government declared settlement as the only lasting
solution to the Mindanao and Sulu problem. The Commonwealth Act 141 in November
1936 declared all Moro ancestral landholdings as public lands. A Moro was allowed only
four hectares, while a Filipino could own up to twenty-four; a corporation, wholly non-
Moro, was allowed 1024 hectares.
When the United States took control of the Philippines after the Spanish-
American War ended in 1898, it embarked on a strategy aimed at assimilation of the
Moro into the Philippine nation and the abolition of some feudal customs such as slave
trading. The attempt to alter the Moro's traditional ways resulted in intransigence and
rebellion. Not only did the US colonial government deny the legitimacy of the traditional
communal system of landownership, land use, and distribution, but it also introduced
and institutionalized the Torrens system of private land ownership, which included land
classification, registration, and titling to private entities.
The United States had its eye on
the plantations of Mindanao, the second-largest and best agricultural setting of the
seven thousand Philippine islands. “Economic development was not a motivating factor
for taking Mindanao,”.
Because of their Islamic faith, the Moro have remained outside
the mainstream of Philippine life and have been the object of popular
prejudice
and
national neglect. Moro conflict with ruling powers has a centuries-long history, they
resisted Roman Catholic Spanish colonialists, who tried to extirpate their “heresy”, in the
first decade of the 20th century, they battled against U.S. occupation troops in a futile
hope of establishing a separate sovereignty; and, finally, they spawned insurgencies
against
the independent Philippine
government
the Moros continued striving for
autonomy and independence throughout the twentieth century.
2. Trace the historical basis of the rebellious culture of the Moros leading to the
formulation of the Bangsamoro concept or the Moro homeland and nation
In the late 1960s, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was formed by Nur
Misuari and armed rebellion again broke out in Mindanao. The causes of this rebellion
are many, but have much to do with desires to re-acquire the status of a separate,
independent state, or Bangsa Moro, wherein Muslim Filipinos would have greater
access to and control over social services so that they could actually benefit from
economic development in Mindanao.
They also wanted to be able to protect their ancestral lands from being taken
over by Christian Filipino or other multi-national corporations and settlers, and establish
an Islamic way of life.
The Moro Rebellion was an armed conflict between the Moro
people and the United States military during the Philippine American War.
For nearly
400 years, the Moros have fought against Spanish, American, and Japanese colonial
rule. The Moro Rebellion, took place after the Philippine-American War ended, and it
involved sporadic conflicts between Muslim Filipinos living in the Philippines' southern
regions and American forces deployed there to oversee the transfer from Spanish to
American authority.
Even after the Moro Rebellion ended, the Moros continued to fight against
American rule, right up until the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World
War II, when the Moros waged an insurgency against the Japanese on Mindanao and
Sulu until Japan surrendered.
3. Can peace be attained in Mindanao and Sulu?
Attaining peace between Mindanao and sulu has extreme indignation. This is not
just an issue you can resolve just by having talks between them but, it needs a very
attentive solution. Fighting for peace can lead to a bloody battle and the loss of loved
ones.
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As a student who wants to possess peace in our country, not just in our country
but in the whole world, it is never too late. We can achieve it if all people will help each
other
Fighting and wars will never be the answer to achieving peace. Peace can be
achieved in any way, there is a lot of solution. Battles will make just make it worse and a
lot of people will be hurt.
4. Put forth possible proposals on how to resolve the conflict in the south?
As a student who still doesn't have much knowledge, it is not easy to give a
possible solution to the conflict in the south. But here are some possible solutions to
resolve the conflict in the south.
First are the Mindanao peace talks, the government's stalemate with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) insurgent forces, the ongoing global War on Terror, and
the government's desire for peace in the southern Philippines to boost the country's
economy have created an environment conducive to resolving the Muslim secessionist
rebellion in the south. A change in leadership in the MILF has also provided an
opportunity to re-energize the peace process and seek new approaches. The most
difficult question in the peace process is not whether the parties can reach a deal, but if
that agreement can truly deliver long-term peace and development to the region. The
conflict's lengthy history and numerous attempts to end it has generated profound
differences among Muslims and the general Filipino population, which views all peace
deals with distrust or cautious hope at best.
Second is implementing ceasefire, a brief halt to a war in which all sides agree to
refrain from offensive operations. Ceasefires can be proclaimed as a humanitarian
gesture, preliminary (i.e., before a political agreement), or definitive (i.e., with the goal of
ending the conflict). Ceasefires can be announced as part of a formal treaty or as part of
an informal agreement between opposing troops.
The subsequent temporary ceasefire
affords a more concrete opening for both sides to demonstrate their willingness and
ability to deliver tangible progress. But measures to reduce violence must be tied to
wider efforts to build peace.
The war, or any bloody battle is not the only way to resolve the problem, it can be
resolve by any solution, war is never the answer.
References:
Moro Wars | Philippine history | Britannica
The Bangsamoro Question and the National Democratic Option-Valila.pdf
state-moroarmedconflict-AJPS-Buendia.pdf