Whoever said that the atrocities seen in the Middle East, such as the beheadings of the two American reporters, James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, will never happen in the Philippines, better think again.
Just the other day, a paramilitary man, Hadji Aldam, a member of the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAA) was beheaded by the Abu Sayaf rebels in Basilan. The Face Book photo shows the severed head of Aldam with a bolo in front and two Sayaf men seated on a nearby bench.
The extremist interpretation of Sharia Law is that any member of any other religion or faith, other than the ISIS/Sunni brand of the Muslim faith, are apostates and should be exterminated. This include Muslim Shiites, Christians, Buddhists, etc., and even fellow Sunnis who are not followers of ISIS.
There have been no clear published reasons for the beheading of Aldam. Perhaps his execution had nothing to do with his religious beliefs. But it is a fact that beheadings have been introduced into the Philippines. And it is a safe bet that the Abus decided that Aldam was not a subscriber to their cause of extremism and terrorism, hence his execution.
By allowing Sharia Law to be the governing law of the so-called “Bangsamoro Homeland,” the floodgates may just have been opened for Filipino Christians, non (Sunni) Muslims, and believers of other faiths to be declared apostates in their own country if ever a more extreme, fundamentalist Muslim form of religion takes hold in the country. Already, interviews conducted in Muslim Mindanao show that there is some public support for the ISIS cause in the Middle East.
The scary part is that Sharia Law allows for a degree of flexibility of interpretation by individual imams. The decree that any one not belonging to the hard core brand of the ISIS faith is an apostate and may be legitimately killed is one consequence of such a hard line interpretation of Sharia Law.
Without proper safeguards in the Bangsamoro Implementing Law, including a clear statement in that law of the supremacy of the Philippine Constitution, the Philippines is playing with fire by allowing Sharia Law to be the governing law of the Bangsamoro Homeland.