260 Ilonggo teachers in WV ‘rights’ history in Ateneo-sponsored #MindaNOW seminar “LET US right Mindanao’s history,” thus challenged by anthropologist Fr. Albert Alejo, SJ before scores of social studies and values education teachers coming from 12 DepEd divisions of Region VI in the recently concluded #MindaNOW seminar-workshop held October 1 at the Ateneo de Iloilo-Santa Maria Catholic School (AdI-SMCS) Multipurpose Room in San Rafael, Mandurriao, Iloilo City. “I urge all the Ilonggo teachers to take bolder steps to inspire our students to further understand the history, culture, beauty, and context of Mindanao,” Fr. Alejo told the 260 teacher-participants, adding, “there are almost a million Ilonggos who are now happily residing in Mindanao plus the fact that the ‘Promise Land’ also continues to affect the socio-economic, environmental, and political landscape of the country—this speaks of the extent of our responsibility to educate our younger Ilonggos to correctly appreciate Mindanao.” Fr. Alejo, co-founder of Mindanawon Initiatives for Cultural Dialogue and founding member of the Coalition of Mindanao for Cultural Dialogue, also literally kneeled before the participants and begged them to exert more effort to “go out of the box,” do research, collaborate among colleagues, write teaching modules, and help correct people’s misconceptions on Mindanao. Prof. Datu Mussolini Lidasan, for his part, echoed this appeal. He told the participants that prejudice, racism, and intolerance are still the driving forces that stop peace to advance in Mindanao, most especially in the South Central part of the second biggest island in the country. He shared an alarming survey by Pulse Asia that shows that 55% of respondents think that Muslims “are more prone to run amok,” 40% think that Muslims are terrorists or extremists, but majority of the respondents do not have actual engagement with Muslims. The study concluded that “a considerable percentage of Filipinos (33%-39%) are biased against Muslims. He also clarified that Mindanao is the ancestral homeland of more than 30 ethno-linguistic groups—13 of these indigenous groups were Islamized and count themselves as Muslim Filipinos. The others are popularly known as Lumads, Visayan word for ‘native’ or the ‘un-Islamized and un-Christianized’ tribes of Mindanao. These groups all comprise one-third of the population, the remaining part are Christians also known as the “settlers.” All these, he said, “make the Mindanao situation more diversified, multi-hued, and challenging.” For this, Prof. Lidasan, Executive Director of Al Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia, stressed the “need to widen our analysis to understand the complexities of these identities which may be classified into a political, economic, historical, or socio-cultural uniqueness—each having its own importance in their own ways.” In the open forum, he also stressed that the proposed Bangsamoro Law is a “win-win initiative” for all stakeholders. He shared his dream of a new narrative to tell the story of how the Bangsamoro developed and evolved. He then called on teachers to “find creative ways of understanding the Bangsamoro identity that goes above and beyond 15th century conception.” Anthropologist Dr. Heidi Gloria, member of the Board of Advisers of Al Qalam and member of the National Historical Institute Board of Directors, echoed Prof. Lidasan’s claim. She said: “The Bangsamoro is an idea whose time has come. It may be our last chance for peace in Mindanao unless we choose to remain maimed and scarred for life and pass on this spurious legacy of the past to our future generations.” “We are a free people and we can determine our future regardless of the past. This freedom allows us to break free and extricate ourselves from the quagmire of ancient prejudices, personal biases, ethnocentrism, and self-righteousness.” To note, Prof, Lidasan and Dr. Gloria teach in Ateneo de Davao University, while Fr. Alejo is a professor of Ateneo de Zamboanga University. The training-workshop, endorsed by the Department of Education, is sponsored and partly-subsidized by Ateneo de Iloilo-SMCS. (Herman Lagon)
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 08:50:35 +0000
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