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Portent of War in Mindanao…

 

With regard to the ARMM elections in Monday, at least seven hopefuls are aiming for the seat of ARMM Regional Governor.

 

The incumbent regional head of ARMM is Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan.  He is one of the seven candidates whose fate will be decided on Monday, August 11, 2008. This man, is not very well-liked in nearly the whole of ARMM in Mindanao.

 

If he wins, there will surely be trouble from both MILF and other parties that will reject the victory of Ampatuan. But the man has aces behind his sleeve and an ax to grind. So to prevent him from winning, he either has to be physically removed — which will create another reason for a different uproar — or else, there will be real or imagined trouble that has to engulf Mindanao.

 

The problem of Ampatuan, is that he cannot be respected by the Maguindanao-Indonesian nor the Tausug, Sama, Yakkan-Malaysian segment, or the Maranao component. His middle name is Chinese and therefore he must be in the wrong place in the Maguindanao, Maranao, Yakkan and Tausug areas.

 

Certainly, it cannot be disputed that the descendant of Mohammad from Middle East that supposedly brought Islam to Mindanao eventually settled in China and to this date, a modest monument rests in China in his memory. Relations between Muslim tribes and the Chinese was vibrant in the early times. A lot of intermarriages and inter-migration happened between Mindanao and China. But Ampatuan cannot invoke the Chinese’ help in a purely Mindanao problem. That would stir more troubles both for himself and the entire Mindanao, or the country as a whole.

 

On the other hand, the silent Ampatuan and MILF rift will definitely fall into the hands of the idle-minds that can do nothing but concoct troubles for our country. This again, will be another cause for more disturbances in Mindanao.

 

Now, the ancestral domain claim of the Muslim tribes could encompass or encroach into that of the other tribes’ claimed domains in certain areas.

 

It must be fully understood that the Muslim tribes are not the only tribes in the entire Mindanao island. This one is still another flashpoint. But as Soliman says, at the very least, MILF was magnanimous enough to limit its claims to just a portion of Mindanao. That was an honorable thing to do for the rest of the tribes in that part of the country. Something that non-Mindanawons would have never wanted to think of…

 

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