On the nationality question and the right to self-determination
In its September-October 1999 issue, Ang Bayan (AB) published a
letter from Ka Adi of the Ilocos-Cordillera region and a related article
dwelling on the Moro nationality and self-determination question. The
following is a rejoinder sent by a member of the Executive Committee of
the Central Committee and received recently by AB.
Regarding AB�s reply to K. Adi�s question on the Moro people,
I believe it is necessary to clarify that the principle of
recognizing the right to self-determination should concur with
the political concept on nationality, but should prevail over the latter
should conflicts arise.
On the issue of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), we should
clarify, in a balanced way, that our recognition for existing concepts of
nationality among groups within the revolutionary movement of the Moro
people is integral to our recognition of the right to self-determination, especially
since in the case of the Moro people, this has both historical and contemporary
basis. Thus, in our relations with the MILF, we respect their political concept
where they consider themselves as a separate people even if we stand for a
political concept that sees them as part of the Filipino people.
Through our independent organizing efforts among the Moro people
and through our close alliance with them within the framework of the nationaldemocratic
revolution and our recognition of their right to self-determination,
we are able to demonstrate to them through clarifications and sincere
actions�that there is basis within the framework of the national democratic
revolution and the establishment of a new social system for the abolition of
the centuries-old national oppression that they have experienced and basis
as well for carrying out, on a wide scale, the political concept that they are
part of the Filipino people.
Should the concept that they are a separate people and that they should
secede from the country still prevail upon the attainment of revolutionary
victory, we should respect this for as long as they do not become instruments
of imperialism or the restoration of semicolonial and semifeudal conditions.
But it is in the very act of advancing the revolution side by side, unitedly or in
cooperation that we shall be able to minimize the conditions that may lead to
this. Aside from this, there remains the fact that many of the provinces where
the Moro people live have majority populations that are non-Moro.
For AB�s readers and for the revolutionary masses, I believe there is
greater significance in stressing our openness to and recognition of their right
to self-determination, the history of their oppression and their just demands
for the purpose of developing a better attitude toward their struggle. Once
this is recognized, we shall have stronger basis for uniting with and encouraging
them to accept the political concept that we advocate.
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