A Letter From The Ilocos-Cordillera Region
The following letter from Comrade Adi of the Ilocos-Cordillera Region comments on an article about the NDF-MILF alliance that appeared in Ang Bayan�s (AB) January-February 1999 issue. In this regard, AB is printing the succeeding article that further clarifies the Party�s analysis and stand on the struggle of the Moro people. In particular, the article further expounds on the historical and current basis for the Party�s recognition of the nation that the Moro people have been fighting for; and why the Party actively encourages and supports the Moro people�s struggle to secede from an oppressive system even as it continues to organize and mobilize them for the national-democratic revolution.
Comrades in Ang Bayan�s editorial staff,
Ardent revolutionary greetings to you, comrades!
Sa kabuuan ay mahusay ang pagkakasulat ng artikulong �Pagkakaisa at Pagtutulungan Laban sa Reaksyunaryong Kaaway� na lumabas sa Enero- Pebrero 1999 isyu ng AB. Nakalulugod ang pag-abot sa antas ng pormal na alyansa ng relasyon sa pagitan ng NDFP/NPA at MILF/BIAF.
On the whole, the article �Unity and Cooperation Against the Reactionary Enemy� that appeared in AB�s January-February 1999 issue was well-written. It is heartening to know that relations between the NDFP/NPA and the MILF/BIAF have reached the stage where the two have entered into a formal alliance.
I would just like to draw attention to the end of the article�s last sentence: �� the objective of further consolidating and developing the revolutionary alliance between the Filipino people and the Moro people will be advanced.� It seems to imply some other meaning.
Readers may interpret this to mean that the Filipino people and Moro people are different entities, when the Moro people at present are in fact merely a part of the Filipino people as national minorities within the Philippines as a whole, even if they are going through a process of asserting their nationhood. To �� develop the revolutionary alliance between the NDFP and MILF� would have been a better way of putting it, because after all, these two organizations that entered into an alliance are really different from each other (one is not a part of the other). But, if the context were a people-to-people alliance, wouldn�t it have been more correct to refer specifically to the �revolutionary alliance between the Moro people and other sections of the Filipino people�?
It is the MNLF that said outright in the past that the Filipino people and Moro people are different.
Do we see this same viewpoint in the MILF, or does it remain open to the idea that the evolving Moro nation may remain a part of the Philippines as a whole under a new order that is truly democratic, enjoys national sovereignty and recognizes the self-determination of the Moro people and other national minorities?
Wouldn�t it be better to have mentioned that the Moro people are still part of the Filipino people even as there is recognition of the desire and absolute right of the Moro people to self-determination and the stage that their struggle has reached in building a Moro nation, and that the latter may lead in the future to autonomy within a people�s democratic republic of the Philippines but may also culminate in secession from the Philippines?
Accordingly, the statement, in the way it was phrased, may be interpreted to mean that our objective is limited to building an alliance between the two peoples. It is true that the (article�s) title captures the essence, but wouldn�t it have been better if there was direct mention at the end about �� advancing the objective of further strengthening and developing revolutionary unity and cooperation between the Moro people and other Filipino people� in order to stress the higher objective of the revolutionary proletariat to tighten relations between the Moro people and other Filipino people, especially on the part of the proletariat and other toiling masses? This, even if the nature of relations between the NDFP and MILF is that of an alliance.
I share this as �food for thought� to further sharpen our discussions and viewpoint on these issues. I would be glad if you could also relay to me your reactions on this.
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