When I was in elementary my first encounter with a Muslim was the sweet and hellish sensation of the Durian fruit. They bought this to school every so often and the room was filled up with the smell of durian. We played and interacted with them there really was no difference. I could see none. They just did not attend religion class and one of my friends got punched because he played a really bad joke on my Muslim friend … friend – a friend is a friend.
Through the years I dealt and had frienships with our Muslim countrymen. And I saw no essential difference . Sinners and Saints all of us were. Good and bad deeds are done by people irregardless of race or creed.
Like most of you I have been monitoring of the events concerning Mindanao the past few days. The MOA, the attacks, the dead piling up, and the refugees: Images, sounds and stories from the region that triggers a visceral reaction.
Hearing the discussion a few feet away or online among friends can be interesting. One could feel the frustration and anger rising as the number of the dead, wounded and scarred continue to rise.
I was a bit hesitant to write a commentary on the situation because: (1) I am not from there and I might know all the facts; (2)It is hard to write an opinion piece when one is afflicted by jingoism.
We don’t want to fight but by Jingo if we do
We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too
We’ve fought the Bear before, and while we’re Britons true
The Russians shall not have Constantinople.
Of course the terms refers to an aggressive foreign policy but in this instance it seems applicable. For the moment.
And naturally when someone meets someone from Mindanao the conversation moves towards a very familiar topic:
Friend:we’re very concerned, but not for our safety.
me: yeah
Friend: we’re concerned about what’s happening to the victims.. may mga donations na nga eh, may nagmo-mobilize ng mga donations.alam mo, here in Davao, being a christian or muslim is not a big thing. we live together without thinking about our differences
Me: So why the MILF?
Friend: it’s complicated breakaway yan ng MNLF eh diba? They’re more militant
they’re more adamant about their being not Filipinos. They actually want to be a separate stateMe: I hesitate writing about it kasi nga malayo ako. So minority sila ?
Friend: kaso, kakaunti lang sila eh… all of the muslims in Mindanao, they’re only 10% of the whole population of the island problem is, most of them live in poverty … may mga sobrang yamang muslim, but they are very very few
Whatever one thinks of this point of view. I found it important because it brings to light the complexity of the problem. Its not just a matter of returning the ancestral land anymore. Mindanao has become a melting pot of cultures where I believe in the normal course of things Filipinos have learned to exist side by side and prosper.
Poverty, ancient grudge, politics,corruption , zealotry and personal ambitions on both sides have contributed to what seemed to be a never ending war in the South.
If this continues what are we looking at sectarian violence and pogroms?
Attacks against the civilian populations through out the country?
An eventual partition of Mindanao?
If there are groups that want to secede from the country then let them do it if they can and hold to it. If they can.
At present waltzing around the negotiation table is as useful as cupping a corpse. It is hard to negotiate when one side has not given up the armed option or has no control over its army while the other side seems to be following the likes Neville Chamberlain at Munich – practicing vermi-negotiation or the art and science of negotiations by the worms at Munich.
Meanwhile, the war continues and people are hurt. A few hours ago a bomb was exploded in Zamboanga. Will this again reach the other corners of the country. Another bomb in the MRT or LRT?
Is this jingoism? No. This is a matter of national self defense.
It is the duty of the State to protect the citizens who opt to stay in this country. Otherwise these same citizens will go to other means to protect themselves.
Tags: Bangsamoro, GRP-MILF MOA-AD, MILF, Mindanao, Mindanao peace talks
@Juned,
Thank you for this perspective, your friend makes some interesting comments, and no doubt, there are others who are thinking the same.
Congratulations on your first post here at FV!
Nice post dude.
It kinda reminds me of how the native indians in California were able to parley the “debt” supposedly owed to them by the white conquerors into semi-autonomous areas granted to them where they have their own laws. They have allowed the operation of Casinos in these areaas, where it is illegal in the rest of the state. A few indians get filthy rich of course, while the rest of the less fortunate ones are still on the reservation fighting poverty and alcoholism.
“Its not just a matter of returning the ancestral land anymore. Mindanao has become a melting pot of cultures where I believe in the normal course of things Filipinos have learned to exist side by side and prosper.”
This is so true. Majority of the people in Mindanao, both Muslims and Christians, have learned to “exist side by side” as you aptly said. Who died and made the MILF the voice of Mindanao? They’re one of the rebel factions who keep stirring trouble there in an attempt to get what they want – power. If the government really wants to know what Mindanaoans want, don’t ask their politically motivated leaders. Go to the grassroots and ask the common people. I believe they’ll find their answer there.
@thegreatest, welcome to the discussion, welcome to FV! hope you pass by more often.. same to you CQ!
It used to be in the world that if you took up arms against the established authority, you either won or died horribly whilst trying.
But after some people invented and perfected media-sustained guerilla warfare against big, lumbering state powers, even college kid rebels could survive indefinitely sponging off the very civilization and society they seek to destroy and take over.
Outfits like the MILF and CPP NPA survive on little more than a website, a KFR once in while, some light arms and drug smuggling, or better yet an ongoing cell site extortion operation, and other local protection businesses, to sustain the soldati from rampage to rampage in between party congresses.
I think the so-called “natural right to revolution” which is stoutly defended by some and which justifies the continued existence of our twin armed insurgencies needs to be questioned. I think every attempt at revolution should have an expiry date. If it doesn’t inspire the people and ignite a decisive action on their part, within some reasonable period of time (like, say, half a century seems long enough), then we ought to be justified in regarding such a movement as a “crackpot revolution” that deserves to be suppressed.
There is something particularly disturbing about the Bangsamoro movement, which portrays its golden past with blind eyes. The MOA-AD for example harkens back to olden days and holds up the “suzerain authority of our sultanates” as an example of how sophisticated those Maguindanaon autocracies were, and how they contained all the elements of a modern nation state. Well that’s right, a modern state like Sudan or Somalia!
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