Why the Bangsamoro issue is not at all too different from the Philippines’ squatter problem

I’ve come to realise the whole trouble with academics. A lot ot them have minds so imprisoned by their expensive “education” that they fail to spot important points in the facts sitting right in front of their noses.

Take the simple question:

What is it exactly about the current governance system in the Philippines that supposedly prevents Filipino Muslims from achieving their aspirations?

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You will not find the answer to that simple question in the appeals of a certain Sitti Djalia (a Tausug) noted by the eminently academic “peace process” presidential advisor Teresita Quintos-Deles in her commencement address to graduating Xavier University students in Cagayan de Oro…

When Djalia declares ‘The Bangsamoro story is also the story of the Filipino,’ it is at once a statement of fact and a statement of faith. She is saying that Moros are also Filipinos, part of a nation in the making. Through the peace process and in other ways, we seek to heal the wounds of history that have pitted us against each other, because of religion, because of historical circumstances.

And here I am thinking: So what?

Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front come together to carve up Mindanao

Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front come together to carve up Mindanao

Every Filipino has “wounds to heal”. Metro Manila’s squatters, for example, are “also Filipinos” with grievances to bring to the fore. They also are “part of a nation in the making” as it is likely most of them are employed and, as such, part of the national economy. They also have a story to tell — a history or “narrative” surrounding how they came to be squatters. What if, say, a gang of squatters guns down a representative of the owner of the land they occupy who was sent to survey the property? Will their “history” stand up in a court of law as a valid position to take in their defense?

Can you imagine the Philippine government inviting the leader of, say, the Bahala Na Gang to negotiate amnesty (for the crimes of trespassing) on behalf of Manila’s squatter community? Government apologists, in this hypothetical scenario, may argue that the Bahala Na Gang have lots of members who are residents of Manila’s sprawling squatter colonies and therefore are “qualified” to represent the community.

A parable in the Holy Bible comes to mind in light of all this. It is the one about a landlord sending a series of servants to speak to tenants who are delinquent in rent payment. The tenant kills all of them. Then the landlord sends his son. The tenant kill him too.

* * *

It’s simple, really.

What the Philippines’ so-called “academics” essentially did was use their “education” to turn the issue into an unnecessarily-convoluted one by padding it with a huge pile of irrelevant talking points.

The only real points that remain unaddressed remain the same:

(1) 44 state officers are dead.

(2) The prime suspects in their murder are people that are members of or at least closely-associated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front — a terrorist organisation with known ties with Al Qaeda.

(3) All of the prime suspects bear arms illegally and are in open rebellion against the Philippine government.

Now it is even becoming evident that the Malaysian government may also be a key player in an increasingly disturbing emerging picture — that the Philippines’ claim to the island of Borneo has been made a bargaining chip by the Philippine government under President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III.

So again:

Why is the “history” of the Moro people even “relevant” given the above simple facts of the case?

Answer that question plez.

[Photo courtesy Canadian Inquirer.]

15 Replies to “Why the Bangsamoro issue is not at all too different from the Philippines’ squatter problem”

  1. I unequivocally agree with all 3 points. I’ve been wondering that for some time myself, as it seems the administration are determined to ignore facts staring at them in dead in the eye.

  2. Excellent question (What is exactly etc.) So far I’ve yet to hear an answer to that question from the other side.

  3. I agree with the three questions, BUT
    I don’t see the relevance of the title to the entire article. The three key questions that needs to be addressed is not even relevant to the squatter problem of this country. Those two are entirely different issues. And if you add the BBL to the picture, it becomes more confusing.

    1. I thought about your question about relevance between X and Y and from my point, I guess it comes down to the legality of the issue.

      As a people (Filipino) we do not have any issues with our Muslim brethren generally. However, some of their ranks have opted to take arms and wage war against our very people and government. Now they want to talk with our government as equals for an autonomous state that they control exclusively with some oversight for the national government that comes from their own ranks (this claimed part of the BBL clause puzzles me very much and doesn’t make sense if you think about asking the very person you are suspecting of thievery to audit his finances and tell you whether they are in order or not but I digress).

      As for the squatter issue, we do not have issue with them seeking a better life, I think everyone here also strives to improve their way of life or status in life, for themselves or their family. What irks me the most is they barge in to someone else’s property set-up shop where they have no right or permission. Then when it comes to the rightful owner trying to get back his land, they also raise arms saying to stay is their right.

      In both instances, it never started right, yet the reasoning to defend their actions (end result) acts on emotion alone with no reason.

      The defense for the MILF is that the SAF troopers never informed them of an operation which doesn’t make sense as to why that was required. That is Philippine soil, why should the Philippine government bend over to seek permission to perform their duty/mandate?

      Second, they are in uniform are they not? It would be a different story if these people were in casual clothes (undercover) that would the confusion.

    2. Of course, the squatter and muslim are two diff issues. But, I am surprised you didn’t get the point of analogy.

      1. Simple explaination for me sir,give everyone that is living in the squatter area a gun or made them form an army and do what this scums are doing just to let their wants be granted from our govt maybe we won’t have people living in such poverty,how much is BBL?thanks for sharing

  4. BWAH HA HA, Aquino is using a territory,BORNEO, as a bargaining chip? WHAT? ,its is not even considered part of the RP and he is using it as a bargaining chip,LOL !!!

    Typicl Flip-tard logic? NO its worse than that,suggests absolute
    Dain-Bramage.

    1. Sabah is my closest sanity break destination from Mindanao, so I’m not sad that the Philippines has relinquished its ‘claim’ to spoil the place’s natural beauty and clean cities. Walking along the Kota Kinabalu boardwalk you can see the illegal Filipino immigrants’ pirate shanty towns set up around the (formerly tranquil) off-shore islands – they make great ambassadors for the nation!

  5. It is not the History of the Moro People that is the issue here. It is the worldwide spread of Radical Islam, by ISIS, Al Queda, etc…it is the affiliation of the Islamic Radical rebels with the worldwide Islamic fundamentalists; committing Terrorism to further their cause.

    It is their intention to form a Caliphate, like what they started in Iraq and Syria…

    These are the Valid Issues. Not showing , you have an “academic credential”, to inform people, you have a monopoly of thoughts, to understand these issues.

    We don’t want another Syria or Iraq in the Philippines.

  6. If the Moro people truly wanted peace, they never would have picked up those guns and started an open rebellion.

    Its clear they want Mindanao to be their territory. Their land. Something Jihadists have been pushing through. And seeing how bad Iraq and Iran was, this needs to be stopped.

  7. Why Mindanao?! The whole Mindanao?! the lawless ones causing trouble are in Maguindanao. Is it me or once they acquired their oh so valuable “independence” and garnered enough forces, they’ll look to expand their borders.

  8. The difference between DREAM and DESIRE is that the dream is what we build for one’s country and the desire is what we aspire to build for ourselves.

    1. A dream is a subconscious thought inside of a person’s mind. a desire is a conscious thought of a ‘want or ‘need’ of a person.

      Where did u get those definitions from?

      1. @Dos Equis:

        Maybe from the “Collective Unconsciousness” of Filipinos…Aquino and his YellowTards excluded.

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