GUEST EDITORIAL
14 July 2013
BANGSAMORO YOUTH CORNER
WHY DID AMERICA CONDEMN FILIPINOS AND MOROS
TO THE MINDANAO WAR?
(Series of 4 Parts)
PART IV - ILL-EFFECTS OF AMERICAN COLONIAL POLICY UNDER AMERICA-CREATED PHILIPPINE COLONIALISM
By RRayhanR
On July 4, 1946, colonial America State terrorism was passed on to power-hungry Filipino colonizers to unleash upon the Mindanao and Cordillera natives. The dreadful Philippine State terrorism was terribly felt by the Muslim and Lumad Animist natives of Mindanao as well as the Igorots of the Cordillera ('Mountain Province'). This was the formal establishment of America-created 'Republic of the Philippines' that involved the highly immoral annexation of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan (MINSUPALA) and the Cordillera Region.
PEACE TO THE PHILIPPINES-BANGSAMORO WAR IN MINDANAO? HOW?
Today, under America-installed Philippine colonialism, the unscrupulous and arrogant Filipino leadership never tire in pursuing deceptive Filipinization or Christianization campaigns to integrate the Muslim and Indigenous Peoples into America-manufactured 'Christian Philippine Republic'. The subtle pacification campaigns are complemented by draconian laws and the usage of military power to terrorize the colonized victims.
Since 1946 up to the present, Philippine colonialism under different presidential personalities have had concocted government entities, such as Commission on National Integration (CNI), Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) converted presently to National Commission for Muslim Filipinos (NCFM), Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA), Philippine Amanah Bank (PAB), Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), etc., in continuing to mesmerize and to deceive the Mindanao and Cordillera native inhabitants to accept its colonial assimilation policy. But it never did and will not succeed because the Filipino-crafted artificial socio-economic and political agencies have always self-destructed. Simply analyzed, the cosmetic governmental entities are created as appeasement facade meant only to fail in the hands of the colonized populace in ensuring permanent dependency on America-designed Philippine colonialism.
Nonetheless though, it cannot be denied and discounted that there are some professionals from the colonized society whose bread and butter depend on Philippine colonialism. Seemingly, the awkward situation has driven them to be subservient and beholden to the Filipino colonial masters, particularly in the Christian-dominated Philippine government service. But is this their beggar-like chosen fate in life as programmed by the colonial U.S. government from the beginning and pass on conveniently to the Philippine colonial government to follow to the letter?
Thus, what really is the hidden motive why the U.S. government consigned the freedom-conscious and learned sector of the colonized natives to become mendicant wage-earners of the Christian Filipinos, who eventually turned out to be a "worse colonizer"?
Aptly observing and describing the ugly high-handedness of America-inspired Philippine colonial rule in Mindanao, a well-known Mindanaoan patriotic freedom fighter Reuben R. Canoy said:
"With the inauguration of the Commonwealth in 1935 and the attainment of full independence in 1946, it was assumed that the Mindanao policy instituted by past colonial regimes would be scrapped. To the dismay of the Mindanaoans, the Manila government turned out to be a worse colonizer. While fighting for Philippine independence, Manuel Luis Quezon said: 'Better a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by Americans.' When he became the first Filipino president under the 1935 Constitution, the impact of a Filipino government 'run like hell' was felt more strongly in Mindanao than anywhere else. The colonial attitude that the first Filipino leaders struck towards the south was the inevitable outcome of their elitish apprenticeship under the Spaniards and the Americans."
Clearly thus in history, it cannot be denied that America is at all devoid of humanity for justice and fairness when it designed giving independence to the Spanish-colonized Christian Filipinos rather than the sovereign and free Bangsamoro people, who to the very end fought and thwarted any attempts by the Spanish marauders to colonize and occupy their ancestral homeland.
All along demonstrating bad faith and contriving with the deceitful megalomaniac Filipino politicians led by Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Sr., Claro M. Recto, Elpidio Quirino, amongst others, the U.S. government high-handedly engineered the illegal and immoral colonization and occupation of Mindanao in 1935. Consequently later in 1946, the U.S. government installed the corrupt-prone and exploitative 'Philippine Republic', handling in silver platter 'independence' to the Filipinos, alas, with the arbitrary incorporation of the ancestral homelands of the Bangsamoro and Igorot peoples. But the political conspiracy has only led to disastrous consequences.
Apparently, the net result today of the past political grand conspiracy has condemned the Filipino colonialists and the colonized Mindanao and Cordillera natives into continued violent and socio-economic political crisis after crisis.
However, on this tragic and chaotic development plaguing today the Filipino colonizers and the colonized native inhabitants, is there hope and willing goodwill for the U.S. government under a conscious and compassionate leadership to right the historical wrong?
Is it possible for America today to help and to commit to just and lasting peace for chaos-ridden Mindanao in order to undo the injustice most foul America has inflicted on the colonized and oppressed humanity of this part of the world?
On the other hand, is America steadfast in remaining silent and insensitive to the worsening human degradation of the native inhabitants of Mindanao just to continue the condemnation of the Filipinos and Moros to the over 4-decades long Mindanao war?
Chairman Nur Misuari - "In the interest of peace and development in Mindanao and its component islands of Palawan, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan and Camiguin, I call on all government, military and civilian authorities to faithfully respect and upheld the GRP-OIC-MNLF Peace Agreements in letter and spirit. These peace agreements are of supreme importance to our people and future. Let no one, therefore, denigrate the sublime memory and sacrifice of those valiant men and women, Mujahideen and Mujahidat alike, who have perished in pursuit of peace, justice and freedom as a key to social harmony and sustainable economic development for all of us and posterity."
Chairman Ustaj Salamat Hashim - "The MILF leadership is confident Brother Nur Misuari of the MNLF cannot afford to betray the Bangsamoro people and Cause. We have high regards on him and we presume he and the MNLF leadership are well aware that unless a meaningful self-determination for the Bangsamoro people is in place, the problem will persist from generation to generations."
US PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said: "Peace built on freedom and dignity of people."
SENATOR BENIGNO 'NINOY' AQUINO, JR., Filipino martyred hero and supporter of self-determination of the Bangsamoro people, advised: "Study the lessons of history before it is too late"...and..."if you are not sincere, how many will die?"
PRESIDENT BENIGNO 'NOYNOY' AQUINO III has always emphasized 'just and lasting peace" for war-torn Mindanao. He is for a "political entity" with a name that symbolises and honors the struggles of the Moro forebears in Mindanao and celebrates the history and character of the Moro Nation. He said, "that name will be Bangsamoro." But, only Bangsamoro with sovereignty will bring 'just and lasting peace' to Mindanao,"
Furthermore, is it possible today for America to reform and to involve in peaceful efforts to help finally end the Mindanao war of genocide and extermination against the Filipino-colonized Muslim and Lumad natives perpetrated by the Philippine military occupation forces in Mindanao?
As recalled in the not too distant past, under the scrutiny of the Permanent People's Tribunal in Antwerp, Belgium. October 30 to November 3. 1980, the American Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. George Wald, acknowledge in its judgment that the Bangsamoro people are entitled to the right of national self-determination.
Thus the People's Tribunal issued a call upon the world opinion, progressive governments, organizations and individuals to lend their support to the struggle of the Bangsamoro people to achieve national self-determination and liberation from Philippine colonialism and neo-colonial system of repression.
Furthermore, the Tribunal strongly condemned what it called the "programme of displacement and physical extinction that was waged by the Philippine government against the Bangsamoro people". It said that such program had always deprived the Bangsamoro people of much of their ancestral land and made roughly half of their number refugees and exiles. The Tribunal concluded that the cumulative effect of this program has been the commission of the "crime of genocide."
Now, following on the true spirit of justice and fairness, how can America now reverse the condemnation of the Filipinos and Moros in the genocidal Mindanao war? Tragically, the endless Philippines-Bangsamoro war in Mindanao has resulted into the cruelest deaths of almost three hundred thousands (300,000) combatants and non-combatants and countless material losses.
How can the U.S. government today rectify the injustice most profound it envisioned against the oppressed Bangsamoro people of Mindanao by condemning them to the tyrannical and repressive Philippine colonial rule?
It cannot be easily forgotten in history that one tangible fact why U.S. government in 1946 established the 'Philippine Republic' was to continue the colonial plunder and loot of the natural wealth and riches of the Bangsamoro homeland by the Filipinos of Luzon.
Thus it is quite strange that America today can speak of the 'virtues of human rights, freedom and democracy' when it became instrumental in trampling the fundamental human rights and depriving the basic freedom of the Bangsamoro people of Mindanao. Sadly, under American colonial rule, the colonized Mindanao natives were not even afforded any elementary courtesy of democratic referendum or plebiscite in determining their definite destiny similar to the American Indian natives in caged settlements in their own ancestral domain in North America.
Truly thus, how can the U.S. government today speak to the world about the majesty and rule of law, justice and fairness after violently colonizing Moroland for more than forty years, plundering the natural riches of the occupied territory and massacring the Moro freedom fighters and civilians, including the aged, women and children, characterized by the Bud Dajo, Bud Bagsak and 'Cota war' massacres in Jolo Island and Lanao in the 1930s up to the 1940ss?
Indeed thus, the historical events of bloody American colonialism in Mindanao is aptly described by the French Thinker, Voltaire, who said: "Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortune."
Nevertheless, on one hand, the German statesman, Konrad Adenauer, has also said: "History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided."
Thus morally now, how can America just brush off all the past historical injustices without facing ethical and moral responsibility if only to right the wrong committed in order to face the kindness, not negative ridicule and judgment of history?
Truly indeed, conscious of the simplicity of right and wrong, when will the U.S. government express public apology to the once colonized and brutalized Muslim and Animist natives of Mindanao for the gruesome human wrongs and gross injustices it committed against them during the criminal past?
In redressing historical grievances related to the massive human deaths, human degradation and plunder of natural wealth of the Mindanao natives so as to sustain American pride and economic greed, is the moral retribution policy for the U.S. government equivalent only to building cemented airports and roads in some parts of Mindanao?
In all moral honesty now, how can the U.S. government as Christian patron of Philippine colonialism in Mindanao guide the home-grown Asian Filipino colonizers to abandon altogether colonial land-grabbing for the sake of 'just and lasting' peace. Surely thus, this will finally end and permanently put closure to the more than forty years Philippines-Bangsamoro war in Mindanao?
Backdrop by the harsh realities brought about by the grievous injustices inflicted on the oppressed Bangsamoro people of Mindanao by both the U.S. government and Philippine government, it is only morally right that the continuing 'unrest, agony and misery' of the colonial victims must come to finally end. And be sincerely addressed.
As the martyred Filipino hero, Senator Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino, Jr. said: "Study the lessons of history before it is too late"...and..."if you are not sincere, how many will die?"
On the virtue of freedom and national self-determination, it is beyond any reasonable doubt that the Spanish, American and Filipino colonizers as well as the colonized Moros are all passionate lovers of independence and liberty. The tangible proofs were the centuries-long Spanish-Moro war from 1500s upto the 1800s and the American-Moro war in the 1900s. And today, the continuing vital proof is the 4-decades long Philippines-Bangsamoro war in Mindanao. Although facing all odds, the Bangsamoro people have only proven their passionate love for freedom and independence.
Thus, why should the Filipino and Bangsamoro societies today be condemned to the endless bitterest Mindanao war?
On the genuine search for Mindanao peace, why does Philippine colonialism have to betray Mindanao peace time and again by complicated man-made laws that created in the first place the horrible Mindanao war haunting the Filipino colonialists and colonized Bangsamoro natives today?
The ugliness of Mindanao war today has come to surface through the courtesy of the draconian Philippine Commonwealth National Legislative Law No. 1497 otherwise known as the 'Quirino-Recto Colonization Act.'
Thus, premised on the earnest and sincere search for lasting and durable Mindanao peace, is it now ethically and morally possible for the U.S. government and other concerned foreign governments to directly guide both the Filipino colonizers and the colonized Bangsamoro people to commit to permanent peace in finally ending the longest genocidal war in Southeast Asia? That the clearest guideline is based on the peace version of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, U.S. President Barack Hussin Obama, who emphasized: "Peace built on freedom and dignity of people."
Indeed, clearly now, is the present peace-conscious U.S. government and Philippine Republic capable and amenable to erase the ill-effects of Filipino colonialism planted in Mindanao soil in order to herald and guarantee a new dawn of peaceful and harmonious co-existence for the colonizer and the colonized in South East Asia?
Hence, discerning on deeper wisdom and conscious open minds for comprehensive peace and harmony, is the U.S. government and Philippine Republic sincerely capable enough to boldly and peacefully operationalize and realize the decolonization of the Bangsamoro homeland of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan for the sake of lasting and permanent peace for the oppressed and colonized Muslim and Highlander natives as well as Christian settlers of war-ravaged Mindanao?
Again, as Martin Luther King, Jr., who attempted in his lifetime to guide peaceful humanity to the path of non-violence, has said:
"We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now...We still have a choice today; non-violent co-existence or violent co-annihilation. This may will be mankind's last chance to choose between chaos and community."
CONCLUSION
PRAYER AND APPEAL TO THEN AND NOW FOREIGN COLONIZERS:
HOW TO HELP RESTORE HUMANITY AND PEACEFUL EXISTENCE TO
THE PRESENT FILIPINO-COLONIZED BANGSAMORO PEOPLE?
In the final analysis, the time for peace and peaceful co-existence for both the Filipino colonizers of Luzon and the colonized Bangsamoro people of war-torn Mindanao should be taken to heart by former foreign colonizers - Spain, America and Japan. Today, the colonizer and colonized should be aided to embrace peace, not war.
Driven once by political and economic greed for power and conquest, foreign powers that involved in creating mass suffering and whole scale devastation for the Bangsamoro people and Moroland should now consciously help to bring ultimate 'just and lasting' peace to the Filipino-occupied territory.
With the passage of centuries-long period of difficult times in experiencing the pangs of tyranny, brutality, cruelty and callousness of the Spanish, American and Japanese invaders to have inflicted untold suffering and unbelievable pain as well as human abasement on the Bangsamoro people, it is about time the conscientious community of nations, headed by the United Nations (UN), should peacefully and actively put to end oppressive Philippine colonialism in Mindanao.
Enough is enough for destructive Philippine colonialism in Mindanao for the sake of genuine and durable peace!
On this light of brighter hope for a new dawn of positive change and outlook for the centuries-long exploited and oppressed indigenous natives of Mindanao, the professionals, women, youth and civilian masses of Filipino-occupied Bangsamoro homeland wish to join and to re-echo the soul-searching appeal of Madam Mucha-Shim Quilling Arquisa to the 2011 Geneva United Nation Human Rights Council Forum on Minority Issues, Fourth Session.
Thereat, as 'ethnic and religious minority representative', she appealed for justice and peace for war battered Mindanao and her concluding remarks have today reverberated in the hearts and minds of the Bangsamoro people of the Filipino-occupied territory.
With wholehearted compassion and optimistic hope for 'just and lasting' peace in the 'land of promise', she expressed the following haunting words:
"My last plea is a concrete call to action. I am addressing the Governments of Spain and the United States of America specifically to appeal for them to examine their conscience and once and for all end the colonization of the Bangsamoro minority nationality within the Philippine Republic. Be it within or outside the ambit of the UN. I urge the Spanish government and the United States government to immediately undertake necessary and urgent geo-political administrative complemented with international legal measures, specifically to unwrite the consequences of the Treaty of Paris it signed in August 21, 1898 that unilaterally and illegally ceded the Bangsamoro homeland to the Philippine Republic and unjustly trampling on the sovereignty of the Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao and undermined traditional governance in indigenous Moro and Lumad principalities in the rest of Mindanao. A decisive step towards this will once and for all DECOLONIZE our minds and imagination. And wake us up from the nightmare - we, national minorities, perennial nationalists dreaming of its own nation-state and self-determination at a time when, as late Arab leader Muammar al-Qadaffi once said: 'a time no longer for nations, but for peoples'. Thank you and peace be upon us all..." -rrr/bfs