Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity : Autonomous Rights in the Land of Bandits

I think you have to read all the rest that the article/blog wanted to tell. It's not malicious. I have not denied any facts about the war in Mindanao. When one hear me saying Mindanao here in the Metro who in reality knew nothing about Mindanao except the island is scary and it is literally land of bandits. I hope it will not just be you to say it "STOP" Mindanao is not a land of bandits it's a land of free. I remember my USM schoolmate name-called Mindanao in her award winning oratorical piece as "LAND OF BANDITS, LAND OF FREE: by Maricel Alave, USM College of Arts Sciences". We did not hear any ill-response about what she have written and recited. As a Mindanaon I don't need to get insecure if my place shall be known to many as Land of Bandits, I'd rather ask and know why? Could be because of the unending ancestral domain issues, politically motivated war, cultural invasion, social issues? The war has not ended for ages. Kidnapping did not stopped. MILF is a must-have in the articles to be always in the broadsheet that we buy. Even if the concentrations of war and faction are in few provinces like Sulu, Basilan, North Cotabato(my dad's province), Maguindanao plus the bombing in almost all through out the key cities in random target, but still I love Mindanao and I am not hurt when my dear Mindanao is called that way. I am a proud Mindanao born but I resent having realized that peace or unity is just a piece of argument until now. Don't be despaired to have known you came from Mindanao and this land is not bandit free. Instead look further in the issue and become vigilant that despite the fact Mindanao is listed in the Travel Order of the immigration offices, but think about how we feed the multitude because we harvest tons of agricultural crops.

I don't know but i don't tolerate such derogatory label.

Should we call Manila land of pickpockets? We shouldn't and the same goes for our province. That's the problem with people living in negativity. Manila's got the Rizal Day bombing and some unreported (..meaning not highly publicized) bombings but did you go to the extent of calling The Capital the Land of The Bandits?

Thanks for posting your response. I am glad that you are trying to be aware of what are going on in the country. It is our right to know what is it all about the BJE MOA and the Charter Change. It is our right to know whether the issue is good or bad.

Thanks for responding! That I also agree! What's the point having an agreement when neither these ill-fated residents whether rebel or not has no clear idea at all about Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity. It is a parallel faulty repetitive error of what we had with the Charter Change. These uneducated ignorant people can speak out but they can not read about but they wanted to understand on the goings on. There must be a political willingness on top of this issue. Start out educating people before signing up a MOA secretly! Political will that doesn't deliver tricks, no biases whatsoever to put an end to this issue over the decades. The issue here is the gap communicating with the grassroots. These grassroots can only access TV sets in the suburbs because they do not have their electricity and the appliance. Not even a transistorized radio. The wholesome information that reaches their ears are broken and filthy already. The idea of announcing the issue to the Mindanaons through a reputable resource people to middle with the issue withstanding this considered root cause "communication gap" minus the greed of power among those who are already seated in the highest position. GRP Panel is useless as I would evaluate. The terminologies used are more than useless because they are into English. I wanted to help out on the translation for free from Tagalog and English to Bahasa, Tausog, Cebuabo, Maranaw and Bagobo. Waste of time spent on debates in the Congress and Senate that are in good grammar, correct usage etc when in fact a lot of us in the Philippines can not even straighten up our simple statement...worse it even wasted lives and livelihood. It destroyed the reputation of the whole of Mindanao and not only that, the whole world knew that we are Filipinos but we can not sing our National Anthem in unison. Having the whole BJE information within each minute detail the lay-man's term is the first step our government must do. Don't sign up without reading, understanding, consulting, and knowing the repercussions.

Other people think that Mindanao is an island with 100% Islamic population or Muslims. But in real situation the Muslims are outnumbered by us, non-Muslims that is around 80%. The development and infrastructures we could see in Mindanao are the fruit of the efforts of peace loving people in Mindanao. The civil development in the war stricken areas like Maguindanao has been all through the years crude and up to now the ways of life never changed. It shows the real picture of what it is like to have personally visited Shariff Aguak and Pagalungan. Whether with or without the BJE, the MOA, the GRP and other means. These situation within these 3 provinces in Mindanao will continue for ages. They wanted to drive us away from the land they called theirs. I think it's not for them to keep it livable but make a landmark of bandits. They wanted Mindanao the land of free. Would this be possible when we feel the odd impact of hostilities going on there now? For those who have no single idea about Cotabato, Sulu, Lanao and Maguindanao the spanning lushes of green in Mindanao is a perfect agro-capital in Asia, how I wish! The Muslim-Christians peace loving people sow for the rebel Muslims to reap. The hostility often occurs on pre or post harvest period. Or when the rebel groups are hungry. They abduct for the money and buy new armaments. This has been like this for more than my age. Looking at the government projects for these provinces, they are in the top priority. President ERAP was about to inaugurate the Irrigation system when the all-out war proclamation went ahead. It pulverized the Camp Abubakar, Rajamuda, and Inug-ug. These that I mention here are the principal beneficiaries of the Maridagao Irrigation. It was supposedly an ample, supply of water to the whole of Southwest-Central Mindanao, sadly not spared of the land-mines. What must the government do with them? Free them through the BJE MOA? Peace process and negotiation spent millions to resolve disputes between the government and the rebel groups. The USAID poured millions of dollars in the Muslim dominated areas purposely to educate the american way LOL :D! Where is the ingenuity here? Provide livelihood training and community development services. Despite these efforts the output is useless. In one of the Barangays where USAID, CANAID, AUSAID and JICA created a pilot community where they installed potable drinking water deep-well. The deep-well is still there up to now but where is the electric pump and the bestank? Stolen of course! You can not give diamonds to the pig.