E/CN.4/1503
Annex I page 24
concerning assistance to South African student refugees, in which States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are urged to contribute generously to the assistance programmes for student refugees in southern Africa, while appreciation is expressed to governments granting asylum to these refugees.
1977 THE PHILIPPINES (THE REPUBLIC OF)
73. Over the last few years, the conflict between the Govern- ment of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim organization fighting for independence in the south, has uprooted possibly hundreds of thousands of people and led some tens of thousands of them to take refuge in the State of Sabah, Malaysia. The MNLF which, despite a cease- fire agreed upon in Tripoli (Libya) between the Philippines Government and the rebel leaders in 1976-77, continues to
resist government authority, belongs to an area with a long history of Muslim predominance over several centuries, much before the spread of Christianity and the advent of colonialism. Today, more than 90 per cent of Filipinos (reported to number 46.7 million in mid-1979) are Roman Catholic or national Catholic (a splinter variant), 3 per cent are Protestant, 5 per cent are Muslim and the remainder are an assortment of cultural minorities.
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74. The 2.5 million Muslims live mostly on Mindanao and Palawan and the islands in the Sulu Sea. They, as well as the Christians, are reportedly increasingly affected by "land grabs" by multinational concerns based in Manila and other forms of economic and political domination. fishermen are said to be driven off the land when an investor has decided that their area is attractive. reports, resistance on the part of villagers is liable to be met with military force, whether or not armed rebels are involved, martial law having been in force since September 1972. (Though formally lifted in January 1981, it remains in force in the southern provinces which have Muslim majorities).
75. Some of the displaced flee embattled areas, others are evacuated by the army so that troops may better pursue the rebels. Just outside Taluksangay, in south-western Mindanao, a camp has been built for Muslim internal refugees. As for those who crossed to Sabah, the Government of Malaysia put their number at 90 000, for some of whom international as- sistance was required.
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