Welcome to the home of Moro Herald. Your source of Bangsamoro News,  History, Tradition, Politics, and Social Commentary.

PAGMULAT PARA SA DI PAGLIMOT

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Ako ay isang Filipino na nangungusap ng Bangsa Moro. Lagi ko itong inilalahad sa tuwing may magtatanong sa akin tungkol sa napanood nilang dula ko. Malinaw sa akin ito at hindi ako magbabalat-kayo. Minsan sa ganitong perspektibo nakakakuha ako ng hindi kaaya-ayang reaksiyon – sa Moro man o kapwa Filipino na nasa aking harapan. ‘Bakit iba ba ang Moro sa Filipino? Hindi ba sila ang ‘Filipino Muslim?”
Mabuti na lamang mahaba ang aking pasensiya sa mga ganitong sitwasyon, dahil maging ako man noong una kong narinig na ‘iba ang Moro sa Filipino’ sa anibersaryo ng Jabidah Massacre sa Corregidor, Bataan ilang taon na ang nakararaan ay hindi rin naging kumportable. Isa itong perspektibo na inilatag sa aking harapan at nagtulak sa aking lakbayin papaloob ang aking sarili. Nagkaroon din ako ng maraming mga tanong na minsan nga, sa pinakamalalim na bahagi ng aking pagkatao ay kinatatakutan kong malaman ang sagot.
‘Iba ang Moro sa Filipino’ – napakagandang perspektibo dahil winawasak nito ang lahat-lahat na itinuro sa akin sa paaralan, ang padron ng pag-iisip sa kung paano ko titimbangin at huhusgahan ang aking daigdig, padron na nilikha ng kolektibang kamalayan sa aking lipunan, ng aking kasaysayan. Hindi ito mahirap tanggapin dahil sa bansang ito na pinatatakbo ng hindi maturol-turol na mga multo at kasinungalingan sa aking kasaysayan, mas mabuti nang laging walang tatanggapin kaysa may isang palaging panghahawakang katotohanan..
Binalikan ko ang kasaysayan at binuksan ko aking mga mga tenga sa kuwento ng mga Moro na masasalubong sa daan, makakasama sa opisina, kahuntahan sa mahahabang biyahe sa bus at mga bagong naging kaibigan. May ‘Moro’ na pala bago nabuo ‘Filipino’. May mga kuwento na hanggang ngayon pilit pa ring itinatago sa daigdig dahil sadyang mahirap tanggapin halimbawa ang Tacub Massacre sa Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. Na puwede ka palang mamuhay sa dikriminasyon at marginalisasyon habang tahimik na nakamata ang daigdig sa iyong sitwasyon tulad ng mga Meranao sa Lanao del Norte. Na nabubuhay pala ako sa isang lipunan na tila national pastime (kasunod ng boksing, pulitika, showbiz) na ng sambayanan ang pumatay ng Muslim. Na maraming perspektibo ang sinusupil at patuloy na pinatatahimik dahil mahirap silang tanggapin.
Marami palang perspektibo na hindi nakarating sa akin. Masyado sigurong malayo ang Maynila sa Mindanao o di kaya’y masyadong matataas ang bakod ng mga unibersidad na aking pinasukan. Ngunit tulad ng responsibilidad na nais na ipataw ng Darangen ikuwento mo ng walang patid ang talambuhay ng iyong mga ninuno at bayan, ang kuwento ay ang bayan at ang bayan ay ang kuwento kaya dalawang silang bibitbitin mo sa gitna ng labanan. Wala kang iiwanang isa.
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Lahat tayo, sa mga Moro o sa Filipino man, ay naghahanap ng isang lipunan at masang kritikal. Isang lipunan na pinatatakbo ng mga ideya, damdamin, at pananampalataya. Isang lipunan na bukas sa sanlibo’t sandaang mga pananaw na kung hindi man umaayon ay nagtutunggalian sa isa’t isa. Lahat tayo naghahanap ng papasulong na kabihasnan dahil lahat tayo may perspektibo at walang maliw tayong naniniwala sa sangkatauhan.
May bigat sa akin ang halaga ng mga perspektibo dahil naniniwala ako sa sangkatauhan at mahalaga ang perspektibo sa aking pagsusulat at sa aking Sining. Naniniwala rin ako sa papasulong na kabihasnan at sa isang kritikal na lipunan at masa. Palagi ko ngang sinasabi na ang mismong pagpapalabas ng mga dula sa mga tanghalan ay isang payak na imbitasyon sa mga manonood sa isang bagong perspektibo. Hindi ito dula kung wala itong bagong perspektibo na ihahain sa mga manonood. Ang mga dula, kuwento, at alin mang uri ng masining na pagpapahayag, maging ito man ay dayunday performance sa pinakaliblib na pook na maiisip mo, ay mga uri ng imbitasyon sa mga perspektibo na nais nang pakawalan sa daigdig.
Kaya mabigat ang responsibilidad na pinapasan ng isang mandudula (o ng isang manunulat) sa kanyang lipunan at sa kanyang kabihasnan. Ito rin ang responsibilidad na ipinapapasan ng epikong Darangen sa kanyang mga mang-aawit, sa mga alagad ng Sining, sa mga manunulat at kuwentista ng ating bayan, at sa atin mismo: ikuwento natin nang walang patid ang talambuhay ng ating mga ninuno at ng ating mga bayan na may pagpapahalaga sa maratabat ng ating mga mahal sa buhay at sa atin mismong maratabat at sarili, na ang bayan ay ang kuwento at ang kuwento ay ang bayan kaya’t hinihikayat tayong huwag isuko hindi lamang ang ating mga bayan kundi ang ating mga kuwento, na ang Kagandahan ay ang kalayaan ng pag-iisip, ng mga salita ngunit kaakibat nito dapat ang pagpapahalaga sa sarili at sa kapakanan ng komunidad at nakararami.
Kaya sa mga oras na dinadalaw ako ng takot sa aking pagsusulat at nitong uri ng agam-agam ’sa mga oras ng di matiyak na misteryo ng Sining’ binabalikan ko ang Darangen at ang mga pundasyon kung saan nakatayo ang kanyang mga kuwento: malayang kamalayan at pagpapahayag, kritikal na lipunan, Kagandahan ng Buhay at ang kalayaan.
Ang Darangen ay isang matikas na torogan na nakatayo sa gilid ng daan na aking tinatahak na laging nagpapaalala sa akin na ang mga perspektibo na nagsasabi ng Katotohanan at Kagandahan ay nanatiling may saysay kahit sa loob ng ilang daang taon. Hindi ito papanaw dahil wala namang tutunguhin ang katauhan at kabihasnan kundi papasulong.
Kasing laki ng buhay ang mga perspektibong dala-dala ng Darangen dahil ang mismong epiko ay isa nang perspektibo, isa nang kabihasnan.
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Hindi lang minsan na kung nagugulat ako sa kasalukuyang ginagawa ng mga institusyon ng midya na pag-aari ng mayayamang pamilya, mga principalia, sa salita ni Dante Simbulan, kung paano nila tinuturuan ang taumbayan na kilalanin ang sarili sa punto-de-bista ng Nasyunalismong Filipino. Bayan ni Juan (‘Juan’ bilang katunog ng ‘one’ o ‘iisa’) ang bandera ng isang istasyon ng tv. Mga artista at showbiz personalities ang nagsasalita sa taumbayan kung ano ang kanilang nasyunalismo. Paano si Akbar, Norayda, Saliha sa Bayan ni Juan?
Sa komersiyal na ito na pagbibigay depinisyon sa Nasyunalismo maraming pespektibo ang nailalagay sa gilid.. Sila pa rin ang kumikita. Hindi pa rin nabibigyan ng sagot ang ilan sa pinakamahahalagang tanong sa bayan: Sa Nasyunalismong ito na ilang dekada nang niyayakap ng mga Filipino, sino mas nakinabang at patuloy na nakikibang?
Kaya naghahanap ako at sa aking mga akda sa kasalukuyan ng isang perspektibo kung paano ko titimbangin ang Nasyunalismong Filipino. At maari, sa ngayon, siguro mas mabuting tingnan ang Nasyunalismong Filipino sa punto-de-bista ng Bangsa Moro. Marami pa akong dapat na malaman at mahalaga sa kasalukuyan ay nakikita ko ang halaga nito sa aking buhay at aking mga gawain. Isang perspektibo para sa akin ang ‘Bangsa Moro.’ Para sa akin hindi lang ito pakikipagtunggali ng mga Moro sa isang politikal sa pagsasarili – mahalaga ito sa akin dahil isa itong pakikipagtunggali upang makamit ang kalayaan ng tao. Human freedom. Ang kapayapaan. ‘Walang kapayapaan kasi walang kalayaan.’ Kaya mahalaga ito sa akin bilang isang Filipino. Kaya mahalaga ito sa akin bilang isang alagad ng Sining. Bilang isang tao na niniwala sa perspektibo at sangkatauhan.
Si Braga ay isang propesyonal na manunulat para sa teatro base sa Cebu City.

Ako ay isang Filipino na nangungusap ng Bangsa Moro. Lagi ko itong inilalahad sa tuwing may magtatanong sa akin tungkol sa napanood nilang dula ko. Malinaw sa akin ito at hindi ako magbabalat-kayo. Minsan sa ganitong perspektibo nakakakuha ako ng hindi kaaya-ayang reaksiyon – sa Moro man o kapwa Filipino na nasa aking harapan. ‘Bakit iba ba ang Moro sa Filipino? Hindi ba sila ang ‘Filipino Muslim?” (more…)

15.09.2009 Bangsamoro No Comments

Making Sense about Development as a Path to Peace in Mindanao

Friday, March 6th, 2009

(Author’s Note: Published in the December 2008 issue of the Bangsamoro Journal)

Development is not the way to peace. It never is. It will never in any way whatsoever build the foundations of lasting peace in Mindanao. The reason is simple. When development is introduced into a community without first tackling governance issues, then justice issues, and subsequently, peace issues, it would more often than not be perceived by those who are receiving it, or to the more aware as a pacification strategy or a “counter-insurgency’ approach by those doing the development interventions. Development as a “stand alone”, or as a first intervention to troubled areas, would be seen as something that would “fill up the stomachs and the pockets” of the people so that the injustices of the past would be forgotten. (more…)

06.03.2009 Moro News, Politics, Society No Comments

Brief History of Bangsamoro Struggle – Video

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

MOROLAND – Land of the Bangsa Moro

Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan comprised the Land of the Moros since the 13th century. The lands north of it like the Kingdom of Manila were invaded and colonized by Spain. The Moro sultanates — Sulu, Maguindanao, Buayan and the Maranao confederacy — however fought and maintained their independence until the coming of the Americans in the beginning of the 20th century.

The 16th century European map below proves that Mindanao was already known to the world even before the so-called “discovery” of the Philippines by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

When Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Cebu in 1521, an island north of Mindanao, he met with the Cebu King, Rajah Humabon. The Spaniard immediately introduced his religion, Roman Catholicism to the natives, and planted a wooden cross to commemorate the arrival of Christianity in Asia. This angered the Muslim religious leader Cali Pulacu (known to the Filipinos as Lapu-Lapu), who protested the presence of the foreigners. Magellan, in typical European arrogance, led his men to the neighboring island, Mactan, where the Cali (meaning judge) lived. Magellan met his death at the hands of the Muslim Cali, thus depriving him the honor of being the first man to circumnavigate the globe. However, his flagship, the Trinidad, was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe (at least according to Western documents).

In 1571, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived in Manila, in Luzon Island, north of Cebu. Manila at the time was ruled by Muslim Malays from Borneo. Rajah Matanda ruled Manila together with his teenage nephew, Rajah Suleiman, the Rajah Muda. Suleiman’s elders, including his other uncle, Lakan-Dula of Tondo welcomed the foreigners. But the young prince realized that Legazpi had devious intentions. He declared war against the Spanish. Without the help of his elders, Rajah Suleiman fell in battle. Rajah Muda literally means Young King but Malay sultanates use this title to denote Crown Prince. But the Filipinos celebrate Rajah Suleiman as the last king of Manila.

The Spanish conquistadors could not believe their eyes. It was not too long ago when they revolted and drove away the Moros (Moors) from Spain. And now, halfway around the globe, they met them again.

The Spanish differentiated the two natives of the archipelago into Moros (Muslim Malays) and Indios (pagan Malays). They then formulated their simple policy regarding the natives — convert the Indios to Christianity and kill the Moros.

And so, for about three hundred and fifty years, the Spaniards tried their best to christianize the Indios and annihilate the Moros. They succeeded in the former but failed in the latter.

In 1898, the Spanish left and the Americans came. Again the Moros fought. In 1946, the Indios became masters of the Philippine Islands. In 1972, the Moros resumed their fight. # Source.

29.01.2009 History 4 Comments

WHY I WILL NOT VOTE FOR CHIZ, KIKO AND MAR

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

In the beginning I really thought that these political mavericks really had what it takes to turn the Philippines around. I was wrong. Like all the rest of the lot, they have blinkers on their eyes and cannot see “outside the box” when treating the Bangsamoro issue. Like all the rest, they would die if you even speak of “tampering” their beloved Constitution to accommodate the centuries old struggle of the Bangsamoro to regain their Right to Self Determination. Like all the rest, they cannot get it through their brains what it means to have enjoyed sovereignty long before the establishment of the Malolos Republic. Like the rest, they will never understand that not once in their Philippine history did the Bangsamoro feel belonged. Like the rest, their history is myopically stuck “from Magellan onwards” and never before that (thanks to historians Zaide and Guerrero for bringing Filipino leaders up with a deep seated bias against “much older minorities”). Like the rest, they “grandstand” their positions about critical issues (like the MOA-AD) to increase public support and either secure their political preeminence and/or their presidential ambitions (if any) And so, therefore, like the rest, they should be treated like diapers, which we would need to replace as often for the same reasons. Amen.

29.01.2009 Politics 2 Comments

I AM A MORO

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

(Author’s note: Addressed to the Filipinos of Luzon, Visayas, and even Mindanao who do not know and do not care to know because they think they already know. What a pity.)

I am a Moro. I was born that way. I have Moro blood, Moro flesh, and Moro heritage. It is not wrong to be this way. I am different from you. I do not need to be judged or looked down upon. I do not need to be converted to the ways and beliefs of the mainstream majority. I do not need to follow your ways, because I do not want to. What I need and what all of those who are like me need is your understanding and your respect for our differences.

We did not start this conflict in any way. And yet you scorn us and attack us. Perhaps it is because you have read our history from the eyes and the pens of your historians. Our history is older, much older than yours. And if you could only see it through our own eyes, you would understand. But you do not, and perhaps you never will.

Before your nation was born, we already had our own sovereignty in Mindanao. We had lived peacefully with honor, prosperity and dignity and we had lived in peaceful coexistence with others of different cultures and beliefs within this land. This was before the Spaniards came to colonize you. This was before the Spaniards sold you – and us too, though without our knowledge and consent – to the Americans.

When your people finally gained your independence from the Americans, we had already been doubtful that you would treat us and our ways with respect. Because for over three hundred years, the colonizers had not only converted you to their faith and their western ways, they had also used you as shock troops against us. Where before their arrival, we had shared relations of amity and commerce and perhaps some history as well, now after over three hundred years of fighting one another, you with all your hate and enmity against my people, had been given the opportunity to govern us against our will.

And what have you done since that independence? You continued what the colonizers had done to us. You claim us to be part of your citizenry, yet you mock our ways, thinking our ways are backward and wrong and that yours are right. You forced us to follow your laws. You treated us as second class citizens. Even as savages. You claimed your prize for the three hundred years of servitude as shock troops of your colonizers and, through your laws, divested us of our ancestral lands. And when we became fed up and our braver brethren took up arms to make our point, you were contemptuous and assaulted us at every opportunity given to you. You knew that if you could force us to surrender, you could take all the natural riches underneath our ancestral lands for your own, in addition to the lands you have already taken away from us, either by force, deceit, or stealth. Because you have already needlessly wasted and squandered what little resources your lands have had before.

You are up in arms when only one of you is injured or killed by one of us. It is sensationalized on television. Yet you remain silent after millions of us have been displaced, tens of thousands left dying of disease and hunger, and hundreds killed by your army, your police and your vigilantes. We are lucky if we find an article about this on the last page of one of your little known tabloids. You have harmed our old folk, our women, and our children. You have not only marginalized us, you have also disenfranchised us and displaced us, socially, politically, culturally and economically. You have made us poor and weak. All this because we are different.

What we do is no different from what you do. We talk and laugh. We complain about work. We bleed when we are injured. And we wonder about growing old. We talk about our families and we worry about the future. And we cry with each other when things seem hopeless. All of the things you do with each other, that is also what we do. And for that we are called deviants, criminals, secessionists, even terrorists, and then are made to suffer.

What right do you have to make us suffer like this? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how we live our lives?

I and my people desire no rancor against you or anyone. We only aspire to live in peace, dignity, honor, and prosperity within our homeland — The Bangsamoro Homeland — or what little remains of it we can genuinely reclaim from you, anyway. We only seek to regain the things that your people and your governments, past and present, have taken away from us. We only seek to enjoy our right to self-determination and to live our way of life according to our beliefs, not according to yours. That is our rightful due.

You are the stronger “other”. If you wish to talk of peace, look through the lens of justice and of our history. If you wish to talk of peace, do not play double-talk, semantics, or word calisthenics. And if you wish to talk of peace, do not hold a sword behind your back. That simply will not do. We were not born yesterday.

I am a Moro. And I am proud to be a Moro. Deal with it, or leave me alone.

(Tommy Pangcoga is the Training and Project Development Officer and a member of the Western Mindanao Cluster Team of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, Inc. CBCS’ main office is in Cotabato City).

29.01.2009 Society No Comments

Hello world!

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

25.01.2009 Business and Economy, History, Islam, Lifestyle, Moro News, Philippine News, Politics, Science & Technology, Society, World News 1 Comment

Are the Moros Filipinos?

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

By: Mohd. Musib M. Buat

No. They are not ‘Filipinos’ but they are ‘Philippine Citizens’ by operation of law. And how did that happen? It’s a long story. But let me first narrate its historical antecedents before I will talk about the issue on ‘Citizenship’.

Historical Antecedents

The Moros were once free and independent people under the suzerainty of their sultanates with a definite territory or homeland as recognized under various treaties with foreign powers like Spain, Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. The Moro sultanates, kingdoms and principalities at the time were known as karajaan or kadatuan  (negeri in Malay), endowed with all the elements of a nation-state in the modern legal sense. They conducted foreign trade and commerce and diplomatic relations and entered into treaties of peace and amity, trade and commercial relations with their Asian neighbors as well as various European powers. (more…)

25.11.2008 Bangsamoro 3 Comments

Thank you, Supreme Court of the Philippines

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

By: Atty. Fatimah Bin Guerra

Thank you, Honorable Chief Justice and Associate Justices for showing us how justice works in this country.  Thank you for issuing the TRO on the MOA-AD, for showing to the Filipino people how fast you can actually act upon cases filed by powerful politicians like Emmanuel Piñol and Celso Lobregat.  Indeed, the speediness at which you have acted on this case was extraordinary and phenomenal.  In 3 months time, you have struck down a document which took more than 10 years of painstaking negotiations to accomplish.

Thank you, too, for helping MILF base Commanders Ameril Ombra Kato and Bravo recruit more fighters and supporters.  Your decision vindicated what they have always believed from the very beginning — that this government will never be sincere in talking peace with the Bangsamoro people.  Now we are faced with the world’s longest running armed conflict that sees no resolution in sight.  Thank you for condemning Mindanao as the next Afghanistan or Darfur in Asia. (more…)

11.11.2008 Bangsamoro 2 Comments

The MOA is NOT dead

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

By: Engr. Don Mustapha Arbison Loong

 
The MOA-AD is “dead”. This became the headline in newspapers when the Supreme Court (SC) declared the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) as unconstitutional last October 14, 2008. The “death” of the MOA-AD had divided and polarized the country like never before in recent history. 

The debate on the MOA awakened dormant religious prejudice and discrimination between Muslims and Christians. While the people who were Anti-MOA celebrated, some Moros felt that they had lost something. Some other Moro sectors felt like an “anti-dote” to the Moro problem was deliberately withheld from them. Disillusioned MILF rebels renewed hostilities with the government forces. Suddenly, the dreaded “ilagas” emerge and revived past Muslim-Christian community conflicts. There is so much blissful celebration and emotional retaliation by each side respectively, yet only a few really know the issues involved that was “killed” by the Supreme Court decision.   (more…)

09.11.2008 Bangsamoro No Comments

CBCS Ranao Manifesto – Calling UN and OIC to Intervene and Mediate to end the War

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

CALLING ON THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) AND THE ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE (OIC) TO INTERVENE AND MEDIATE TO END THE WAR IN MINDANAO AND INTERCEDE FOR THE JUST RESOLUTION OF THE BANGSAMORO STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION

When, at the dawn of the high-tech, ultra civilized 21st century, the Bangsamoro finds itself still bereft of its inherent rights and freedoms as a distinct sovereign nation, stolen as they were, under cover of “civilizing” democracy by successive colonizers;  (more…)

08.10.2008 Bangsamoro No Comments

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