Benito noted that the issues confronting the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the government and the MNLF has further made the situation in Mindanao “fluid and volatile.”

More than a decade after the signed pact, the MNLF and other critics have relentlessly accused the Philippine government of lack of sincerity, honesty and political will in fully implementing the agreement and in working for attainment of peace in Mindanao.

Last June 2007, Silvestre Afable, the government chief negotiator in the talks with the MILF resigned, saying he did not enjoy the full confidence of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He was replaced by Rodolfo Garcia, a retired general and former Armed Forces vice chief of staff.

The armed struggle of the Muslims in the Philippines can be traced back in history. Mindanao is the birthplace of Islam in the country.

Bangsamoro (Moroland) refers to the homeland of the Moro, the indigenous peoples in Southern Philippines .

The term comes from the Malay word “bangsa,” meaning nation or people, and the Spanish word “moro,” from the older Spanish word “Moor,” the Reconquista-period term for Arabs or Muslims.

It may also refer to the Moro people, in general.

Bangsamoro covers the provinces of Basilan, Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Palawan, Sarangani, South Cotabato , Sultan Kudarat, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga Sibugay; and the cities of Cotabato, General Santos, Iligan, Marawi, Pagadian, Puerto Princesa, and Zamboanga.

Other interpretations may include territories that use to form North Borneo including Sabah, Labuan and the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan in modern Malaysia .

Bangsamoro was originally home to sovereign sultanates of Mindanao (such as Maguindanao and Sulu), which resisted Spanish colonial rule.

But in 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the Philippine archipelago to the United States , including the Bangsamoro. Later, the Philippine republic was formed.

There had been a request from the Bangsamoro to exclude their homeland in the formation of the Philippine republic and to remain it instead under American control. This was denied.

Bangsamoro groups assail inclusion of Mindanao in the formation of the Philippine republic during the post-American colonization period as “illegal annexation and exploitation without referendum, plebiscite or consent of the Moro people, thus, a blatant violation of their fundamental rights.”

Majority of the Bangsamoro people are Muslims. The Islamized Bangsamoro ethno-linguistic groups are indigenous peoples converted to Islam by Arab merchants during the country’s pre-Hispanic history.

Human rights groups say a number of Muslims in the country at present have suffered intensive discrimination, illegal arrests and other forms of human rights violations because of having been alleged to have link to terrorist activities.

“The failure of peace agreements in the past can be attributed mainly to the non-participation of the Bangsamoro people, because non-participation means they do not own a peace agreement. As real stakeholders, their collective voice should be basis of authority and the last word in the solution of the problem,” Dalidig said.

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) considers the Ancestral Domain agenda in the GRP-MILF peace talks as an “opportunity for Mindanawons to revisit our colonial past and correct the historical injustices committed against the indigenous and Bangsamoro peoples in Mindanao.”

“The peaceful lives of the Bangsamoro were shattered by the tremors brought about by the coming of the colonizers” said Sammy Maulana, CBCS secretary-general. “We are not begging anything from the Government, we just want to regain our homeland and restore our inalienable rights to self determination, both as people and a nation”.

By Norodin M. Makalay

Last update : 30-01-2008 15:44

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