Tommy seems to argue more correctly on the matter but then again the search for existing literature on the subject would be most helpful if studies or researches have already been done so we can fully understand not just the context but the content as well of erecting, if it should be erected, a Bangsamoro Republic.

God bless us all.

Anyway, a lot of civil society organizations and communities here in mindanao believe that the MOA-AD is not dead. Legal considerations notwithstanding.

And in response to this thread, in the drafting of the content of the MOA-AD, it was agreed by BOTH panels that Bangsamoro refers to BOTH Islamized (moro) and non-Islamized (lumad) natives of Mindanao. This explains the straight-away sentences.

How this came to be prior to the peace talks? Thank the Americans for this. Both Moro and Lumad were lumped together under one political-geographical designation during their occupation: Moro Province. Then the Quezon Commonwealth did a copycat of this: Bureau of Non-Christians (or something like that). Much in the same way that the identity of the Moro began as a derogatory tag from the majority mainstream or the occupying colonizers but was later claimed with pride as the name for a national identity older than the republic, the presumption that “Bangsamoro” refers to both Non- Islamized Lumad and Islamized Lumad would arguably be with basis. Now if there are dissenting opinions about this, well, this is a democratic county, supposedly.

As to who is the Borg, i think its the majority mainstream, whatever they call themselves (Filipino, indio, etc, whatever). Because in this case, the Moro and the Lumad will never allow themselves to be assimilated by the easternized-westernized chopsuey culture that the majority now has. And besides, never in the history of their dominance and control over these two minorities did they show in action and not only in documents that don’t hold much water that indeed the minorities are part of the greater Philippine body politic. Case in point: the five poorest provinces in the Philippines are the very provinces that constitute the ARMM. So why don’t we blame those governing the ARMM? Because they are just mere puppets of the national hierarchy, who during the past administration brought corruption and impunity to new heights. Greater blame rests on national government systems (the so called “ang bulok na systema”), because whoever is in power, political will notwithstanding, you get eaten up alive by the flow of the current. Again, thank the Americans for introducing a brand of system that is only most effective to whites, but not to multi-ethnic brown skinned natives of this archipelago. They are the greater borg. and they have “borgified” the mainstream majority of this country.

So i do not blame those who seek to be restored of their lost right to self governance. Because in this country, for as long as you are a minority, you don’t count. Tell me if the Filipino people is matured enough to elect a Moro or a Lumad (true natives) who has all the traits to be a national leader to malacanang. track record says it wont. Proof: Erap.

So touche.

Well, you can throw a grenade at a plaza in Zamboanga right now and then proclaim to high heavens that the answer is “no”, right?

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The MOA-AD divests the Lumads of their ancestral domains and hands over possession, ownership and jurisdiction of their ancestral domains to the BJE. In paragraphs 2, 3 and 6 on Concepts and Principles, the MOA-AD gives ownership over the Bangsamoros’ ancestral domain to the Bangsamoro people, defines the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoros, and vests jurisdiction and authority over such ancestral domain in the BJE, thus:

2. It is essential to lay the foundation of the Bangsamoro homeland in order to address the Bangsamoro people’s humanitarian and economic needs as well as their political aspirations. Such territorial jurisdictions and geographic areas being the natural wealth and patrimony represent the social, cultural and political identity and pride of all the Bangsamoro people. Ownership of the homeland is vested exclusively in them by virtue of their prior rights of occupation that had inhered in them as sizeable bodies of people, delimited by their ancestors since time immemorial, and being the first politically organized dominant occupants.

3. x x x Ancestral domain and ancestral land refer to those held under claim of ownership, occupied or possessed, by themselves or through the ancestors of the Bangsamoro people, communally or individually x x x.

x x x x

6. Both Parties agree that the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) shall have the authority and jurisdiction over the Ancestral Domain and Ancestral lands, including both alienable and non-alienable lands encompassed within their homeland and ancestral territory, as well as the delineation of ancestral domains/lands of the Bangsamoro people located therein. (Emphasis supplied)

After defining the Bangsamoro people to include all the Lumads, the MOA-AD then defines the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro people as the ancestral domain of all the Bangsamoros, which now includes the ancestral domains of all the Lumads. The MOA-AD declares that exclusive ownership over the Bangsamoro ancestral domain belongs to the Bangsamoro people. The MOA-AD vests jurisdiction and authority over the Bangsamoros’ ancestral domain in the BJE. Thus, the Lumads lost not only their separate identities but also their ancestral domains to the Bangsamoros and the BJE.

===

in the MOA-AD, the lumads “lost not only their separate identities but also their ancestral domains to the Bangsamoros and the BJE”…

nowhere in the MOA-AD makes the distinction between “the Moro people and the IPs” that you have quite unsuccessfully tried to present. in fact, i would suggest this phrase, yet again, to apply to the MOA-AD:

“We are the Borg. Your culture will adapt to service ours. Resistance is futile.”

merely replace “Borg” with MILF and “Your culture” with “Your people”.

In fact, representatives of the 18 Lumad groups met in Cagayan de Oro City and announced on 27 August 2008, through their convenor Timuay Nanding Mudai, that “we cannot accept that we are part of the Bangsamoro.”

emphasis not mine, but j carpio’s, if you need ask, as was the emphasis in my 5:30.