‘Quo vadis,’ Bangsamoro?

Congress has sounded the death knell for the hope of the Bangsamoro for a true autonomous homeland, and many are now asking: Quo vadis, Bangsamoro?

As one who has a personal stake in the peace saga, I’d like to share my Monday-morning quarterbacking in an attempt to make sense of the conundrum: how an administration-sponsored peace measure pursued passionately by no less than the President and his minions at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process failed to hurdle the juggernaut of Congress dominated by his party mates and allies. I cannot imagine this scenario being played out in the past administration, which adroitly wielded its vast financial and political resources.

There is no single and simple explanation for this debacle. It is an amalgam of historical facts, culture, tribal divide, a mindset against the Moros, an unintended bloodbath, and above all the Divine (Allah’s) will.

That there is deeply-rooted mistrust of, if not antipathy toward, Moros is a historical fact made more pronounced by the Dansalan Declaration of 1935 (“The murmurs of a Moro,” Opinion, 4/27/15), where the Moro datus informed the US government that the Northern Filipinos (Christians) were their historical enemies. That mistrust persists to this day. Time has failed to heal the wounds of the past. Maybe mistrust is in the DNA of non-Moros.

A review of some provisions of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law will clearly show that it heavily favored the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. In the creation of the Transition Commission, for example, the mandate was that the majority of its members shall come from the MILF and the chair shall be a member of the MILF (Mohagher Iqbal). This can be accepted as given by many Moros; after all, it was the MILF that signed the peace agreement with the government. But this did not sit well with non-MILF Moros who had sacrificed as much in terms of the lives of their loved ones and their properties in the name of merdeka (freedom).

The tribal and ethnic divide, which was eloquently described in a commentary by Arturo Tiu (“Inclusive leadership,” Opinion, 5/9/15), contributed as much to the fiasco. Tiu posited that the three major tribes of Moros—the Maranaw, Maguindanao and Tausug—have been historically at odds and their internecine rivalry deep-rooted. No wonder the proposed BBL failed to muster the full support of all Moros, especially the Tausug and some Maranaw; they feared being marginalized in the formation of the new Bangsamoro government.

MILF vice chair Ghadzali Jaafar has been quoted in the media as saying that the Aquino administration lacked political will in pushing for the enactment of the proposed BBL. Until now, many Moros are questioning the sincerity of the Aquino administration vis-à-vis the peace measure and wondering whether Malacañang had “flexed enough muscle” to have the bill approved apart from the President’s meeting with legislators. Is it because of the perception that he is a lame-duck leader? But why didn’t he certify the bill as an urgent administration measure to cut the long legislative timetable short?

But over and above all these observations is the fatalistic acceptance that what happened was Divine (Allah’s) will and Murphy’s Law in action. The Mamasapano bloodbath was the last nail on the coffin of the proposed BBL. As pointed out aptly by Senate President Franklin Drilon, the Mamasapano incident claimed not only 44 Special Action Force policemen but a 45th victim, the BBL (excluding the number of mujahideen and civilians). After that incident, even unconcerned Filipinos took a second serious look at the BBL and found that there is more to it than being a peace measure and its constitutional infirmities, especially with the recalcitrant mujahideen untethered by a strong leadership.

And so, quo vadis, Bangsamoro?

The Moros are at the crossroads of history and in their fight for autonomy. It is our hope that they will be endowed with wisdom in the face of the debacle. Violence should never be the alternative. War is not the solution to war; it begets more war. The road to Darul Salam (land of peace) is thorny and often Pyrrhic. Islam is the total submission to the will of Allah SWA. As true Muslims, we must accept what happened. Maybe it is not yet time for us to enjoy a true autonomous Bangsamoro homeland.

But let us keep the flame of hope burning. We have other options. The mechanism provided by the United Nations Charter is worth exploring. But let’s leave our faith to Allah Almighty, who knows what is best for the Filipino Moros.

Macabangkit B. Lanto ([email protected]), UP Law 1967, was a Fulbright fellow to New York University for his master’s and doctoral studies. He is a former assemblyman and speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Autonomous Region 12, a former congressman, ambassador to Egypt and Sudan, undersecretary of tourism, and undersecretary of justice.