Mythologies of the Moro Tribes

 

The Moro tribe or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. 'Moro nation' or 'Moro country').^[3] As Muslim-majority ethnic groups, they form the largest non-Christian population in the Philippines.^[4]. According to the 2020 census conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, they comprise about 6.5% of the country's total population, or 7.1 million people. Most Moros are followers of Sunni Islam. The Moros were once independent under a variety of local states, including the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultanate of Maguindanao, the Sultanate of Buayan, and the Confederation of sultanates in Lanao; withstanding repeated Spanish invasions, the Moro states remained de facto independent up until the Moro rebellion of the early 20th century. Upon Philippine independence in 1946, the Moros continued their struggle for self-determination against a predominantly-Christian Philippines, culminating in a decades-long insurgency of armed rebel groups, chief among them the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), against the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The Moro people are guaranteed an autonomous region under the Constitution of the Philippines; however, the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao did not satisfy the demands of rebel groups. A ceasefire and successful peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF led to the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2018, a region with greater political autonomy and powers. Today, outside the Bangsamoro autonomous region, the Moro people are a significant minority in nearby provinces, including Soccsksargen, Palawan, Samar, and the Bicol Region. They are a visible and integrated minority in various urban centers of the country, such as Manila, Cebu, and Davao. Outside of the Philippines, some Moros remain in areas once controlled by the Sulu Sultanate along the eastern coast of Sabah; others emigrated to neighboring Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei in the late 20th century due to the Moro conflict in Mindanao. Newer communities can be found today in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia,^[5] North Kalimantan in Indonesia, and in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

The Moro People represent a diverse group of indigenous Muslim ethnolinguistic groups in the southern Philippines, primarily inhabiting Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, and Palawan. Their history is a tapestry woven with threads of thriving pre-colonial societies, the enduring arrival and deep roots of Islam in the Philippines, centuries of resistance against foreign invaders, internal dynamics, and a complex, often tumultuous, relationship with the Philippine state. Understanding the Moro History is crucial to comprehending the broader narrative of the Philippines, offering insights into identity, conflict, and the persistent pursuit of self-determination for Filipino Muslims. This article delves into the rich historical journey of the Moro people, from their early origins and the establishment of powerful Sultanates to their long struggles against colonial powers and the modern challenges and peace efforts in Mindanao. The term “Moro” is derived from the Spanish word “Moro,” originally used to refer to the Moors of North Africa who had converted to Islam. The Spanish colonizers applied this term to the Muslim inhabitants of the Philippines, viewing them through the lens of their own historical conflict with the Moors. While initially a pejorative term used by colonizers, the term has been reappropriated by many Filipino Muslims as a collective identity, signifying their shared history of resistance and their distinct cultural and political aspirations, often encapsulated in the concept of Bangsamoro, meaning “Moro Nation” or “Moro People”.  

Moro, any of several Muslim peoples of Mindanao, Palawan, the Sulu Archipelago, and other southern islands of the Philippines. Constituting about 5 percent of the Philippine population, they can be classified linguistically into 10 subgroups: the Maguindanao of North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao provinces; the Maranao of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces; the Tausug, mostly of Jolo Island; the Samal, mostly in the Sulu Archipelago; the Bajau, mostly in the Sulu Archipelago; the Yakan of Zamboanga del Sur province; the Ilanon of southern Mindanao; the Sangir of southern Mindanao; the Melabugnan of southern Palawan; and the Jama Mapun of the Cagayan Islands. Because of their Islamic faith (introduced from Borneo and Malaya in the 14th century), the Moro have remained outside the mainstream of Philippine life and have been the object of popular prejudice and national neglect. Moro conflict with ruling powers has a centuries-long history: from the 16th to the 19th century they resisted Roman Catholic Spanish colonialists, who tried to extirpate their “heresy”; in the first decade of the 20th century they battled against U.S. occupation troops in a futile hope of establishing a separate sovereignty; and, finally, they spawned insurgencies against the independent Philippine government, especially from the late 1960s on. Historically, Muslim Filipinos have never constituted a collective entity. The various groups or tribes have often been fiercely independent, have clashed with one another at times, and have independently grafted Islamic tenets and practices onto their distinct local cultures. Nevertheless, internal differences have been outweighed by the common grievances that the Moro have experienced vis-à-vis non-Muslims in the Philippines. After World War II, their traditional grievances as religious and economic outcasts were exacerbated by the great migration of northern Christian Filipinos into the southern provinces, where they bought up land and tried, Moros alleged, to Christianize the schools and other institutions. In 1971 the Manila Times estimated that 800,000 Muslims were refugees turned out of their lands by Christians.

The Moro people comprise the 13 Islamized ethnolinguistic groups of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan. Along with the group known as Lumad in Mindanao, the Moros are an indigenous population that had been living on the islands long before the coming of Spanish colonialism. Today, the Moro people are found all over the Philippines. However, they are dominant in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. They are also numerous in some municipalities of North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay and Palawan. Racially and culturally, the Moro people share a common origin with the majority of Filipinos. Linguistically, they belong to the Malayo-Polynesian group of languages. Etymologically, the word Moro was derived from the term “Moor,” itself originating from “Mauru,” a Latin word that referred to the inhabitants of the ancient Roman province of Mauritania in northwest Africa, which today comprises the modern states of Algeria, Mauritania and the Kingdom of Morocco. With the rise of Islam, Mauritania became a Muslim province under the Umayyad Caliphate. Before long, Muslim armies conquered and then ruled much of the Iberian Peninsula from 711 to 1492, a total of 781 years. For the Spaniards the term Moor did not necessarily have derogatory connotation. It was simply the Spanish name for anyone who was Muslim.  In colonial Philippines, the Spanish rulers used the word “Moro” to refer to all inhabitants of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan, believing that they all belonged to the Islamic faith.