[asia-apec 1472] Bayan Position on the Ongoing War in Mindanao

[BAYAN]

Dear comrades and friends,

Here is Bayan's stand on Philippine government's ongoing all-out war against
the Moro people. 

We request that this paper be distributed to as wide an audience as possible. 

Thank you very much.

BAYAN
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
(New Patriotic Alliance)

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SUPPORT THE MORO PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION!
OPPOSE THE US-ESTRADA REGIME’S ALL-OUT WAR IN MINDANAO!
(Bayan’s position paper on the ongoing war in Mindanao)
June 2000


The latest round of fighting between government forces and those of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has brought to the limelight not only the
US-Estrada regime’s inept handling of the Moro question, but its fascist and
anti-people character as well.

It has been over a month since the AFP, in direct violation of the GRP-MILF
agreement of April 27, 2000 to “normalize” the situation in Central Mindanao,
attacked MILF positions in Buldon town and later the Narciso Ramos Highway.
Since then, the fighting has escalated to disaster proportions, spreading from
Central Mindanao to Western Mindanao and parts of Southern Mindanao. It has
even extended to Metro Manila through highly questionable bombing incidents. 

These bombings have sustained an atmosphere of terror, which the Estrada
regime
is using to legitimize its unabated military offensives in the countryside and
heightened political repression, in the guise of police peacekeeping
operations, in the urban centers. These terror tactics have been used by the
AFP and PNP to launch operations against so-called MILF bombing squads,
resulting in illegal arrests and searches, zoning operations and possible
rub-outs.

But way before the April 28 offensive, the AFP had in fact been girding for
war
against the MILF. According to Bayan-Southern Mindanao, no less than 17
battalions were deployed in the Moro territories in 1998, causing skirmishes
that led to the dislocation of some 110,000 residents. In September and
November 1999, the AFP conducted military operations in Cotabato, Sultan
Kudarat, Isulan and Bagumbayan, affecting at least 1,000 families, some of
whose homes were razed by government troops. 

Bayan-SM further notes that from January 25  February 28 this year, the
following AFP regiments were deployed in Central and Western Mindanao: the
25th,
39th and 40th IB, Philippine Marines and Scout Rangers all of the 6th Infantry
Division based in Maguindanao; the 41st and 81st IB of the 4th Infantry
Division
based in Cagayan de Oro City; and a contingent from the 301st Brigade of
the 3rd
Infantry Division based in the Visayas.

And in mid-March this year, according to a fact-finding report by the
Inter-Faith Movement for Peace-Western Mindanao (IMP-WM), there was a massive
deployment of Army troops in the towns of Kapatagan, Sapad and Sultan Naga
Dimaporo all in Lanao del Norte. 

Such a massive deployment of government troops necessarily led to several
skirmishes and big encounters between government soldiers and fighters of the
MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), a matter which the January 12,
2000 ceasefire agreement, the February 23, 2000 Joint Communique, and the
April
27, 2000 agreement sought to prevent or at least scale down. But obviously,
the
US-Estrada regime had other plans.

The Estrada regime’s all-out war is anti-Moro and anti-people

The government deliberately provoked the latest round of fighting as part of
its all-out war policy against the MILF and other revolutionary groups like
the
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Such a policy was vividly
expressed by Pres. Joseph Estrada during his State of the Nation Address on
July 26, 1999 where he declared that “Ang rebelyon ay hindi bine-baby, ito’y
pinipisa.” 

Estrada made that policy statement after he scuttled the GRP-NDF peace
talks in
January of that year. Later on, he unilaterally imposed a deadline  June 30 
for the MILF to enter into a “peace agreement” with the government.

But he Estrada government mouths peace even as it engages in a genocidal
all-out war against the Moro people. It reaches the height of hypocrisy
when it
declares as “peace zones” the Moro communities and MILF “camps” bombed and
overrun by the AFP. In repeatedly stating that “there is only one nation, one
flag, one government and one armed forces,” the Estrada regime betrays its
self-serving and narrow outlook, its lack of sincerity in forging a just
peace,
and its obsession to wipe out the MILF and other groups engaged in just
struggle against the reactionary state.

The Estrada regime uses the terrorist and un-Islamic actions of the AFP and
CIA- -backed Abu Sayyaf in justifying its war against the MILF. Ironically,
while it negotiates and gives in to a terrorist group like the Abu Sayyaf, the
government has refused to grant the same to the MILF to the point of imposing
impossible preconditions for the GRP-MILF talks to succeed.

The government’s militarist solution to armed conflicts spurred by historic
social injustices and requiring economic, political and cultural solutions is
reflected in the AFP’s counter insurgency program dubbed Oplan Makabayan,
later
repackaged as the government’s much-touted “comprehensive approach” to the
Communist and Muslim-led rebellions. Data gathered by the IMP-WM and the Moro
Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA) also cite Oplan Pisces Alpha and/or Oplan
Pheonix as the AFP’s particular design to either overrun Camp Abubakar and/or
crush the MILF-led rebellion by June 30, 2000, the government’s unilateral
deadline for a negotiated agreement.

With respect to the MILF, the Estrada regime’s policy is to “degrade” the
former’s armed capability, then negotiate “from a position of strength” to
impose the government’s terms. This approach relies on military offensives to
either wipe out or weaken the MILF into negotiating for surrender. 

Simultaneously, in a bid to coopt the MILF leadership and the Moro
communities,
the government plans to pour in millions worth of livelihood programs,
“development” projects and infrastructure like roads, bridges and school
buildings. As shown in the bitter experience of the Autonomous Region of
Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) and the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development
(SPCPD), the Manila government’s aim is to deceive the people with empty
promises of development, neutralize or coopt the revolutionaries, and make
money from funds allocated for its so-called development programs. 

Such an approach fails to address the root causes of the armed conflict in
Mindanao. By branding the MILF as terrorists and common criminals, the
government aims to taint the legitimacy of the Bangsamoro’s armed struggle
against the central government based in Manila. By insisting on the Philippine
Constitution as the sole framework for negotiations and by setting ridiculous
deadlines for the peace talks, the Estrada regime further exposes its own
insincerity in finding a just and lasting solution to the armed conflict.

The Moro people’s struggle is just and legitimate

Bayan recognizes the Moro people’s right to self-determination and supports
their historic struggle against foreign and national oppression, including the
Estrada regime’s anti-Moro chauvinism. The Moro people’s aspirations, today
represented by the revolutionary struggle of the MILF, are legitimate and
just,
and form part of the Filipino people’s protracted struggle for national
freedom
and democracy.

The Moro people have proven themselves to be the staunchest enemies of Spanish
colonialism and U.S. imperialism. In their quest to maintain their identity as
one nation under Islam, the Bangsamoro have resisted foreign domination,
including its colonial and neocolonial forms of authority, for hundreds of
years. 

The past regimes, all puppet governments of U.S. imperialism and the local
ruling elite, have been instrumental in the massive landgrabbing and
extraction
of resources from the Moro’s rich ancestral lands in Mindanao and Palawan.
Through acts and policies of outright subjugation, assimilation, swindling and
legal sleight-of-hands, the central government has robbed the Moro people not
only of their rich heritage but also of their rightful place in history and
nation building.

Such an atrocity continues to this day. In the guise of protecting the
Constitution and preserving the Republic, the Estrada regime’s military
offensives in Mindanao is aimed at protecting the interests of the
imperialists
and the local ruling classes. At present, the U.S.’s economic and
politico-military interests permeate Mindanao. At least 19 major corporations,
many of them multinational firms, operate in the Muslim areas of Basilan, Sulu
and Maguindanao. The Liguasan marsh is touted to have one of the biggest
deposits of natural gas, while other Moro-occupied territories have yet to be
exploited for their rich mineral, water, land and forest resources.

On a bigger scale, the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines  East Asian
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) looms as the next strategic region for monopoly
capitalist expansion. As early as now, the U.S. wants to project a strong
military presence in the area, as attested to by its construction of a
military
airfield and naval port in General Santos City.

 It is perfectly justified, then, for the Moro people, the MILF in particular,
to engage in armed struggle against a government that has not only denied
their
right to self-determination, but which has played a central role in their
continued oppression.

 Bayan, together with all national democratic forces, supports the Moro
people’s struggle for self-determination and against foreign and national
oppression. In the same vein, Bayan opposes the fascist, all-out war policy of
the Estrada regime in Mindanao.  It calls for peace negotiations between the
GRP and MILF without preconditions, such as the MILF’s surrender to the GRP’s
constitution and political authority.

 These calls not only help the Moro people’s just cause and deals a big
blow to
the U.S.-backed Estrada regime. They also strengthen and develop the
anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, and anti-feudal struggle of the Filipino
people. In this sense, the Moro people and the MILF are allies of the ongoing
national democratic mass movement.

 Long live the Moro people’s struggle!

 Long live the struggle for national democracy!
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	 B A Y A N
	 Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance
	 No. 23 Maamo Street, Sikatuna Village
	 Quezon City, PHILIPPINES							      	
	 Telephone: (63-2) 435-9151       Telefax: (63-2) 922-5211
	 Email:   <bayan at iname.com>
	 Bayan webpage URL:                                 
	 http://www.bigfoot.com/~bayan-phils 	      	
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