House Bill 100, known as “An Act Prohibiting the Use of the Words ‘Muslim’ and ‘Christian in Mass Media to describe any Person Suspected of or Convicted for Having Committed Criminal or Unlawful Acts, and Providing Penalties for Violation Thereof” was introduced by Muslim Congressman, Representative Yusop Jikiri (pictured) from the southern Philippine Island of Mindanao and passed Congress on Feb 5.

According to the Filipino press, Jikiri told Congress his bill was “a defining law which will finally end the stereotyping of Muslims as kidnappers, drug pushers [and] terrorists.”

During the colonial era, the Muslim Sultanates of Mindanao and Sulu resisted the Spanish and then the American colonial governors and were never fully incorporated into the mainstream of Philippine life.

In the 1960s the Moro National Liberation Front began a guerilla war against the government seeking to create a Muslim Moro nation independent from the Philippines. A peace treaty in 1996 ended the larger guerilla war, but the al-Qaida linked Moro Islamic Liberation Front continues to wage war against the government to establish an independent Islamic state on Mindanao.

Human rights activists and Muslim community leaders have long protested the public presentation of Moros in the Filipino press, saying their stereotyping as criminals, terrorists and drug traffickers is demeaning. Free-speech advocates, however, object to the bills attempt to regulate speech.

The law will now go to the Philippine Senate for ratification, and if approved will be sent to President Gloria Arroyo for her signature.



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