Tagalog-Bisayan tribalism and the proposal for independent Republics by Visayas and Mindanao Islands Part 1

My country is under a serious crisis in these times. Much has happened of its rich history from being a colony of three foreign masters arranged in order which were the Spanish, the Americans and the Japanese. and by the year 1946, we become a republic well in reality we were once a republic when a certain general named Emilio Aguinaldo, declared the independence of my country in1898 yet it was sold to the United States by our first colonizer, in reality we would have put up a better fight as a nation against the American aggressor yet the surrender of the republic's first and last president allowed the quick disintegration of the first republic. Why do I talk about such? It is due to the reason that the focus of leadership of that republic is in the north that comprises the island of Luzon. Even since the Spanish times the focus of power was focus on the island and thus the term Imperial Manila came to being (as our country's capital is Manila). Then on to both the American colonial era and in the brief Japanese occupation of the country, power was always focus on Manila. From then on and until now, much of the political power was focus on Manila and it has a detrimental effect on the other parts of the country and specifically the areas of concern is the Visayan Islands and the Mindanao Island. The bias of power also created a cultural impact on the nation some examples would be the Tagalog and other ethnic groups of Luzon looks down on the Visayans as inferior beforehand and much more as the focus of governance is on Luzon. This in effect created one of the major cultural problem that continues to greatly affect the country which is ethnocentrism which is a sort of tribalism that plagues our nations progress why do I say this?

I'll give you an example, in an election especially the national elections. Ethnic groups like the Ilocanos prefer to vote on candidates that is of the same ethnic group without considering other factors on voting their candidates like track record, platforms and ideas that the candidate has. Such has continually created a biased and a status quo that is happening today and in which is a contributing factor to the "trapo politicians" that also plagued my country's political system. Again, as I have stated that the power is focused on the Luzon Islands,the tendency is that there is a bias those in power to put welfare and development in Luzon more than the other islands. Not only those are evident in the political arena but also in other fields like the media, the businesses and others. The Visayan Islands and parts of Mindanao is home to the biggest ethnic group of my country which is the Bisaya and also a couple of different ethnic minorities like the Manabo and the Tausugs. There are more to explain the disparity yet I believe these examples are enough to allow you to see the disparity and the focus or bias of those holding power most of all political in Imperial Manila.

Recently some groups like these is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nasudnong-Bisaya/141304119279410,http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=284982 has made proposals to create an independent republic for the Visayan ethnic group as well as a Mindanao republic. And not so long ago that a certain politician stated that a Mindanao will separate to the rest of the country because of the worsening political crises that was transpiring in Imperial Manila during the time http://blogs.sunstar.com.ph/citizenwatch/2005/07/08/were-not-sinking-yet-davao-city-mayor/. Such proposals somewhat is interesting as this would allow the islands self-determination to rule for itself and eliminates the monopoly of power of Imperial Manila on the respective islands yet there are certain implication,factors and issues to consider on such a proposal. This will be tackled on the part 2 of my post.