Rashid Lucman

Who was Rashid Lucman?

Haroun al-Rashid Lucman was a Filipino legislator and founder of the Bangsamoro Liberation Organization, a Moro separatist group in Mindanao. In 1971, he joined with Senator Mamintal Tamano, Congressman Ali Dimaporo, Congressman Salipada Pendatun, Dean Cesar Adib Majul, Delegate Ahmad Alonto, Commissioner Datu Mama Sinsuat, and Mayor Aminkadra Abubakar to form the Islamic Directorate of the Philippines; the Libyan government donated funds to them to purchase land in Tandang Sora, Quezon City to use for the construction of a mosque. In 1972, with the declaration of martial law by Ferdinand Marcos, he fled to the Middle East. In 1983, he helped "Ninoy" Aquino circumvent an order from Manila forbidding Aquino the issuance of a passport; Lucman obtained a passport for Aquino with the name "Marcial Bonifacio". After his death the following year, the Bangsamoro Liberation Organization became defunct, marking the end of the leadership of traditional Muslim elites over the Moro independence movements.