THE signing of the Bangsamoro peace agreement last March 27 was widely heralded here and abroad not only as a triumph of the Aquino administration that put an end to the four-decade violent armed conflict in Muslim Mindanao.
Most importantly, it is also trumpeted as a victory for the Bangsamoro people estimated to be the five million Muslim Filipinos who have long suffered from historic injustice and government neglect despite its rich natural resources.
The Bangsamoro actually refers to people who at the time of Spanish conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of the Southern Philippines. Their descendants and spouses are recognized as Bangsamoro.
The Bangsamoro has now assumed a new meaning to refer also to the new autonomous political entity that shall be soon created under the newly signed peace agreement. It is not an Islamic state, but a secular government where the basic rights of all people will be protected.
Etymologically though, Bangsa means nation, whereas Moro derives from the term “Moors” used by Spanish colonialists to refer to Muslims. This new peace agreement for the Bangsamoro ushers in a new hope for all Filipinos— Christians and Muslims alike.
Based on government figures, the armed conflict took the lives of an estimated 120,000 people on both sides in a predominantly Catholic country and Muslim-dominated region in the 4 southern part of the Philippines.
It was also estimated that as many as 750,000 people were displaced due to the sporadic violent armed clashes between the government troops and the members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), one of the biggest Muslim secessionist groups in the country.
This protracted armed struggle with Muslim groups has stunted the economic growth of Mindanao where power transmission towers and lines, bridges and road links were destroyed and businessmen were targeted for extortion, if not at all fell victims to kidnap-for-ransom.
But after 17 long years of peace negotiations, peace finally is now at hand, while progress and development are just around the corner not only with the support of the Aquino administration but also of the international donor communities.
It is heart-warming to note that generally, most people here in Metro Manila and elsewhere around the country, there is an overwhelming sense of optimism that Muslim Mindanao is back on the government’s radar of attention.
And it is rightly so because it is about time that the region is given attention it truly deserves and its people are given the chance to develop its rich natural resources and play a major role in the economic development in the whole country.
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