From a high-ranking official of a prestigious Mindanao university: “ I was once part of a batch picked to

undergo training in Australia, I was told my name was erased, but the phrase Moro Nationalist could be
read clearly beside it.” The same official once signed a contract with a manager of Pepsi or Coke in
GenSan. The manager met the college dean of education and he said, “You know I met your chancellor,
and it’s the first time I met a public official who’s not crooked. But I find that hard to accept because he’s
a Muslim, and how come he’s not corrupt?”

Another professional had a different complaint: “I earn more than P20,000 and a member of my staff
earns P14,000. When we both applied for a loan, hers was approved, mine was rejected. I asked the
INCOR management, ‘Why are you doing this, when in fact, I am the one signing because as her
department head

I am her collateral?’”

Another professor narrated: “My colleague was invited by the UN to present a paper at a UN forum on
indigenous peoples in New York. He was barred entry in California because his name is [Muslim-
sounding].”

The use of the headscarf has also provoked discrimination. “I used to wear my veil. I always brought my
laptop with me and I was always stopped at airports and asked to open my laptop. Once I tried asking a
male colleague to bring my laptop, and no one asked him to open it.” “My husband and I were waiting
for a taxi in Manila and no one would stop. My husband told me to remove my veil. So I had to take off
my veil simply because we could not ride a taxi.”

Decent, law-abiding Muslims often bear with discrimination in business and employment. “I have a
second cousin who is a successful businessman in Metro Manila. He sells expensive vehicles in Metro
Manila, married to a Christian. But just to get hired there, he had to change his Muslim name of
Namamental to Mark Anthony.”

Another individual who had worked seven years in Saudi Arabia could not get a job back in General
Santos City. A classmate from high school told him, “For as long you state your religion is Islam no one
will hire you.” He was advised to put down Seventh

APPENDIX 1.1 Measuring the bias against Muslims

54 PHILIPPINE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2005

Day Adventists (SDA), because the SDA members also don’t eat pork. That way, he wouldn’t be forced to
eat pork at company functions. Dr. Jamail A. Kamlian, Vice-Chancellor for Research and Extension of the
MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City, was turned down when he tried to buy a lot in Frontiera
Subdivision, Cagayan de Oro City, after the sellers who made the offer to his Catholic wife found out she
is married to a Muslim. In a focus-group discussion (FGD), some Muslims in Metro Manila said Muslims
routinely became the targets of police operations for crimes such as illegal drugs and terrorism.