ARMM commemorates Bangsamoro Freedom Day

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Residents of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao observed Monday as non-working holiday the commemoration of the March 18, 1968 “Jabidah Massacre” in Corregidor that fanned the flames of the Moro uprising in Mindanao.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman declared last week March 18 as a non-working holiday, in keeping with Muslim Mindanao Act No. 67, which declared the date as Bangsamoro Day.

The Jabidah Massacre is known as the infamous slaughter of dozens of mutinous Moro recruits during the Marcos regime. The Armed Forces of the Philippines was supposedly training them for a covert operation aimed at regaining control of the resource-rich Sabah.

The massacre ushered in the birth of the Moro uprising for self-governance and self-determination that eventually led to the birth of the Mindanao Independence Movement in Maguindanao, and, subsequently, the Moro National Liberation Front.

The slain trainees were said to have staged a mutiny over non-payment of the allowances promised to them and for lack of food and medical attention while undergoing military training in preparation for their mission to incite an uprising in Sabah with the aim of severing Malaysia’s dominion over the island.

The Moro National Liberation Front signed a peace pact with the national government on Sept. 2, 1996. A splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, still has an on-going peace talks with Malacañang, which started on Jan. 7, 1997.

It was when MNLF founder Nur Misuari was governor of ARMM, a stint that started in 1996 and lasted until 2001, that the region’s “Little Congress,” the Regional Legislative Assembly, enacted a law declaring March 18 as Bangsamoro Day in all of the five provinces covered by Muslim autonomy.