Maranao people suffers historical oppression over land issue while Marawi open doors to normalcy

By Jun Enriquez

Aerial view of the eastern part of the conflict zone of Marawi City smoke emissions after a bomb exploded from the government war plane air strike.

  

Iligan City - Maranao are called people of Lake Lanao situated in Lanao del Sur with capital City of Marawi. The Maranao people claimed the land they live as their ancestral domain since time immemorial including Marawi City.  Ancestral domain is one of the big issues brought up by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) during negotiations with the Government, triggered the armed conflict in Mindanao in 2008 due to the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

The local terrorist Maute group inspired by the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) siege Marawi on May 23 and on the same day Martial Law was declared by President Duterte to suppress lawlessness and violence. The continuing Marawi crisis is still uncertain to end due to sporadic attack and counter attack on both sides.     

The nature Lake Lanao at the eastern side of Marawi

In an exclusive interview with Sultan Abdul Hamidullah Atar, Sultan of Marawi, said that radicalization and ideological conflict are some reasons behind the Maute group inspired by the Islamic State militants launched armed confrontation against the government. The most crucial issue behind the Marawi crisis is the military reservation of the land in Marawi City containing an area of at least 8,407 hectares, and at least 80 per cent equivalent to at least 6,700 hectares is Military reservation, by virtue of Presidential Proclamation of President Quirino in 1953. Marawi city was developed after the Second World War. The kilometer zero land mark in Mindanao established in Marawi City by the Americans. As time goes by Marawi City became populated and considered as an urban area and later on dubbed as the Islamic City of Marawi because at least 95 per cent of the population are Muslims.

Some legal opinions states that Presidential proclamation can be amended or repealed through executive or legislative powers. Marawi became populated and developed into urban area for more than 70 years. If the land problem will continue to exist, the Maranao people of Marawi will also continue suffering from historical oppression and injustice. Sultan Atar said he hopes this problem will be resolved the soonest time so that extremism and radicalism will no longer claim any reason to exist.

Marawi Sultan Abdul Hamidullah Atar

Sultan Atar said for seven days after the Maute group siege Marawi, being the Sultan of Marawi he is respected of all sectors in Muslim society, attempted to dialogue with the leaders of the extremist to vacate Marawi. The intention is to dialogue with them in a peaceful and civilize manner to free the area from any eventualities. Transpired during the dialogue is to agree on negotiation with the President to be brokered by the MILF with the Sultanate and Ulama sectors but the proposal was neglected. The crisis continued and the Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the evacuation centers also continued their sufferings from prolong poor living conditions.

There were Fatwas issued by the Ulama group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the group called “Darul Ifta” and the Ulama group in Lanao del Sur, condemning the act of violence done by the Maute group and ISIS. Sultan Atar said, the Sultanate is hoping to balance the statements of the Ulama because there were also cases of violations committed by the Government forces. The Sultanate condemned both parties equally on the act of atrocities victimizing the innocent civilians. There are still at least 300 people and hostages inside the conflict zone.

Stereotyping, bias and discrimination were some of the endpoints that Maranao people in Marawi labeled as supporters of the Maute group. Sultan Atar said in reality all of the Maranao people in Marawi were victims of the conflict with almost half a million people were displaced.

The failure of intelligence and information about the presence of Maute in Marawi City is the responsibility of the government not to blame the civilians. The government has intelligence funds coming from the taxes of the people to be used to gather information and protect the people. Militarization is not the only solution to the Marawi crisis but the root-cause of the problem should be uprooted and talked in a dialogue.   

Sultan Atar said the Sultanate will conduct its own investigation on the impact of the atrocities affecting the lives of the victim civilians and came up with recommendations to compensate the damages inflicted by Marawi crisis. He said the damaged is not only relational, lives and properties but it is also generational. “We don’t know what kind of story we will tell to our children and children’s children” Sultan Atar said.

Sultanate Enthronement rites

The political dynamics in Marawi is different to any local governments in other places of the country. The culture of Marawi and Lanao del Sur is homogeneous in nature. They have their own perspective in life, culture, belief, creed and practices of the way of life still very strong. The Sultanate system is recognized and respected by the different socio-cultural forces in Muslim communities even the non-Muslims in Mindanao. However, the Government didn’t recognize the role of the Sultanate system politically including the Ulama group and other informal state actors.

About rebuilding Marawi, it’s not only the government will do to rebuild Marawi but also to include the presence of the civil society especially the affected civilians on Marawi crisis. The created Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) agreed to include the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in all of its sub-committees. The repairs of private and government infrastructures must include the Madrasas and Mosques. The TFBM shall maintain transparency in the implementation of rebuilding Marawi City to avoid disagreements among the beneficiaries.

BGen. Restituto Padilla (photo: RTVM)

Indeed, Sultan Atar said the Marawi crisis will possibly affect the ongoing Government and MILF Peace Process. The MILF shall provide sound explanation on the Marawi crisis why they were silent on the issue. A plebiscite will probably at stake in Marawi and Lanao del Sur as soon as the Bangsamoro Basic Law or enabling law (BBL) will be approved. However, the people in Marawi and Lanao del Sur supported the Government and MILF peace negotiations in past.

In another development, Brigadier General Restituto Padilla in a press conference in Malacanang just recently which video file posted in social media expressed concerns on the Road to peace with three steps to consider. The first step is about the situation that the areas around Lake Lanao and nearby municipalities are slowly getting back to normal. Opening the road to normalcy, the IDPs are already allowed to go back to areas in Marawi City which are declared safe by the Military far from the main battle area. Padilla said that the LGUs were provided with the list for places cleared for the return of the IDPs. The opening of classes in Mindanao State University (MSU) main campus in Marawi City already started on August 22, 2017. The students were provided with service buses to transport from different places in going to MSU. The MSU campus is tightly provided with security to guarantee the safety of the students.   

The MSU entrance

The second step was about the presence of 41 Mayors from various Local Government Units (LGUs) signed a manifesto declaring war against the local terrorist, Maute group. The issuance of two Fatwas by the Grand Mofti in the ARMM and the MILF condemning the acts of violence and prevent the spread of extremism and radicalism. Padilla said the Maute group is not a religious group that has no authority to issue Fatwa. He said “Islam is peace” and the Ulama group is Muslim religious leaders who are authorized to issue Fatwa or condemnation against peace.

Area cleared at the heart of Marawi City going to MSU

The third step is the updates of Military operations in Marawi City. Padilla said that the military operation in the area is progressing. The main battle area has reduced to half a kilometer square barely the world of the terrorists getting smaller.  The main battle area remained complex by the recovery of improvised explosive device (IEDs) and explosive ordnance.     

In related development, the Unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk reduction campaign initiated by the Mine UXO Risk Education (MRE) headed by Abduljabbar Dumagay, Community Liaison officer and MRE officer of the Fondation Suisse De Deminage (Swiss Foundation for Mine Action), is conducting an ongoing information and education campaign (IEC) especially in the evacuation centers first then to the community. The purpose of the IEC on UXO is to capacitate the people affected in conflict to determine and identify properly the UXO in their respective area. Dumagay said it is very dangerous to civilians affected by the Marawi crisis as soon as they will return back to their respective places if they don’t have any knowledge on UXO which can kill people if not handled properly.

During the Forum on UXO, August 25, 2017 in Iligan City, Dumagay said that the campaign has started since the Zamboanga siege in 2013. It is expected that there are plenty of UXO present in the war zone of Marawi City.  Dumagay said the UXO project is part of the Normalization process of the Philippine Government and MILF Peace process. Photos by Jun Enriquez