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For Peace’s Sake

October 29, 2008

ust over a month ago, prospects for peace in Mindanao looked brighter in a long time, when Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain had been drawn up, extending the land area to be administered by autonomous Muslim leaders. Mediators had helped maintain a ceasefire; a compromise definition of the eternally sticky concept of Ancestral Domain appeared possible.

Now, the MoA is dead, and no matter what kind of modern machinery will be used to resuscitate it can never be revived at least for several decades from now; the negotiating panel abolished, which someday will come back from the dead; the ceasefire abandoned, as it always was the case; and hopes for peace dashed, which has always happened since the time I was born or maybe even before that.

I remember it was in 1996 that then President (Fidel) Ramos reached a peace deal with the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), which gave way to the creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM); Misuari got his wish, led badly, and lost following. Then the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) came into being and wanted to have more than what the MNLF has negotiated in ’96; it started targeting civilians (Muslims and Non-Muslims alike) to push their cause, thus peace negotiations resumed under President (Gloria) Arroyo in 2001.

The MNLF and the MILF have been fighting for greater autonomy in Mindanao for four or more decades now. If we look back at history, there’s no escaping the fact that before the Spaniards came, Mindanao was predominantly Muslim. Then came a time when the Manila government sent thousands, even millions, of people from the North, the Tagalogs, the Ilocanos, the Cebuanos, the Warays, the Ilonggos, to come to Mindanao, and start new lives here; the government giving them the lands they want. And so these settlers from the North got the lands. So, when Juan de la Cruz claimed his 100 or so hectares, do you think there was nobody there? There were Muslims and Lumads, of course. Some got their lands legally, some not, maybe more of the latter. As the stories go, some paid 10 hectares with a pack of cigarettes, or 3 bottles of wine.

Legal or not, the facts can speak for themselves — Mindanao is now predominantly Christian, or you may want to call them settlers. It is but right for the people to claim back their lands. But a long time ago the Muslims and the Lumads gave in to the “settlers” or probably “squatters”.  When several years have passed and they realized it was a mistake, now want to take it back in a primitive way – war.  The “settlers” and the “squatters” don’t want to give in too for they have lived in this place for a long time.  Many generations passed and they have developed the land. So, what do we get? A disagreement of colossal proportion.

The Lumads, the original inhabitants in Mindanao, has also the same cause as the Muslims in Mindanao. But we can compare both of them paradoxically; the Lumads struggle to put their cause in peaceful manner; through legal means, assimilation and co-existence. They respect the law, they embrace their ethnicity, and their struggle is coated with peace at the end of the day. No civilian casualties there.

We can also look at the Cordillera administrative region (CAR) in Northern Luzon which is predominantly comprised of closely-related indigenous peoples. The Cordillera peoples face the same problems as that of the Muslims in Mindanao. Their inherent right to self-determination is continually violated; ethnocide and national oppression are directed against their people which are manifested in non-recognition of their rights to priority use and manage over their ancestral lands and resources, militarization, political misrepresentation, commercialization of their indigenous culture, institutionalized discrimination, violation and non-recognition of our indigenous socio-political systems and processes, government neglect of basic social services to indigenous peoples, just to name a few of their problems. But their way of combating such national oppression is to assert their right to self-determination; their right to freely choose and develop their own path as indigenous peoples, by advancing a genuine regional autonomy within the framework of a united, independent, and democratic nation while remaining part of the broader Filipino nation. They are doing this peacefully, and without too much violence and victimization of non-combatants.

It’s a fact that Muslims make up about 5% of the mainly Catholic Philippines and have long felt marginalized. But it is also a fact that women (both Muslims and non-Muslims) comprised almost 50% of the country’s population and they feel and treated marginalized. But do they result to violence to gain recognition and respect? Filipino women have struggled long and hard to have a piece in the pie we call governance; they have given up lives to fight for survival, to be given their own autonomy to subsist apart from the institutionalized concept of having to exist only on the pleasure of the men in their lives; may it be their father, husband, brother, boss or the partner that they choose. But the women, through patience and dogged resolve slowly are getting to where they want to be-becoming equal partners to ensure that development of the country is attained with their active participation. They do these things peacefully, lobbying for the enactment of laws that protect them and their children, and their right to live. Or die trying without a single shot.

My point is, and I do have one is that, it is on the intensity of logic that conflict must be resolved, not the voice of hysteria and anger, hatred or animosity. We should resolve disagreements without disrespect of one’s culture, or religious belief or social inclinations or affiliations and without harming one’s flesh and slaughtering a life. So, for peace’s sake, let’s sit down and talk about our differences, let’s find a way of attaining peace without wasting a life. (For comments and violent reactions e-mail me at coi_416@hotmail.com)

Written by admin · Filed Under Columnists, Sai/Mami/Fiscal Eldred Cole 

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