The Moro crucible

Manila, Philippines, September 08 — Amid the re-escalation of conflict in Mindanao, which stems from the aborted signing of an ancestral domain agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an independent governance think tank is set to launch a book on the Moro people's struggle.

The Center for People Empowerment in Governance expects to launch its book “Rethinking the Bangsamoro Crucible: A Reader” later this month. A compact disk edition of the book was launched on Aug. 28 at a forum at the University of the Philippines, where CenPEG is based. The book tackles the conflict in Mindanao and the Moro people's struggle for self-determination, using the lens of history and cultural analysis.

"The idea to publish a Moro reader was broached in one of our discussions at CenPEG in June last year," said Bobby Tuazon, director of CenPEG's Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy Program." Assessing the results of the May 2007 elections, our attention was caught by the widespread cases of fraud and violence in Maguindanao and other Moro provinces in the midst of an ongoing war for self-determination and peace talks. It was uncertain where it was leading.

It was a painful reality, however, that the media – so powerful in its potential, but inarticulate in its ability to enlighten – was reporting about the Bangsamoro issue more in terms of its dramatic, often bloody armed skirmishes and civilian displacements and less in terms of the historical and fundamental roots of the problem. It did not help that the Abu Sayyaf problem and the U.S. military insertions on the pretext of anti-terrorism were consistently being played up, never mind that this sometimes led to bigger and more sensational stories, like the recent unfortunate abduction of a TV journalist. We are even more shocked today at how deep anti-Muslim chauvinism, bordering on racism, persists today among the country's so-called leaders and those capable of being president. No wonder the Bangsamoro crucible remains unsolved until today.

"Fellows and staff of CenPEG, in furtherance of our program on alternative governance and public advocacy, thus saw the need to come out with this book that will aim to reopen and rethink about the unsettling issue of the Bangsamoro people's struggle for self-determination, peace, prosperity and pro-people governance."

Historian Oscar Evangelista, who is also a former UP Dean of Student Affairs, said the book could contribute toward combating the prejudices that inflame the animosity between the Moro and the Philippines' Christianized majority. "The soft launching of the Moro reader is timely," Evangelista said.

"Amidst the political problems taking place in Mindanao over the issue of Bangsamoro Juridical Entity - Ancestral Domain, it is best to reflect on the historical background and look dispassionately and, hopefully, academically at the problem. Oftentimes, the issues are clouded with hatred and stereotyped impressions that have marked the relationship between the Christian and Muslim Filipinos."

Contributing to the book are Lualhati Abreu, a CenPEG fellow and a master’s student of history at UP, specializing in the history of Mindanao; Temario Rivera, vice chairman of CenPEG; Julkipli Wadi, a professor at the UP Institute of Islamic Studies; Maria Carinnes Alejandria, a professor of history and anthropology at the University of Santo Tomas and a Ph.D. student at UP; Kenneth Bauzon, a professor of political science at St. Joseph's College in New York; Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies; and this writer.