|
Philippines The Moros
The Philippines has had a long history of Moro insurgent
movements dating back to Spanish rule. Resistance to colonization
was especially strong among the Muslim population of southwestern
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. With pride in their cultural
heritage and a strong desire for independence, Moros fought
Christian and foreign domination. Spanish control over the Moros
was never complete, and the Muslim struggle carried over into the
United States colonial era. The Moros earned a reputation as
fierce fighters in combat against United States troops
(see War of Resistance
, ch. 1). Following independence, Filipino Muslims
continued to resist Manila's rule, leading to widespread conflict
in the 1970s.
More immediate causes of insurgency rose out of the
increasing lawlessness in the southern Philippines during the
late 1960s, when violence associated with political disputes,
personal feuds, and armed gangs proliferated. In this climate of
civil turmoil, longstanding tensions between Moro and Christian
communities escalated. Already in competition over land, economic
resources, and political power, the Moros became increasingly
alarmed by the immigration of Christians from the north who were
making Moros a minority in what they felt was their own land
(see Muslim Filipinos
, ch. 2). By mid-1972, partisan political
violence, generally divided along religious lines, gripped all of
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. After martial law was declared
in September 1972 and all civilians were ordered to surrender
their guns, spontaneous rebellions arose among Moros, who
traditionally had equated the right to carry arms with their
religious heritage and were suspicious of the government's
intentions toward them.
In its initial phases, the rebellion was a series of isolated
uprisings that rapidly spread in scope and size. But one group,
the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari,
managed to bring most partisan Moro forces into the loosely
unified MNLF framework. Fighting for an independent Moro nation,
the MNLF received support from Muslim backers in Libya and
Malaysia. When the conflict reached its peak in 1973-75, the
military arm of the MNLF, the Bangsa Moro Army, was able to field
some 30,000 armed fighters. The military responded by deploying
70 to 80 percent of its combat forces against the Moros.
Destruction and casualties, both military and civilian, were
heavy; an estimated 50,000 people were killed. The government
also employed a variety of nonmilitary tactics, announced
economic aid programs and political concessions, and encouraged
factionalism and defections in the Muslim ranks by offering
incentives such as amnesty and land. The government's programs,
and a sharp decrease in the flow of arms from Malaysia, set back
the Moro movement. In 1976 the conflict began to wane.
Talks between the government and the Moros began in late 1976
under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference,
a union of Muslim nations to which the Moros looked for support.
The talks led to an agreement between the Philippine government
and the MNLF signed in Tripoli that year providing for Moro
autonomy in the southern Philippines and for a cease-fire. After
a lull in the fighting, the truce broke down in 1977 amid Moro
charges that the government's automony plan allowed only token
self-rule.
The Moro rebellion never regained its former vigor. Muslim
factionalism was a major factor in the movement's decline.
Differing goals, traditional tribal rivalries, and competition
among Moro leaders for control of the movement produced a threeway split in the MNLF during the late 1970s. The first break
occurred in 1977 when Hashim Salamat, supported by ethnic
Maguindanaos from Mindanao, formed the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front, which advocated a more moderate and conciliatory approach
toward the government. Misuari's larger and more militant MNLF
was further weakened during that period when rival leaders formed
the Bangsa Moro Liberation Organization, drawing many Mindanao
Maranaos away from the MNLF, dominated by Misuari's Sulu-based
Tausug tribe. The Bangsa Moro Liberation Organization eventually
collapsed, giving way to the Moro National Liberation FrontReformist Movement. Moro factionalism, compounded by declining
foreign support and general war weariness, hurt the Muslim
movement both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.
Moro fighting strength declined to about 15,000 by 1983, and
Muslim and government forces only occasionally clashed during
Marcos's last years in office.
In keeping with her campaign pledge of national
reconciliation, Aquino initiated talks with the MNLF--the largest
of the three major factions--in 1986 to resolve the conflict with
Muslim separatists. Discussions produced a cease-fire in
September, followed by further talks under the auspices of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference. In January 1987, the MNLF
signed an agreement relinquishing its goal of independence for
Muslim regions and accepting the government's offer of autonomy.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the next largest faction,
refused to accept the accord and initiated a brief offensive that
ended in a truce later that month. Talks between the government
and the MNLF over the proposed autonomous region continued
sporadically throughout 1987 but eventually deadlocked. Following
the government's successful diplomatic efforts to block the
MNLF's latest bid for Organization of the Islamic Conference
membership, the MNLF officially resumed its armed insurrection in
February 1988, but little fighting resulted.
The government, meanwhile, pressed ahead with plans for
Muslim autonomy without the MNLF's cooperation. Article 10 of the
1987 constitution mandates that the new congress establish an
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. In the November 1989
plebiscite, only two Mindanao provinces--Maguindanao and Lanao
del Sur--and two in the Sulu Archipelago--Sulu and Tawitawi--
opted to accept the government's autonomy measure. The fragmented
four-province Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, with its own
governor and unicameral legislature, was officially inaugurated
on November 6, 1990.
Armed activity by the Moros continued at a relatively low
level through the late 1980s, with sporadic clashes between
government and Muslim forces. The military still based army and
marine battalions in Moro areas to maintain order in 1990, but
far fewer units than it had in the 1970s. (Four battalions were
on Jolo Island, a Moro stronghold, down from twenty-four at the
rebellion's height.) Most of the endemic violence in Muslim areas
was directed at rival clans, not at the military's peacekeeping
forces. The Moro movement remained divided along tribal lines in
three major factions. Misuari's MNLF forces in the Sulu
Archipelago totaled 15,000, and the Mindanao-based Moro Islamic
Liberation Front and the MNLF-Reformist Movement fielded around
2,900 and 900 troops, respectively. Weakened by these divisions,
Muslim infighting, and the formation of an autonomous region, the
Moro armies did not appear to be an imminent threat. Still, the
MNLF--which did not recognize the autonomous region--showed no
sign of surrendering, and it promised to remain a potent military
and political force in the southern Philippines.
Data as of June 1991
|
