The Malisbong Masjid or H. Hamsa Tacbil Mosque massacre, also called the Palimbang massacre, was the

mass murder Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Moros In Greek mythology, Moros /ˈmɔːrɒs/ or Morus /ˈmɔːrəs/ (Ancient Greek: Μόρος means 'doom, fate') is the 'hateful' personified spirit of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave peop ...

by units of the

Philippine military The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ( fil, Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas) are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy (including the Marine Corps). The P ...

on September 24, 1974, in the coastal village of Malisbong in

Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat Palimbang, officially the Municipality of Palimbang ( hil, Banwa sang Palimbang; tl, Bayan ng Palimbang; mdh, Inged nu Palimbang, Jawi: ايڠايد نو ڤاليمبڠ), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippin ...

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

. Accounts compiled by the Moro Women's Center in

General Santos City General Santos, officially the City of General Santos,; hil, Dakbanwa sang Heneral Santos; Maguindanao: ''Ingud nu Heneral Santos''; Blaan: ''Banwe Dadiangas''; Tboli: ''Benwu Dadiangas''; Filipino: ''Lungsod ng Heneral Santos'' and abbrev ...

state that 1,500 male Moros aged 11–70 were killed inside a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, 3,000 women and children aged 9–60 were detained – with the women being raped – and that 300 houses were razed by the government forces. The massacre occurred two years after

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

declared

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in September 1972. The massacre started after the first four days on the fast of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

when members of the

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) ( Tagalog: ''Hukbong Katihan ng Pilipinas''; in literal English: ''Army of the Ground of the Philippines''; in literal Spanish: ''Ejército de la Tierra de la Filipinas'') is the main, oldest and largest branch of the ...

arrived and captured barangay officials along with 1,000 other Muslims. For more than a month, the military murdered residents of the area. Testimonies show that victims were made to strip and dig their own graves before being killed by gunshot.

Remuneration for victims

In 2011, the

Moro Islamic Liberation Front The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; ar, ''Jabhat Taḥrīr Moro al-ʾIslāmiyyah'') is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro r ...

sought compensation for the Moro victims of martial law violence in the wake of the distribution of $7.5 million in compensation for more than 1,000 individuals who filed a class action suit against the Marcoses. The MILF claimed that thousands of Moros were killed in massacres such as what took place in Malisbong, perpetrated by soldiers and state-sponsored paramilitary forces during martial law. These included the

Manili massacre The Manili massacre refers to the mass murder of 70 Moro Muslims, including women and children, committed in a mosque in Manili, Carmen, North Cotabato, Philippines on June 19, 1971. The Muslim residents of the town had gathered in their mosqu ...

Tacub massacre The Tacub massacre was the mass murder of a group of Muslim Moros by Philippine government troops at a military checkpoint on October 24, 1971. The Moros were returning from attempting to vote in a special election; they had been turned away ...

Patikul massacre The Patikul massacre refers to an event that took place on October 10, 1977 in Patikul, Sulu province in the Philippines. Thirty-five officers and men of the Philippine Army were killed by elements of the Moro National Liberation Front under Us ...

, and

Pata Island massacre The Pata Island massacre refers to an event that took place on February 12, 1981, on Pata Island, Sulu province in the Philippines. More than 100 Philippine Army officers and men were killed by Moro natives in what was called by retired Majo ...

. In 2014, the

Philippine government The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...

finally recognized 1,500 Moro residents of Malisbong village killed in the massacre as martial law victims. Representatives of the

Commission on Human Rights A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

helped facilitate the claims of the survivors and the families of the massacre victims to the

Php PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...

10 billion fund set by the government for the

indemnification In contract law, an indemnity is a contractual obligation of one party (the ''indemnitor'') to compensate the loss incurred by another party (the ''indemnitee'') due to the relevant acts of the indemnitor or any other party. The duty to indemni ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

victims during the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos, in keeping with the provisions of Republic Act No. 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.

In popular culture

Forbidden Memory ''Forbidden Memory'' is a Filipino documentary that studies a people's collective memory and the policy of genocide around the events that led to the Malisbong Massacre of 1974. The film is directed by Gutierrez "Teng" Mangansakan III. It was s ...

'' is a 2016 film based on the Malisbong massacre, directed by Davao-based

Maguindanao Maguindanao (, Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Prubinsya nu Magindanaw''; Iranun language, Iranun'': Perobinsia a Magindanao''; tl, Lalawigan ng Maguindanao) was a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the ...

filmmaker Gutierrez Mangansakan. It won Best Documentary from the three finalists in the 12th

Cinema One Originals The Cinema One Originals Film Festival, a division of ABS-CBN Films commonly known as Cinema One Originals, is an independent film festival in the Philippines held annually in the month of November in Quezon City. Its primary goal is to showcase ...

, the annual film festival sponsored by Cinema One.

Denial

Rigoberto Tiglao Rigoberto "Bobi" Dikit Tiglao (born August 27, 1952) is a Filipino opinion columnist who works at ''The Manila Times''. He previously served as Presidential Spokesperson and Chief of Staff, then ambassador to Cyprus and Greece during the adminis ...

and

Juan Ponce Enrile Juan Valentin Furagganan Ponce Enrile Sr., (born Juanito Furagganan; February 14, 1924), also referred to by his initials JPE, or Manong Johnny, is a Filipino politician and lawyer known for his role in the administration of Philippine dicta ...

have denied that the massacre had ever happened.

References

{{Moro conflict 1974 in the Philippines September 1974 events in Asia Massacres in the Philippines Massacres of men Attacks on mosques Mass murder in 1974 Massacres in 1974 Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos History of Sultan Kudarat Violence against men in Asia Violence against women in the Philippines Violence against Muslims Massacres under the Marcos dictatorship Massacres of Muslims