Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 26, 2014.

The origins of the words Filipino and Bangsamoro identities are imposed identities to us by foreign colonizers. If we may ask ourselves, what then is a Filipino identity? What is a Bangsamoro identity?

The Bangsamoro Basic Law and the present peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is a political project for state building. The word state here refers to the Philippine Republic. It also aims to address historical injustice that is attached to these two identities.

As of now, the Filipino identity is very much related to the culture of the people from Luzon, especially those coming from the eight provinces that fought the Spaniards during the late 1800s. Our history books narrates that Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, who wrote the Philippine Declaration of Independence and who read it on the occasion of its proclamation on June 12, 1898, has listed the eight provinces as Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Laguna, and Batangas. Symbolism of Filipino identity mainly describes the culture of the Christians from Luzon.

The Bangsamoro identity is a problematic construct that is defined by law, but having a difficulty of articulating its cultural origins. The following are the laws that defined the word Moro and Bangsamoro:

a. Philippine Bill (1902), Section 7 - That two years after the completion and publication of the census, in case such condition of general and complete peace with recognition of the authority of the United States shall have continued in the territory of said Islands not inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes...

b. Republic Act 9054 Section 3 - As used in this Organic Act, the phrase "indigenous cultural community" refers to Filipino citizens residing in the autonomous region who are:

(a) Tribal peoples. These are citizens whose social, cultural, and economic conditions distinguish them from other sectors of the national community; and

(b) Bangsa Moro people. These are citizens who are believers in Islam and who have retained some or all of their own social, economic, cultural, and political institutions.

c. Draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, Article III, Section 1 - "Those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their descendants, whether of mixed or of full blood, shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. Spouses and their descendants are classified as Bangsamoro".

Thus, the word Bangsamoro is a political construct describing primarily as the Muslims in Mindanao. It then evolved in to another meaning that is inclusive of the native inhabitants of Mindanao.

After reading these definitions, I begun to reflect and discern properly within our present context. Filipino and Bangsamoro are two opposing words of identities, but like any other identities, are not fixed nor static.

They need to dialogue between the peoples of this republic in order to address historical injustice. Connecting these two identities are of prime importance. Thus, we need to understand that transcending differences do not happen through the application of abstract universal principles, or by forcing one group or the other to accept what we "know" to be the unmediated truth, but rather through a shared activity in a shared context.

Therefore, passing this law in congress and have it ratified by the people will mean that we all recognized the historical injustices in the past and working hard to build a better future through this Bangsamoro political project.

Moreover, I believe that identities are not an unsurpassable block against achieving such understanding, but the location from which each must work, given the fundamental way in which our identities will limit and shape our possibilities, our desires, questions, and perceptions.

To say that we have an identity is just to say that we have a location in social space, thus, our ways of defining Filipino and Bangsamoro are both grounded in a location and an opening or site from which we attempt to know the future of this nation and our shared world, and thus it is incoherent to view identities as something we would be better off without.

I strongly believe that a realistic identity politics, then, is one that recognizes the dynamic, variable, and negotiated character of identity. It is one that acknowledges the context of the variability in an identity's felt significance and cultural meaning. Yet it is also one that recognizes that social categories of identity often helpfully name specific social locations from which individuals engage in, among other things, are political judgments.

Let me raise these questions for our Filipino brethren: If particular narratives define identity, is there a way to build a convergence around the elements of these narratives? Can we as a people weave our stories as Filipino and Bangsamoro? Is there a way of healing these identities? How do we allow the assertion of multiple identities without the intrusion with the other peoples' identities.

Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan is the director of Al Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia based in Ateneo de Davao University. Follow him on Twitter @mussol22.