Issues on Muslims in the Philippines

With years of colonization from different nations, the Philippines is no exception when
it comes to fighting for freedom, and that includes the Muslims in the Philippines. Muslims,
consists of 13 ethnic-linguistic groups., represent a big portion of the Philippines. Most
Muslims live in parts of Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago—an area known as
Bangsamoro or the Moro region. With currently growing Muslim settlements are located in
Metro Manila, you may think that Moros are thriving in the society. Moros are viewed as
uncivilized people with problems concerning the government.

During the Spanish Colonialism, the Moros—guided by the teachings of a false

Prophet—were viewed as uncivilized people with bad intentions. Some vowed to convert them
into Christians. With their succeeding wars, the Moros maintained their degrading relationship
with the Filipinos and also experienced incredible amount of losses.

Moro grievance entities them to have political power. Moros tend to portray themselves
as victims, deprived from available participation in the government. However, the Moros are
to blame for their division from the Philippine Republic; the Moros engraved it themselves
during the American Colonialism. Instead of being a part of the Philippine Republic, they
opposed this idea and wanted to remain in the American Territory. This marked their downfall
during the American period down to the Commonwealth period.

Earlier in 1902, the Philippine Bill recognized the distinction between the religious
groups—the Moros, Pagans and Christian Filipinos, it was requested that it would be a
necessity to provide different forms of government for the different groups of people. Muslims
desired to make Moroland part of American Territory rather incorporated in the Philippine
Republic. In this period, the Moros were having difficulty with their lands. At the time,
decisions were being handled by uneducated representatives that did not want to identify any
new laws, so they failed to register their lands—eventually proclaiming to be landless and
deprived of their ancestral land holdings.

An issue is the government and the Moros love to blame one another for their
problems—especially on how the media brands Muslims as Terrorist in defending their
Homeland. Although, the government manipulates its audience to believe that Muslims are the
ones causing the feuds, but Muslims aren’t the real enemies. Muslims have rebel groups such
as the Moro National Liberal Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberal Front (MILF) to
represent them in our government. Previous presidents have issued peace talks, but since the
very beginning, Muslims ask for their freedom. They feel strapped by the government and wish
to grow separately. They don’t feel prioritized by the government and only viewed as second
class citizens.

However, the Muslims remain to close themselves and fail to reconsider that they could
possibly also be at fault. For over decades, the Muslims are still blaming the government even
though it is also their responsibility for their sufferings and own downfall. Instead of trying to
pinpoint on who’s to blame, they should resort to finding an actual solution to their infamous
problems and issues.

Within the past few years, a new law regarding the Bangsamoro region was
implemented. It is known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), but is it really effective? The
purpose of this Basic Law, based on Article 1, Section 3, is to establish a political entity, to
involve Bangsamoro people as they aspire to direct their political future through a democratic
process that will secure their identity and posterity and allow for meaning for meaningful self-
governance.

With this law, the Bangsamoro territory will remain a part of the Philippines. As stated
in the proposed BBL, the region will not have its personal armed forces, foreign policy, and
currency, so they still answer to the reserved powers of the Central Government. There will be
no limitations to whoever may classify themselves classify themselves as a part of
Bangsamoro, all inhabitants have the right to feel included in this community.

With this law implemented, people had hoped for their freedom and its best intentions
for the region, however, the law has not stopped the conflict in Mindanao. Everyone wants
peace, but the BBL doesn’t guarantee sustainable peace—it’s only the first step. Although BBL
has its intentions of providing the region with its best relations, the law is a badly constructed
peace agreement which can be improved to compromise with the structure and complexity of
our government.

Imagine a public restroom. The government represents the toilet, while the people
outside represents the community. The toilet is broken; however, it can be an internal or
external problem. The internal problem symbolizing the corruption and issues of the
government, but the external problem symbolizing the people using the toilet, us, the
community—the people who can be the cause of the problem, clogging it and depriving people
from its functionality and purpose.

In this situation, President Rodrigo Duterte is the plumber. He is in the stall, doing his
job. If he can’t fix the problem, the people outside who want to use the stall will question his
capabilities, so he has to the fix the problem of the toilet to end the complaints. This analogy
proves that as a country, we have to take action to any problem we have to encounter. We
should use this Bangsamoro Organic Law as an opportunity to improve our economy.

Recently President Duterte signed a law concerning the Bangsamoro Autonomous

Religion in Muslim Mindanao called the Bangsamoro Organic Law (also known as BOL). He
promises to resolve the problems of the Moro people which stem from disputes and from being
neglected by the government. Numerous administrations have been seeking a solution to
conduct peace negotiations with the rebel groups like the MNLF and the MILF.

Now the law has been renewed as BOL, they will abolish the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The new law creates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). While the ARMM has a unitary form of government, the
BARMM will have a parliamentary-democratic one.

In the BARMM, the residents will elect an 80-member parliament representing

different parties, districts, and sectors, including indigenous peoples. The region's share in
government revenue taxes, fees, charges, and taxes imposed on natural resources will increase
to 75 percent from the current 70 percent. The national government will also allocate the
Bangsamoro P5 billion annually for a period of ten years, which will be used for the
rehabilitation of conflict affected areas.

This law exposes our country to have a federal form of government. Our government
has always favored Manila and Luzon, compared to the other regions. This action will help
highlight other regions, and is expected to create more economic opportunities for residents,
encourage local & foreign investors, resulting to the unleash of the region’s full potential. One
can benefit from the law regardless of tribe, religion or personal benefits.

On the other hand, another notable issue is the constant tension between the Muslims
and the Christians. The Philippines is known as a religious country—mainly for Roman
Catholicism. Therefore, does that create a connection between Roman Catholics, Christians
and Muslims with the government’s favoritism? A common misconception is that the
government favors a religion. Instead of dealing with the pettiness of religion feuds, it’s better
to focus on the actual problems of the region that can cause permanent damages. This mutual
mistrust between Christians and Muslims caused destruction of properties and war victims,
human rights issues, social and cultural discrimination, economic inequalities and widespread
poverty.

In the present, Muslims are dealing with continuing armed conflict, discrimination and
poverty. Child labor is a way of dealing with poverty in Mindanao. 7 out of 10 Mindanao
households have working children within 5-17 years old, surpassing the national average of 6
out of 10. Although, despite laws against child labor, many children have remained in the labor
market.

With this problem, parents should be held responsible for their children. The increase
rate in child labor will decrease if parents are to work instead of their children. Ideally, children
shouldn’t be the breadwinners of the family, because they should focus on their education
instead of having to worry about financial issues. I suggest that the government implements a
law against child labor and create more job opportunities, especially one that doesn’t require a
college degree.

Overall, the Moros think that they are deprived from their rights to participate in the
government. With this grievance, they are able to have political domination. Moros tend to
blame their problems on the government, although, they are also at fault. Recently, the region
has implemented a new law regarding the region’s request for more political freedom and
participation. Lastly, instead of prioritizing other problems, Muslims choose to entertain and
add religious tension between groups. Nevertheless, with the new introduced law (BOL), the
government hopes to improve the issues in the Philippines.