Muslims or Moros: not an Ethnic group or race, Muslims are those who practice the religion of Islam

These are four Muslims from four different races. But if they become Filipino citizens, the Philippine government will classify them as indigenous. Only in the Philippines.

Muslims are not indigenous people. They are the followers of Islam.

Muslim is not an ethnicity. Muslim by definition is an individual practicing the religion of ISLAM. Not all the Muslim people in the Philippines are indigenous. There are several races in the Philippines practicing the religion of Islam and they are Muslims. But not all of them are indigenous. Take the Chinese Muslims in Tawi-Tawi, the Indian Muslim in Zamboanga, or the caucasian Muslim in CDO; all three belong to different races and ethnicity.

Case in point via history: Let us take two indigenous tribes as an example. The tausugs of Sulu and the Maranaos of lake Lanao.

Before the Muslims arrived in the archipelago, the Tausugs and the Maranaos were non-muslims. They practiced their own forms of worship. Most say that they practiced the animistic beliefs and traditions. As history would record it, by the 14th century when the Muslims arrived in the Philippines and started to convert the natives to the religion of Islam, these two tribes (Tausugs and Maranaos) were (most of them) converted into the religion of Islam. Not all the Tausugs and Maranaos are Muslim but all of them are indigenous people. They were indigenous before they became Muslim. Being Muslim did not make them indigenous. Being Tausugs and Maranaos made them indigenous.

Somehow, in the twisted minds of the legislators of the Philippines, they now classified all Muslim-filipinos as indigenous people.

Muslim scholars, Muslim academia, Muslim politicians, and Muslim leaders will forever continue to break the line that divides religion from ethnicity, race, ancestry and inherited status. They will continue to complicate issues until the dividing line simply becomes a shade of gray. This push will not stop until the world will define the word Muslim as an ethnicity and classify Muslims as indigenous people.

To the Muslim, governance and religion are synonymous. If a Muslim is within a country that is not Islamic, he will simply tolerate the government. The Muslims in that country will cluster and unite in their unending effort to assimilate that country into their ISLAMIC fold. Time is not a factor.

A Muslim is trained from childhood when asked for his/her race, to answer with "I am Muslim".

Here is how the bangsamoro is trying to convince legislature and all Filipinos that Muslims are indigenous people

The BBL immediately makes an assumption that all the ancestral lands of the sulu archipelago, Mindanao and palawan all belongs to the Muslims. They made this assumption and they have the legislature fooled.

Article II section 1 of the BBL defines the bangsamoro people as:"Those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their descendants, whether of mixed or of full blood, shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. Spouses and their descendants are classified as Bangsamoro."

Then Article II section 2 of the BBL talks a little about the indigenous people: "Freedom of Choice. – The freedom of choice of other indigenous peoples shall be respected."

Let me inform you folks. The "natives or original inhabitants" at the time of conquest and colonization were not the bangsamoro people. They were the indigenous people who practiced several forms of worship and one of them just happened to be Islam. Muslims (Bangsamoro) are not indigenous people. They are the followers of the religion of Islam.

Before the introduction of any religion or ideology into the Philippines, the indigenous people already had their own languages, traditions, beliefs and practices. These new introductions or additions simply became part of the original.

The Muslims claim that they deserve their own state because they are an indigenous people. WRONG! Muslims are the followers of Islam. Muslims are not indigenous people, neither is it an ethnicity. If a tribe converts to Islam and all the members of that tribe become Muslims, it does not make the Muslims indigenous, it only makes the indigenous people in that tribe Muslims.

This push by the Muslims for a state of their own is not just from the Muslims within the Philippines. Other Islamic countries are involved. The country that stands out in full support of the Muslims in the Philippines is the country of Malaysia. They have been involved since 2007 with the former president Arroyo.

The religion of Islam should be treated just like any other religions in the Philippines. The Philippines should uphold the "separation of church and state as it is stated in the constitution. The government should not financially support any religion. Giving the bangsamoro a state of its own is a violation of the constitution. It is financially supporting the religion of Islam.

The Philippine Government is religiously biased. To defeat the BBL or Bangsamoro once and for all, legislature must be convinced that the Bangsamoro people were not the original "natives or inhabitants" of the entire Philippine archipelago or the sulu archipelago, mindanao or palwawan for that matter.

To reiterate: The indigenous people were the original "natives or inhabitants" and not the Bangsamoro. The bangsamoro people are not indigenous people. They are the followers of Islam.