The spirits of the thousands of martyrs of the 1906 great battle of Bud Dajo and Bud Bagsak, including the Hassan Panglima Uprising, all in Lupa Sugh or Sulu, must be turning in their graves.

The cause they died for in these epic battles for merdeka or the Right to Self Determination (RSD) — the unity and freedom of the Moros — has suffered a great setback with the recent decision of the Supreme Court carving Sulu from the BARMM. Lupa Sugh or Sulu is the birthplace of and where the struggle for merdeka or the Right of the Moros for Self-Determination (RSD) started and was championed by the Moro National Liberation Front, the mother of all liberation movements in Mindanao.

And for their cause to succeed, foremost of their advocacies was the unity of all the Moro tribes — no ifs, ands, or buts about it — one solid territory where their religious creed, peculiar cultural values and traits will be respected, preserved and promoted with less interference from the central authority.

Lupa Sugh had always been at the forefront of the struggle for RSD and they had contributed precious lives and resources in the struggle and suffered the most in the war, which was partly won with the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Referring to the Bangsamoro homeland minus Sulu as one of its territories is an unthinkable anomaly. The Tausugs and Sama tribes never dreamed of being separated from their brothers and the rest of the Bangsa Moro nation.

The region was all set prepping for the first parliamentary election until the Supreme Court dropped its bombshell decision to cut Sulu from BARMM, putting the BARMM in disarray. This has stirred a hornet’s nest and ruffled political feathers, leaving the Moros disconcerted and scampering and scurrying for clarification and answers to many questions from those in the know.

We were asked whether we supported the Law and nothing more. And because we had serious reservations about the capability of BARMM to solve the age-old problems of the Filipino Muslims we voted in the negative.

Why should the whole bangsa or race of Tausugs be punished for a minor lapse or miscomprehension of the legal process? This is not different from the injustice that we experienced in the hands of the “dayuhang mananakop or foreign colonialists or invaders for which we paid a dear price.

What happened now to the budgetary allocation from the annual block grant and other sources of financial help from the government? From whom or where will the funding for the ongoing projects in Sulu come from? What happened to the representation of the Tausugs in the Regional Parliament and the nominees for such position?

The Gods of Mount Olympus at Padre Faura have spoken, and we mortals have no choice but to follow and swallow no matter how bitter the pill is.

amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com