Different? - INQ7.net

The link above is an article printed in the Youngblood column of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The essay writer is my niece, an 18-year old college student.

Being a minority is quite difficult, especially for the young. When I was in grade school, I remember wondering why we Moros were the only Muslims in the world. My schoolbooks and the teachers never spoke of Islam or Muslims in other parts of the world while we studied all about Mother Spain, England and of course, Mother America.

In high school, my dream was to go to a country where restaurants do not serve pork. It was quite exasperating to keep on telling the waiters not to include pork or bacon or ham in the viands.

I have grown tired of defending the Muslims or Moros or Islam everytime the Christians talk disparagingly about Muslims, Islam and Moros. In classes, lectures, seminars, conferences and every forum, there will always be a Filipino who will say something bad about the Muslims, Moros and Islam. And in the Philippines, the only Moros who make it a point to answer such disparaging remarks are my brothers, sisters, some nephews and nieces and myself.

Many Moros, even so-called leaders, simply shut up. In fact, many Moro politicians and politician wanna-bes are quite good at sucking up to the Filipino powers-that-be in the hope of getting a job.

At the sidebar, there is a link to a site referred to az Injustice at the University of the Philippines. At this site, I wrote about my experience at the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication regarding a teaching post at the Film Institute and the Broadcast Communication.

The Film Institute chose 3 people over me. One was already kicked out as aast. professor from the University because he did not finish his M.A. studies on time. He has absolutely NO background in Film Studies or Media Studies.

The other one was pursuing her MA in Creative Writing and probably would never finish her MA on time. She had no teaching experience whatsoever. Her grades are mediocre.

The third one is a foreigner — German national.

On the other hand, my qualifications are:

M.A.in Media Studies (Film) from the UP Film Institute — the first Filipino graduate of the program GPA of 1.03 (probably a record at UP) (Grading system in Philippines is : 1.0 = Excellent, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 up to 3.0=Pass, 4.0=Conditional, 5.0=Fail) GPA of 1.0 for Film Courses High Pass (Highest Grade) rating for Comprehensive Exam The College�s Best Thesis of the Year. President of the Graduate Students’ Association Lecturer of Film and Communication courses at UP Film Institute College of Mass Communication Lecturer of Communication and Journalism courses at Kalayaan College Lecturer at Ateneo’s Brave New Films Seminar et cetera…

Over at the Department of Broadcast Journalism where I was also invited to apply, they chose somebody who was finishing her MA in Sociology and without any background whatsoever in Media Studies or Broadcast Communication.

In the website, http://jamalashley.5000megs.com/ , I posted the various letters I submitted to the Board of Regents.

I had posted the address of this website in our class e-group and many of my former classmates had seen this already. I have also notified the webmaster of the UP website about this so he can tell his bosses about it.

Recently, it seemed like my site was hacked. All my files were erased. I can only guess who the culprit is. I have uploaded it again so people can see what is truly happening at the the supposed citadel of academic excellence.

The UP officials — upto the Board of Regents — never allowed me to present my case to them in person and in the presence of the other party. There was simply NO DUE PROCESS. If one cannot get due process from UP — the supposed bastion of freedom and critical thinking — then one cannot get due process anywhere in the country.

When I think of the mediocre faculty members and officials of our great University, I could not help but feel sad at the sorry state of affairs the country had gone into. It is so nauseating.

Many friends say this was a clear case of Moro discrimination. Perhaps. For me, this is clear proof that the UP system needs an overhaul — total structural change. Otherwise, UP education will surely go to the dogs.

Arroyo wants Philippines to be OIC member

Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is now in Saudi Arabia on a 4-day state visit. She is asking the Saudis not only to invest in the Philippines but also to support its bid to be a member of OIC.

Ever since America handed over the Moro sultanates to the Philippines, the Moros have suffered tremendously. From being masters of their lands, they are now outnumbered and financially outclassed. The Filipino carpetbaggers, better known as settlers, had stolen the Moro lands and made billions out of Moroland’s resources.

The Moro ties with the Arabs have been very close, with Arabs coming to Mindanao since time immemorial. My own great-grandfather came to Mindanao in the late 19th century. He returned to his native land (Sultanate of Lahej in Yemen) in the 1900’s after the Americans occupied Mindanao. But other Arabs kept on coming.

Until recently, Arab Moros (esp. the women) married only among themselves. My grandfather was the exception when he allowed his daughter (my mother) to marry a non-Arab Moro. Some of my mother’s Arab cousins became spinsters because they couldn’t find a worthy Arab match. (The Arabs trace their lineage only through the male line while the Moros trace their lineage through both lines - patrilineal and matrilineal.)

In the 1960s and earlier, it was normal for Arab boys to stow away in ships carrying Moro pilgrims on their return voyage. And the Moros gave these Arabs homes. That was when Saudi Arabia was still poor.

The Arabs have always been welcome in Muslim Malay homes in Mindanao, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

But when OIL made the Arabs rich, instead of helping the Muslim Malays, they made the American, European and even some Christian Filipinos rich. They also gave jobs to millions of Filipinos. In fact, the Arabs prefer to hire Christian Filipinos over Moros because Filipino workers obey their Arab masters like slaves while the Moros always demand to be treated as a Muslim — with human dignity.

Yet the Filipinos hate the Arabs. When a Christian friend of mine returned after a year of work in Saudi Arabia, she didn’t want to talk to me anymore. She said she hated the Arabs and since Arabs and Moros are one and the same (according to their way of thinking), she hated me, too. I told her to quit her job. But she refused. Up to now, after almost 20 years, she is still working there. (I graduated from the University of Petroleum and Minerals (now King Fahd UPM) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. But I went back home, for better of for worse. )

It is the misfortune of Moros that in the Philippines, anything bad attributed to Arabs are attributed to them, too. Because Bush called the Arabs terrorists, the Moros are now called terrorists by the Filipino majority.

Now, after stealing the lands, the patrimony, the sovereignty of the Moros; after killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions of Moros; the Philippine government has the gall to bid for OIC membership – with an observer status – to replace the MNLF.

The MILF’s Salah Jubair wrote a book Bangsa Moro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny. The OIC officials should read at least this book before deciding on Arroyo’s request.

In June 2000, I wrote this article regarding the book launching of Mr. Jubair’s book:

Moros in the House of Peace

                                         By Datu Jamal Ashley Abbas

Moro and Christian students and leaders, including some Indonesians, gathered at the University of the Philippines’ Balay Kalinaw (House of Peace) to launch the latest edition of Salah Jubair’s “Bangsa Moro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny” on May 25, 2000. Salah Jubair is the nom de guerre of a high-ranking officer of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Since the MILF is currently very busy in Mindanao, the author could not make it to the launching. He was, however, represented by former Con-Con delegate and Congressman Datu Michael Mastura, who wrote the foreword in the latest edition.

Invited to critique the book were Human Rights Commissioner Datu Nasser Marohomsalic and Prof. Satur Ocampo, former head of the National Democratic Front (NDF) negotiating panel. Commissioner Marohomsalic criticized, among others, some historical slips in the book. For example, he said that Sultan Qudarat’s capital, Lamitan, is not the same as the present-day Lamitan in Basilan. In Mr. Jubair’s book, a footnote mentioned that according to Dean Cesar Adib Majul, Lamitan is now Baras in Malabang, Lanao del Sur. Mr. Marohomsalic informed everyone that Sultan Qudarat’s Lamitan is not Baras but the town next to it, Ramitan. The Human Rights Commissioner, who is also a budding historian, complained that Sultan Qudarat’s fight was barely mentioned. He said that the Maranaos, who consider Qudarat as one of their own, have songs and ballads commemorating the exploits of the great Sultan.

Prof. Satur Ocampo, on the other hand, praised the book as “easy to read, thus doing its job of imparting the hard facts of this endless tyranny.” He said that he has used the book as a source material for his recent articles on the Moro issue. He added that the media reporting today on the Moro issue “is so biased.” He agreed with the author’s views and said that “along with the Moros, the Filipinos have endured tyranny in various hues. Thus the common bond.”

The atmosphere at the Balay Kalinaw was anything but peaceful. The room was full of streamers with angry slogans like ” Itigil ang Karahasang Militar Laban sa Mamamayang Moro!” Young singers rendered intermission numbers. Chikoy Pura gave a good intense rendition of “Rage!”, a song that refrained Dylan Thomas’ famous lines — ” Go not gently into the night / Rage against the dying of the light.”

As expected, the open forum did not have much to do with the book. Everybody was interested in the real issue — the present Mindanao crisis. Prof. Ocampo pointed out the irony of events: Nur Misuari and Hashem Salamat went their separate ways allegedly because the latter was religious and the former was secular. Mr. Misauari, who was a co-founder of the Kabataang Makabayan (KM), was even accused of being Communist. Yet, at the height of Chairman Misuari’s fame, he “spurned” any alignment with the NDF. And now, Chairman Salamat’s MILF has a “local-level” alignment with the NDF.

When asked about the facts about the Mindanao hostilities, Datu Mastura answered that Bishop Quevedo of the Bishops Conference of the Philippines had stated that the military initiated the hostilities. Notre Dame University president Fr. Eliseo Mercado, head of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission of the Peace Talks, had also made the same statements. Datu Mastura asserted that these two highly respected priests could not possibly be lying.

When the question of referendum came up, Datu Mastura asked Prof. Macapanton Abbas, Jr., who was in the audience, to do the honor of answering the question. Prof. Abbas, past president of the National Social Action Council (NASAC), gave a rather comprehensive answer. He said that historically, the Moros were never under Spain so that the Treaty of Paris was illegal when it came to Mindanao. The Americans realized this so they entered into a separate treaty with the Sulu Sultan. During the American occupation, the Department of Mindanao and Sulu was created to differentiate it from the rest of the Philippine Islands. He also rued the fact that it was the so-called nationalist, Senator Claro M. Recto, who sponsored the “Colonization of Mindanao Law.” He reminded the Human Rights Commissioner that it is the Commission’s duty to report all the crimes being committed in Mindanao — crimes against humanity, war crimes, international crimes, etc. He said that the crime of genocide does not have to be committed to be indicted. Mere intent is enough. In sum, Prof. Abbas, Jr. agrees with the MILF that referendum should be called, but not as presented by some senators.

Datu Mastura said that the he read in the papers that there is a military plan called Operation Black Crescent that is aimed to annihilate Camp Abubakar. Commissioner Marohomsalic said that he told some government officials than an all-out war would surely contain so many human rights violations against civilians. And the world can not long ignore such violations. Therefore, Mindanao might become another East Timor. And East Timor is now independent.

It was a very interesting and informative night. Atty. Mastura chided the young students for being very lame. He said that during their time, together with UP student leaders Abbas, Jr. and Musib Buat, students did not take things sitting down. A Moro lady student, spokesperson of the Moro Christian Peoples’ Alliance, gave the closing remarks, which was full of youthful passion. Another Moro lady student, Satriaya Candao, emceed the program.

Later in the evening, I asked Datu Mastura what would happen if the military would destroy Camp Abubakar. He said that Camp Abubakar is like a nest of bees. If one would destroy it, the bees would all fly in separate directions and would continue to sting and bite. And they would be more difficult to catch.

The book is available at the bookworms’ haven, the Popular Bookstore located at MIT Bldg, Doroteo Jose St., Sta. Cruz, Manila.

***============================** Published in the Philippine Post on 9 June 2000

The Philippine Supreme Court today declares that while Proclamation 1017 was valid, the acts committed under its name — warrant-less arrests, raid on office of Tribune newspaper, etc. — are unconstitutional.

This is the third strike for President Gloria M. Arroyo. The Supreme Court earlier ruled Executive Order 464 and Arroyo’s Calibrated Prevention Response as unconstitutional.

As usual, Malacanang moved to obfuscate the issue by thanking the Supreme Court for declaring PP 1017 as constitutional.

But the SC was very clear that while the proclamation itself was constitutional, the acts committed under PP107 and General Order No. 5 were unconstitutional.

I have written two articles on 1017. One was a review of the Malacanang’s 1017 video documentary published in the Philippine Journalism Review and another one in this month’s issue of Mr. & Ms. magazine.

The magazine article is titled Murrow, McCarthy, Clooney and Freedom. It is a review of the film Good night and Good luck. It relates the McCarthy era in the US to Arroyo’s era in the Philippines.