We, leaders and
representatives of Bangsamoro people's and non-government organizations, strongly condemn the deployment of US military forces in Mindanao and other regions of the country.
We deplore the subservience of the Macapagal-Arroyo government to the US as the most active disciple of its dubious "war on terrorism."
The presence of American
troops in the Philippines is unwarranted
and constitutionally illegal but more significantly, a mockery of Philippine national sovereignty. Worse, however, this act of aggression directed against the Moro people is
an assault to the Bangsamoro people's right to self-determination.
Direct US military
intervention in Mindanao will only fan the fires of hostilities and armed conflict in the region. It will not solve the historically and deeply rooted causes of oppression
and discontent of the Moro people upon which thrived also the banditry of some obnoxious elements like the Abu Sayyaf and Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom groups.
But even before it can
hypothetically finish off the Abu Sayyaf, the deployment of much disproportionately large contingent of battle-ready American troops and AFP soldiers would have already
resulted in the massive displacement of the Moro people and countless cases of human rights abuses. What better constitutes an act of terrorism comparable to, if not greater
than the terrorism so hypocritically denounced by America, than this terrifying enormous war of aggression?
We protest the cold-blooded
attempt of the United States to turn Mindanao into a showcase of its dubious "war on terrorism" which is practically on a dead-end after failing to secure a decisive victory
in Afghanistan. Bush's inconclusive, if not misleading, linking of bandits to al-Quaeda reflects the indiscriminate and expansive nature of US militarism which on a global
scale has used the anti-terrorist pretext to curtail civil and political rights and target all legitimate democratic forces as terrorist enemies. American military
intervention in Mindanao is bound to intensify the social, political and economic displacement of the Moro people and may lead to the escalation of armed conflict with Moro
liberation fronts.
We equally denounce the
Arroyo government, which goes to such lengths, and sink to such depths to indulge and support US aggression in Mindanao. It would distort the Philippine Constitution, stretch
the letter and spirit of military agreements, and contract arrangements to allow US troops to conduct war "games" while placing the lives of Moro people in mortal peril.
We assail the duplicity of
the Arroyo administration in making empty calls for peace talks with Moro liberation forces while at the same time unleashing militarist solution to the clamor of the
Bangsamoro for redress of decades-long grievances and recognition of their right to self-determination. The current government, hardly deviating from preceding
administrations, has shown its trigger-happy attitude and refusal to address the roots of the conflicts in Mindanao. It readily invokes loopholes in the Philippine
Constitution, subverts democratic processes and electoral exercises, dishonors pacts, and peddles a model of development that frustrates the democratic aspiration of the
Bangsamoro while facilitating the plunder of Mindanao's wealth and heritage by US multinational corporations and their local agents.
Peace must not be equated to
the silence of the tombs of a war-weary people. Only a war against poverty, injustice and discrimination can heal the festering wounds of conflicts and scorch the ground that
breeds bandits and terrorists. Genuine and lasting peace cannot exist in the quiet of armed suppression of popular demand for a just and humane society.
We call on our Bangsamoro
brothers to unite in the face of yet another assault by the imperialist US reminiscent of their encroachment of our freedom and way of life unwaveringly defended for centuries
by our ancestors.
We demand that the United
States withdraw its troops in the Philippines and cease from their political and economic intervention, and military aggression which, apart from condemning billions of people
across the world to violence, hunger and injustice, has bred the same extremist reactions. Terrorism is an act deserving condemnation by humankind but advancing and
perpetuating the unjust world order that results to terrorism is no less reprehensible.
We call on President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo to reassert the integrity of Philippine sovereignty, address the roots of conflicts in lieu of limited military solutions and uphold the right of the
Bangsamoro people to self-determination.
NO TO US AGGRESSION IN
MINDANAO!
NO TO AFGHANIZATION OF
MINDANAO!
WITHDRAW ALL US MILITARY
TROOPS FROM MINDANAO!
UPHOLD THE RIGHT TO
SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE BANGSAMORO!
September, 2002
