Muslims slighted over continued use of 'moro-moro' term

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Muslim leaders felt slighted with the continued use of the word “moro-moro” in the impeachment proceedings of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

Gutierrez had used the term to describe the situation as a farce, and lawmakers out to impeach her also repeated the term.

Moro-moro is actually a play that became popular during the Spanish colonial era depicting the conflict between Christians and Muslims, with the latter appearing as perpetual villains. “This moro-moro word or farce actually gives negative impressions to Muslims in the south and we were slighted with the continued use of it to describe such a condition,” said former party-list representative and Anak Mindanao (Amin) chairman Mujiv Hataman.

Hataman said the Muslim representatives in the House have been appealing to colleagues not to use the term moro-moro to describe a sham.

“Using the word moro-moro to describe a farce or negative impressions is insulting on the part of the Muslims in our country because the word is literally pointing to Moro customs,” he said. “The word moro-moro is discriminatory on the Muslim community. So we urge officials to be sensitive.”

Hataman had passed an anti-discriminatory bill in Congress. Although it passed both houses, it was sidelined and affected by the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.