A call for genuine peace in Mindanao

On Aug. 21 the U.S. Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN USA, an alliance of 12 Filipino organizations in the United States, condemned the U.S.-backed Arroyo regime’s initiatives to engage and derail a so-called “peace process” with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an armed group representing the self-determination interests of the Bangsamoro people concentrated in the southern region of Mindanao.

The alliance called on the U.S. government to back off from intervening in the domestic political and economic affairs of the Philippines, once a direct U.S. colony and still heavily dependent on U.S. government influence and dictates. A U.S. institution called U.S. Institute of Peace has been facilitating so-called “peace talks” for “ancestral domain conflicts” in Mindanao, while U.S. military presence continues to increase in the region.

“At the heart of the matter is oil and land,” states BAYAN USA Chair Chito Quijano. “Mindanao land houses some of the largest oil and natural gas deposits in the Asia-Pacific region. Multinational corporate interest to acquire and control these reserves has been the real reason for armed conflict in the Mindanao area, with increased U.S. and Philippine militarization and foreign mining and land-grabbing for decades, not religious conflict or ‘terrorism’ as projected by Malacañang (Philippine presidential palace) or the U.S. government.”

“The U.S. government is also notorious in its history of annihilation and genocide of the indigenous peoples of North America and repression against racial minorities. It cannot be sincere in building peace with or conceding to the aspirations of Bangsamoro people. Just look at its track record,” Quijano states.

Quijano also states that the historic fight of the oppressed Bangsamoro people for autonomy from the Philippine republic is being exploited by the Arroyo and U.S. governments to push for charter change and federalism in the Philippines.

“By issuing a bogus ‘memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain,’ the Arroyo clique is shamelessly and covertly pushing to change the Philippine constitution. There is no intention to cultivate peace with the people of Mindanao on Arroyo’s part. As an abuse of her executive powers, Arroyo’s provisions, with the blessing of the U.S. government will include an extension of her unpopular, dictatorial term,” Quijano adds.

Despite peace rhetoric espoused by the U.S. government and the Arroyo regime, recent Philippine military offensives in Mindanao have displaced over 150,000 people, both Moro and non-Moro. Armed conflict is also on the rise in the region.

BAYAN USA has been active since its 2005 founding in demanding an end to U.S. intervention in the Philippines, and was part of a broader campaign to restrict U.S. military aid to the Arroyo government last year. The alliance also vowed to take the issue of U.S. intervention in the Philippines to the newly elected U.S. presidency.

E-mail: secgen@bayanusa.org