By Joe Espiritu
Columnist
Bohol Sunday Post
A column in a national broadsheet took up the issue of a Mindanaoan, whatever that is. The fellow is threatening to put up an independent Mindanao or a Mindanao Republic that not only the island has long been neglected by the central government but the citizens are also the object of "the general predilection of the Tagalogs to taunt, mock and show prejudice against the Visayans In his letter to the columnist, he longs for a Mindanao, which is governed by the Mindanaoans rather than be subjects of the imperialist North.
The fellow has a point. Mindanao had long been neglected. The center of gravity of the Republic has always been Luzon ever since the Spanish regime. All activities from political, financial, educational and even industrial have been in the Greater Manila area. The rest of the islands had been neglected. Only when insurgency reared its ugly head did Imperial Manila become aware of the rest of the country.
To begin, we ask; what is a Mindanaoan? The island is populated by not by a homogenous people but by several ethnic groups. The Tausugs and Samals consider in the Sulu and Tawitawi islands home base, the Maguindanaos the Cotabato provinces, the Yakans have Basilan while the Maranaos claim the two Lanaos as their homelands. The hinterlands are populated by isolated pockets of cultural minorities like the Mansaka, Mandaya, Tirurays, Bilaans, Subanons and many more.
The two Zamboangas are peopled by Cebauno Visayan speaking natives. Tagalog and Ilocano settlers had made their homes in the Davaos as well as Cotabatos to live side by side with the Moslems of whatever ethnic derivations. Boholanos had settled in the northern Mindanao provinces like the two Misamises, the Surigaos, and Agusans and as far south as the SoCSarGen. Every vacation months like March, April and May, Bohol sinks by several centimeters because Mindanaoans of Boholano descent come home to celebrate fiesta. This means, there is no such thing or animal as a Mindanaoan.
Assuming that Mindanao becomes a sovereign country, the situation would become complicated. It is hard to imagine that the Moslems will agree share the government with the Visayan Mindanaoans much less with Tagalog or Ilocano speaking Mindanaoans. Or that the Moslems would agree among themselves. It is hard to imagine the Maranao seeing eye to eye with Tausogs or Samals or Yakans.
In their bid for self-rule, they are even splintered into the MNLF and the MILF. The cultural minorities in the hinterlands would have no assurance that they will fare better in a Mindanao Republic.
There will be no definite boundaries between Mindanao and the rest of the Philippines. Those boundaries are hard to guard. The nearest contact point is the Surigao Strait between Southern Leyte and Surigao. It would be a good smuggling route. Visayans can come and go between the Mindanao Republic and the rest of the Philippines with nobody caring. What restrictions can be imposed on those who can easily commute between those two places?
There will be too many problems encountered to create a Mindanao Republic. And there will be too many problems to keep that Republic viable. There will be too many dual citizens among the two Republics. Quo vadis Mindanao?
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