[asia-apec 1474] REVISED Version of Bayan's Stand on the Mindanao War

[BAYAN]

Dear comrades and friends,

Here is the REVISED version of Bayan's position on Philippine government's
ongoing all-out war against the Moro people. Please take note of the
changes and the slogans included at the end of the paper. 

Again, we request that this paper be distributed to as wide an audience as
possible. 

Thank you.

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)
16 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.” (A rebellion pampered like an infant; it
must be crushed.)

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 one of the staunchest enemies
of Spanish colonialism and US 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.

Stop the US-Estrada regime's genocidal war against the Bangsamoro!  
Uphold the Moro people's right to self-determination! 
Justice for all victims of human rights and IHL violations! Free the
Maharlika 26! 
Struggle for peace based on justice; resume GRP-MILF peace negotiations
without preconditions! 
Oust the fascist US-Estrada regime!



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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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