Free Republic

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AP) — Muslims in the southern Philippines overwhelmingly approved in a referendum the creation of a new autonomous region in hopes of ending nearly half a century of unrest, election officials said. The Commission on Elections announced late Friday that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is deemed ratified following a referendum on Monday. It says 1.5 million people voted in favor. Bangsamoro replaces an existing poverty-wracked autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful entity. It is the result of a tumultuous peace effort by the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,...

VIDEO. Philippines, Muslim rebels hope for lasting peace with new deal.

posted on 4/8/02 at 02:17 PM GrassRootsDirtAn E-Zine Allahu Akbar AlHamdulllilah Subhana Allah Four centuries of jihad underpinning the Bangsamoro Muslims' struggle for freedom By Robert Maulana Alonto The struggle of the Malay Bangsamoro people began almost 500 years ago, when Spain invaded the three independent Muslim principalities - the Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao, and the Confederated Sultanates of Ranao - which governed mainland Mindanao and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Palawan. Mindanao and these islands today constitute what is known as the 'southern Philippines.' Islam had been here for some 200 years before the Spanish arrived....