Special Article

Present Crisis

The recent hostage crisis and an upsurge in fighting between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – the second largest Muslim armed group - in recent months are seen as the biggest security challenge for President Joseph Estrada since he took office in July 1998. There are four facets to these threats representing different orientations. First, there is Abu Sayyaf group which, while fighting for an independent state, uses kidnapping as an instrument to force the enemy to sign the peace treaty. Second, the MILF, with an estimated 15,000 fighter-supporters, which also claims to be fighting for independence and lasting peace. Third, the MNLF, whose hopes for a lasting peace flickered into life in 1996, when President Fidel Ramos persuaded it to lay down arms in exchange for limited autonomy. Fourth, the the Manila government to whom independence for Mindanao is not acceptable and national integrity not negotiable.

Grievances and demands: Muslims in the country’s south resent and denounce what they call the oppression of the Muslim people in the country, the neglect of Mindanao and the Estrada government’s all-out war in the region, which led to countless deaths and desecration of the Muslim places of worship. Except for inclusion of Mindanao and Sulu as part of the Philippine territory, the Moro people are really strangers in their own homeland. Even the national flag does not recognize the Moros. Under this situation, who would not revolt? Though the Moros are also against the war in Mindanao, but they complain about the lack of opportunities in the region. “The Muslims are not responsible for the bombings in Metro Manila. We are being used as convenient scapegoats to divert public attention from the real perpetrators. Innocent Muslims are being blamed for the government’s failure to solve the bombings case,” Faizal Makusa, Secretary-General of the Bangsamoro Students Association said and added that the lack of livelihood in Mindanao had forced many of his Muslim brothers to come to Manila.

The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller and more radical of the two armed groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The group’s formal demands so far include creation of an independent Islamic state and formation of an international commission to examine the plight of Philippine Muslims in nearby Malaysia, whose Sabah region, on the island of Borneo, which lies an hour’s boat ride to the nearest southern Philippine island, is home to about half a million Filipino illegal immigrants and workers. Sabah authorities have long complained about the rate of crime committed by the illegals, and in the wake of hostage-taking, have rounded up about 1,000 Filipinos around Sipadan and deported them back home.

The radical militant groups demand international recognition of Muslims’ right to self-determination and have vowed to fight until “final victory” is achieved. In a “manifesto” distributed to journalists, the Abu Sayyaf called on the United Nations, European Union, Islamic organizations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to set up a commission probe to violations of human rights of the Muslims in the southern Philippines and also in the nearby Malaysian island of Sabah. “This is our demand, the aims we are fighting for until final victory,” said the document. The manifesto of the Abu Sayyaf movement, backed by historic references, sets out in great detail the essence of their fight for independence and for setting up an Islamic state. “About 100 years already, the Bangsamoro people have been made hostages under the rule of democracy,” it stated. “We are fighting for political reasons,” one of their leaders, Commander Nadjmi, alias Global, explained. Abu Sayyaf justify their acts as a “strategy of war, an instrument to force the enemy to sign a peace treaty.”

No sane person will support extremism and terrorism, as Arab News editorially condemning this hostage saga, said, “Abu Sayyaf, with its kidnapping of innocent civilians, especially children, has earned well-deserved worldwide condemnation, including that of the entire Islamic world. No matter how hard some apologists of the extremists may try, there is nothing in Islam that makes the kidnapping of civilians permissible.” In the same vein, the daily did not approve the way the hostage drama was orchestrated, saying, “The sad aspect of all of this is that non-Muslim Filipinos and foreigners are being galvanized in their dislike of Muslims after watching endless pictures of the kidnapped on their TV screens over the past four weeks.” (“Give Peace a Chance,” editorial in Arab News, 24 May, 2000).

Abu Sayyaf also asked for a ransom of $2 million for aid to build schools, health centres, water systems and livelihood projects such as seaweed farming for the region. The kidnapping, in fact, is part of a wave of recent violence in the southern Philippines triggered by fighting between Muslim rebels and government troops that has displaced more than 200,000 people.

While the Abu Sayyaf’s demand for an independent Islamic state has been ruled out by the government, the rebels informally expressed interest in development projects for their province of Sulu, a group of islands that includes Jolo, as a more realistic alternative.

Government’s response: The Estrada government has totally ruled out the establishment of an independent state for Muslims in Mindanao. Instead, it has focused media attention on the Abu Sayyaf holding hostages in Jolo to divert attention and gain support for Manila’s all-out war against the MILF. The human rights violations being committed by the government troops in the area are being ignored by the media generally in its coverage of the conflict.

Ethnic Cleansing in Southern Philippines

The roots of the Mindanao conflict are deep and complex and can be resolved only by a comprehensive political, economic, social, cultural and even ecological approach. The military approach will not resolve the problem and cannot bring about a just, genuine and lasting peace there. Manila has used 60 percent of the armed forces or about 70,000 soldiers in Mindanao to fight not only the MILF, but also the Abu Sayyaf, the Communist New Peoples’ Army, and numerous groups of bandits.

War in Mindanao: Many observers believe that the Philippine authorities are giving a free hand to the military on the Mindanao conflict. A meeting of the Christian, Muslim and other communities of the region voiced similar concern.

The governors and mayors of the region too made a similar presentation detailing the disruptive impact of the war in Mindanao, calling for cessation of hostilities. Former Rep. Mike Mastura, a Muslim, echoed Father Mercado’s concern over the domination by the military in shaping the direction of the war in Mindanao and raised the question of whether President Estrada had lost control of the military in determining the course of the conflict, or whether the military had ignored whatever preferences the President had in controlling the tempo of the Mindanao events.

The Philippine daily newspaper, Business World, claimed recently that militarily the Estrada administration had already “crossed the Rubicon” adding that unofficial estimates of the costs to the government of daily military operations in Mindanao had reached about $700,000. Another analyst, Marie Hilao Enriquez, head of Human Rights Group Karapatan, likened the war in Mindanao to a “genocide of the Moro people.” President Estrada’s “all-out-war” has killed hundreds of Moros and maimed thousands, while an estimated 500,000 people have have been displaced from their homes. The authorities have turned down a plea even from Christian religious groups to have a cease-fire.

Ethnic cleansing in Mindanao: It is alleged that the specific aim of the Estrada government is the eradication of Moros from Mindanao. In a press statement, the MILF cited the continued shelling and aerial bombing of civilian centres that has forced tens of thousands of villagers to abandon their homes. More than half a million people have fled their homes due to the fighting in Mindanao. The press statement cited the destruction of mosques, madaris (Muslim religious schools), markets, crops and residential houses of Muslim civilians in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato. The same document also mentioned the recent rounding up of Muslims in Taguig town of Metro Manila as another evidence of the government’s “ethnic cleansing.”

The military offensive has also disrupted plantings in key agricultural areas. As fighting escalated, authorities said the number of displaced villagers has surpassed the half million mark. The fighting led to 548 homes burned or destroyed. Foreign aid and development agencies are postponing projects in the southern Philippines because of escalating hostilities. Around 1,000 residents of Muslim-dominated village in Taguig denounced what they called the oppression of the Muslim people in the country, the neglect of Mindanao and the Estrada government’s all-out war in the war-torn region which led to countless deaths and desecration of mosques...

(to be continued)