1. Yes my friend.. praying is one of the least best things that we can do for our hometown, and yet, it is better than passing the blame around. Take a look at Cotabato City. It's leaders have come and go, yet the kidnappings, killings, carnappings, drug trafficking, etc. had persisted. We can put the best and the most intelligent person to lead us in our hometown and these crimes will continue as it is in many other places around the world. But of course, let me say that there should never be any excuse to un-peace and under-development.
Unfortunately, some would rather paint a gloomy, if not monstrous, picture of our hometown. If I choose to, I can paint a gloomier picture for Metro Manila and Chicago than Pikit. But here we are, who see the night and day in Pikit as they went by, who say that there are still many, many more good things happening here than what the criminals are doing. I repeat Pikit is very much livable as evidenced by the fact that a lot of your relatives and friends are some of our good neighbors.
The last time we had the Search for Miss I Love Pikit Web Society and the Rock Band Competition, all held at night, they were jampacked by the Pikitenos. The dragnet that we put up to deter hold-ups and carnappings were praised by the people as they say it has effectively served the purpose for which it was intended. I cannot write about all the bad things just as I cannot write about all the good things that are happening here.
Let us be true (not pseudo and elitist) peacemakers by 'converting' people to thread the right path and showing them the way to Godliness. I envy some NGOs that I knew, who silently do their thing on the ground and are slowly but surely 'convert' people and give them hope. They are better peacemakers. Kuya Butch, a former MNLF commander, is one of them.
We do not have to kill the troublemakers and those who disturb the peace for they will all die anyway. But let us make sure that they are replaced by a more responsible generation whose upbringing is how to value life, love and respect every human being, and God-fearing.
2. The people that you mentioned are all very intelligent and I am pretty sure that they are preoccupied with a lot of things. This is the reason why it's quite difficult to assemble people of this caliber.
I am sorry brod but I have my reservations. I believe that I cannot lead over that many intelligent people. Besides, from the looks of it, I am afraid that we might just consume much of our time vying with each other for impressions on one hand and finding cracks in each others' opinion on the other like what had already happened to Valli and Luvin. Good for you and me because we can quarrel a lot of times and nobody would seem to be affected. But when some people are leaving, or would like to leave, even at our formative stage then I think there is a need to reconsider things. I can't imagine for one moment that a cause as noble as this seems not to catch fire, and I pray not otherwise ire. Frankly, I feel that we should consider strategizing first before moving forward.
We can move stones and produce ripples even without too many intelligent people with us. In fact, a lot of achievers on the ground are very simple people yet very dedicated to their cause. I see what church-based organizations are doing and they are very productive. I am amazed by the will power behind these organizations that inspires them to move. Maybe because most of them lead by example and they are not afraid to mingle with the meek and the lowly.
We are not the only ones searching for the elusive peace in Mindanao. Several peace advocates and institutions have started far way ahead of us and yet we see and feel the same problems of un-peace and under-development in Mindanao. They are very intelligent like the people who compose the GRP and MILF peace panels. But why is it that the change that we desire and kind of life that we aspire for have not shape up to this day.
Something must be wrong somewhere!
3. Thank u for recommending this book (of Ms. Gail Ilagan) Cat. I think it is one dimension of the Mindanao conflict that we should consider. I am now obliged to get a copy of this book.I have always been interested to know the many dimensions of the conflict (war?) in Mindanao as it keeps me puzzled no end on why the problem seems to defy solution despite so many people and institutions who had involved themselves in finding a lasting solution. I have a copy of the book "Questions and Answers on the Mindanao Conflict" by Prof. Rody Rodil - former member of the GRP panel which negotiated with the MNLF and the MILF. We know the victims very well but we have only very scant knowledge as to who/what the real culprits were/are.
The members of the negotiating panels (GRP & MILF) are very intelligent people who were carefully selected by their respective principals. It is mind-boggling why they can't craft an intelligent, fair and acceptable solution. Of course, they can.. but so many people are afraid to even try this solution (the case of the MOA-AD) and even if it gets way into implementation very few people are sincere and honest-to-goodness implementation is almost nil (the case of the Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF).
We can get to know all the dimensions of the conflict and identify solutions, but if the key players are not sincere and honest in implementing the solution, then we will reap more frustrations than satisfaction. At the end of the day, we have only more guaranteed failures than success. The true solution to this conflict lies in our attitude as a people. "Allah will not change the people's lot unless they themselves change it" (Holy Qurán).
4. The way I look at it, one of the root causes of the conflict is that fundamental differences in culture and our covert ignorance which our leaders conveniently choose to ignore over and over. We don’t really know each other’s culture and beliefs and that ignorance lead to distrust, misunderstanding, stereotyping, bigotry, and even hatred in some cases. Education is the only way we can lift ourselves out of the pit that we unfortunately dug ourselves into. Education is the first way to break the cycle of war because when people are educated, they can think for themselves and they can shed the group-think mentality.
Our leaders (and elders) failed us in this regard. We do not have common goals and aspirations as people. Some of us don’t even have hope and so the thinking is what is there to lose when we fight? Ask the supposed legitimate fighters of the political organizations; ask them what they are really fighting for. I wonder how many can give us a sensible answer.
That said, we do have leaders/elders who find it profitable to keep their constituents ignorant. Knowledge is power, you see and therefore it is much easier to control people if they don’t have the ability to think for themselves. For example, these NPA sympathizers who are screaming “Ibagsak ang Kapitalismo” has probably no idea what capitalism is all about. Worse, they don’t have a clue of the impact of socialism on their lives (From my Friend Cat).
5. You do have a good grasp of the so-called Mindanao Conflict. Now, if there is no one single root cause of the conflict and the effect had been multifarious then we should start looking at several solutions to address each one of them.
I think this is one of the basic flaws in the solutions that so many intelligent people had been searching for. They thought that the GRP-MILF panels could address all of them. But first, let us put our trust in these peace negotiators and government instrumentalities should do an honest-to-goodness implementation of what they have to implement. Private institutions should do the same. They might hit the solution to some of these root-causes of the conflict along the way.
Finally, in our diversities as a people of Mindanao or Mindanawons, let us learn to love sincerely and relentlessly. If all men and women of the universe can love their fellow being there will be no trouble, no conflict, no war and no terror in the land.
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