Moro trailblazer passes away
By Antonio J. Montalvan

FROM my mailbox comes this obituary which I thought should not pass unnoticed. In his lifetime, the subject made a mark as an outstanding alumnus of the University of the Philippines. Albeit our paths never crossed, Dr. Cesar Adib Majul was a familiar name in Filipino historiography.

The obituary essentially volunteers the following information:

Probably the most prominent Muslim-Filipino academic luminary of his generation, 79-year-old Cesar Adib Majul died of prostate cancer at a Los Angeles hospital in the United States, October 11, Saturday, 3 p.m. American time. Popularly known as Dean Majul, he was to have celebrated his 80th birthday in the United States this October, said fellow academic, Higher Education Commissioner Roqaya Maglangit.

Majul was born on October 21, 1923 in Aparri, Cagayan. He was educated at the University of the Philippines and Cornell University and has been a member of the faculty of the University of the Philippines since 1948. He has served as a UP dean in 1961 until 1966; and from 1969 until 1971, as dean of the UP College of Arts and Sciences. Between 1961 and 1962, he served on the board of regents of the University of Mindanao. In the spring term of the academic year 1966-67, he was a visiting professor at Cornell University.

He received the Republic Heritage Award for "the most outstanding contribution to Historical Writing during the period May 1, 1960-April 30, 1961," and won the first prize in the Biography Contest on the Life of Apolinario Mabini in 1964. He also received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 1968 from UP.

Best known for his works entitled, "The Contemporary Muslim Movement in the Philippines," (1985) and "Muslims in the Philippines" (1973), he also authored such major studies as "The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution" (1957, 1968), "Mabini and the Philippine Revolution" (1960), and "Apolinario Mabini: Revolutionary" (1964).

"The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution" is an important attempt at examining and interpreting the ideas that brought about the Philippine Revolution, determined its conduct and shaped its objectives. The book is based on the doctoral dissertation which Majul presented to the Graduate Faculty of Cornell University.

His essays on Islam have been translated by Dr. Nabil Tawil Subhi into Arabic and published in Beirut as "Al-Islam Fil-Sharqil Aqsa" (1966). This book adds a new dimension to an already distinguished career.

Dean Majul also co-authored a book with Ralph H. Salmi and George K. Tanham entitled "Islam and Conflict Resolution: Theories and Practices (1998)," which was published by the University Press of America. A number of his articles were published in several local and international journals.

An author, scholar, educator and a prominent Muslim leader, he founded the Institute of Islamic Studies and became its first dean, serving in that capacity from 1974 up to 1980.

At the time of his passing, he was living with his wife, Wiena, and daughter, Christine, in San Pablo, California.

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Several crescent moons after Majul first published his "Muslims in the Philippines," Filipino historiography still lack adequate historical accounts about Mindanao. At the risk of sounding like the proverbial broken record, I'd say Mindanao remains a footnote in our history books. It is no wonder that Mindanao continues to fight for attention. For this is what Mindanao is to this day --"kulang sa pansin."

One may think that Majul's prolific output would have paved the way for more vigorous research work on Mindanao history and culture. There is at the moment a project to annotate all publications pertaining to Mindanao. Prof. Rudy Rodil of Iligan, the project's spearhead, might yet find the answer to how much of Mindanao is already known in the scholastic world.

But last week, a seminar on culture and development for Mindanao cultural workers, initiated by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, revealed a disturbing picture. That is: NCCA grants for Mindanao constitute a measly 3 percent of its national grants budget. Why the pittance? We are told that very few cultural projects or research work on Mindanao have applied for NCCA assistance. The NCCA is obviously among the conduits of some good things being done in Manila for Mindanao. One cultural worker suggested that to solve the "imbalance" in the allocation of NCCA grants, it should put up a satellite office in Mindanao. Which is another way of saying Mindanao is too far away from Manila where "decisions" are made. Hence, the island and its regions lose in the race with other regions.

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Some Manilans may think that Mindanaoans are now singing hosannas of thanks to George W. Bush for his financial package for Mindanao. Unless it makes a systemic change in the way Mindanao and the Filipino Muslims, for that matter, are being treated, Bush's "gift" will be nothing but another tokenism.

Then -- in Majul's time -- as now, Mindanao's marginalization is far from being a thing of the past. Even columns like "Kris-Crossing Mindanao" are just a drop in the ocean between Manila and Mindanao. But we have to start somewhere, and there is hope.

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