Word: mindanao
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...Shortly after Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law last September, American Jesuit Vincent Cullen was clapped into jail. The reason: Cullen was a social action director on the island of Mindanao, where his labors on behalf of minorities and poor farmers in a land dispute provoked the wrath of local officials. Now Cullen has been released, but is under the custody of the Philippines provincial. While Cullen chafes, a fellow Jesuit, Father James Donelan, regularly offers Mass at Marcos' Malacanang Palace, and other Jesuits have given retreats for the President...
...throughout the Philippines last September. The major reason he cited then was the insurrection of a group of Maoist rebels in the far north. Now, all is relatively quiet on the northern front. Meanwhile, Marcos has had to pour some 13,000 troops into the southern islands (specifically, Mindanao and the Sulu group). As a result, the rest of his 70,000-man armed forces are stretched exceedingly thin...
...spread of Islam throughout Southeast Asia, Moslems dominated the southern Philippines for five centuries. They successfully defended their culture against the Spaniards who conquered the rest of the Philippines and against the Americans who replaced them. A Moslem decline began in 1938, when Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon proclaimed Mindanao the "land of opportunity," and Christian Filipinos from the crowded north started moving in. Better educated, the Christians gained control of Moslem land and of the region's economy. They also practiced religious discrimination in employment and education. Though the Moslems number more than 2,000,000, they now represent...
...militants did not get far, though, until Marcos made a mistake last September: he included Mindanao in the martial law decree prohibiting the possession of firearms. To the Filipino Moslems, who regard guns as their most prized possessions, it was a direct threat. With a speed and solidarity that took the Philippine authorities by surprise, hundreds of hitherto law-abiding Moslems took to the hills. Since then, the hundreds have grown into thousands. Moslem insurgents are now estimated to number 13,500 in eastern Mindanao and 6,000 in the Sulu islands, chiefly Basilan and Jolo...
...entitled to -a share not only in government but also in the rewards of our progress." To that end, Marcos pledged more opportunities for young Moslems to study at universities and to enter the Christian-dominated Philippine Military Academy. Last week he also dispatched an engineering battalion to Mindanao to work on electrification projects in Moslem communities. But such gestures may be too little, too late. In guerrilla wars, they often...