|
In The Name of Allah The Almighty
Philippines
(12th
June:National Day)
Dr Sajid Khakwani
drsajidkhakwani@gmail.com
Republic
of the Philippines country in Southeast Asia.
It is an archipelago consisting of some 7,100 islands and islets lying about
500 miles off the coast. The total land area of the Philippines is 115,800 square
miles. It is bounded by the Philippine Sea to
the east, the Celebes Sea to the south, and
the South China Sea to the west and north. The
Philippines
takes its name from Philip II, who was king of Spain during the Spanish
colonization of the islands in the 16th century. Manila is the biggest city and the national
capital. It is located on Luzon, the largest
island, which has a land area of 40,420 square miles. Mindanao,
at 36,537 square miles the second largest island, lies in the south.
Because it was under Spanish rule for 333 years and
under U.S.
tutelage for a further 48 years, the Philippines has many cultural
affinities with the West. Its peoples, however, are Asian in consciousness and
in aspiration. In many ways Filipino society is composed of paradoxes, perhaps
the most apparent being the great extremes of wealth and poverty in the nation.
The Philippines
is a country of rich resources, but it is in the process of developing its full
potentialities. It is primarily agricultural, although a high degree of
domestic and foreign investment has spurred the rapid development of its
industrial potential. Educationally, it is among the most advanced of Asian countries,
having a high literacy rate.
Before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century,
the people lived in small independent villages, each ruled by a petty king. The
cultivation of rice or corn (maize) and fishing provide the basic subsistence.Manila, Cebu,
Jaro, Vigan, and Nueva Caceres (now called Naga) were granted city charters by
the Spanish. More chartered cities were founded under U.S. administration
and since independence in 1946. Quezon
City was chartered in 1939 and became the capital of
the Philippines
in 1948. In 1975 Manila,
Pasay City, Caloocan, and Quezon City and 13 adjoining municipalities
were placed under one administrative unit known as Metropolitan, or Metro, Manila. The city proper
of Manila was
again made the national capital in 1976; Metropolitan Manila is designated the
National Capital Region. In addition to the cities there are a great many
municipalities and a number of municipal districts.
The people of the Philippines are called Filipinos. Their ancestors, who were of Malay stock, came
from the southeastern Asian mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia. From
the 10th century, contacts with China
resulted in a group of mixed Filipino-Chinese descent, who account for a
minority of the population. A small percentage of Chinese nationals also live
in the country. The relatively small numbers of emigrants from the Indian
subcontinent added to the population's racial mixture. The aboriginal
inhabitants of the islands were the Negritos, or Pygmies, also called Aetas or
Balugas; they now constitute only a small percentage of the total population.
Estimates
of the total number of native languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines
differ, but scholarly studies suggest that there are some 70 of them. The
national, and most widely spoken, language of the Philippines is Pilipino. Pilipino and English are
the two official languages and mediums of instruction. Tagalog is the richest
of all Philippine languages and has the most extensive written literature. The
great majority of Filipinos are Roman Catholic; adherents of the Philippine
Independent Church ,Muslims, and Protestants are the largest religious
minorities. There are also some Buddhists and animists.
Much of
the land area of the islands is covered with forest, and many of the mountains
are densely forested. In northern Luzon the
principal mountain tree is pine. There are about 220 species of mammals, among
which are water buffalo, goats, horses, hogs, cats, dogs, monkeys, squirrels,
lemurs, mice, pangolins (scaly anteaters), chevrotains (mouse deer), mongooses,
civet cats, and red and brown deer. There are some 500 species of birds, many
of which are migrants. Birdlife includes jungle fowl, pigeons, peacocks,
pheasants, doves, parrots, hornbills, kingfishers, sunbirds, tailorbirds,
weaverbirds, herons, and quails.
The Philippines
is rich in mineral resources. There are major deposits of gold; iron; zinc,
high-grade chromium ,silver, nickel, mercury, molybdenum, cadmium, and
manganese occur in several other places. No fewer than 2,000 varieties of fish
are in the seas surrounding the islands and in lakes, rivers, estuaries, and
fish ponds. The Philippines
is chiefly an agricultural country. Its soil is rich and fertile, and crops
grow abundantly throughout the year. The principal farm products are rice, corn
(maize), coconut, sugarcane, abaca (Manila hemp), tobacco, maguey (used for
making such products as rope), and pineapple. Many tropical fruits are also
raised, the most important being banana, mango, lanseh, or lanzon (Lansium
domesticum), citrus, and papaya. A wide variety of vegetables are raised
for domestic consumption. Rice, the principal staple crop, is grown everywhere.
The Philippines
is one of the world's largest producers of coconuts and a major exporter of
coconut products. The Philippines
also produces more than one-third of the world's copra. Sugar is one of the
country's top exports and earns a substantial amount of foreign exchange. High-quality
timber and veneer products traditionally have been leading exports. Fishing is
also one of the most important of Filipino industries.
The principal minerals mined include gold, silver,
iron, copper, manganese, zinc, lead and coal. some petroleum is also extracted. Many of
these minerals—notably copper—are produced for export and thus are vulnerable
to fluctuations in world demand. Much industrial growth has taken place in the Philippines,
but the manufacturing sector is still in an early stage of development. Major
manufactured goods include processed foods and beverages, petroleum products,
textiles and wearing apparel, and chemicals.
The
government has assisted the private sector of the economy by exempting certain
new industries from taxation for a certain period. Only nominal taxes are
imposed on selected industries, and loans on favourable terms are available to
others. The trade-union movement is well-established in Manila and in most other towns and cities.
Farmers and tenants are also organized, as are teachers and government
employees. The right of all workers to organize unions has been recognized in
the constitution promulgated in 1987.
In 1986, a constitution was drafted and was ratified
in a popular referendum held in February 1987. Its key provision was a return
to a bicameral legislature, called the Congress of the Philippines,
consisting of a 250-member House of Representatives and a 24-member Senate.
House members are elected from districts, although a number of them are
appointed; they can serve no more than three consecutive three-year terms.
Senators, elected at large, can serve a maximum of two six-year terms. The president,
the head of state, can be elected to only a single six-year term, and the vice
president to two consecutive six-year terms. The president appoints the
Cabinet, which consists of the heads of the various ministries responsible for
running the day-to-day business of the government. Most presidential
appointments are subject to the approval of a Commission of Appointments, which
consists of equal numbers of senators and representatives. The country is
divided administratively into 73 provinces, which are grouped into 12 regions;
the National Capital Region has special status. Each province is headed by an
elected governor. Local political subdivisions that also have elected officials
include cities and municipalities; during the Marcos regime the ancient barangay
was reinstated as the smallest unit of government.
Islam was promulgated by three methods: by Muslim
traders in the course of peaceful trade; by preachers and holy men who set out
from India and Arabia specifically to convert idolaters and animist and
increase the knowledge of the faithful; and by war waged against heathen
states. Trading served as a strong factors in spreading Islam in Southeast
Asia, with Muslim merchants interested not only in the commercial aspects of
life, but in the spiritual as well, providing Islamic knowledge to the
uniformed through religious missions.
It was in North Sumatra that the trade route from India and the
west reached the archipelago, and Islam first obtained a firm footing in Southeast Asia. Malacca , the main trading center of the
area in the 15th century, became the great stronghold of the faith, from where
it spread out. In the 10th century, Islam's influence intensified and reached
as far as ancient Malaysia.
This in turn would affect its growth in what would become The Philippines.
The strength of
the Sulu sultanate in the early 14th was enhanced by Malay leaders who helped
the natives in political, economic, and religious developments. Among others, Rajah Baguinda, a Sumatrans prince,
came to the Philippines
in 1390 with a group of men, all learned in Islam. They settled in Buwansa,
which became the first capital of the sultanate of Sulu, and Abubakhar his
son-in-law became the first sultan. The early missionaries who came to the Philippines
were guided by Islamic principles of no religious compulsion, thus the gradual
and liberal promulgation of Islam. Known as Mukhdumin, these missionaries did
not mean to conquer the territories or exploit its inhabitants but to teach,
and guide people to the right path.
Two century before the coming of Western colonizers to
the Philippines,
the Muslim enjoyed full independence, and had a well-organized government, the
sultanate, which attained various achievements at the height of its power. The
sultan served as both political and religious leaders, protector and defender
of Islam, following the Islamic political system of no separation between
church and state.
More
important to note is the historical fact that the Islamic process in these
early centuries saw the development of dynamic interaction between inhabitants
and communities in the archipelago especially in matters of trade and
commerce. The economic activities of the period had become so encouraging
that foreign trade between the southern island and the outside world, including
the west, was also stimulated.
With the coming of the Spaniards and the Americans,
the Bangsa Islam declined. Both colonial powers incorporated the independent
Bangsa Islam into the Philippines
state, The Muslim courageously resisted the Spanish conquistadors, but it cost
them in terms of socioeconomic development, which remained almost at zero level
because of the constant wars. This long period of colonial confrontation and
struggle would have radical effects on the character of Islamic development in
the archipelago and would give a distinct color to what the Bangsa Moro armed
struggle is today. It is also partly responsible for what the Muslim Filipinos
have become.
From Spanish
colonization up to the American regime and the present, the Muslims have
remained faithful to Islam. When other Muslim states come to their rescue, it
is not a matter of intervention in sovereignty and territorial integrity, but a
religious duty. The Filipino Muslims' existence as part of the Muslim ummah is
not in the context of a minority, but in that of a far reaching spread of
citizenry who dwell in a single nation and have an unshakable affinity, the
Islamic brotherhood comparable to an
edifice in which each part of the structure reinforces all others.
Since the granting of the Philippines Independence in
the year 1946, the Manila government launched
"settlement programs" for the Christians from Luzon
and Visayas in the Moroland. Prior to that the Moro Muslims had been enjoying
the administration of the region by themselves as the Provincial governors, the
Municipal mayors and the Barangay captains were among themselves. The Christian
settlers, with the assistance of the Manila
government, started to take over the strategic politic and socio-economic posts
soon after their influx into the Moroland.
The genocide campaign of the Manila
government had reached an alarming point. So the Moro youth and students, both
domestic and abroad, specially those who were studying in Arab and Islamic
countries had no choice but to organize the "Moro National Liberation
Front," to face the challenge. In order to avoid confusion, the members of
the Central Committee had decided to replace the word "National" with
the word "Islamic" so the true "Liberation Front" aiming at
the re-establishment of a sovereign Moro Islamic State was given the title
"Moro Islamic Liberation Front." The demand (objective) of the
"Moro Islamic Liberation Front" is precisely no less than Independent (sovereign) Moro Islamic State
|