A dialectical explanation of the Bangsamoro problem
Social injustice in the Bangsamoro is clearly manifest in the perpetual terror felt by thousands of displaced people and the day-to-day suffering of hundreds of thousands who wallow in dire poverty amid a cruel political conflict. Without a fundamental understanding of the root cause of the problem, the struggle of the Bangsamoro people is again in danger of being thrown into the dustbin of oblivion. In explaining this narrative that has so far claimed more than 100,000 lives, I will try to enunciate the empirical, the functional and the dialectical explanation of the Bangsamoro problem.
First, the empirical explanation of the Bangsamoro problem points to the negative attitude of some leaders toward the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. Some quarters blame the Bangsamoro people for their state of misery. These self-proclaimed nationalists also cite the problem of poor governance, the absence of progress, and the presence of armed groups as attitudinal self-inflicted wounds in the life of the Bangsamoro people. For instance, the poor in the Bangsamoro are wrongly judged as incapable, uneducated and violent. In this myopic view, the problem of poverty in the Bangsamoro is perceived as a matter of a collective failure on the part of its people.
The trouble with regard to this approach is that it fails to see the structural dimension of the Bangsamoro problem. For instance, the concentration of power in Manila means that resources will mostly favor the people in the capital while those in far provinces get a pittance in terms of budget allocation. The elite power players in Manila also perpetuate the despondency of people in the Bangsamoro insofar as they maintain a systemic form of patronage that mutually benefits the oligarchy and the dominant local clans and warlords. This is apparent in the unequal distribution of national wealth, which is a direct result of the lack of opportunity of the poor in the Bangsamoro to effectively participate in the design of the economic policies of the state.
Second, the functional explanation of the Bangsamoro problem refers to its perceived backwardness. The lack of dependable economic and social infrastructure in the Bangsamoro is blamed on its inability to adapt to the modern ways of doing things. Metro Manila, which has an annual growth rate of 9 percent, is viewed as investor-friendly for having the right policies. In improving the standard of living of people, policymakers look into the use of modern technology and the development of a market economy as key indicators in attaining economic progress and prosperity. The problem of poverty, following this method, is reduced to a matter of technicality.
The obvious pitfall with respect to this functionalist approach, however, is that it narrows everything to economics and so it reinforces the advantageous position of Metro Manila in terms of control and dominance in our globalized, market-driven and consumerist economy. It is splendid in its failure to show how, in terms of vision and prioritization, the Bangsamoro has been left behind. The exclusion that the Bangsamoro people experience is not something that our Muslim brothers and sisters intend. Precisely, because the central government has neglected its duty, political conflict arises naturally because of the absence of growth and sustainable development.
Third, the dialectical explanation of the Bangsamoro problem points to the reality of domination in Philippine society. The unjust political configuration in our society, which is made apparent in the massive poverty experienced by the Bangsamoro people, speaks of the oppression people suffer because their future is dictated by those who are in dominant positions of power. This is made manifest in the historical injustices that the Bangsamoro people have experienced.
The poor in the Bangsamoro are at risk of being condemned to a life in which they are perpetually subjected to political exploitation and economic alienation. For instance, this is apparent in the fact that in the Philippines, “of those that are able to enter school, completion rates are lowest in the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), with only 37 percent of students entering the elementary grade making it to sixth grade, versus 53 percent for Mindanao and 66 percent for the rest of the country.”
Latent forms of social control, disguised in the name of democratic rules, and in this case, an oppressive centralized bureaucracy, somehow characterize our modern-day existence. While there are laws that are meant to protect the welfare of every Filipino, the ruthless prejudice against the Bangsamoro people hinders them from seeking redress for their grievances. In short, the poor in the Bangsamoro are utterly powerless.
Of course, social change never happens overnight. In this case, the meaningful freedom from oppression can only be achieved by way of self-government rights in order to thwart the self-serving interests of those who espouse a false sense of nationalism.
Christopher Ryan Maboloc teaches philosophy at Ateneo de Davao University. He has a master’s in applied ethics degree from Linkoping University in Sweden.
