Bangsamoro: History, Geographical location, Culture (Research Paper Sample)

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Bangsamoro
The Bangsamoro, also known as the Moro people are known to be a population of Muslims who are ethnically indigenous. They form the largest non catholic group in the Philippines having comprised of about 5% of the Philippine population. The Moro are comprised of various ethnic groups that came to gather and form the Bangsamoro as the autonomous community. The Moro term came about way back in the pre colonial period where the Spaniard would use the word Moors when they find the Muslims as the ethnic indigenous in the Panay and Cebu islands. This paper will be looking at the development of the Bangsamoro community with a focus on their History, geographical location, culture, and politics.
History
The history of the Bangsamoro goes way back to the 13th century where the Muslim missionaries arrived at the Persian Gulf. According to MacKenna (1998),this included one Makhdum Karim who tried his best to convert the population into Islam. By 1457, there were Sultanates that had already been created. It is important to note that most of the inhabitants of pre-hispanic Philippines practiced both Animism and Islam. The arrival of the Spaniards in 1521 made Philippines a Spanish empire. With a keen interest on Colonizing the Islands, the Spaniards saw the need to make incursions into the Moro territory. They did this by coming up with military stations with missions of catholic decent, thus attracting Christianized natives of the civilian settlements. These included the Cotabato and Zamboanga.
When they Bansamoro realized that they had been threatened by these actions, they made a resolve to challenge the Spanish government. According to Kamlian (2014), they started raids on Coastal towns with Christian majority. This conflict was to later take hundreds of years. Finally in the 19th century, the Bangsamoro in the Sultanate of the Sulu recognized the sovereignty of the Spanish officially though three areas remained loosely controlled by the Spaniard since their sovereign power was limited to the garrisons and military stations. After getting their independence from the United States, the Bangsamoro who were discriminated by the Philippine government, their ancestral lands were given to corporations and settlers by tenure laws (MacKenna 1998). This eventually gave rise to the infamous armed secession movements. Up to date, they are still fighting to get their autonomy, especially after the formation of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They have been turned into a stateless nation as a result of being pushed outside their ancestral lands.
Geographical location
The Moro are known to inhabit Sulu, Mondano and various other parts of the Southern Philippines. As a result of the continuous movement of people right from the 16th century to the present day, the Bangsamoro can be found in major cities of Philippines like Cebu, manila and Davao city (Cloman 1923). It should be notable that in the last half of the 20th century, most of them migrated to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Other newer communities can be found in other areas like Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu and Brunei.
The territory most inhabited by the Moro was known as the Bangsamoro region. This territory was widespread over the provinces of Compostela valley, Basilan, Davao de Sul, Maguindanao, Lanao de Norte,South Cotabato, Palawan Sangarawi and Zamboaangda Valley (MacKenna 1998). It is also notable that the former British territory in eastern North Borneo which is being disputed between Malaysia and the Philippines has also been seized by the Bansamoro republic. In fact, the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro defines Bangsamoro as those whom at the point of colonization and conquest were the original inhabitants or the natives of the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanaoas well as its environs like the islands of Palawan.
Culture
Basically, the Bangsamoro subscribe to the Islamic way of life. According to Cloman (1923), this is because it is the region that the first Islamic missionaries pitched tent in the area. It is common to find large mosques dotted all over the region. Based on the fact that they subscribe t the Islamic law, issues like fornication and alcohol are strictly forbidden. They do not eat any pork products but were known to keep various other animals like cattle and goats. The Hajj is their main ritual since they believe that this will connect them more to God. Their women are expected to cover themselves with a veil since their sanctity should only be known by their husbands (MacKenna 1998). Men on the other side would be seen wearing the Muslim skull cap or the Kupya. Since they are related to the Malayo ethnic group, they tend to share the same cultural practices. It is therefore safe to say that Islam is the main reason for their uniqueness and they would stand out from the rest of the Philippines natives. They were unified under one leadership under the sultanates and one God.
One notable aspect about the Bangsamoro culture is the fact that their lives revolve around music of the Kulintang. This is a gong instrument that looks like the drum but it is wholly made using bronze or even brass which is readily available in the Southern Philippines (Taya 2010). It voice varies based on the speed that is used to hit it and includes the Tagonggo, Binalig, and the Kapanirong and many more that are common in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Politics
Since time immemorial, there have been fighting for their independence and the need to be recognized. According to MacKenna (1998), this explains the rise of separatist forces like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that were fighting for their land to protect it from outside forces. This created a conflict between them and the government forces. Their struggle for independence dates back to the Spanish period all the way to the Moro rebellion to present day. In fact, some historians consider the Spanish-Moro war to be one of the longest during the anti-colonial times. It instilled some deep rooted feelings of resentment between the Moro and the Filipino. As much as the Moros can be deemed to have emerged victorious during this time due to the fact that they were able to preserve their faith, freedom and ancestral land, they were still battered. This was seen in the final blow of imperialism by the US. The Philippine government wanted to assimilate the Moro and the Catholics into one culture, something that the Moro were completely against (Cloman 1923). It was also during this time that concessions were made to the Bangsamoro where by the Moro population were discriminated and received exemptions from national laws that prohibited polygamy and divorce which was already part of the Moro culture. In fact in 1977 the government dared to go a step further and harmonize the customary law of the Moro with that of the national law. Naturally, this did not go well with the Moro and still escalated the misunderstanding between the Moros and the government. According to Taya (2010), the Islamic insurgency that came up during that time still exists to date. During that time, the main aim of the MILF was to establish an autonomous region for the Moros where the national government policies would not necessarily have to e imposed on them (Saligan 2014)...