Mindanao lawmakers remember Jabidah massacre

MANILA, Philippines - Mindanao lawmakers and officials commemorated yesterday the 46th anniversary of the Jabidah massacre, which ignited the Moro people’s fight for self-rule.

Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman of party-list group Anak Mindanao, which led this year’s commemorative ceremonies on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay, said they want to remember the event especially at a time when efforts to bring peace to Mindanao are succeeding.

“We are united to establish the One Bangsamoro through the peace talks being pushed by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Let us not forget the Jabidah massacre that ignited the Moro rebellion and the long and arduous struggle for self-rule,” she said.

She said the Jabidah massacre is known in history as the killing by state forces on March 18, 1968 of a number of mutinous Moro recruits being trained on Corregidor Island to start a rebellion in Sabah and reclaim the oil-rich island-state from Malaysian control.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman, the congresswoman’s husband, said the Corregidor massacre “should always be remembered as the beginning of Moro uprising in the country, which the Aquino administration is trying to end through peace talks with the MILF and other groups.”

He said the Corregidor killing gave birth to the Mindanao Independence Movement in 1969, and subsequently, to separatist armed groups, including the Moro National Liberal Front and MILF.

He urged Congress to speed up approval of the basic law on the envisioned new Bangsamoro region in Mindanao once the draft is submitted to it.

Government negotiations are scheduled to submit the draft law to the legislature in May, when Congress reconvenes.

Other lawmakers, Mindanao officials and peace advocates, including Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong, Gaston Ortigas Peace Institute executive director Karen Tañada, National Historical Institute executive director Vic Badoy, and Undersecretary Jose Lorena of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process gave their respective speeches.