Page 2 of
2 Moro
leader looks for united
front By Andre
Vltchek
Why provoke China? The government
is spending so much money on modernizing warships.
For what purpose? Is it to go to war with China on
someone else's behalf? Why not improve Philippines
instead? There is so much misery there.
Philippine soldiers (photo
by Andre Vltchek).
AV:
You were one of the leaders of MNLF for so many
years and decades. Did things change? Is the MNLF
aiming at autonomy now?
CB:
First we called for independence. Then Islamic
countries pressed us. They told us try autonomy
first and go from there.
Ideally, we
wanted independence of all Mindanao. We felt that this
was an essential goal as we
were kept behind by Manila - absolutely behind. I
personally would have settled in the past for
Mindanao being first just one state inside the
country, similar to the arrangement they have here
in Malaysia. You give the capital 20% to 30% of
the natural resources, etc. But after achieving
such an arrangement, I would still be pushing for
full independence.
AV: Would
it be a Muslim or a secular state?
CB: It would be, and would
have to be, a secular state. There are now more
Christians in Mindanao than Muslims. It would be a
state for all of us: for Christians, Muslims, and
Buddhists, and for Chinese people. In our ranks,
we have Christians, and many Chinese support us.
AV: What political and
economic system do you envision for it?
CB: A mixed system.
Definitely not a purely capitalist system - look
at the Philippines; we don't want that. I wish for
open socialism.
AV: What
about the Marxists? Would you cooperate with the
Marxist guerillas in Mindanao?
CB: Of course! Around 1976,
I met and incorporated some of their fighters.
More precisely, we joined forces. At that time I
was in command of some 70 men and their group in
that particular area had only seven or eight
people. We always see them as our allies. Those
who are fighting against the Philippine
government, that brutal and corrupt power, are our
allies.
AV: When you say
"brutal and corrupt power", do you have in mind
the Maguindanao massacre [of November 23, 2009]?
CB: Exactly. That was one of
the most terrible examples of how corrupt and
brutal the power in the Philippines is. It was a
terrible story of the Ampatuan clan trying to
demonstrate to President [Gloria Macapagal] Arroyo
just what it could do in its own province. And the
message was: we can do anything! Because, although
the West calls the Philippines a "democracy", the
rulers can do anything they feel like to their own
people. In Maguindanao, people who went against
the Ampatuan clan got massacred; women, including
journalists, were raped before being murdered. The
women were shot in their genitals and then
decapitated. Fifty-seven people, including 34
journalists, died. Once you go against the rulers,
this is what happens to you in the Philippines.
AV: I was once working in
Gingook and Cagayan de Oro, in Mindanao. I was
invited by one of the mightiest ruling clans in
the country, because I was a friend of one of the
greatest Philippine musicians, who happens to
belong to it. At a dinner party, members of the
clan began discussing the upcoming elections: whom
they are going to pay, whom they are going to
bribe, and how much money will be involved. They
knew who I was; some even read my books before
they invited me. But they had no fear. They were
certain that nothing could endanger their power
and their plans. They were even naming names of
their allies in the government at the table, in
front of me.
CB: You are
right: they have absolutely no fear! They buy
votes, openly. Everybody knows how much is paid
and by whom. It is utter madness.
A Philippine military patrol (photo by
Andre Vltchek).
AV: How
many people in Mindanao support the MNLF?
CB: Ninety-nine percent of
the Muslims. Now we are in the process of
explaining to our Christian brothers that ours is
not a Muslim cause, and that not all the Muslims
are bad.
AV: How bad is
anti-Muslim propaganda and discrimination in the
Philippines?
CB: Bad, very
bad. And it has been spread for centuries. What
they don't say is that before the Spaniards came
to colonize us, all these were actually Muslim
lands, even what is now Manila. Then they began
destroying our culture, attacking our religion.
They forced us to become Pablo or Pedro, instead
of Ibrahim or Abdullah. In the past, Spanish
people called us "pirates". But who are really the
pirates here? Aren't pirates those who invade your
country and then plunder it?
Under Marcos,
Christian militias called Ilaga began chasing away
Muslim people from their homes in Mindanao. There
were also large resettlement schemes and many land
grabs of Muslim lands, designed to make Muslims a
minority in their own areas.
AV: How many people have
died in the war so far?
CB:
We don't have exact numbers, but even a long time
ago we calculated that well over 100,000 civilians
must have died. Often we had no time to bury our
dead - they were sometimes eaten by dogs. It was
terrible. So just in the 70s, over 100,000 people
died. In Zamboanga Norte in 1976, I could only
count human heads - 68 heads in all - because the
government forces had burned the bodies. All of
the victims were highlanders from the Kalibugan
tribe. Some skulls were big, those of adult men
and women, but some were tiny - those of the
babies. And this was just one massacre of so, so
many!
[Ferdinand] Marcos [president
1965-86] introduced martial law during his
administration. We lost more fighters during that
period, but the government of Philippines had
three times heavier losses than we did.
AV: So what is it going to
be now - a war or negotiations?
CB: We have to join forces -
all of us who are fighting for independence and
justice. But we have already fought so much! We
fought during Marcos; once I fought for six
months, day and night, without any rest. I am
tired. I am tired of fighting. I am 67 years old.
I know that this war could go on and on, for
another 100 years.
I
know the culture of the people in this part of the
world. What frightens me is that one day some
religious fanatics could influence our young boys.
It can happen, you know, if there is no solution
to the conflict. It would be extremely dangerous
scenario. AV: At 67, are you
still actively involved in the struggle?
CB: Yes, I am still a member
of the Central Committee and Commander of the
Special Forces of MNLF. But I am now actively
looking for peaceful solutions. The peace
agreements we had are not solid. I want all the
opposition to join, to unite, to negotiate.
Andre Vltchek is a novelist,
filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered
wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His
book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific
- Oceania - is published by Expathos. His
provocative book about post-Suharto Indonesia and
market-fundamentalist model is called
Indonesia - The Archipelago of Fear (Pluto).
After living for many years in Latin America and
Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in
East Asia and Africa. He can be reached through
his website.
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