Philippine's First Cardinal from Mindanao Supports Muslim Autonomy

Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo, the Archbishop of Cotabato, has called on the Philippine government to ratify the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which would form an autonomous parliamentary government in Muslim Mindanao, providing it with greater powers and resources.

The BBL seeks to implement the peace deal between the government and MILF signed in March 2014 after 17 years of negotiations.

However, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, announced in a privilege speech on 3 June that he is rejecting the BBL.

Marcos, together with other 11 senators, signed a committee report that found the proposed measure unconstitutional. He recently reiterated his rejection of the BBL in a video, stressing he would introduce a new measure.

Cardinal Quevedo, the first Cardinal from the island of Mindanao, said it is not for Marcos to determine the fate of the Bangsamoro people.

Pope Francis named Quevedo as one of 19 new cardinals of the Catholic Church. He was created a cardinal in the consistory of 22 February, 2014. He has served as Archbishop of Cotabato, in Mindanao since 30 May 1998.

"What I’m worried about is that the opinions of the people... outside the Bangsamoro territory here would prevail over the deep aspirations of the Bangsamoro that go back to centuries,” Cardinal Quevedo explained.

Quevedo said Marcos should not disregard those aspirations, urging the senator to learn from the mistakes of his father, the former dictator of the Philippines.

"There should be some kind of a learning from that (part of) history; maybe correcting what some people say that was an error of the father,” Quevedo said.

As a young priest who served as president of the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City during the Martial Law years, Quevedo said he witnessed how government forces mercilessly bombed Muslim areas.

"I was with Christian and Muslim students watching the jets, hearing the explosions, when a Muslim student said: 'Father, it’s unfair. My cousins are there, but they don’t have bullets and missiles,” Quevedo recalled an instance which deeply disturbed him.

Cardinal Quevedo has a long history of peace advocacy work in conflict areas in the southern island and its Moro Muslim population. He describes the problem in the region as entailing injustice to the Moro identity, injustice to Moro political sovereignty, and injustice to Moro integral development.

"The BBL is a response that addressed the root causes and provides the realization of the self-determination of the Bangsamoro as a Moro people,” Quevedo, the first cardinal from Mindanao, said.

There are nearly 4 million Muslims in Mindanao, which they consider their homeland dating back to the pre-colonial Islamic sultanates.

Since the 1970s, Muslim rebel groups, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have waged a war in Mindanao to establish a separate Muslim state, claiming at least 150,000 lives and leaving a huge part of Mindanao in abject poverty.

Muslim religious leaders are urging the Philippines government to expedite the passage of the BBL with its original substance as mutually agreed between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"The Muslims have inhabited the Philippines prior to the advent of Christianity and have practiced unique cultures and traditions enshrined in their divine scripture and teachings of their Holy Prophet, peculiar from Christian majority,” the resolution stated. The religious scholars stressed, “By blood and spirit, the Muslims have defended to preserve their cultural identity and religious creed and practices in the belief that this is the only way that guarantees them true peace and salvation in this world and the hereafter."

They also noted that the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are the vanguards to preserve their cultural identity and the religious profession of the Muslims in general and Bangsamoro in particular who are always seeking freedom and self-determination in their spiritual and cultural dimensions.

The also said the BBL is the manifestation of the Bangsamoro self-determination to preserve their cultural identity and religious belief and the legitimate agreement to promote and preserve peace in Bangsamoro region.

"The proposed BBL is consistent with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) has been crafted after series of public massive consultations across and with diverse stakeholders."

The measure which is now in the hands of the lawmakers for enactment into law was hoped to be passed before 11 June. However, the government has decided that the Philippine Congress will not be able to pass the controversial bill before adjourning sessions this month.

The draft BBL is still undergoing plenary debates at the House, and committee deliberations at the Senate.

Communications Secretary for teh President, Herminio Coloma Jr. expressed hope that the legislative branch will enact the BBL next month.

This new target, however, is way earlier than the October deadline already set by leaders of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.