Where Fundamentalism Went Wrong

The truth of the matter is all three of the Abrahamic faiths - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - in their most fundamental forms are the most intolerant religions in the world.

But over time theologians moved past that fundamental stage and, just as society evolved, religions also evolved. New insights are continually found. Perceptions and realities change. Whereas in Jesus' time, they did not condemn slavery, we now say it is evil. Whereas in his time, women were considered second-class citizens, we now say that women have the same rights as men. And so on and so forth.

That's where fundamentalism goes wrong. Fundamentalists - whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish - are wrong to assume that changes and additions to our faith traditions are automatically bad and they want people to go back to the "fundamentals", at times imposing their will to the rest of society whether they like it or not. Both Christian and Muslim fundamentalists want women to remain subservient to men just like in the Bible and Koran. But we now know that there is nothing wrong with giving women equal rights. There is nothing wrong with discovering new "truths" as humanity moves forward and we progress in many fields. There is nothing wrong with science discovering that what we hold as true and factual in our faith traditions are in fact wrong - that it took way more than six days from the beginning of time until Earth (with all its creatures) was formed, that the Earth is not really flat, that it is not the center of the universe, that having epilepsy is not necessarily being possessed with evil spirit, that Adam and Eve were not really our first ancestors, and on and on. There is nothing wrong with banning slavery even if it is not banned in the Bible and the Koran. We now know it is evil. There's even nothing wrong with the Catholic belief in purgatory even if it is not mentioned in the Bible. It is a more humane view of the Christian eschatology.

Fundamentalists want believers to follow the Bible and the Koran to the letter. Creationism is right. Science is wrong. The Earth is only 10,000 years old and was created in just six days. Strict dress code. Wives should submit to their husbands. The Talibans require beard among men. They even brought back death by stoning for adulterers. ISIS brought back slavery. They want us to go back to the times in the Bible and the Koran. Many Christians in the West ignorantly believe all Muslims are fundamentalists. Hardly. Blame the media and the hate preachers.

Perhaps the day will come when the newest generation will come to understand that there is nothing wrong with gay people even if Paul condemned them in the Bible. Fifty years from now, some of us who will still be around will be scratching their heads why we are so violent against gay people. Just as we do now looking back at the 1950s and 1960s in the Deep South, we find it disturbing that in that era ordinary white Americans even kids were not even bothered at the sights of black men and women being hanged on trees. We find it embarrassing that decent folks in that era were not even bothered by the obvious discrimination against black people in restaurants, on buses and elsewhere.

That's living. We move on.

"Who is my neighbor?"

"Who is my neighbor?"

That's the famous question by a self-righteous Jewish lawyer that begets the Parable of the Good Samaritan, perhaps the most known among the parables of Jesus.

Nowadays, the word 'Samaritan' is synonymous with being charitable. But in Jesus' time, Samaritans were among the most despised people in Israel for being too unorthodox and lax in following the Law and for intermarrying non-Jews, similar to today's nominal non-fundamentalist Christians and Muslims alike. Most Jews during the time of Jesus hate to associate with the Samaritans but Jesus quite often went through Samaria and interacted with the Samaritans. The tolerance that Jesus showed to Samaritans must have irritated the orthodox Jews of his time especially the priests and probably played a part in their decision to plot his death.

In the parable, both the priest and the Levite are known to know the Law by heart yet showed no compassion to the dying man on the road. They represented the religious-acting people who talk the talk but rarely walk the walk. Instead, it was the much maligned Samaritan who showed great compassion to the man. Jesus was citing as example a member of a group hated by those in his audience. In fact, when he asked "which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?", the self-righteous lawyer, more likely still with personal hardness in his heart, cannot bring himself to say "the Samaritan” and instead said " one who had mercy on him."

Jesus' moral lesson is very clear in this parable, which clearly answered the question "who is my neighbor [whom I should love as myself]?". Yet, many "orthodox" Christians and Muslims of today continue to act like those orthodox Jews in his time, despising and hating those who are considered "non-believers", "idolators" and "infidels", including those nominal Christians and Muslims who are not regular church-goers, those "progressives" who showed tolerance to other groups, even intermarry them, and are not as rigid in mastering their Bibles and their Korans. How sad. A lesson not entirely learned.

"If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

~ 1 Corinthians 13:2

The Kingdom of God is Within You

As a Catholic, I believe in 'communio sanctorum', which is the communion of saints. It is the spiritual union of all human beings, both dead and alive, both in this world and those in 'heaven' including those in the state of purification (or what we call 'purgatory'). 

As both an individual being and a member of this spiritual community, I believe in personal prayers and communal prayers. As a corollary, I believe that asking the intercession of saints (those both declared by the Church and those I believe led exemplary lives, not necessarily Catholic or even Christian, like Mahatma Gandhi or Leo Tolstoy ) is a form of communal prayer request. Asking our own dead relatives to look after us and help pray for us is another example. Orientals, especially the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, are particularly known for this practice.

I believe when Jesus said that "the kingdom of God is within us." A part of heaven is already within each of us. I don't know why this is difficult for some to understand and yet have no problem understanding when some in the scientific community speak of multiverses or parallel universes or parallel dimensions.

For those among us who look down on non-Abrahamic religions, you will be surprised to know that thousand of years before our own faith understand these concepts, the Hindus already had these beliefs. For Hindus, the Brahman is the ultimate reality in the universe, the equivalent of our God. It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss that is the final cause of all existence in the universe. 

Some Hindus believe that the Brahman is separate from the Atman (soul, self) in each of us. This version is similar to the conceptual framework of the other major religions including Christianity. Other Hindus believe that the Brahman is identical with the Atman (soul, self) and therefore the Brahman is inside each living being, and there is connected spiritual oneness in all of existence. To some degree, this is similar to our belief in "the kingdom of God is within us" or "you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you." This is the reason why I don't believe in reducing 'heaven' into a mere physical reality (where you will find beautiful homes and abundant food, as some evangelical Christians believe or, as some Muslims believe, you will find yourself surrounded by virgins). If you can dig "parallel dimensions" in astrophysics and philosophy, surely you will understand what I mean. wink emoticon

In defense of Josephine Bracken

This is in defense of Josephine Bracken, Dr Jose Rizal's 'dulce extranjera.'

In a lecture given by Ambeth Ocampo two years ago in Canada, the historian casts doubt on Rizal's true intention with the Irish-American lady Josephine Bracken and even cast aspersions on her character as a woman of ill-refute. He even went as far as to suggest that Rizal was actually gay (more of that later). I think he already crossed the line - not that I'm a rabid Rizal fan.

It's true that Rizal and Josephine lived together as husband and wife in Dapitan without the blessing of a formal marriage. Rizal was aware of the social repercussions of their situation as reflected on his frequent communication with his mother and siblings. But the reason the exiled Rizal could not easily get married to Josephine was the condition imposed by the Church that he first retract his criticisms against the church and renounce his membership to the Freemasons. Doing so will be a betrayal to his cause, which at this point, after writing "El Filibusterismo", he believed can only be achieved through a revolution although he felt at the time that the Filipinos were not yet prepared to engage in it. Remember also that there was no civil marriage back then.

Whether Rizal ultimately capitulated to the enemy and signed a retraction hours before his execution so that he could give a last-minute honor to his true love by having a Catholic wedding or not is subject to a lot of conjectures by many historians. If he did not, it's because he was a man of principle and would not easily capitulate and betray his people for their cause. Either way, the couple were betrayed by the Church when it refused to issue Josephine a marriage certificate but at the same time proudly holding on a document that supposedly proves Rizal retracted his criticisms against the Church. Logic tells you it can't be both. The absence of a marriage certificate became a point of contention between her and the Rizal family, further damaging the already strained relationship.

In his last hours, Rizal gave Josephine his last gift, a copy of "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, one of my all-time favorite books. On it, he lovingly wrote in English "To my dear and unhappy wife Josephine." Take note, he wrote "wife", not "sweetheart." But the ultimate endearing words of affection by our national hero to his beloved are found in his last and greatest poem, "Mi ultimo adios." In the last two lines, he wrote "Adiós, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi alegría, Adiós, queridos seres, morir es descansar." Andres Bonifacio, a great fan of Rizal, translated the words in Tagalog thus: "paalam estrañgerang kasuyo ko't aliw. paalam sa inyo m̃ga ginigiliw: ¡mamatay ay siyang pagkagupiling!" In English, "Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, who brightened my way; Farewell to all I love; to die is to rest." She was thus immortalized by him in "Mi ultimo adios."

The many letters between them when Josephine was in Manila and Rizal in Dapitan showed a rather lovey-dovey couple. It's true that most of Rizal's siblings and his mother were against their relationship, some were suspecting that Josephine was a spy of the friars. But the romantic love between these two unequal lovers - one was an accomplished man of many talents from an elite family and the other an adopted daughter of Irish decent from a rather modest background - is beyond doubt. She even fought for sometime as a Katipunera a few months after Rizal died. Two years later, Josephine met and married another Filipino in Hong Kong - Vicente Abad of Cebu. They settled in Cebu where they put up the first bike store in the island. They had a daughter. She went back to Hong Kong after a few years when she got sick and died of miliary TB. She was only 25.

For Ambeth Ocampo to suggest that Rizal was not sincere in his intention with Josephine Bracken and add that Rizal was gay is absurd. I have nothing against gays but there was no evidence to support that he was. Ocampo himself said in his lecture that Rizal had a total of 13 women linked to him romantically -  1. SEGUNDA KATIGBAK, 2 .MARGARITA ALMEDA GOMEZ, 3. LEONOR RIVERA, 4. LEONOR VALENZUELA, 5. JACINTA YBARDALOZA, 6. CONSUELO ORTIGA Y REY, 7. ADELINA BAUSTEAD, 8. NELLIE BAUSTEAD, 9. O-SEI SAN KIYO, 10. GERTRUDE BECKETT, 11. SUZZANE JACOBY, 12.PASTORA NECESARIO, and, lastly, 13. JOSEPHINE LEOPOLDINE BRACKEN and none of them men . What Ambeth Ocampo said is pure speculation. Interestingly, in an informal survey among his students and former students at Ateneo de Manila, where he taught history, the vast majority believe Ambeth is gay. Is he projecting his own feelings? wink emoticon

Josephine Bracken deserves to be honored as an honorary Filipina  and be respected for it.

The Forgotten Street Children Of The World

During Pope Francis' visit at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila early this year, many in the audience (and many more watching on TV) were caught by surprise when a former street child, Glyzelle Palomar, tearfully asked the sharp question nobody expected from her "Why is God allowing such things to happen, even if it is not the fault of the children? And why are there only very few people helping us?" 

Nobody saw it coming. Her words pierced the hearts of the millions who heard it simply because what she said is so true and most of us are in some ways guilty of becoming numb to their plight and in our eyes they cease to exist. Instead of pity, we feel annoyance. Her words are an indictment of society. 

We are aware of the complexity of these kids' life situation. Many of them are victims of physical and even sexual abuse and, at an early age, are exposed to drugs and sexual exploitation. Like those scenes we saw in the Bollywood movie 'Slumdog Millionaire', not a few of these street kids are being manipulated by criminal syndicates to go around the city begging on the streets for them. Growing up distrustful of the adults in their young lives, it's not easy to set up social programs to reach out to them as evidenced by the lack of success by many government agencies and other advocacy groups working with street children. What's more embarrassing are reports that the same agencies handling the street kids even attempted to "hide" these children when foreign dignitaries come to visit their countries as was the case in the Philippines when Pope Francis came to visit in January this year.

I believe success will be a lot easier if public support is strong which is really not the case as pointed out by Glyzelle  with her 'why are there only very few people helping us?.'  We all let these kids down. So what can we do as citizens? I believe public awareness (and acceptance) of their difficult struggle to survive is the first step in helping the homeless children in the streets of Manila, Bangkok, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Durban in South Africa and anywhere else in the world where there are  street children roaming around their cities. With strong public support, more effective social programs by both government and non-governmental organizations will get easily adopted and implemented.




Let's hope that countries will stop ignoring these kids and instead serious and concrete actions will be implemented by governments, church and other civic organizations to uplift them out of their miserable lives. 

Inventing Diseases To Sell Drugs

Does the pharmaceutical industry manufacture diseases as well as drugs? In some cases, yes they do.

There's a word for that: "disease-mongering." Increasingly, more and more experts and researchers have raised the alarm and warn the medical establishment, government policy makers and the public of this disturbing and dangerous trend that I consider a public health hazard itself. According to BBC, "disease-mongering promotes non-existent diseases and exaggerates mild problems to boost profits."

Researchers at Newcastle University in Australia said drug companies are putting healthy people at risk by "medicalizing" conditions such as menopause (too often treated as a disorder when it's really a normal part of life) or in the case of irritable bowel syndrome, it is being promoted as a serious illness needing therapy when it is usually just a mild problem.

A good example is ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Many pediatricians bend over backwards to make the diagnosis and start children on dangerous chemical drugs at that tender age. Now comes the bombshell. Before his death, Dr. Leon Eisenberg admitted to Der Spiegel, the German magazine, that ADHD is a fictitious disease which they put together in 1968 for the benefit of drug companies in the new disease classification at that time of the DSM or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diseases, the bible in Psychiatry for decades. Dr. Eisenberg's contribution to mental disease by invention and committee consensus has resulted in drugging millions of children from preschool age through high school who were often prescribed Ritalin. Ritalin was tested by the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) which found that it is pharmacologically similar to cocaine with perhaps even worse brain damaging potential.

Even risks factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure are being reclassified as diseases in their own right - hypercholesterolemia and hypertension, respectively - with falling thresholds resulting in more people considered to be sick.

Lynn Payer, author of "Disease-Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick" wrote "Disease-mongering—trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill—is big business." Some critics characterize it as a vicious cycle in which businesses invent new diseases to match their existing drugs.

Take for example shyness. Excessive shyness is now a disorder called "social anxiety disorder" or social phobia. In October 2003 the FDA approved Paxil as treatment for social phobia.' "Shyness is a new disease invented by Glaxo" said Sidney Wolfe, executive director of the Public Citizen's Health Research Group in Washington, DC. Worse, in the US which is one of the few countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising for medications, the consumers are being bombarded daily with ads which has a major impact on their view of a disease or "disease." The ads for Paxil in the late 1990s suggested that one in eight Americans had social anxiety disorder. "One in eight Americans! This is clearly an absurd fiction. The point of that is to try and make ordinary people feel sick", fumed one concerned expert.

Of course, some of these newly discovered diseases are real. There are two extremes in this issue: those who over-promote the "pill for every ill" philosophy and those overly suspicious critics who view diseases as being invented. The truth is somewhere in between. But if the medical establishment is not careful and vigilant, our doctors will become like our lawmakers in congress who are being controlled by the lobbyists and their corporate sponsors.

Some of these new "diseases" are really quite interesting. Take, for example, "Shift work sleep disorder" or SWSD. According to ICD 10, the medical coding standard often used by healthcare providers, insurers and Medicare, it is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder characterized by insomnia and excessive sleepiness affecting people whose work hours overlap with the typical sleep period. SWSD is yet another "disease" being promoted by Big Pharma for the sole purpose of selling drugs like Nuvigil, sold by Teva Pharmaceuticals. The fictional narrative is that those poor night shift nurses, for example, who suffer from excessive sleepiness are not simply tired because they are out of sync with the sun, the tiredness they feel when they stay up all night is actually a disease requiring medication. Yet one of the most common side effects of Nuvigil, the treatment for SWSD, is, ironically, also insomnia! Nuvigil is also a highly addictive controlled substance. Oh, those poor nurses (including my sister in Maryland) who are doing the graveyard shift! Avoid Nuvigil at all costs if you don't have to.

The latest "disease" to grab the limelight is "Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder" or HSDD. Women who are supposed to suffer from this new condition are being treated with flinbanserin from Sprout Pharmaceuticals. It is popularly known as the pink Viagra. Researchers believe sex equality advocates, along with the drug industry, are creating a medical need where one doesn’t really exist.

As earlier mentioned, one of the "dark" business models of Big Pharma is to invent a fake disease, promote the disease to push a new pill, then get as many people to take those pills as possible while Medicaid and Medicare programs write the checks. That's crazy.

But the blame is not purely in the hands of the drug industry. Top experts in their medical specialties who willingly become the spokespersons for these drug companies and even the unwitting doctors who help push the drugs for these new "diseases" are equally guilty. The pharmaceutical companies are very ingenious in the different ways they pump drugs into the medical system. According to James Ridgeway, techniques include "buying medical experts to put their names on articles written by the drug companies which can then be placed in medical journals; or hosting small casual dinners of docs to tell them about supposedly new and proven but still off-label uses for drugs. Docs get asked to come along for wonderful vacations with the dealers."

Dr Adriane Fugh-Berman, a Georgetown University physician, further exposed their methods on her article that appeared in the Boston Review. According to her, not only they "buy" the expert doctors, they also pump knowledge about the creepy new condition into the medical world through Continuing Medical Education, or CME, the process which helps doctors and other healthcare professionals keep abreast of new developments in their field.

Here’s how it works. Drug companies identify opinion leaders - influential healthcare professionals at academic medical centers. Selected opinion leaders are wooed. Opinion leaders whose perspectives "align" with the company’s marketing goals are then courted. A company may nurture relationships with targeted healthcare professionals over many years and will pay them to educate their peers at CME events and other settings. As expected, industry-paid speakers frequently deny espousing marketing messages. But these drug companies don't hire doctors to sell drugs. They hire them to sell diseases.

Very disturbing. On a lighter note, a former classmate in medical school, an ophthalmologist by trade, whom I recently had a quick reunion, amusingly quipped to me that had he known his family wants to travel extensively he would have taken residency training in internal medicine, implying that internists get much more corporate-sponsored travels for free than ophthalmologists. Of course, it's a joke (with some truth in it. LOL). I don't see serious harm on doctors attending pharma-sponsored conferences AS LONG AS they can keep their professional independence and critical thinking. I'm more concerned about the more impressionable younger doctors especially fresh residents who often take these new  "knowledge and discoveries" that appeared in medical journals almost like unassailable truths.

Monday Morning Quarterbacking Following The Mayweather-Pacquiao Mega-fight

My good friend, Joji Bulawin, is right about Monday morning quarterbacking among Filipinos following any Pacquiao fight the night before. Actually, it should be termed "Sunday morning boxing analysis."

Allow me to join the fray as well. There's no doubt that after last night Floyd Mayweather has proven to the world that he is in fact the best welterweight boxer of all time. His boxing style of incredible defensive skills and speedy footwork takes the air out of even the hardest-punching, most-punishing fighter like Pacman. His counter-punching gave him more points than Pacman even if they had similar number of punches thrown: 148 for Floyd, 81 for Pacman. In his words, he is "a calculated fighter." A smart fighter - and a savvy businessman at that. His perfect record of 48-0 with Pacman being the latest addition needs no further proof.

Of course, I'm proud of Manny Pacquiao. He is the best boxer that comes out of the Philippines and who far exceeded the feat of Gabriel "Flash" Elorde beyond the wildest imagination of the Filipinos. Until Pacman came around, Elorde was considered by many as the best Filipino boxer of all time. Francisco Guilledo aka "Pancho Villa" was the other great Filipino boxer of old. Pacman not only wins the hearts of all Filipinos but the many people around the world as well. His overwhelming popularity in the United States even among the elite, Hollywood or otherwise, is very palpable. He is so likeable that it's so obvious that the majority of the crowd undoubtedly were rooting for Mayweather to lose but they were sorely disappointed last night. Even the usually arrogant Floyd, who is characteristically obnoxious to his opponents, was obviously friendly to Pacman - a sign of respect to the man? Floyd's own words about Pacman: “He's is a hell of a fighter. I take my hat off to him. Now I see why he is one of the guys at the pinnacle of the sport of boxing.”

After him, there may never be another Filipino boxer like Pacman in years to come perhaps even in generations. We're lucky to have witness one great Filipino boxer in our lifetime. Perhaps it is fate that he lost the fight last night. Otherwise, the political opportunists in the Philippines will push for him to run for president and you know the many voters in the Philippines, how they mindlessly sent Erap and, some say, even Pnoy to the highest political position of the land. Silver lining?

Why Looting During Riots Happened Mostly In Inner-City Black Communities

For the vast majority of Americans, the typical stereotype of a looter during protest riots is a young black man, occasionally Latino, from a predominantly poor black neighborhood. It doesn't help that this general perception is being reinforced by images from crises as current as the still simmering Baltimore riots as well as those from recent and distant past: the bloody riots in Ferguson, MO last year, the massive 1992 post-Rodney King trial LA riots that left many Korean store owners forced to arm and defend themselves and their businesses from looters, and the 1977 New York City riots following a massive blackout brought memories of those pitch dark, hot and humid summer nights New York residents could never forget as they lived in extreme fear from both rioters and the serial killer Son of Sam terrorizing the city. In all of these, there were widespread looting, vandalism and other serious crimes committed. Billions of dollars in property damages were sustained. While buildings and cars were burning, you can hear the cries of "burn, baby, burn" from the angry mob.

A well-meaning friend pointed out to me that in Asia and in many other places elsewhere, people do engage in violent protests and sometimes resorted to vandalism but they hardly turn to looting of private properties. In truth, this has less to do with the color of their skin (if that's what my friend is implying) but more with the prevalent sense of powerlessness in these poor inner-city neighborhoods. Gang membership is also a significant factor in this maladaptive group mentality. The herd behavior during looting and vandalism among young men somehow give them personal empowerment and a sense of belonging.

The LA riots in 1992 were among the largest in US history and the second deadliest with 53 fatalities. But the worst US riots with massive looting happened in July, 1863 in New York City when many protested the military draft law passed following the emancipation proclamation of Pres. Abraham Lincoln. Most of the rioters were Irish-Americans who attacked black folks, burned their homes and looted stores. The official death toll: 119. How ironic that the wild rioters back then were not young black Americans but blue-collar Irish-Americans. 

The Myth of A Unified "Moro" Resistance And Its Implication To Peace in Mindanao

There's no doubt that Muslim Mindanao, or "Bangsamoro" as it's popularly called nowadays, needs a better framework than what's currently in place under ARMM to keep lasting peace in Mindanao. But, as rightfully pointed out by Pat Abinales in his "The Moro struggle as myth and as historical reality" article that appeared in the Rappler, the historical narrative that's the basis for the Moro people to desire their own "Bangsamoro" homeland is flawed and, unless that reality is recognized and taken into consideration in any peace plan, will be a major stumbling block to any endeavor to achieve such end in Mindanao. 

Even Thomas McKenna, in his "Muslim rulers and rebels: everyday politics and armed separatism in the southern Philippines" published by University of California Press in 1998, spoke of the myth of a unified "Moro" resistance. The Spaniards wrongly labeled all Muslim natives in Mindanao as "Moros", the word they pejoratively used to describe people of Islamic faith back in their native Spain, as if these natives belong to one ethnic group. In fact, the Tausugs, Maranaos and Maguindanaoans hardly had any widespread interactions among themselves and the resistance they put up against the Spaniards and, later, the Americans were mostly localized and were not seen as defending their "country" against foreign invaders. Their wars with the foreigners were not seen in the context of their Islamic faith but rather from defending their individual sultanates.

The Americans were the first to give these Muslim natives their own sense of "Moro" identity. In late 1930s Moro leaders even expressed to the Americans their desire to stay under the US while their Christian brothers in the north sought independence.

But it was Marcos, who secretly planned to take back militarily Sabah and aggressively interfered in Moro politics, that brought these Moro ethnic groups together to resist the central government. It was Marcos, whose failed Merdeka operation resulted in the disastrous Jabidah massacre of young Moro recruits in the island of Corregidor, that crystallized Moro resistance and started the unified Moro insurgency in Mindanao. In 1969, the MNLF was led by two young idealistic Moros of completely different background: Nur Misuari is a Tausug who was a professor at UP and Hashim Salamat was a Maguindanaoan who completed his Islamic studies in Egypt. The former preferred a more secular Bangsamoro and the latter an Islamic state. The former is strongly supported by Tausugs and, to a lesser extent, the Samals while the latter was popular among the Maguindanaoans and, to a lesser extent, the Maranaos.

This reality makes it difficult to have one encompassing Bangsamoro for all Moro ethnic groups and for any peace plan to truly succeed it should be inclusive of at least both the MNLF and the MILF. Perhaps two separate Moro autonomous regions may be a more practical approach. Whatever approach is chosen, time is of the essence in achieving a lasting peace in Mindanao in view of an external phenomenon sweeping the Islamic regions of the world and would soon become a bigger threat to the country if left unattended: Islamic radicalization as exemplified by ISIS and Al Qaeda. Another issue that complicates matters for Mindanao and that needs to be addressed is the Sabah claim. Misuari's MNLF is now claiming Sabah as part of the Bangsamoro. This could be tactical for Misuari but it definitely brings Malaysia into the equation.

References:

1. "The Moro struggle as myth and as historical reality"  by Patricio Abinales

http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/85353-moro-struggle-myth-historical-reality?fb_action_ids=10203869285793255&fb_action_types=og.shares

2. "Muslim rulers and rebels: everyday politics and armed separatism in the southern Philippines" by Thomas McKenna

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0199n64c&chunk.id=d0e1257&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e1085&brand=ucpress

Moro-moro in Philippine Senate: The Emperor's New Clothes

The biggest moro-moro these days is happening not in Mindanao but in the Philippine senate. Everyone in those hearings, senators and military/civilian officials alike, is pretending he/she didn't see that Pnoy is the biggest culprit in the Mamasapano debacle - the big elephant in the room.

It reminds me of one of my favorite children's stories of all time - "The Emperor's New Clothes" written by Hans Christian Andersen. In the story, the emperor's "new clothes" are supposed to be invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. So when the Emperor walks before his subjects in his "new clothes", not one dares to say that he didn't see any clothes at all until a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all", breaking the illusion.

All of them are pretending they didn't see the inconsistencies of the president's statements. They pretended that he did not break the rules even if he consciously violated the chain of command by appointing Purisima, the suspended PNP chief, to run the covert operation and excluded the rightful officials for the op, Espina and Roxas. These two officials were not even invited to the January 9th meeting in Malacanang. Worse, some even pretended that there's no chain of command in the PNP to break. They covered up for the president by saying Pnoy did tell Napenas to coordinate with the AFP. How can Napenas coordinate when the operation approved by Pnoy is supposed to be "time on target"? It's so covert and "timed on target" that they did not inform the AFP and both Espina and Roxas until the operation was already under way. Drilon established the fact with his questions that "time on target" and coordination (with the AFP) are just not compatible.

But I think the biggest illusion is the one the Filipino people hold for five years pretending all this time that Pnoy is a NORMAL, SANE person who became president of the Philippines. I'm one of those who pretended and refused to admit that the son of two of the heroes of our time is so different from his parents. Many times the child who cries "But he isn't wearing anything at all" was just ignored and the illusion kept:

When Pnoy was seen weirdly smiling in the midst of a bungled rescue operation to save those HK tourists in Luneta and then later stubbornly refusing to apologize to the people of HK, we pretended.

When he, once again, refused to apologize to another people - this time the people of Taiwan - for the unjust death of a Taiwanese fisherman in the hands of our trigger-happy coast guards, we pretended.

When he went partying the night away with his palace guards instead of visiting the thousands of victims of the deadly typhoon "Sendong" in CDO and Iligan City, we pretended.

When he coldly scolded a businessman in Leyte who expressed his concerns with "Buhay ka pa naman, di ba?" in the aftermath of supertyphoon "Yolanda" and weirdly insisting to CNN's Anderson Cooper that the number of casualties could not possibly exceed two thousand when it's so obvious it will be much more than that, we pretended.

When the Mamasapano debacle happened and Pnoy continued to manifest weird behavior - like flying back to Malacanang and staying eerily quiet for three full days while the whole country was waiting a word from him to tell them what happened, avoided the arrival honors for the fallen SAF 44 by attending instead a car plant inauguration, even coming late for the necrological service the next day, scolding, once again, the widows who asked pointed questions with “Ano’ng gusto nyo, kunan namin ng fingerprints ang lahat ng MILF?", I sure hope that's the last child's cry that will finally break the illusion because the Filipinos cannot continue to pretend that they are NOT being led by someone who is, at the very least, a narcissist, quite possibly a sociopath. Que horror!

At this juncture in the country's unfolding history, there's nothing Malacanang's spin doctors can say that will cover up the President’s complete "lack of empathy, narcissism, intolerance of criticism, and compulsive lying that are characteristics usually attributed to sociopaths." The emperor is finally revealed as having no clothes and unfit to lead his empire. God bless the Philippines!