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Philippines Muslim Filipinos
Muslims, about 5 percent of the total population, were the
most significant minority in the Philippines. Although
undifferentiated racially from other Filipinos, in the 1990s they
remained outside the mainstream of national life, set apart by
their religion and way of life. In the 1970s, in reaction to
consolidation of central government power under martial law,
which began in 1972, the Muslim Filipino, or
Moro (see Glossary)
population increasingly identified with the worldwide Islamic
community, particularly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Libya, and Middle
Eastern countries. Longstanding economic grievances stemming from
years of governmental neglect and from resentment of popular
prejudice against them contributed to the roots of Muslim
insurgency
(see The Moros
, ch. 5).
Moros were confined almost entirely to the southern part of
the country--southern and western Mindanao, southern Palawan, and
the Sulu Archipelago. Ten subgroups could be identified on the
basis of language. Three of these groups made up the great
majority of Moros. They were the Maguindanaos of North Cotabato,
Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao provinces; the Maranaos of the
two Lanao provinces; and the Tausugs, principally from Jolo
Island. Smaller groups were the Samals and Bajaus, principally of
the Sulu Archipelago; the Yakans of Zamboanga del Sur Province;
the Ilanons and Sangirs of Southern Mindanao Region; the
Melabugnans of southern Palawan; and the Jama Mapuns of the tiny
Cagayan Islands.
Muslim Filipinos traditionally have not been a closely knit
or even allied group. They were fiercely proud of their separate
identities, and conflict between them was endemic for centuries.
In addition to being divided by different languages and political
structures, the separate groups also differed in their degree of
Islamic orthodoxy. For example, the Tausugs, the first group to
adopt Islam, criticized the more recently Islamicized Yakan and
Bajau peoples for being less zealous in observing Islamic tenets
and practices. Internal differences among Moros in the 1980s,
however, were outweighed by commonalities of historical
experience vis-à-vis non-Muslims and by shared cultural, social,
and legal traditions.
The traditional structure of Moro society focused on a sultan
who was both a secular and a religious leader and whose authority
was sanctioned by the Quran. The datu were communal
leaders who measured power not by their holdings in landed wealth
but by the numbers of their followers. In return for tribute and
labor, the datu provided aid in emergencies and advocacy
in disputes with followers of another chief. Thus, through his
agama (court--actually an informal dispute-settling
session), a datu became basic to the smooth function of
Moro society. He was a powerful authority figure who might have
as many as four wives and who might enslave other Muslims in
raids on their villages or in debt bondage. He might also demand
revenge (maratabat) for the death of a follower or upon
injury to his pride or honor.
The datu continued to play a central role in Moro
society in the 1980s. In many parts of Muslim Mindanao, they
still administered the sharia (sacred Islamic law) through the
agama. They could no longer expand their circle of
followers by raiding other villages, but they achieved the same
end by accumulating wealth and then using it to provide aid,
employment, and protection for less fortunate neighbors.
Datu support was essential for government programs in a
Muslim
barangay (see Glossary).
Although a datu in
modern times rarely had more than one wife, polygamy was
permitted so long as his wealth was sufficient to provide for
more than one. Moro society was still basically hierarchical and
familial, at least in rural areas.
The national government policies instituted immediately after
independence in 1946 abolished the Bureau for Non-Christian
Tribes used by the United States to deal with minorities and
encouraged migration of Filipinos from densely settled areas such
as Central Luzon to the "open" frontier of Mindanao. By the
l950s, hundreds of thousands of Ilongos, Ilocanos, Tagalogs, and
others were settling in North Cotabato and South Cotabato and
Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces, where their influx
inflamed Moro hostility. The crux of the problem lay in land
disputes. Christian migrants to the Cotabatos, for example,
complained that they bought land from one Muslim only to have his
relatives refuse to recognize the sale and demand more money.
Muslims claimed that Christians would title land through
government agencies unknown to Muslim residents, for whom land
titling was a new institution. Distrust and resentment spread to
the public school system, regarded by most Muslims as an agency
for the propagation of Christian teachings. By 1970, a terrorist
organization of Christians called the Ilagas (Rats) began
operating in the Cotabatos, and Muslim armed bands, called
Blackshirts, appeared in response. The same thing happened in the
Lanaos, where the Muslim Barracudas began fighting the Ilagas.
Philippine army troops sent in to restore peace and order were
accused by Muslims of siding with the Christians. When martial
law was declared in 1972, Muslim Mindanao was in turmoil
(see Marcos and the Road to Martial Law, 1965-72
, ch. 1).
The Philippine government discovered shortly after
independence that there was a need for some kind of specialized
agency to deal with the Muslim minority and so set up the
Commission for National Integration in 1957, which was later
replaced by the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural
Communities. Filipino nationalists envisioned a united country in
which Christians and Muslims would be offered economic advantages
and the Muslims would be assimilated into the dominant culture.
They would simply be Filipinos who had their own mode of worship
and who refused to eat pork. This vision, less than ideal to many
Christians, was generally rejected by Muslims who feared that it
was a euphemistic equivalent of assimilation. Concessions were
made to Muslim religion and customs. Muslims were exempted from
Philippine laws prohibiting polygamy and divorce, and in 1977 the
government attempted to codify Muslim law on personal
relationships and to harmonize Muslim customary law with
Philippine law. A significant break from past practice was the
1990 establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,
which gave Muslims in the region control over some aspects of
government, but not over national security and foreign affairs
(see Local Government
, ch. 4).
There were social factors in the early 1990s that militated
against the cultural autonomy sought by Muslim leaders.
Industrial development and increased migration outside the region
brought new educational demands and new roles for women. These
changes in turn led to greater assimilation and, in some cases,
even intermarriage. Nevertheless, Muslims and Christians
generally remained distinct societies often at odds with one
another.
Data as of June 1991
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