IT’S NO done deal yet. There is not much rejoicing in Mindanao over the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), pending a plebiscite to be held in the existing territories of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) – namely the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi – plus 39 barangays in North Cotabato, six towns in Lanao del Norte, and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela.
The new law could hit a legal snag, what with the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) and Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan questioning its constitutionality. Philconsa argues that the law creating a parliamentary region would violate the prevailing 1987 Constitution providing for a presidential system of government all over the Philippines.
The more pressing opposition would come from Christians residing in the proposed Bangsamoro territories. They fear that the ultimate aim of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other Muslim separatist movements is to steer the entire country into an Islamic theocracy akin to Saudi Arabia, which allows only Islam religion.
That fear is not without historical basis. Truth to tell, our forebears had descended from Bornean, Indonesian and Malaysian immigrants who had comprised the majority of the population in Mindanao by the time Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines on March 16, 1521 in behalf of the king of Spain.
Any attempt to transform Mindanao into an Islamic sub-state would not guarantee peace; it could rekindle animosity between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Without Magellan and the Spanish conquistadors who came after him, this country could have gone as Islamic as Indonesia or Malaysia. Spain could not have colonized and ruled us for 333 years.
In his book Outcry for Change, the late Eugenio C. Galido of Sebaste, Antique posited the notion that the norms of society evolve in accordance with external influences; and that the shift from Spanish to American domination of the Philippines could not have transpired had Spain ruled kindly and justly.
Galido wrote, “The Spanish clergy grabbed enormous tracts of land and exploited local peasants.”
Under American rule in 1901, the Philippine government bought most friar lands for the then princely sum of P14,474,000.
It is ironic that the majority of Filipinos still cling to the Roman Catholic faith.
What if we have retained our Malayan identity? Could we have preserved our rain forests and wildlife that still distinguish Borneo from other countries today? This question comes to mind as we recall that the Banawe Rice Terraces, for many years known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, had been there as testament to our bayanihan spirit or cooperative nature.
What if the United States subjugated us to become its 51st state? Could the Philippines have been run like heaven, not like hell?
In his book, Galido stressed that the US decision to let go of our country was influenced by a mammoth crowd of 250,000 Filipino students who rallied in front of the US Congress in 1931 demanding Philippine independence.
While running for President of the Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel Luis Quezon campaigned, “I prefer a government run like hell by the Filipinos to a government run like heaven by the Americans.”
That campaign speech clicked. In 1935, Quezon won the Philippines’ first national presidential election, besting rivals Emilio Aguinaldo and Gregorio Aglipay.
The establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935 ushered in a government policy aimed at developing Mindanao for the benefit of the nation, especially by means of Christian migration into traditionally Muslim communities.
There’s the rub: History has proven that, like oil and water, Christians and Muslims don’t mix. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
Although there are historical bases as what the Opinion Maker says, the fears, myths on WHAT IF WHAT IFs are all speculative and Peace Spoiling. What is reality is what are written in the BOL (RA11054) and you will never read any single provisions or even a word indicates that the Bangsamoro envisioned to make the country an Islamic State. “Weired magination”. First of all the Bangsamoro’s “Territorial Jurisdiction” is well defined and limited to a less than 10% of the entire country’s geographical areas.
Second, the country had been run and manipulated by Catholics for the last 5 centuries without oppositions from other religion. What then is mess with implementing Shari’ah (Islamic Laws) in a tiny or less than 10% portion of Philippine’s territory dominated by the faithfuls of Islam which was denied for them to enjoy for more than 400 years. This despite of the the fact that the Philippine Constitution allows “freedom of religion” but Islam’s practice is being feared and abhorred by majority of the Catholic dominated country – the Philippines.