BANGSAMORO RIGHT TO

SELF-DETERMINATION

Presented at the MILF Committee on Information

of the Central Committee
14th General Meeting and Seminar-Workshop
By
MICHAEL O. MASTURA
MILF Panel Member
Moro Question is about IDENTITY that is determinate.

Who am I? – What am I? –
This is an assertion of This is an assertion of
continuity via genealogy distinctiveness through
and residence. culture or community.

Most people point to their Many people reveal their

lineage, family status, and membership and sense of
place of birth. belonging to some entity.

As for individuals, the Group focus is on ‘what’ as

two questions are it concerns about politics of
intertwined. “I” then NATIONAL IDENTITY.
becomes “We”.
Analyze this dimension: Do Bangs@moros have a body politic?
 Identity operates on two levels:
INDIVIDUAL and COLLECTIVE
Humankind (al insaniyyah ) have collective affiliations:
• Family, clans, religious … Sunni, Shia
• Economic sector/ occupational … Traders, farmers,
• Territorial/ political organizations.. Taiwan,
Philippines, European Union
Multiple identities exert a special power. Cultural types:
• Religious denominations…Muslim, Christian, Moro
• Racial affiliations … Malay, Arab, Chinese, Indian
• Ethnic communities Magindanaw, Maranaw, Taosug
Nationalities (al qawmiyyah) have competing interests:

• Nations or nation-states… American, Filipino, Egypt,

Canada, Indonesia
Politics of Identity and Economic Development

Documented studies in other countries suggest

that economic development does not reduce
aspiration for self-determination.
It increases even as people whose energies had
formerly been taken up by the struggle to
survive find time to worry about their distinct
identity.
Development is a political issue. Political economy
shapes structural changes. So institutions for
governance must fit to culture “match”.
Sovereignty matters. Self-determination arguments
sees it as a human right to ‘statehood’ parallel to
state sovereignty.
Understand the boundary between Self-Determination
and Sovereignty via Intervention
Territorial Integrity
(border & authority)
Human National
Security Security

Ad Hoc Earned/
Sovereignty
Intervention Shared
Sovereignty

Intervention Self-Determination
 Balancing Sovereignty and Self-Determination
What is the right to self-determination of
people?
• The right to aspire for freedom and independence
exists under UN Conventions. Two principles are
enshrined under international law: sovereignty
and self-determination.
• Can you find an objective definition of “people” or
“nation”? Assert collective rights based on the
UN Charter and Declaration of Human Rights.
• Self-determination could be interpreted as a right
of every ethnic community to full autonomy. It
implies even to secede unilaterally from the
majority state.
RSD is not only a treaty obligation in
the text of the UN covenants.
 The right to self-determination is a “generally
accepted principle of international law” having
the character of erga omnes – i.e. binding
“towards all”.
 The right to self-determination has the status
of jus cogens – making it a peremptory norm,
obligatory on the part of the State not to
interfere with its exercise.
How can we demand that the Philippines adhere
to the principles of self-determination?
 Ad hoc Homeland,
Intervention Territory
via (Not just
Protocol association
to provide with it)
Option

Entrenchment
mechanism via
Terminal point Transition Common
of cycle via process, economy with
in sequence and territorial mobility
Compact time periods for throughout
to determine building institution
final status leading to Option,
ending in results
of
a referendum

Common legal Shared history

rights and duties Mass public,
for all members education-based
culture
 Are government units to be defined in terms of
people rather than territory?
 At stake in GRP-MILF peace negotiation for self-
determined identity and homeland is not merely the
relationships between State and ethnicity (tri-peoples)
in Mindanao.
Rather, it is the totality of ties associative relationships.

between people, state, and territory.

 Territorial sovereignty principle accounts for a right to
secede more than self-determination defined in term of
rights of peoples.
Re-territorialization through ad hoc intervention ends
the national-stage conflict with transition mechanism,
sequence and time periods.
Is unilateral self-determination of people possible?

Bangsamoro experience from contemporary events:

• Unilateral self-determination of people could lead to
international anarchy.
Whenever the international community intervenes
(e.g. East Timor or Yugoslavia) they end up backing
minority rights or breaking up diverse communities.

• Third Party facilitation (e.g. Malaysia in MILF-GRP

Talks) has set up deep, achieving purposes with
international monitors.
Bangsamoro people’s struggle reached diplomatic
stage with option to determine their political status
via popular consultation leading to a referendum.
Quest for International and Domestic Legitimacy

Others’ perceptions Own perceptions

Determinate Bangsamoro Political

Status Identity Aspiration

Bangsamoro
autochthonous potentials

Common goal
Criteria Foundations
- Claim to statehood - Geographic homeland

- Organic bonds Organization - Equality of all peoples

Leaders
- Popular process Forces - Entrenchment of rights

- Monitor legitimacy - Juridical institutions

 How to ‘write’ sovereignty?
• Full sovereign authority manifests itself in the idea of
representation.
• Sovereignty in international relations takes the form of
recognition (or intervention).
• In sovereignty-based conflict, “lack of protection, or
representation” for people call for the right to self-
determination.
• Methods of self-determination range from sovereignty
referendum to an armed struggle.
• Optimal method to resolve sovereignty-based conflict
requires consent of the territory to be administered often
expressed in signatures to written agreements.