MY THOUGHT ON THE ON-GOING CONFLICT BETWEEN MNLF AND GPH IN MINDANAO PEACE in Mindanao seems to be an impossible dream. But it must not be abandoned. One must be willing to contribute and continue to strive for its realization. After all, we are brethren…One Nation! We should be cognizant of our role as catalysts for change and potent instruments toward political and economic development that can make an impact on the Philippine society. We should include in our vision the progress of the whole nation, including the island of Mindanao. Although all sorts of approaches have been used to foster peace in Mindanao. A few of them are successful, some are half-successful and the rest are total failures. For example, how many Muslim-Christian summit or between muslim fronts and government’s dialogues have been staged and how many agreements had been signed only to be buried deep in the memory banks of the signatories once they step out of the conference room? My simple thought on the situation is just to turn it all around. Instead of high officials or military officers, why not involve local “POOR” residents, Muslim or Christians or Lumads, living in the same communities and show to the whole nation that they can live peacefully in one program, in one roof. Instead of the grown-ups, why not target the young children? Why not build peace from the ground up? To have a fair shot of progress, a community must work together. Residents must understand and appreciate one another and accept their differences with a good heart. Then and only then can they trust and cooperate with each other. This is the kind of community that, I believe, we are aiming to develop in the whole Mindanao, and we must all be willing to strive for its realization. Indeed, I believe that a singular problem which has kept Mindanao from achieving its potential as a huge area of economic development is the peace and order issue. We are particularly talking about the so-called “Conflict” between Muslim rebels and the government. The on-going armed encounters between Moro rebels and government troops have scared local and foreign investors away. Most tourists are prevented from visiting not only in Zamboanga City but the whole Island of Mindanao because of the occurring events. The whole country becomes jittery. So much government energy and money are wasted. But first, the Mindanao issue must be put in a proper perspective. The conflict in Mindanao is not a religious or cultural war but a political one. Specifically, it is about ownership of land and political control. But propagandists of both sides maliciously use other issues to intensify the conflict. Unfortunately, the wrong information persisted and even penetrated the psyche of the whole nation for ages. We should take-in a position to make a positive contribution that is threatening to delay progress in the island of Mindanao for several decades more. We should show the whole nation and end the wrong idea that peace in Mindanao is an impossible dream.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 05:26:22 +0000
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