The norm for politicians in Muslim Mindanao could be more particularly religious for ‘moral governance’ if we leave former liberation front leaders to their own devices. If religion were to intrude into the ‘government-of-the-day politics’ can it be far beyond for their voters in the 2025 election? Given the establishment clause of the country’s constitution that separates religion and politics the all-appointed MPs work in the pretext of cabinet ministries run under color of authority (colorum). That’s why my contribution to the Voices from Moro Land published, in 2007, I already posed the hard question: “Political Islam in the 21st Century Philippines: Can It Survive?” Today, a little more than a decade, those so-called “people of faith” and their religious beliefs are perhaps no more intertwined within an imposed majoritarian composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) than in public life. At institutional level the lack of accountability drawn from electoral constituencies explains the absence of crucial cabinet collective responsibility to BTA members, even if they are in transition status.
The Muslim faithful and devout supporters are not mutually exclusivists; they include non-elected MPs from MNLF grouping and a few Indigenous peoples. A project of moralizing the world by MILF-backed brand of proxy politics only suggests: It’s not economics (haram vs halal above all) but growth-points in basic rule of law (al-amr vs an-nahy) debate for the most politically aware. That issue must be taken to a new level of cabinet system as well as parliamentary practice to work out both in the Electoral Code and the Party List System (PLS) with Proportional Representation System (PRS) to function within the framework of democratic competition in politics. In consideration, the right support for growth push with decisions made in the political market—including voter’s exchange value in it—would not generally be accepted legitimacy, moral or legal. And thus what sets up as a rubric for the evaluation of legal as well as economic institutions and norms of human behavior is political education.
As a Muslim public intellectual, lawyer Datu Michael O. Mastura is well acquainted with the attitudes of the Bangsamoro intelligentsia in which Islam becomes a source of identity if not ideology. His major books are: Muslim Filipino Experience (1984), Bangsamoro Quest (2012), and the latest The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History (2023). He edited C. A. Majul’s collection of essays entitled Islam and Development (1984). As a lawmaker, congressman Mastura crafted the Code of Muslim Laws in the Philippines (1976); Charter of the Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines; Philippine Passport Law; and The People’s Television Act. He has been an Amicus Curae to the Supreme Court. His seminal work on “Legal Pluralism in the Philippines” appeared in the Journal of Law and Society (1994). Also as professional lecturer, he has contributed chapters to books such as Southeast Asians in the Era of Globalization (2014); Islam and Civilizational Renewal; published articles on Islam, Muslim law, and history; other journals devoted to politics, peace negotiation, and contemporary issues.
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