We Want Peace, Too.

By: Franklin Harry Maletsky

We are the concerned citizens of the Philippines. We see the good things happening around us but we also see the agents of destruction around us. The Filipinos are a proud group of people with diverse heritage and blood line and diverse religions and ideologies.

In 1987 we created a new constitution with a great preamble:

"We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution."

We want to point out the aspects of “TRUTH” and “EQUALITY”.

The 1987 constitution sneaked in two points of concern that many seem to have overlooked and continue to overlook. Section 1 of Article X: the words “autonomous regions” and “Muslim Mindanao” were inserted. It looked harmless but those two insertions are the major causes of the havoc, discrimination, bias, corruption and instability in the Philippines.

We are bringing this to your attention because we are feeling the gradual decay of the values that we hold dear to our hearts. The Filipinos are a peaceful and hospitable people by nature. This is who we are. But when confronted with prejudice, bias and lies we fight back.

Let us discuss “MUSLIM MINDANAO”. How did the word Muslim sneak into the 1987 constitution? The Muslims are the followers of the religion of Islam. The constitution does not mention any other followers of any religion whatsoever. Just the followers of Islam, the Muslims. This is bias, discrimination and prejudice and does not conform to the preamble's call to “EQUALITY”.

Anybody can be a Muslim. There are Muslims all over the world. In the Philippines Muslims are called Moros. Moros are Muslims. Moros are not indigenous people. Anybody can be a Moro but not anybody can be an indigenous person. The Tausug people from Sulu are indigenous people. There are Christian Tausugs, Jewish Tausugs, Catholic Tausugs, Muslim Tausugs and others. Tausugs are not exclusively Muslims or Moros.

Why insert “Autonomous Regions”? Why give autonomy to the indigenous peoples of the Philippines? Before the coming of the three Colonizers of the Philippines: 1. The Muslims in 1380, 2. The Spaniards in 1521, and 3. The Americans in 1898; The Philippine archipelago was occupied by nearly a 100% indigenous people.  Even today the indigenous blood run in over 80% of the Filipino veins. So why segregate? Why separate? Doesn't this create bias? We are one people. We are Filipinos with diverse ethnicities and diverse dialects or languages. We are in fact very unique and we all should be proud of this as a people.

There are 3 existing laws in the Philippines that are biased and are using “PUBLIC FUNDS” to finance a select private group of people only. Public funds as specified in PD1445 must be used for the PUBLIC and not a private group of people. These 3 laws are as follows:

1. The NCMF (National Commission on Muslim Filipinos)

2. Presidential decree 1083 (Sharia Family law)

3. The ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)

1. The NCMF is specifically only for Muslims. As stated before, Muslims are not indigenous people. Some of them may be but not all. Muslims are the followers of the religion of Islam.
2. The presidential decree 1083 is only for Muslims. Again we are all Filipinos and we all must abide by the Philippine laws and "No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion" (ARTICLE III BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 4). To reiterate Muslims are not indigenous people, they are the followers of the religion of Islam.
3. The ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao): This shouts out discrimination and bias. The constitution called Mindanao, Muslim Mindanao. In other words a territory that belongs to the Muslims.

Every year public funds are budgeted for the benefit of a private group of people, the Muslims. They may be Filipinos, that is not the argument here. There is no funding for any other followers of any religions in the Philippines. Only the followers of Islam get a yearly budget from the government of the Philippines.

We implore that you look into this matter of discrimination. This is the source of unrest in Mindanao. The Philippine government have been negotiating with the Moros since we became sovereign in 1946. Every time we negotiate the Moros get more.

• In 1965 Diosdado Macapagal gave 5.7 hectares exclusively to the Muslims in Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City to appease them. This only made them ask for more.
• In 1975 the SPDA was created. This spawned OMA. Then they wanted more.
• In 1976 Marcos broke down and signed the Tripoli agreement. This did not bring peace. This paved the way for the ARMM
• In 1977 the PD1083 (Sharia family) was signed.
• In 1985 OMA was officially created.
• 1987 the word “Muslim” was inserted in the new constitution.
• 1989 the ARMM was created with 4 provinces hoping for peace
• 2001 another province was given to the ARMM making it 5 provinces. They still want more.
• In 2007 the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (later the BBL) was introduced. Allowing the Bangsamoro to spread out as needed. Turned down by the SC as unconstitutional. But it just keeps coming back.
• 2010 the NCMF was created to Nationally support all the Muslims in the Philippines. Only the Muslims under government public funding.

The negotiations kept on coming with the promise of peace. There has never been true peace in Mindanao. Now they want more and the BBL is being pushed again.
What is Bangsamoro? It means Muslim Nation. Bangsa = Nation. Moro = Muslim.

The TRUTH demands to be told. The Moros claim:

• Article II section 1 of the BBL defines the bangsamoro people as:"Those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their descendants, whether of mixed or of full blood, shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. Spouses and their descendants are classified as Bangsamoro."

How can the bangsamoro people be the original inhabitants when the moros(muslims) arrived in the archipelago only in the 14th century? The "natives or original inhabitants" at the time of conquest and colonization were not the bangsamoro people. The original inhabitants were the indigenous people who practiced several forms of worship and one of them just happened to be Islam. Muslims (Bangsamoro) are not indigenous people. They are the followers of the religion of Islam.

Please consider our plea. Do not pass the BBL and Repeal the NCMF, PD1083, and the ARMM.