Islam and Democracy Media Forum
Self-Determination and Referendum to Determine
Political Status of Muslims Sought

Respecting the Bangsamoro’s right to self-determination and holding a referendum are significant steps towards bringing peace to Muslim Mindanao. This was the assertion made by Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga at a media forum entitled, “Rethinking State Policies and Minority Rights: Getting the Mindanao Peace Process Moving” organized by the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID). The forum, sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), was held at Club Filipino last October 24.

Prof. Lingga, Executive Director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, pointed out that it is important for the Bangsamoro to assert their right to self-determination “to determine their political status since their incorporation to the Philippine state was without their plebiscitary consent”. He suggested that Congress pass a law that will authorize the conduct of a referendum for the Bangsamoro to determine their political status. The referendum, he said, shall give Muslims in the Philippines several choices including independence, autonomy, free association, consociational arrangement, federal arrangement, and other power sharing arrangement. Continue reading →

President Ferdinand Marcos started his dictatorship when he signed Proclamation 1081 on September 21, 1972. The said Proclamation, which he announced in the evening of September 23, 1972, placed the entire Philippines under Martial Law. That marked the beginning of a dark age in the Philippine history.

Marcos, then, virtually discarded the Philippine Constitution by blatantly violating its provisions, particularly, the Bill of Rights (Article III). He ordered the military to pick up and detain thousands of his critics. Most of those who were detained were tortured by their captors. Many of them just disappeared and never surfaced again. Even without the benefit of undergoing trials, some were kept in military detention camps for years. Continue reading →

There were many speculations why thirty-five years before deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. Some says that it was because of the threat posed by the New People’s Army and the Moro National Liberation Front. For Marcos oppositionists and political rivals, it was to hoard their businesses and have a complete control in politics. But what justified the declaration of Martial Law was the ambush made against then defense secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, which until now people believed the incident as a hoax.

Thirty-five years later, the public is still being made to believe that the terrorist scare and Abu Sayyaf menace justify anti-people measures like the Human Security Act and all-out war in Moro communities, even during Ramadhan, the holy month of fasting. Continue reading →