Saturday, March 15, 2008 The birth of the Bangsa Moro nation By Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez and Froilan Gallardo
RAHIB Kudto was not even born yet when soldiers in Corregidor Island massacred 28 young Muslims in 1968, but he was eager to see where it all happened.
Kudto, 30, was excited as the caravan of six vehicles bringing other Moro youth leaders entered Gate 3 at the Philippine Port Authority in Barangay Macabalan, Cagayan de Oro City late Thursday afternoon.
When the caravan reached Manila next week, over 100 youth leaders, many of them younger than Kudto, from Maguindanao, Lanao, and Sultan Kudarat provinces will gather. They will make the sentimental trek to Corregidor Island to mark the 40th anniversary of the Jabidah massacre.
"I have always dreamed to see where the massacre took place. Corregidor is full of history for our people," Kudto said.
Kudto and the other youth leaders will retrace the final moments of the 28 young Muslims in Corregidor Island. They have over 40 years of Moro struggles to learn.
There were different accounts on how the massacre took place. Some say the victims, no more than 30 years old, were executed because they mutinied against their officers in protest over the delay in the payment of their allowances.
But a more popular version of the story is that these young Moros, hoping to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), found out that their mission was to invade Sabah, where many of their fellow Muslims, friends, and families are living in peace. They protested and decided to back out of the training.
Since the mission was a top military secret, the trainers do not want it exposed. They brought the protesting Moro youths to a tiny airstrip, in groups of 12, and subsequently gunned them down.
A lone survivor, Jibin Arula, lived to tell the horrible story that eventually fanned the Bangsa Moro struggle for self-determination.
A Senate investigation led by the late Senator Benigno Aquino tried to pin the crime on former President Ferdinand Marcos but was unsuccessful.
This incident gave birth to various Muslim groups fighting for self-determination including the Muslim Independence Movement of Datu Udtog Matalam, Ansar el Islam of former Senator Ahmad Domocao Alonto, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari -- who formed the Bangsa Moro Army, and later, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of Hashim Salamat.
For Muslims, the struggle for self-determination is just. Almost all Muslim dominated provinces in Mindanao are categorized as "the poorest of the poor."
Biases from the Christian majority, ignorant of the rich Muslim history and culture, also add fuel to a simmering discontent in Muslim Mindanao.
"And so there I was reading history where I could not find mention of my ancestors' names or heroes from the Moro groups. Was the discrimination real or imagined? After college, I tried to seek a job as a broadcaster in Manila. One executive asked me to remove my veil. During another interview, one didn't even ask me anything despite my degree from UP while my unveiled seatmate from an exclusive girl's school was asked and probably accepted. But other Moros face worse challenges to their identity. They have to change their Muslim names to get accepted as taxi drivers in the metropolis or have shabu planted on them for being a successful Muslim businessman. One bearded Maranao could not travel to the US," wrote renowned peace advocate Samira Gutoc Samir, co-convener of the Young Moro Professionals Network.
Kudto said at the end of their "discovery journey", they would ask the Philippine government to sign a lasting peace agreement with the MILF.
"As we start this caravan, we want to make our voices heard by our policymakers and decision makers who assume the authority to decide for our future. Coming from war-affected communities, our hearts shatter at the sight of the children dying in evacuation centers. We lament the dismal condition of young people missing the basic right to education as their communities are held hostage by armed conflict," Kudto said.
The caravan will go around Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo to hold forums and youth encounters. It is set to reach Metro Manila by March 17.
