100 years of Mindanao struggles -1

THE HISTORY of Mindanao has

always been a tug-of-war between

division and assimilation, separatism

and incorporation. The 20th century

exemplified this.

The past century saw many attempts to separate Mindanao from

the rest of the country.

Contrary to nationalist arguments, separatism did not begin with

the Muslims, who at the turn of the century have yet to imagine

themselves as Filipinos. Rather, their leaders were ''men of

prowess'' operating in a regional trading hub that did not

recognize colonial boundaries.

It was the US Army that made those boundaries real, as the Moro

Province became the first effective colonial state presence in the

island.

Yet simultaneously, it constituted the institutional foundation for

indigenous separatist sentiments.

Working on the rationale that Mindanao's population was

backward and distinct from Filipinos, Army officials built a state

different from and autonomous of Manila. Muslims--despite the

brutality inflicted on them by Americans--allied with the Army to

resist Filipinization. The alliance unraveled because of its internal

weaknesses, but the precedent was enough to keep the flame of

separatism alive.

These very same Muslims, however, as political realists,

eventually came to terms with Manila.

Sensing the end of their Southeast Asian world, they ''shopped

around'' for new allies and found Manuel Quezon and Sergio

Osmeña. By the time of the Commonwealth, Datu Piang, Hadji

Butu, and their successors had accepted their new roles as

''representatives of the Moro people'' in the Philippine assembly.

The same enthusiasm characterized the first integrationists.

Nicanor Capistrano of Misamis had led the initial resistance

against the Americans, only to surrender because of inferior force

and the lure of the American offer to help govern the Philippines.

He joined Carlos Fortich and Teofisto Guingona Sr. as the first

local colonial politicians to dominate the northern portion of the

island.

Meanwhile, Quezon--fearful of peasant unrest in Luzon--''opened

up'' Mindanao for colonization, and Paulino Santos led the first

settlers to southern Cotabato. A parallel colonization was

happening in Davao, where Japanese migrants took over the

abaca ventures of American settlers and transformed this

backwater into one of the most productive provinces of the

colony.

By 1941, 20,000 Japanese resided in ''Davao-kuo'' (Davao City

was then known as ''Little Tokyo''-ed) supported by a

production and trading arrangement with Tokyo and protected by

Japanese corporate bosses with patronage ties to Filipino leaders.

Post-war reconfigurations

Mindanao escaped post-war devastation because the island was

low priority for the Japanese and American armies. But the war

saw the rise of new leaders like Salipada Pendatun, who became

the first Muslim senator of the republic. He built his political

career using guerilla connections, the arms he amassed during the

war and his reputation as the ''spokesman of the

Muslim-Filipinos.''

Less reputable leaders also emerged. Ali Dimaporo so dominated

Lanao del Sur that during elections, it was said, even the dead

and the birds vote for him.

Manila's jaded view of Mindanao as a violent land ignored the

zest with which many Mindanaoans voted.

Records from the Commission on Elections showed an unusual

passion for elections. Davao and Cotabato, the largest provinces

of the new republic, were consistently in the top five in voter

turnout. Money politics played a part in this ardor, but we cannot

underestimate the fact that Mindanaoans valued democracy,

warts and all.

The post-war migration of hundreds of thousands from the north

jump-started the careers of Alejandro Almendras (Davao), Tomas

Cabili (Lanao del Norte), Emmanuel Pelaez (Misamis Oriental),

Democrito O. Plaza (Agusan) and Roseller T. Lim (Zamboanga).

Many ended up in Congress, and Pelaez was even elected vice

president. Until the late 1960s, the involvement of these leaders,

along with Pendatun, the Sinsuats and the Matalams, ensured

political stability.

Little interest

Despite the Mindanao Development Authority, however, the new

republic had little interest in southern progress. Land routes

remained undeveloped and industrialization and agricultural

development were limited to Iligan City and Bukidnon.

But spurred by Japan's reconstruction needs, timber companies

cut down forests with such frenzy that in 20 years, over 60

percent of the island's ecosystems had disappeared.

The closure of the frontier and the rise to power of Marcos

signaled a shift in politics. Continuous migration began to tell on

lumad and Muslim land and local newspapers reported more land

battles between settlers and indigenous. These conflicts took

their toll on the ability of local politicians to keep the balance

between the different ''ethnic groups,'' and between Mindanao

and the national state.

Pendatun and Udtog Matalam faced increasing threat from their

Muslim rivals and from political upstarts based in the settler

communities. Spanish-Basque mestizo hegemony in Bukidnon,

Misamis Occidental and Lanao del Norte were likewise threatened

by parvenu elites representing natibo and Chinese-Filipino

interests. (to be continued)