September 21, 2013 From Mark’s Corner: Who are those Muslims in Mindanao ? Growing up, when I hear Mindanao, I would directly associate that region with Muslims. And when I hear Muslims, I would directly associate that race with Mindanao. Today, after 40 years, that cliché remains unequivocally true. Apparently, there remains a lingering question as to the authentic ownership of Mindanao. In 1521, Portuegese explorer Fedinand Magellan discovered the Republic of the Philippines. The Muslims claim that they discovered the bloc of Mindanao, the third major region of the Philippines, as early as the 1300’s. For the last 700 years, however, both the Muslims in Mindanao and the non-Muslim Filipinos have co-existed in Mindanao. In the same time frame, the Muslims too in Mindanao have waged an endless “armed crusade” against the Philippine Military over their ancestral dominion of Mindanao. The annals of history seem to point at the Muslims to be the “aboriginal peoples” of Mindanao. For the past 700 years, they lived on the produce of the jungles and the wildlife, which their religion taught them to be their sacred abode. Though their ways are nomadic, they nevertheless hold formidable ties to the land in which they live. It would be extremely impossible now to detach them from their prehistoric religious beliefs. Moreover, the Muslims long claimed to be the majority population of Mindanao; however, today, they seem to stand at the minority count. While the influx of immigrants may have reduced their population overtime, that issue remains to be a nominal one today. What remains vital today is that all residents of Mindanao ought to “co-exist” with one another, whether Muslim or otherwise. And, instead of prying over one’s citizenship or race, all Mindanaoans ought to center on the contributions of each individual, irregardless of his race or citizenship. As a Republic, we ought to embrace and accept the Muslims as a “special cultural group” and a “minority group” as well. As such, we must reach out to them with the most basic government assistance we could provide, such as Housing, Medicine and Food, among others. Let us not amputate them from our [Filipino] community; instead, we ought to embrace them and absorb them into our society. Let us accept them for who they are, being “Muslims” as the race they chose. Let us respect their dissimilar views and beliefs and equally honor them as our Muslim brothers. With respect to the arms issue, the “right to bear arms” has been a long fundamental Constitutional right, and I will not take that away from any Filipino citizen, Muslim or otherwise. In California, reservation lands inhabited by the Native Indians were bequeathed to them by the government, since they believed these lands to be their sacred abode. In addition to recognizing their rather unusual culture and beliefs, the California Government went as far as granting them an “exclusive license” plus the start-up capital to operate Casinos in their respective ancestral domain. Like California, let us not exclude the Muslims in Mindanao (who are like the Native Indians in California), because of their religious beliefs. Rather, let us embrace them as a unique minority group. Article contributed by: Mark Lee Esparrago
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 05:20:37 +0000
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