Disaster Nationalism and Media Framing: The Case of the 1976 Moro Gulf Earthquake
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Examining the 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake that struck southwestern Mindanao in the southern Philippines, this article explored how President Ferdinand Marcos packaged official nationalist rhetoric to affirm order and stability in the region already besieged by the conflict between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim secessionist group and the Philippine state forces. Using news and editorial articles from the Times Journal, Bulletin Today and Philippines Daily Express newspapers, this study argued that media representations of the earthquake reinforced Filipino nationalist rhetoric, inclusive of the Muslim population of southwestern Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, which would further legitimise President Marcos’ authoritarian rule. Consequently, the study found that nationalist rhetoric from the government and the media could serve as a framework for post-disaster recovery and development initiatives of Manila in Muslim Mindanao.
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