Cours Metis.
Par Cesar Villanueva
Universite Saint La Salle (USLS) Bacolod, Philippines.
1. Mardi 16
décembre 2008,
B5, 8h30.
Bac 2 et Bac 3 Geographie, Bac 2 Histoire (option).
“Ancestral Domain and the Struggle for Just Peace in Mindanao, Philippines.
Social, Historical, Cartographic Approach”
Abstract :
The Ancestral Domain of the Bangsa Moro people of Mindanao is one of the main issues
blocking the political solution to the ongoing armed conflict in Mindanao. My presentation
will showcase the maps of Mindanao in the pre Spanish period up to just after the selling of
the Philippines by Spain to the United States. The maps will prove that indeed the
sultanates in Mindanao were already a developed society disproving the Spanish
allegations of no society before their colonization.
What is the problem? Why the Moros are not happy.
Moro = local term for Muslims.
They have the feeling that they have been marginalized all through the time.
Brief History:
After Spain sold the Philippines to the US, the Moro sent a letter to the US Congress in 1924 :
“we’re not part of the Philippines, we want an independent nation”.
1968 : launch of the independent movement for Muslims.
1971 : Mindanao crisis : fights between Muslims and Christians.
1972 : Moro National Liberal Front was launch.
1984: another group, more Islamic, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was launched.
1996 : Gvnt of the Republic of the Philippines signed an agreement with the MILF, but was
not accepted by MILF; Still fights.
About 120,000 people perished, 1 Billion Euros was spent. More that 100,000 evacuees.
Who are the Moros?
Many Muslim tribes mostly concentrated in Central, Western and Southern Mindanao.
What makes them different?
- Islam
- Experience as independent sultanates
- Struggle against colonialism
- Identity of Bangsamoro (different from Philippines)
What is the problem?
They were formerly independent states as sultanates (before Magellan) integrated by force to
the Philippines without their consent (Treaty and agreements from 1898 to 1946).
They became minorities and were called uncivilized during the colonization.
1903 : their land were declared as nul because they have no title. The Gvnt declared the land
open for investors. After this, many corporation came and occupied the land. A public land
allowed many has for corporation, medium size for Christians, very small size for Moros.
1939 – 1970 census : reduction of the Moros in the towns down to 10%, of the Lumad (IP)
down to 0%.
They were progressively more and more marginalized : Today the Muslims are confined to
small places SW and Central Mindanao while before they own almost the whole Mindanao.
They are victims of discrimination through sigma, labels and names that hurt, laws favoring
outsiders, no-recognition of their history in Philippine books, negative views of them as
people, no-recognition of their culture.
What do the Moros want?
They want to be asked in a referendum if they want to be autonomous or independent.
Actually the trend is to apply for autonomy for one fourth of their initial ancestral domain,
corresponding to the areas they are majority (central and West Mindanao) plus some specific
towns, which is fair enough.
Their status affects all the Filipinos through Peace and Order atmosphere.
Today several agreements are supposed to be signed about the recognition of their ancestral
domains. What to do with the land? This year, the gvnt said he will not sign. A few days after,
the Muslim armed group started to kill people. Today, everything is back to fighting ; there is
no more talks of Peace agreement.