Special Article

The Role of OIC

The OIC, through the Ministerial Committee of the Six, has been brokering the peace talks between the Manila Government and the MNLF since 1974. Three agreements brokered by the OIC had been concluded: the Tripoli Agreement of 1976, the Jeddah Accord of 198 and the Final Peace Agreement of 1996. MNLF leadership fells, “The genuine autonomy prescribed by the OIC is still the most practical solution. It will not hurt anybody.”

The OIC is a signatory to the 1996 peace agreement signed by Nur Misuari and former President Fidel Ramos, which called on the Philippine Government to stop its military offensive against the country’s largest Muslim separatist group. The pan-Islamic grouping urged “the Government to halt immediately its military offensive against the Bangsamoro (Muslim) people and reach a peaceful solution to the problem in Mindanao,” according to the draft communique issued by the OIC foreign ministers, who met in Kuala Lumpur, on June 27-30 this year in Malaysia.

Arab News editorially suggested, “A Marshall Plan for Muslim Mindanao should be started by Muslim countries to help their brothers and sisters in the Philippines achieve their dream of self-rule. Without the economic backing of such a plan, Filipino Muslims are destined to remain among the poorest and most dissatisfied of all Filipinos.”

The Muslim World League

The Muslim World League (MWL), an international non-governmental Islamic organization, has also been making efforts to unite the ranks and reconcile the leaders of the Islamic organizations in the Philippines and with this aim opened a branch office in Manila. The League placed the following proposals before the conference of OIC foreign ministers held in Kuala Lumpur in June, 2000:

* Calling upon the OIC to take practical as well as effective measures to get the Government of the Philippines to abide by the provisions of the Tripoli Agreement and see that it is implemented both in letter and spirit;

*The need for issuing an urgent appeal to the various factions of the Mujahideen to unite their ranks, and the necessity of extending to them material as well as moral assistance;

*Inviting the Government of the Philippines to demonstrate its credibility with regard to the implementation of the agreement signed between the Government and the Moro National Liberation Front.

Conclusion

Philippines is now passing through a very crucial period of its history, when not only the political instability and economic crisis has overshadowed this South-East Asian nation, but violence and war looms large in the region. The Jolo-hostage-drama is being used widely in the media as a scapegoat to divert public attention from the Government’s shortcomings and failure, on the other hand, and gain support for Manila’s all-out-war, on the other.

Mindanao is the homeland of the millions of Moro Muslims, who are indigenous inhabitants of these lands. It is a fertile land, which contributes 18 percent of the country’s economic output and whose inhabitants of Sulu and Mindanao never accepted domination of foreign rulers, Spanish or Americans, and maintained their distinct religious, social, cultural and political identities for centuries.

Despite this, Mindanao remains one of the poorest areas of the Philippines, whose 70 percent population is dependent on small-scale fishing. More than half the population is unemployed and illiteracy is rampant.

Since the early 1970s, Moro Muslims have been fighting secessionist war for a separate state in Mindanao. Manila governments initially tried to crush the movement through the use of force but failed. Then it adopted a divide-and-rule strategy that culminated with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signing a peace treaty in 1996. This treaty granted the large Muslim minority limited self-rule in four Mindanao provinces and had Nur Misuari elected as Governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). This deal left out the 15,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an offshoot of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), most of whose members were former fighters of the MNLF.

Thus, at present, there are mainly three parties: the Manila Government; the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which is mediating the dispute; and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which signed a peace agreement with the Government in September, 1999. The other splinter group is the 15,000-strong armed men belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), one of two Moro armed groups that have kept on fighting for an independent state in Mindanao. The other group is headed by the extremist Abu Sayyaf, which is holding more than a dozen hostages on the Jolo Island.

Instead of considering the demands of the MILF, the Estrada government has adopted a military approach to resolve the Mindanao conflict. It has deployed 60 percent of the armed forces or about 70,000 soldiers in the southern Philippines to fight not only the MILF but also the extremist Abu Sayyaf etc. Manila’s “all-out-war” has killed hundreds of Moros and maimed thousands of Muslims, with some neutral observers even likening the war in Mindanao to a “genocide of the Moro people.”

The military offensive has displaced more than half a million civilians and disrupted cultivation in key agricultural areas. The military has burned countless houses, Islamic Madrasahs and mosques and looted Muslim property worth millions. Series of human-rights abuses against some 14,000 families or 76,000 individuals in war-torn areas in Mindanao will remain unresolved if the government fails to initiate peace with the Moro freedom-fighters, a group of international and local human rights groups said on 17 July, 2000.

The assessment is contained in the report of the international peace mission to Mindanao, which sent observers to the war-torn areas from July 12-16. “Recent events have shown that there is no peace yet in Mindanao. Thousands of families continue to suffer from the destruction of their properties and lack of income because they are separated from their jobs. Thousands of children are also suffering from diseases and are being deprived of their right to education.” Ditas Zurbano, executive director of the Ecumenical Commission for the Displaced Families, said the refugees are mostly in Parang, Maguindanao, Cotabato City, and Midsayap, Sultan Kudarat. She said that the displaced families, mostly Muslim, are being deprived of food and other assistance by the government agencies because they are suspected of being MILF supporters.

Military onslaught will bring no permanent solution to the Mindanao problem. It was tried during the previous Philippine government but failed. When former President Marcos embarked on a war to crush the MNLF in the 1970s, he resorted to martial laws. In the end, after incurring heavy political and financial costs, he had to settle for a negotiated settlement.

There are three options to resolve the crisis, such as (i) grant of autonomy to Mindanao, (ii) Federal Bill, and (iii) granting independence through negotiations. The first option was agreed to, but attempt was not taken to implement it fully. The Filipino legislators and Senators were thinking about the second option and debating to amend the constitution in order to meet the demands of the peculiar situation of Mindanao. Other communities and religious groups are demanding to grant independence to Mindanao. First of all, let us see the merits of each option and what the Government wants to do.

The MNLF won the limited autonomy for Muslims, when it ended a 24-year campaign and signed a peace treaty with Manila in 1996. Less than four years after signing the peace accord with the government, Nur Misuari, MNLF Chairman and presently Governor of ARMM said that the peace agreement was not completely implemented and the first three years of the implementation of the peace agreement were a failure. He demands a genuine autonomy according to the letter and spirit of the Tripoli Agreement.

The second option, which the legislators and Senators of Philippines are considering, is a Federal Bill. Sen. Miriam Santiago, chairperson of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, said that federal solution may not only be appropriate “but also absolutely vital, to the problem posed by Muslim Mindanao. She said federalism can provide an institutional mechanism through which the fractured Mindanao society could maintain unity and coherence.

The third option, which an alliance of 300 non-government organizations (NGOs) and Christian religious communities are discussing, is granting independence to the Moro people. Several Christian groups said they view the grant of a separate independent state to the Moro people as the only viable and lasting solution to the centuries-old conflict.

It must, however, be noted that if the parties to the dispute fail to accept either of the first two alternatives, then it will strengthen the hands of MNLF, which now wants the same kind of the plebiscite as was conducted by the United Nations in East Timor It must also be said that any solution to the Bangsamoro problem that does not reflect the true sentiments and aspirations of the Moros, is bound to fail as all previous approaches did.

(Concluded)