MANILA â On June 9, some 3000 Moros (an ethnic group in the Philippines) from 45 villages in Metro Manila held a prayer-rally at the Maharlika village in Taguig. The rally was hosted by the Pagragn National Movement, a new coalition of Moro groups that was formed recently in response to the harassment of Muslim communities in Metro Manila and other parts of the country. Pagragn is Moro dialect meaning assistance given to the poor and oppressed.
Maharlika village, a sprawling Muslim enclave in the midst of a military camp and detention centre, was raided by the police a week before the rally. Heavily armed police troops ransacked houses and took away suspects without arrest warrants. Twenty-six people were arrested and charged in relation to a spate of bombings that have wracked Metro Manila's malls in the past few months. One of the bombings claimed the life of a janitor at the largest shopping centre in Manila.
Sultan Panny Pangandaman, head of the Pagragn movement, organised the rally with support from Muslim clergy and various Moro groups. Posters were put up announcing the event and calling on everyone to make a stand against the harassment of Muslim communities, the arrest of the Maharlika 26 and the escalating war in Mindanao.
On the day of the rally, the only mosque in Metro Manila open for prayers was the one in Maharlika village. As early as 8am, Muslims from various places started to arrive. The prayer-rally assembled at the park facing the Maharlika mosque. A truck bedecked with placards and streamers denouncing the harassment was used as a makeshift stage.
Police cars and trucks of army soldiers stationed themselves just outside the village perimeter.
Leaders of various Muslim groups in Metro Manila spoke. Wives of some of the 26 arrested villagers also came on stage and took an oath on the Koran that their husbands were not the bombers as claimed by the police.
Other organisations invited included the Moro-Christian People's Alliance and the Sosyalistang Partido ng Paggawa (Socialist Party of Labour). On entering the rally site, the SPP contingent held a brief march and unfurled banners that said, Stop the War! Pull-out AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] Troops in Mindanao!, and Free the Maharlika 26!. These elicited repeated shouts of Alahu, Akbar! (Allah be praised!).
A mock referendum to determine whether Moros wanted autonomy, federalism or independence was held during the rally. The poll result showed that they were overwhelmingly for independence.
Continuing harassment
As the rally was closing, reports arrived of the harassment of a Muslim community in Quiapo, Manila. Two Muslim men in Manila to have their papers processed to allow them to work overseas were killed in cold blood by police. The cops claimed it was a shoot-out, and that the two slain Moros were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The autopsy a week later of the two victims found that they had not fired guns.Other forms of harassment and discrimination against Muslims in Metro Manila include the introduction of an identification card system that identifies the Moro. This racist system is now being implemented in Pasig City, and other cities and municipalities are expected to follow suit.
The harassment of Moros and Muslim communities in Metro Manila is expected to escalate as Philippine President Joseph Estrada continues his all-out war policy against the Moros in Mindanao.
Estrada has ignored the call of the Catholic bishops to declare an end to the war. He reiterated his three conditions: for the MILF to end its campaign for secession; stop its terroristic and criminal activities, and to call on its fighters to lay down their arms. Some bishops have called these conditions unrealisable and absurd and counter-productive to the peace process.
On June 19, a new anti-war coalition will be formed to address the escalating harassment of the Moro people. The SPP and various progressive groups â including the Pagragn National Movement and the Cordillera People's Liberation Army, which is fighting for self-determination in the north of the Philippines â will host a press conference to announce a million signature campaign and other activities against the war in Mindanao, and against the discrimination against Muslims in the Philippines.
BY SONNY MELENCIO
[The author is the chairperson of the Socialist Party of Labour in the Philippines.]