From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector The 52nd Company, Philippine Moro Scouts, ca. 1906. (c) Public domain 9. In what way is the so-called “Moro problem” the same common problem in the whole country? It was during the Commonwealth period that the roots of the present conflict in Mindanao were laid down. The Commonwealth Government, under the guidance of the United States, enacted laws that took away the lands of Moros and indigenous peoples. This brought about the same problem which Spain created in Luzon and the Visayas that remains at the root of the current unrests and insurgencies. On November 7, 1936, Commonwealth Act No. 141 (An Act to Amend and Compile the Laws Relative to the Lands of the 22 Public Domain or the Public Land Act) was enacted. All lands that had not been titled during the Spanish colonial period were declared property of the Commonwealth government and by extension, the United States of America. Even the lands in the Philippine archipelago that Spain was unable to conquer and control, such as the Moro lands and lands of indigenous peoples, were declared properties of the United States through this law. It will be recalled that Spain included Mindanao (which it was never able to conquer at all) when it sold the Philippines for US $ 20 million to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. During the negotiations that led to the Treaty, the only territory Spain actually held was the small patch of land where Intramuros stood, which was already completely surrounded by the revolutionary army of the First Philippine Republic. Ninety-nine percent of Luzon and the Visayas had already been liberated. The substance of this outright land grabbing affected the great majority of Filipinos, especially settlers and ethnic minorities in Mindanao.