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Rationale

The rise of insurgency by the Moro people in the Philippines,


particularly in Mindanao has been existent for more than a century now. It
could be traced in history that it first started back during the discovery of the
Philippines by the Portugese navigators in the 1500s. Forward to the present
times, the Moro insurgency in the great southern part of the Philippines is
still evidently existing. Secessionist groups like the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and
the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) evolved from this long-time problem since the
sixteenth century.
The uprising of these Muslim rebel groups in Mindanao are deeply
rooted in the colonial past of the country while the immediate and current
causes of insurgency can be linked to the abuse and neglect of the
government, the corrupt local and traditional Muslim leaders in Mindanao,
and the resurgence of the Islamic Religion worldwide.
Alongside the fact of the existence of this centuries-old problem, the
Philippine Government, on the other hand, has long been sincere in finding
the best solution to the problem. One of which are the peace negotiations
entered into by the Government with the MNLF and MILF, since the
administration of then president Fidel V. Ramos in mid-1990s. This
negotiation or peace talks by the government and the rebel groups is guided
by the provisions of the Tripoli Agreement and of course, within the
Philippine Constitutional bounds.
This year, with the new administration installed, the government has
yet again proposed another possible solution to the problem; Federalism.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, 16th President of the Republic of the
Philippines, has strongly been advocating for the reconstruction of the
government into Federalism since the start of his campaign to the presidency
of the country.
With this proposal by the President, and the strong support coming
from both the houses in Congress, will this finally be the solution to the
long-term existing problem in Mindanao?
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Mindanao and the Moro Insurgency

For more than 300 years dating back as far as 1521, the Spaniards
attempted to subjugate the Moros in Mindanao. This was continued by the
Americans when Mindanao was included in the transfer of power to the later
by Spain way back 1898 by virtue of the Treaty of Paris. These subjugation
by both the Spanish and the Americans have resulted to no effect. When the
American granted independence to the Philippines, a strong objection from
the Muslims in Mindanao occurred. The Muslim contest the inclusion of
Mindanao in the Republic of the Philippines. Ever since, the search of the
Moros for secession away from the Philippines and their insurgency against
the government has continued.
Mindanao has been the traditional indigenous territory to numerous
Muslim ethnologist groups. Prior to the coming of the Spanish, the said
groups had already owned their distinct social, cultural, and political
institutions. They enjoyed genuine freedom and independence in living their
own lives according to their customs and tradition.
Islam was introduced in the Philippines 1460. They developed the
various communities in the southern part of the country into principalities
and sultanates while the other Filipino tribes in the northern and central
areas of the country, being Luzon and the Visayas region, were
unconsolidated and scattered. These principalities and sultanates indulged
themselves in an expansive maritime trading with the Southeast Asia, India,
Japan and China. Jolo, Maguindanao, and Zamboanga served as
international trading ports, usually visited by Arabs, Chinese, and other
Asian merchants.
When the Spaniard colonizers extended their military and missionary
conquests to southern Philippines, the Muslims resisted, which resulted to
what historians refer to as the Moro Wars. The resistance further
strengthened even during the American Period. The signing of the Treaty of
Paris in 1898 arrogated to the American Colonial government the control
and the ownership of all lands in the country.
The strong belief among the Muslim tribe that they possess a distinct
and separate nation from that of the Philippine nationhood and that the
government has been a colonial government engendered a strong call for
independence and freedom leading to the creation and organization of the
resistance movements in the 1960s. Other Muslim political leaders, students
from Mindanao and Sulu studying abroad, and those in Manila planned and
organized the movement.
The Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF emerged as the first
revolutionary group among young Muslim radicals. Its surface came in the
wake of a growing Islamic awareness among Filipino Muslims. The MNLF
became the forefront of the separatist movement among the Moros. It
represented the general sentiments of the Moro people of oppression in the
hands of the Christian-dominated government.

The Philippine Government and its effort for peace in Mindanao

A peace breakthrough was initiated after years of bloody and


scandalous encounters by the rebel groups. The famous signing of the
Tripoli Agreement in 1976. Among many things, the agreement provided for
the establishment of autonomous regions in 13 provinces in Mindanao.
In 1986, during the administration of Corazon Aquino, the
negotiations between the government and the Moro-revolutionary groups
continued. Then President Aquino talked to Nur Misuari in Jolo, Sulu. It led
to another establishment of a new structure of autonomous government, the
ARMM comprising of the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu,
Tawi-tawi, and the lone city of Marawi. In 1996, during the administration
of Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the government and MNLF reached to a historic
and landmark peace agreement and signed the GRP-MNLF Peace Accord.
Related Literature

Lt. Gen. Ismael Villareal, a retired Philippine Army general who served most
of his time in service in Mindanao, wrote a book titled Conflict Resolution
in Mindanao. In this book he touched on the historical background of
Muslim rebellion in the Philippines, the contemporary conflict environment
in the area, the past conflict resolution strategies applied, and he proposed a
conflict resolution of the Muslim problem from the twenty-first century. He
analyzed why Muslims in Mindanao rejected the colonization of the
Spaniards and the Americans and why they continue to rebel against a
government at the present time. He touched on the contemporary solutions
made by the Philippine government to solve the problem and why these
solutions continue to fail.

Mariano A. Dumia submitted a thesis titled, The Moro National Liberation


Front and the Organization of the Islamic Conference: Its Implications to
National Security to the National Defense College of the Philippines in
1991. The thesis tried to determine the root causes of the Muslim problem
that gave rise to the MNLF struggle against the government. He discussed
extensively how the Tripoli Agreement signed by the government and the
MNLF came into being and how it was implemented. The thesis also
answered how the OIC support the MNLF struggle against the Philippine
government and how this cooperation affects national security. The paper
gave a comprehensive historical account of the Muslim uprising in
Mindanao. The paper was my main source of MNLF and Mindanao
historical data.

A website of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Morojihad.com extensively


covered the history of the Muslim problem in Mindanao. It also discussed
the history and origins of the MILF. The MILF ideology, objectives, and
their means to achieve these objectives were also taken up. The rebellion as
seen by the MILF Muslim rebels is manifested in this site. This website is as
an MILF propaganda medium to gain international recognition. Accounts of
armed conflicts with government forces were reported in this site are
distorted from what actually happened and resulted to favor their cause.

Marites Danguilan and Glenda Gloria also wrote a book titled Under the
Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao. The authors researched extensively
the origins of the Muslim war in the southern Philippines beginning with the
unwritten Jabidah Massacre in 1960 to the signing of the Peace Accord with
the MNLF in 1996 that brought some quiet in Mindanao. They wrote on the
sources of conflict in Mindanao and retraced its path to the present. Also it
touched how Mindanao, the Philippine government, and the rebels relate
with Malaysia and other Muslim countries. The authors held several
interviews before writing this book. It is one of the most reliable sources of
information regarding the contemporary history of Muslim rebellion in
Mindanao. The book does not however cover the conflicts of Muslim
rebellion in Mindanao before the sixties.

John Harber, a student of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,


California, wrote a thesis titled Conflict and Compromise in the Southern
Philippines: The Case of Moro Identity in 1998. The thesis examined the
ethnic Moro conflict in the Southern Philippines. As a result of his research,
he concluded that the conflict between Muslim Filipinos and the ruling
governments, both colonial and independent, is not caused by religious or
ethnic intolerance or difference. Rather, he thinks, it is the result of a
historical politicization of Moro identity, when combined with the
centralization processes of President Marcos, ignited a guerilla war that
prevented economic growth and social stability. The analysis also suggests
that the decentralization policies of the Ramos administration and the
compromise between his administration and the Moro National Liberation
Front may have fully resolved the conflict.

Samuel K. Tan, a Filipino author, wrote a fully documented and


comprehensive history of the Muslim armed struggle starting from the
American colonization of the Philippines to the early stage of the Mindanao
conflict in 1972 in his book titled The Filipino Muslim Armed Struggle
1900 to 1972. The parents of the author were from Mindanao and for this
reason he presented authoritative explanations of the various issues in the
armed conflict as well as the divisions and violence within the Muslim
society.

There are many books about the history of Islam and the Muslim Filipinos in
general but among the outstanding and more comprehensive ones are Cesar
Adib Majuls Muslim in the Philippines (1973); Peter Gowings Muslim
Filipinos (1979) and Mandate in Moroland (1983); and Peter Gowing and
Robert Mc Amis The Muslim Filipinos (1974).

Aside from the foregoing publications, data on the study could be found in
magazines, journals, and websites about Mindanao and intelligence and
operational reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf
strategy and tactics were primarily sourced from military operational reports
and studies.
Federalism and the solution to the Insurgency in Mindanao

In 2016 July, during his first State of the Nation Address, President
Rodrigo Duterte strongly encouraged the members of the congress to push
for federalism. According to some political experts, this proposed federalism
by the president is patterned with that of the German system.

German Federal form of government is a mixture of federal and


parliamentary forms of government. It is divided into 16 federal states,
commonly known as Lander, each with its own constitution, legislative
body, and government, which can legislate and enact all kinds of laws,
except that on defense, foreign affairs, an finance, which is solely
constituted on the federal government.

However, if we are to trace back the history of the Philippine


government, and its congress, President Dutertes initiative of constitutional
reform is not the first attempt to have ever occurred.

In 2008, Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. proposed Joint Resolution No.


10, which seek to revise the current 1987 constitution, and have created 11
autonomous regions out of the Philippine Republic, with each having its
own finance and development centers.

At first look, this could best fit the setting of the Philippine, without
stressing at the outset of course, that ours is an archipelagic country, divided
by waters, and with islands of different cultures and traditions.

Considering that the existence of insurgency in Mindanao is brought


about by the traditional and historical wrong committed against the Moro
people, as well as traditional and cultural differences and belief, perhaps, it
is safe to widen the portals of our idea in entertaining the fact of putting up a
federal system of government in the country, to finally be able to achieve the
century-long problem of rebellion in Mindanao.

Since it can be noticed that the main contention of the Moros in


Mindanao is to have at least a portion of a land they can call their own, with
their distinct culture and tradition, federalism is most likely the answer to
this problem since if ever followed, it shall provide for a particular portion
of territory to the Moros, but with certain restrictions, as provided for by the
constitution under the new form of government.

Freedom under the federal system of government may not be absolute,


in as far as this federal states are concerned, but at least, the government
may be able to provide for the distinction that the Moros are long asking for.
School of Law and Governance

Is Federalism the Solution


to the Insurgency in Mindanao?

An Academic Paper in

Legal Research I

By:

Rolan Vincent S. Tan

JD 1 EH 410

University of San Carlos

Cebu City

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