Main Article Content
Abstract
This research addresses the problem of how the Filipino/Moro binaries are represented within select English legal and constitutional documents and related subjective texts during the early Philippine Republican period. Specifically, it is structured to answer the research questions: a) What are the linguistic mechanisms employed in the Philippine early Republican governmental documents that marginalise Moros? and b) How do these documents perpetuate the Filipino/Moro binary? Data are extracted from English legal and constitutional documents from 1935 to 1975 from the government websites, including the Official Gazette of the Philippines (officialgazette.gov.ph) and the Supreme Court E-Library (elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph). Their source texts are objectified (Republic Acts) or subjective (Presidential Speeches). To analyse how these texts constructed and perpetuated marginalisation and oppositional binaries, Foucault’s (1972) framework was employed. Its application here involves a genealogical examination of the archival corpus and selecting texts that explicitly reference the Moro population or their biopolitical and territorial governance. In the genealogical analysis, data are subjected to a coding process and thematic categorisation of the discursive practices. The study elucidates the persistent influence of these discursive formations on the Moros' pursuit of equitable representation within the nation-state’s biopolitical framework. Consequently, the findings entail the necessity for a reconceptualisation of national identity that embraces the multiplicity and diversity of the archipelago's indigenous populations. This study is significant as it sheds light on the complex dynamics of power, knowledge, and identity construction, and their lasting effect on the contemporary political realities of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Understanding these is fundamental to achieving authentic and attainable peace in this volatile region.
Keywords
Article Details
Copyright (c) 2025 Mosa-ab Mangurun

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree with the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
- Abaya-Ulindang, F. C. (2015). Land resettlement policies in colonial and postcolonial Philippines: Key to current insurgencies and climate disasters in its southern Mindanao island. Paper presented at the International Conference on Land Grabbing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
- Abinales, P. N. (2000). Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the Formation of the Philippine Nation-State. Ateneo de Manila University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.75843
- Armstrong, Karen. (2002). Islam: A Short History. Modern Library Chronicles. Random House Publishing Group.
- Buchan, B., & Heath, M. (2006). Savagery and Civilization: From Terra Nullius to the ‘Tide of History’. Ethnicities, 6(1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796806061077
- Buzan, B., Waever, & O., de Wilde J. (1998). Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
- Coronel Ferrer, M. (2020). Region, nation and homeland: Valorization and adaptation in the Moro and Cordillera resistance discourses. ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
- Daniel, Norman. (1960). Islam and the West: The Making of an Image. Edinburgh University Press.
- Ferrier, S. G. (2020). Subjects of History: Foucault on the Emergence of Conflictual Nationhood and Biopolitics. Le Foucaldien, 6(1), 1-46. https://doi.org/10.16995/lefou.50
- Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge. (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). Pantheon Books.
- Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition. New York: Continuum.
- Gonzalez, A. B. (1998). The language planning situation in the Philippines. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19(5), 487–525. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434639808666365
- Gowing, P. G. (1987). Of Different Minds: Christian and Muslim Ways of Looking at Theirs. International Review of Missions, 265, 74-83.
- Gramsci, A. (2011). Selection from the Prison Notebook. ElecBook.
- Grosfoguel, R. (2008). Transmodernity, border thinking, and global coloniality. Revista Critica de Ciencias Sociais .
- Guttig, G. (2005). Foucault: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
- Hawkins, M. (2008). Muslim Integration in the Philippines: A historiographical survey. Asia Pacific Social Science Review, 8(1), 19-31.
- Hernandez, J. R. B. (2016). The Philippines' Moro Conflict: The Problems and Prospects in Peaceful Resolution [Master’s Thesis, Georgetown University]. Georgetown University Repository Library. https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/1043903/Hernandez_georgetown_0076M_13671.pdf?sequence=1
- Hourani, Albert. (1991). Islam in European Thought. Cambridge University Press.
- Jubair, S. (1999). Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny. Marin SDN BHD.
- Kapahi, A. D., & Tañada, G. (2008). The Bangsamoro Identity Struggle and the Bangsamoro Basic Law as the Path to Peace. Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, 10(7), 1-7.
- Lara, F. J. (2019). Transition-induced Violent Conflict and the Bangsamoro State-building Project. Philippine Sociological Review, 67, 5–34. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26933203
- Lingga, A. S. (2004). Muslim Minority in the Philippines. SEACSN Conference 2004. SEACSN.
- Lorenzini, D. (2023). Foucault, governmentality, and the technique of the self. In W. Walters, & M. Tazzioli (Eds.), Handbook on Governmentality (pp. 22-37). Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
- MacDonald, L., & Lopesi, L. (2024). Autonomous Genealogies and Indigenous Reclamations: Decolonial (and Anti-Colonial) Interventions to Genealogy. Genealogy, 8(4), 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8040135
- Majul, C. A. (1976). Towards a Social Policy for the Muslims in the Philippines. Philippine Political Science Journal, 3(2), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1163/2165025X- 00302002
- Martin, I. P. (2018). Linguistic challenges of an English-dominant legal system in the Philippines. Asian Englishes, 20(2), 134–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2017.1418716
- McKenna, T. M. (1998). Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines. University of California Press.
- Mills, S. (2003). Michel Foucault. Routledge.
- Morgensen, S. L. (2011). The Biopolitics of Settler Colonialism: Right Here, Right Now. Settler Colonial Studies, 1(1), 52–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2011.10648801
- Mulder, N. (2013). Filipino Identity: The Haunting Question. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 32(1), 55-80.
- Neumann, N. (2010). Identity-building and Democracy in the Philippines: National Failure and Local Responses in Mindanao. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 61(90), 61-90. Retrieved from www.CurrentSoutheastAsianAffairs.org
- Olivier, B. (2019). Decolonisation, Identity, Neo-Colonialism and Power. Phronimon, 20(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/3065
- Phillipson, R. (2013). Linguistic imperialism. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0718
- Quezon, M. L. (1936, June 6). Speech of His Excellency Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, at Camp Keithley, Lanao [Speech text]. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1936/06/06/speech-of-his-excellency-manuel-l-quezon-president-of-the-philippines-at-camp-keithley-lanao-june-6-1936/
- ______ (1936, October 27). Message of President Quezon to the First National Assembly on the creation of an Institute of National Language [Speech text]. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1936/10/27/message-of-president-quezon-to-the-first-national-assembly-on-the-creation-of-an-institute-of-national-language-october-27-1936/
- Ramnath, K. (2024). Adrift in the Andaman Sea: Law, archipelagos and the making of maritime sovereignty. Past & Present, 265(Supplement_17), 249-281. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtae033
- Republic of the Philippines. (1957). Republic Act No. 1888 [Legislation].
- Republic of the Philippines. (1930). Commonwealth Act No. 491 [Legislation].
- Quezon, M. (1939). Speech by President Manuel L. Quezon on the proposed Jewish settlement in Mindanao [Speech Transcript]. Philippine Government Archives.
- Roxas, M. (1946, January 26). Message of His Excellency Manuel Roxas President of the Philippines To the Congress On the State of the Nation [Speech Transcript]. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1948/01/26/manuel-roxas-the-nation-on-the-road-to-prosperity-third-state-of-the-nation-address-january-26-1948/
- Saeed, A. (2006). Islamic Thought: An Introduction. Routledge.
- Said, E. (2002). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
- San Juan, E., Jr. (2006). Ethnic Identity and Popular Sovereignty: Notes on the Moro Struggle in the Philippines. Ethnicities, 6(3), 391-422 . https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796806068326
- Sen, U. (2017). Developing Terra Nullius: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Indigeneity in the Andaman Islands. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 59(4): 944-973. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417517000330
- Söderberg Kovacs, M., Höglund, K., & Jiménez, M. (2021). Autonomous Peace? The Bangsamoro Region in the Philippines B eyond the 2014 Agreement. Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 16(1), 55-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/1542316620987556
- Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson, & L. G. (eds), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (pp. 24-28). McMillan.
- Svirsky, M. (2010). The production of terra nullius and the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. In Deleuze and the postcolonial (pp. 220-250). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748637010-012
- Tupas, R. (2015). Examining English Linguistic Imperialism in the Philippines. OSF Preprints.
- Zhu, L., & Wang, W. (2020). A Critical Discourse Analysis of the US and China Political Speeches. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 11(3), 435-445. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1103.12
References
Abaya-Ulindang, F. C. (2015). Land resettlement policies in colonial and postcolonial Philippines: Key to current insurgencies and climate disasters in its southern Mindanao island. Paper presented at the International Conference on Land Grabbing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
Abinales, P. N. (2000). Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the Formation of the Philippine Nation-State. Ateneo de Manila University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.75843
Armstrong, Karen. (2002). Islam: A Short History. Modern Library Chronicles. Random House Publishing Group.
Buchan, B., & Heath, M. (2006). Savagery and Civilization: From Terra Nullius to the ‘Tide of History’. Ethnicities, 6(1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796806061077
Buzan, B., Waever, & O., de Wilde J. (1998). Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Coronel Ferrer, M. (2020). Region, nation and homeland: Valorization and adaptation in the Moro and Cordillera resistance discourses. ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Daniel, Norman. (1960). Islam and the West: The Making of an Image. Edinburgh University Press.
Ferrier, S. G. (2020). Subjects of History: Foucault on the Emergence of Conflictual Nationhood and Biopolitics. Le Foucaldien, 6(1), 1-46. https://doi.org/10.16995/lefou.50
Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge. (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). Pantheon Books.
Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition. New York: Continuum.
Gonzalez, A. B. (1998). The language planning situation in the Philippines. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19(5), 487–525. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434639808666365
Gowing, P. G. (1987). Of Different Minds: Christian and Muslim Ways of Looking at Theirs. International Review of Missions, 265, 74-83.
Gramsci, A. (2011). Selection from the Prison Notebook. ElecBook.
Grosfoguel, R. (2008). Transmodernity, border thinking, and global coloniality. Revista Critica de Ciencias Sociais .
Guttig, G. (2005). Foucault: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Hawkins, M. (2008). Muslim Integration in the Philippines: A historiographical survey. Asia Pacific Social Science Review, 8(1), 19-31.
Hernandez, J. R. B. (2016). The Philippines' Moro Conflict: The Problems and Prospects in Peaceful Resolution [Master’s Thesis, Georgetown University]. Georgetown University Repository Library. https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/1043903/Hernandez_georgetown_0076M_13671.pdf?sequence=1
Hourani, Albert. (1991). Islam in European Thought. Cambridge University Press.
Jubair, S. (1999). Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny. Marin SDN BHD.
Kapahi, A. D., & Tañada, G. (2008). The Bangsamoro Identity Struggle and the Bangsamoro Basic Law as the Path to Peace. Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, 10(7), 1-7.
Lara, F. J. (2019). Transition-induced Violent Conflict and the Bangsamoro State-building Project. Philippine Sociological Review, 67, 5–34. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26933203
Lingga, A. S. (2004). Muslim Minority in the Philippines. SEACSN Conference 2004. SEACSN.
Lorenzini, D. (2023). Foucault, governmentality, and the technique of the self. In W. Walters, & M. Tazzioli (Eds.), Handbook on Governmentality (pp. 22-37). Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
MacDonald, L., & Lopesi, L. (2024). Autonomous Genealogies and Indigenous Reclamations: Decolonial (and Anti-Colonial) Interventions to Genealogy. Genealogy, 8(4), 135. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8040135
Majul, C. A. (1976). Towards a Social Policy for the Muslims in the Philippines. Philippine Political Science Journal, 3(2), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1163/2165025X- 00302002
Martin, I. P. (2018). Linguistic challenges of an English-dominant legal system in the Philippines. Asian Englishes, 20(2), 134–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2017.1418716
McKenna, T. M. (1998). Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines. University of California Press.
Mills, S. (2003). Michel Foucault. Routledge.
Morgensen, S. L. (2011). The Biopolitics of Settler Colonialism: Right Here, Right Now. Settler Colonial Studies, 1(1), 52–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2011.10648801
Mulder, N. (2013). Filipino Identity: The Haunting Question. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 32(1), 55-80.
Neumann, N. (2010). Identity-building and Democracy in the Philippines: National Failure and Local Responses in Mindanao. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 61(90), 61-90. Retrieved from www.CurrentSoutheastAsianAffairs.org
Olivier, B. (2019). Decolonisation, Identity, Neo-Colonialism and Power. Phronimon, 20(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/3065
Phillipson, R. (2013). Linguistic imperialism. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0718
Quezon, M. L. (1936, June 6). Speech of His Excellency Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, at Camp Keithley, Lanao [Speech text]. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1936/06/06/speech-of-his-excellency-manuel-l-quezon-president-of-the-philippines-at-camp-keithley-lanao-june-6-1936/
______ (1936, October 27). Message of President Quezon to the First National Assembly on the creation of an Institute of National Language [Speech text]. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1936/10/27/message-of-president-quezon-to-the-first-national-assembly-on-the-creation-of-an-institute-of-national-language-october-27-1936/
Ramnath, K. (2024). Adrift in the Andaman Sea: Law, archipelagos and the making of maritime sovereignty. Past & Present, 265(Supplement_17), 249-281. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtae033
Republic of the Philippines. (1957). Republic Act No. 1888 [Legislation].
Republic of the Philippines. (1930). Commonwealth Act No. 491 [Legislation].
Quezon, M. (1939). Speech by President Manuel L. Quezon on the proposed Jewish settlement in Mindanao [Speech Transcript]. Philippine Government Archives.
Roxas, M. (1946, January 26). Message of His Excellency Manuel Roxas President of the Philippines To the Congress On the State of the Nation [Speech Transcript]. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1948/01/26/manuel-roxas-the-nation-on-the-road-to-prosperity-third-state-of-the-nation-address-january-26-1948/
Saeed, A. (2006). Islamic Thought: An Introduction. Routledge.
Said, E. (2002). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
San Juan, E., Jr. (2006). Ethnic Identity and Popular Sovereignty: Notes on the Moro Struggle in the Philippines. Ethnicities, 6(3), 391-422 . https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796806068326
Sen, U. (2017). Developing Terra Nullius: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Indigeneity in the Andaman Islands. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 59(4): 944-973. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417517000330
Söderberg Kovacs, M., Höglund, K., & Jiménez, M. (2021). Autonomous Peace? The Bangsamoro Region in the Philippines B eyond the 2014 Agreement. Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 16(1), 55-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/1542316620987556
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson, & L. G. (eds), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (pp. 24-28). McMillan.
Svirsky, M. (2010). The production of terra nullius and the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. In Deleuze and the postcolonial (pp. 220-250). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748637010-012
Tupas, R. (2015). Examining English Linguistic Imperialism in the Philippines. OSF Preprints.
Zhu, L., & Wang, W. (2020). A Critical Discourse Analysis of the US and China Political Speeches. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 11(3), 435-445. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1103.12