Found this review I did of a thesis titled MOROS-MARCOS REGIME OF CONFLICT: Its Impact on Philippine Sovereignty and International Relations with Muslim Countries by Wang Jong Yoo , Institute of Islamic Studies, University of the Philippines Sept 1990 :
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The very title of the thesis is quite misleading. It gives the impression that the Moros’ conflict was only with the Marcos government. In fact, the writer himself wrote, “The ‘Moro Problem’ had always been persistent throughout different regimes.” (p.3) If it merely wanted to focus on the period of the Marco regime, then it should have stated instead: “The Moro Conflict during the Marcos regime.”
Mr. Wang’s study “seeks to find out (how) such conflict affected the Philippine vis-à-vis the political stability and relations with other Muslim countries.” (p.3) He used the following hypotheses to guide his study:
1. There are significant relationships between ethnicity of the Muslims and the conflict with the Marcos government;
2. The Islamic world significantly influenced the conflict between the Moros and the Marcos government;
3. The Moros-Marcos conflict has no bearing in Philippine sovereignty and relations with Islamic countries;
4. Secessionist goals of the Muslims were in the way of the peaceful resolution of the Moros-Marcos conflict.
In physical / chemical scientific researches, one usually has hypotheses and then one tests the validity of these hypotheses. But in humanities / social sciences, one usually has problem statements and with the help of theoretical frameworks, answers these statements through research.
Having hypotheses as guides to a social science research seems quite incongruent. The hypotheses color the whole research such that all data gathered are seen through these hypothetical prisms. Naturally, the results would tend to validate these hypotheses.
Mr. Wang stated, “As a result of the colonization of Mindanao, the socio-demographic status of the Moros changed from majority to minority.” (p.19) Again, this statement is misleading because it is incomplete. When did the change occur? If the Moros became minority in Mindanao in the 1600’s or 1700’s or even 1800’s, then maybe the Christian government’s assertion that the Christian settlers have all the rights in Mindanao may be granted. But the fact of the matter is that the Christian settlers came in great numbers only during the Philippine Commonwealth and that they did not become majority in Mindanao until the 1950’s/60s.
Mr. Wang wrote, “The distrust and hostility which for four centuries had characterized relations between Muslim Filipinos on the one hand and Christian Filipinos, intensified in the latter part of the 1960’s.” (p.27) Again this gives the impression that for four centuries, the Moros and the Indios (now called Christian Filipinos), were living in one nation-state and never came into conflict in the level of the Marcos regime experience. This is utterly erroneous and panders to the Philippine Christian assertion that the Moros and Filipinos (who refuse to be called Indios now) have always lived under one “country” even during the Spanish era.
In Chapter III, the Discussion of Results and Findings, Wang wrote, “Most historical documents show that the primary factors accounting for the conflict between the Moros and the Marcos government have historical roots.” (p.33) Has there ever been a secessionist movement in the world, and even in history, that does not have “historical roots”? If the roots were merely economic, then these groups would not demand separate states but would rather control those states, as in communist movements.
In his survey, he concluded “Ethnicity has not been featured in their (the respondents’) understanding probably due to its abstract nature” (p.46). But in his Questionnaire, there were subsections for Economic, Political/Military, Socio-Cultural, Religious (Ulamas), Foreign Relations but NO statements about ethnicity. If Wang has been more discerning, he would have deduced ethnic issues from statements about socio-cultural, religious as well as in the other categories. Perhaps the concept of ethnicity is too abstract for Mr. Wang to truly comprehend.
Mr. Wang reported, “In June 1973, a delegation from Rabitat al- alam al-Islami (Muslim World League) came to the Philippines. Omar Saggaf, an Arab Singaporean, said “it was better that they (the Moros) remain a strong religious community with the Philippine nation.” (p.48) He wrote further that Indonesian, Malaysian, Moroccan and the Pakistani Inamullah Khan of the Mu’tamar al-Alam al-Islami (Muslim World Congress) “took a stand similar to that of as-Saggaf of the Rabitah.” (p.83) This certainly gives the impression that the Moros did not get international moral support.
The events that followed this visit showed that the OIC supported the Moro struggle. My family hosted several meetings and dinners for the Muslim foreign delegations in the 1970s, and even as a high school kid, I remember being moved by the fighting speeches of the delegates, especially the Moroccan and Senegalese, all supporting the Moro Islamic cause. In 1977, after the Haj, I met Rabitah people including Omar Naseef. I also met Inamullah Khan of Pakistan and Mohammad Natsir of Indonesia during a solidarity meeting of Moro leaders in Jeddah attended by, among others, Congressman Lucman, Gen. Pendatun, Senator Alonto, Gov. Tarhata Alonto-Lucman, Hashem Salamat, my brother Jun Abbas and my sister, Hadja Potri Zorayda Abbas-Tamano. Misuari, who was in Jeddah at that time, refused to attend, although some MNLF officers were there. The foreign Muslims were all supportive of the Moro struggle. (I was still in college at that time. It was a semestral break.)
Wang also wrote that in Aug. 1973, the Committee of Four (Libya, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Somalia) arrived in the Philippines and that “in the words of the Philippine government through the DFA, the members of the mission ‘were gratified to note the efforts being exerted by the national and local leadership to preserve the social, cultural and religious traditions of the Muslim communities in the Philippines.” And that the committee “left the country fully convinced that no persecution or genocide was being committed against the Muslims.” (p.52)
Couldn’t Mr. Wang notice a propaganda statement? Was he doing an academic thesis or an anti-Moro propaganda? At any rate, the OIC meeting the following year called for peace talks between the MNLF and the government. If the foreign Muslim governments did not believe in the Moro struggle, how then could it have survived and even caused Mr. Marcos so much money and effort. As Mr. Wang noted: “From 1972 to 1975, the Philippine Army was reportedly spending P 1 million pesos a day to support the war in Mindanao and Sulu. Annual military expenditures rose from P 518 million to P 3.5 Billion in the same period.” (p.88) He went on to note that “Hundreds of thousands were killed and properties amounting to millions of pesos were destroyed.”
If there were no persecution and genocide, who were the people killed and whose properties were lost and why did the Philippine government spend so much money?
It must also be noted, which Wang also mentioned, Saudi Arabia and Iran cut off oil supplies to the Philippines in the 1970s.
Mr. Wang’s documents came from government sources. That was during Martial Law and freedom of the press was absent during that time. Anything that came out in the press was pure propaganda.
Mr. Wang summed up his study thus: “cultural consideration and political aspirations of the Moro people were incongruent with the minimum concessions Marcos government can give. Hence, resolution of the conflict remains a myth until the present.” (p.94) How did Wang conclude that cultural consideration as important when his respondent could not even comprehend “ethnicity”? Is ethnicity different from culture?
What does he mean by the sentence “resolution of the conflicts remains a myth”? Did anybody say that the conflict was solved, but in reality it was not, and therefore it was just a myth? Was his title “Moros- Marcos regime of Conflict” such because he thought that the conflict was resolved during that period – perhaps by the Tripoli Agreement?
And finally, Wang concluded: “By and large, the Moros-Marcos conflict has shakened (sic) the stability of the Philippine government, especially in view of the role of the militant MNLF. The martial law and the military policies of the Marcos regime are indications of the impact of the Moro problem.”
His conclusion is ambiguous. How strong did it shake the government’s stability? Was it true that as one Philippine general said, “We almost lost Mindanao”? Did it shake the government militarily, economically, or politically? Were Martial Law and the military policies the only indications of the Moro problems’ impact? What about the internationalization of the Moro problem?
The study is not well researched. Wang relied mostly on press clippings. He should have interviewed the players themselves as most of them were still alive in 1990.
Theses are supposed to show something new to the world. This thesis paper really has nothing new to show – perhaps new to the writer (Wang) but certainly nothing new to the world. Worse, it even perpetuates misconceptions.