Pagpati'ut - Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

Mediating Violence In Sulu
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The State. The state, as part of its state-building efforts, has used a variety
of means to ‘win-over’ the Moro communities. Using the carrot-andstick
formula, it has instituted programs and allocated resources meant
to win over and co-opt key Moro leaders, with the hope that these key
and accept the authority of the state.
Simultaneous with the ‘winning-over’ the key leaders strategy would be
the state’s ‘acculturation’ strategy through (a) an imposed standardized
education, (b) forced connection between Christians and Muslims by
creating Christian settlements carved in the heart of Muslim communities,
and (c) government policies meant to break the economic power of the
Moro clans.
Completing the triad strategy of the state are the
campaigns meant to silence the more vocal and assertive Moros who
continue to openly resist the state’s appropriation of authority in Muslim
communities.
These state efforts would later prove to be major concerns, if not major
debacles. Foremost would be the fact that the discriminatory policies
enforced by the state further incensed the Moros, and consequently,
strengthened their communal (political) identity.
The Moros. Over time, clans grow and their interests also expand. From
appear. And as family interests begin to fork in different directions, the
perception of insecurity over the control of resource – land – also begins to
manifest. This is compounded by the fact that the extent of land controlled
policies of the Philippine state against the Moros, the continued parceling
of land among families over generations, and the state-sponsored
Christian resettlement in used-to-be Muslim-dominated areas.
Some key Moro leaders have joined the nascent Philippine republic
beginning in the 1950’s to advance the interest of the Moros in the
government (yet there were others joined the government to advance and
protect their own personal interest). This move is viewed harshly by other
Moro leaders and is considered as co-optation and succumbing to the
easy-way-out. These leaders opted to cast their fate in efforts that assert
the communal identity and rights of the Moros and resist the continued