US embassy cable - 05MANILA1098

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MANILA 001098 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/PMBS, INR/EAP 
NSC FOR GREEN 
SEOUL FOR ERIC JOHN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KISL, PINS, KCRM, SNAR, SA, RP 
SUBJECT: MARAWI CITY: ISLAMIC PRIDE IN THE TROUBLED SOUTH 
 
REF: A. MANILA 804 
     B. 04 MANILA 5903 
 
1.  (U)  Summary. Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur 
Province in Central Mindanao, is officially an "Islamic city" 
under municipal law, the only such city in the Philippines. 
The city of 125,000 is 96-percent Muslim.  The main campus of 
Mindanao State University, located in Marawi, is a 
nonetheless cosmopolitan bubble of Christian-Muslim 
understanding and a crossroads of orthodox and progressive 
Islamic thought.  City officials are nonetheless striving to 
make Marawi a purely Islamic enclave by legislating 
conservative laws based on the Koran, while flatly rejecting 
comparisons to the fundamentalist-oriented Taliban.  The city 
has a small Christian minority, which has generally good 
relations with city officials.  The local Catholic Bishop is 
active in promoting interfaith understanding and 
reconciliation.  Despite its Islamic identity, the city is 
plagued with an epidemic of drug abuse among local youth as 
well as a culture of revenge violence.  Marawi City and its 
leaders are proud of a city where Islamic values flourish, 
while remaining eager for and receptive to US engagement 
efforts.  End Summary. 
 
Students And Townsfolk Appreciate Advocacy Visit 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2.  (U) Poloff visited Marawi City February 12-14 to speak 
about US foreign policy at a conference organized by students 
from the College of International Relations at the main 
campus of Mindanao State University (MSU).  The students were 
receptive to poloff's remarks on US interests in Mindanao, 
which stressed development and education as tools in 
combating terrorism.  The audience appeared grateful for the 
Embassy's participation (representatives from the Department 
of Foreign Affairs dropped out).  Other speakers included MSU 
faculty members and local media personalities (one an 
International Visitor grantee).  Questions were largely 
non-hostile, apart from occasional expressions of suspicion 
of US "hegemony."  Poloff's explanations of US global 
engagement emphasized security, prosperity, and democracy as 
central goals.  Poloff's separate impromptu remarks on US 
development objectives and support for the Mindanao peace 
process (translated into the local dialect for the weekly 
"flag-raising" gathering of government employees at the 
Provincial Capital Complex) received applause and approval. 
 
MSU: A Moderate Bubble 
---------------------- 
 
3.  (U) Mindanao State University's Marawi campus has 17 
associated schools and colleges, offering law, Islamic 
Studies, engineering, nursing, agriculture, international 
relations, and other programs.  There are 12,000 students at 
the campus, of whom 80-percent are Muslim.  The university 
prides itself on being a progressive-oriented learning 
institution.  According to Vice Chancellor Macabangkit Ati, 
several MSU graduates have won national trade and vocational 
awards, and the university promotes inter-faith understanding 
as part of its mandate to provide quality higher education to 
all of Mindanao -- comparatively one of the most 
education-deprived regions of the country. 
 
4.  (U) MSU-Marawi is also home to the King Faisal Center for 
Islamic, Arabic, and Asian Studies, where students take 
academic degree programs and classes on Islamic law, Islamic 
history, Arabic language, and international relations.  The 
Center also operates a Koranic school, administered by Rachid 
Ouabed, an Algerian.  Ouabed also has a Palestinian on his 
staff.  (Both immigrated to the Philippines, married local 
women, and now live and work in Marawi.)  The school operates 
under an agreement with the MSU Board of Regents, but 
receives funding from the Muslim World League, based in 
Mecca, Saudi Arabia.  The school is similar to a madrassah 
and conducts all of its classes in Arabic.  The school's 
compound features a library full of donated books in Arabic, 
several classrooms, and a spacious cafeteria and bathing 
facilities.  Ouabed told poloff the school is planning phased 
renovations that will include boarding rooms and a separate 
building for girls.  Poloff visited one classroom with about 
40 students, all boys in their early teens, studying 
Koran-based science in Arabic.  The students and 
administrators were friendly. 
5.  (SBU) The King Faisal Center also houses the Marawi 
chapter of the Center for Moderate Muslims (CMM) (ref A). 
One of the CMM organizers -- MSU faculty member and Embassy 
contact Hamid Barra -- explained that the difficulty in 
promoting moderate ideals is due in part to the lack of mass 
communication (no electricity) and the low literacy level, 
especially in rural areas.  "Extremists" easily visit rural 
mosques, where they can teach "militant ideals" with 
impunity, he claimed.  The CMM supports peace initiatives 
such as livelihood programs and family development.  With 
international partners such as the World Bank, the UN 
Development Program, and the Asia Foundation, CMM reaches out 
to local poor communities to provide literacy training, he 
noted. 
 
Islamic Pride and Conservatism 
------------------------------ 
 
6.  (SBU) Marawi is a self-proclaimed "Islamic City," and in 
that tradition city officials have enacted local laws based 
on the Koran.  Several city council members described to 
poloff how their Islamic leadership relates to the national 
secular constitution.  Two recent city ordinances ("based on 
interpretations of the Koran") were of particular interest: 
one requiring all Muslim women to wear Islam-appropriate 
clothing, specifically a headscarf; and another "restricting 
gays" and banning cross-dressing males.  Both ordinances 
prescribe increasing monetary fines with each offense and the 
possibility of incarceration on the third offense. 
 
7.  (SBU) Marawi City Mayor Omar Ali and the city councilors 
have stressed collectively that the laws are to "protect 
Islamic culture" in Marawi and to present the city as 
Islamic-friendly to the Muslim world.  According to one 
official, the city even discourages men from wearing shorts. 
City councilors contended that, without the ordinances, 
Muslim women would be at risk of harassment or physical 
assaults for not wearing appropriate dress.  Officials 
discounted a comment that Marawi might be transforming into a 
"Taliban-esque" city.  Female councilor Jehanne 
Mutin-Mapupuno noted that the Maranao tribe -- based in 
Marawi and the surrounding Lanao provinces -- is the most 
conservative of the three main Muslim ethnicities in the 
Philippines.  (Note: Marawi is 90-percent Maranao, and many 
prefer to speak the Maranao dialect instead of Tagalog.  The 
other two main Muslim ethnicities are the Maguindanao, 
centered on the province of the same name, and the Tausug, 
based in the Sulu Archipelago.  End Note.)  "There is 
religious freedom" in Marawi, she insisted, emphasizing that 
the ordinances are an expression of how Muslims "should" act. 
 As leaders of Marawi, the city counselors had a 
responsibility to "protect" Islam from "corrupting 
influences," she claimed.  In reference to the 
anti-homosexual ordinance, one councilor claimed to be 
tolerant of gays, but stressed "they should not act like 
women while in Marawi." 
 
Little if any enforcement 
------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) According to the sponsor of the headscarf 
ordinance, local people largely supported both measures. 
However, one MSU student told poloff the ordinances are 
indeed a concern to the student body.  The student noted that 
this is in large part due to the interfaith and cosmopolitan 
nature of the university.  There is apparently discussion of 
exempting the MSU campus, in the city's outskirts, from the 
ordinances, either explicitly or by default. 
 
9.  (SBU)  According to Mayor Ali, Marawi does not have a 
"religious police," but ad hoc ulama (Islamic scholar) groups 
exist in the city that could serve this enforcement function. 
 Local police officials had a "vague awareness" of the 
ordinances, but appear indifferent to enforcement, officials 
noted.  Marawi also has a Sharia (Islamic law) court, but so 
far there have not been any prosecutions under the new 
ordinances, according to officials.  (Note:  It is not clear 
whether authorities have levied fines under these ordinances 
yet.  End note) 
 
10.  (SBU)  Manila-based Department of Interior and Local 
Government Undersecretary Wencelito Andanar separately 
predicted to poloff that such ordinances would not stand up 
to scrutiny under the Philippines' secular constitution, 
adding that it would be "interesting" to see a challenge 
reach the Supreme Court.  He admitted that this would "take a 
long time." 
 
Christian-Muslim Coexistence 
---------------------------- 
 
11.  (SBU) Marawi Catholic Bishop Edwin de la Pena, who 
presides over around 2,000 in the Marawi Prelate of six 
parishes, cited challenges in being the de facto leader of a 
tiny religious minority.  He noted "prejudice" from both 
Muslims and Christians, and occasional deadly violence, which 
claimed the life of a foreign missionary priest in 2001.  He 
complained that violence goes unchecked and murders unsolved, 
and voiced suspicions of the involvement of the local drug 
trade.  He said that he tries to serve as an intermediary 
with the city government on behalf of his followers, although 
he has no official political representative role.  He claimed 
that Marawi leaders readily listened to and cooperated with 
Marawi's Christians.  In one instance, the city cleaned up a 
litter-strewn thoroughfare in front of the main church in 
Marawi.  There are also local organizations through which 
Christians and Muslims learn about reconciliation and 
interfaith understanding, he added. 
 
Other Social Woes 
----------------- 
 
12.  (SBU) According to local observers, Marawi is plagued by 
several social problems, including drugs and clan-based feuds 
(known locally as "rido").  City officials said that many 
young people are now addicted to methamphetamine (locally 
known as "shabu").  City councilors and police blamed 
"outsiders from Manila" or transnational traffickers from 
"China and Taiwan."  Several students said that they 
suspected local politicians were complicit in the trade. 
Councilor Mapupuno suggested that high local unemployment and 
the lack of positive activities for the young contributed to 
the problem.  Other city officials lamented the lack of a 
family-oriented sports league or a rehabilitation center. 
 
13.  (SBU) In examples of the "rido" problem (ref b), 
officials described the deaths of at least seven government 
troops and 12 others in late January in a firefight between 
influential Maranao families in Tuburan, Lanao del Sur 
Province, about 40 miles south of Marawi.  Councilor Mapupuno 
opined that such disputes are best handled outside the 
"distrusted Philippine justice system" through a culturally 
preferred "Elders' Council" that arbitrates disputes on a 
case-by-case basis.  The Council determines settlements that 
range from directed intermarriage (to join families together) 
to blood money.  However, additional vendetta killings often 
occur when one party is reluctant or unable to pay, according 
to the Councilor. 
 
Comment: A City Open To Engagement 
---------------------------------- 
 
14.  (SBU) Marawi is truly a unique part of the Philippines, 
which, like other Mindanao cities, has its share of 
challenges.  While coping with its problems, the city strives 
to establish and maintain its conservative Islamic identity, 
although it remains open to US engagement.  US public 
diplomacy programs are prevalent at MSU, which is a welcoming 
platform for speakers from the Embassy and visiting lecturers 
from the US.  The American Studies Resource Center is a 
useful hub for MSU students interested in US topics and 
education programs.  USAID is active in the city, with a 
range of development assistance initiatives, including 
offering computer and internet education for several local 
high schools and matching funds for community organizations 
committed to school improvement.  End Comment. 
 
Visit Embassy Manila's Classified SIPRNET website: 
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You can also access this site through the State Department's 
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http://www.state.sgov.gov/ 
Ricciardone