Categories of Self Determination

1. Land - The MNLF’s vision of a secessionist war was emphatically secular in

orientation rather than Islamic. Its goal is to reclaim the Bangsa Moro
(Moro Nation)4, the Muslims’ homeland that has been “unjustifiably
annexed by the Philippine state.”
2. History - Misuari called upon his brethren to
renounce their identities as Filipino-Muslims and declare their identity
and nationality as Moro, a reincarnation of the pre-colonial identity as
the descendants of the “unsubjugated” and “uncolonized” peoples
- Bangsamoro people regarded as indigenpus on account of their Decent from the
populations that inhibited the country or a distinct geographical area at the time of
conquest or colonization. *First official appearance of the word Bangsamoro (Sec 3 (2) of
R.A No. 6374
- Those of at the time of conquest and conolization were considered natives or original
inhabitants of Mindanan and the Sulu archipelago abd uts adjacent islands including
Palawan, and their descendants whether of mixed or full blood shall have the right to
identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. *MOA-AD memorandum
if Agreement on the ancestral domain.
3. Religion - MNLF resistance during Martial Law was merely an extension of a contrived Islamic
colonial Struggle against the domination of a Christian State
- On the contrary, they were more predisposed to fight solely for their respective
communities and for more earthly reasons such as commerce and politics thatn or the
preservation of a faith they had in common with other Tribes
4. Number – For Muslim Filipinos the claim for self-determination as a minority group in the
Philippines has been epitomized by the armed insurgencies of both the MNLF and the MILF.
5. Political - As succinctly defined by the MILF, the right to self-determination, or RSD, is “anchored
on the collective right of (the) people to freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development.” This was how the original Moro National
Liberation Front leadership defined its goal when it launched armed struggle against the Marcos
government before martial law in 1972. It has been the same under the MILF, which began as a
breakaway faction of the MNLF in 1976.

6.