New Year's Resolution

Change is what New Year’s resolution is all about.

We are not happy about something we have been doing and we want to change it – stop doing it in the incoming year. We loathe our vices, like smoking, drinking, and gambling and we want to find ourselves in the year to come smoke and hang-over-free with undiminished savings accounts.

We hate our indecisiveness for the costly price we have paid for it – squandered love, broken relationships, missed healing chances, and many lost opportunities. We want to find ourselves next year firm, strong-willed, and masters of our own destinies.

We have been guilt-ridden for years for fence-sitting, for our shameful lack of courage to advocate for worthy causes and fight a good fight. We want to find ourselves next year empowered with courage and determination to get involved in changing things that need changes, to right wrongs, to correct mistakes and to fight injustices wherever we find them regardless of whom we make enemies with.

Change is possible. Everything changes except change, says Heraclitus. If we failed last time, we try doing it again. Every year is a different year and this might be our year to make a difference.

A HAPPY & MORE MEANINGFUL & PRODUCTIVE NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Saved 2009 Text Jokes: A Little Laugh for Christmas

1. In a mental Asylum
Lawyer: Dr, how do you know that a person has to be admitted here?
Dr: We fill a bathtub with water, give the patient a spoon, a cup and a bucket and then ask him to empty the bathtub.
Lawyer: Aha, a normal person would of course use the bucket!
Dr: No, he’d pull the drain plug. Do you want a room or ward?

2. Judge: Why did you shoot your wife instead of her lover?
Accused: Your honor, I’m sure you agree with me that it’s a lesser offense to shoot her than to shoot a man every week.

3. Lion: Hey, my friend mouse, I am getting married. What advice can you give me?
Mouse: Just remember, my friend, that I too was a lion before I got married.

4. Apo: Lolo, kung mopanaw na ka, unsa imo ibilin nako, imo shotgun o imo Rolex?
Lolo: Ang akong pusil Dong.
Apo: Na, Rolex lang Lo?
Lolo: Unya’g madakpan nimo imo asawa ug iyang kabit nga nagdulog ug gusto nimo sila pusilon, unsa may imong gamiton, imong Rolex? Moingon lang ka dayon “Hoy, time is up!”

5. Wife: Hon, Ok ra sa imo apple scent sa akong femine wash?
Husband: Ok kaayo. Agwanta man gani kog durian…

6. A guy met an older woman at a night club last night. She was in good shape for one at 48. They drank quite a bit and she asked him if he’d tried a Sport’s Double, which she explained as mother-daughter threesome. He said no. She said tonight is my lucky day. They went to her place and shouted upstairs: “Mom, you’re still awake?”

7. Wife: My husband and I have an Olympic sex.
Friend: Wow, you must have a terrific sex life!
Wife: Not really. It only happens every four years.

8. A cheated wife asked a fortune teller what lies ahead. She was told: “Am so sorry; your husband will meet a violent death.” Wife: “I know but will I be acquitted?”

9. A couple was dinning in a plush restaurant. They husband kept staring at a drunken lady at a corner drinking alone. Wife: “Do you know her?” Husband: “Yes, she’s my ex. I was told she’s been drinking after we split 7 years ago.” Wife: “My God! Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long.”

10. Mr. Smith was rushed to a Mercy Hospital for a cardiac operation.
Nun: Mr. Smith, the operation was a success and in a few days you will be released. May I ask how you will make the payment? Do you have insurance?
Mr. Smith: None
Nun: Do you have cash?
Mr. Smith: None
Nun: Do you have close relatives?
Mr. Smith: A sister, but she is just a spinster poor nun.
Nun: Sir, I would like to correct you. Nuns are not spinsters. We are married to Christ!
Mr. Smith: Wonderful! Send the bill to my brother-in-law!

11. A farmer on a carabao offers to pull a car that was stuck in a mudhole for P200. The driver agreed. Farmer: “You know, yours is the 13th car I rescued today.” Driver: “Wow, so when do you have time to plow your field? At night?” Farmer: “No, no more time because night is the time when I fill those holes with water.”

12. A man robbed a bank and took hostages. He asked the first hostage: “Did you see me rob the bank?” The hostage answered “yes” and was shot pointblank. Then he asked the next hostage: “Did you see me rob a bank?” Second hostage: “No, but my husband did!”

13. Nanay: Anak, buntis ka?
Anak: Oo, Nay.
Nanay: Kinsa ang lapastangan nga nagbuhat niana?
Anak: School project man ni Nay about the miracle of life.
Nanay: Putrages, bisan kinsa pa na siya, ipapriso nako. Sige sultihi kon kinsa.
Anak: Daghan man sila kay group project man ni.

14. The preacher pulled aside a church member who hardly went to church.
Pastor: You need to actively join the army of the Lord
Member: Am already in the army of the Lord, Pastor.
Pastor: How come I only see you at Christmas and Good Friday?
Member (whispering): Pastor, I’m in the secret service.

15. Diary of a Sexy Tourist
Mon – beautiful cruise ship
Tues – met the ship captain
Wed – had dinner with ship captain
Thurs – got an indecent proposal from ship captain
Fri – the captain threatens to sink the ship if denied
Sat – last night, I saved 1, 600 lives! Twice!

16. Stages of Human Development (Men’s Department)
3-8 yrs old - paramihan ng mga sophisticated toys
9-18 - pataasan ng grades
19-25 – padamihan ng girlfriends
26-36 – pagandahan ng asawa
37-45 – palakihan ng income
46-55 – padamihan ng kabit
56-70 – padamihan ng sakit
71 & above – pabonggahan ng libing

17. Japanese and Pinoy in a Corporate HQ
Pinoy: Your new secretary is very pretty
Jap: She’s robot I bought from Japan
Pinoy: That’s amazing she looks and moves like real
Jap: If you squeeze her right breast she takes dictations & if you squeeze the left, she does encoding for you. Take it to your room and test it.
So Pinoy walked with the beautiful doll to his office. Within minutes, Jap heard
Pinoy screaming in pain. Jap rushed to Pinoy’s office and explained: O, I
forgot to tell you that her pussy is flexible pencil sharpener.

18. A guy went to the toilet and sat on the throne and then heard someone coming in the next cubicle. The newly arrived in the next cubicle started talking: “Pare, kamusta ka na?” First guy hesitantly answered, “Ah, Ok lang.” The second guy asked again: “Anong ginagawa mo dyan ngayon? First guy answered, “Eto, ume-ebs.” Again the second guy spoke: “Pare, tawagan na lang kita uli mamaya. May sumasagot dito sa tabi ko eh.”

19. Wife: How much do you love me?
Hubby: As much as Shah Jahan loved Muntaz Mahal.
Wife: So you would also build a Taj Mahal for me when I die?
Hubby: I already purchased the lot; the delay is on your side.

20. A 23 yr old girl married a man of 75 years. Days after the wedding, her friends
asked her how things went. “Well,” the girl laughed, “Have you ever tried
putting a marshmallow into a piggy bank?”

21. Salesman nanuktok. Mrs: Ngano?
SM: Nang, sorry kayo. Naligsan nako imong iring. Ako unta syang pulihan.
Mrs: Mao ba? Na hala adto sa kusina; panakop didto ug ilaga.

22. Doc: Misis patay na imong bana
Pasyente nagtinga: Bbbbuuuhhhiii pa koooo
Mrs: Hoy, ayaw pagbuot diha. Doctor na gud na ang nagsulti!


23. Mrs: Hon, magkatay tayo ng baboy
Mr: Bakit?
Mrs: Ika 10 wedding anniversary natin, diba?
Mr: Bakit naman baboy ang paparusahan mo sa nangyari sa 10 years?


24. Lolo ug Lola naglalis
Lolo: Inigkamatay nimo, isulat nako sa lapida nimo” Bugnaw sa buhi pa, mas
bugnaw sa patay na.”
Lola: Diay ha? Sa lapida sad nimo, ako isulat: Sa katapusan migahi ra jud.”


25. Anak: Nag-text ako sa asawa ko na pauwi na ako pero na-shock ako ng pagdating
ko sa bahay may katabi syang babaye sa kama…Huhu, bakit ganoon nay, huhuhu
Nanay: Anak, huwag kang magalit. Baka naman hindi niya natanggap ang text mo.

26. Old man very proud: Doc, I’m 90 and my 18 year old wife is pregnant!
Doc: Let me tell you a story about an old hunter who instead of his shotgun
mistakenly brought his umbrella to the jungle, met a huge bear, aimed his
umbrella, and pulled the trigger, and the bear fell dead.

Old man: Impossible! Somebody else must have shot the bear.
Doc: Exactly.



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All!

The Martial Law in Mindanao: A Perspective

The 1987 Constitution cites only two reasons when the declaration of martial law throughout the land or any part thereof becomes a necessity: the existence of invasion or rebellion. And this invasion or rebellion must be actual and not simply perceived. The framers of the 1987 Constitution dropped the qualifier “imminent danger” of an invasion or rebellion, which was not in the 1935 Constitution but found its way into the 1973 Marcos Constitution, to prevent abuses in the use of the discretionary power of the President and to avoid the repeat of the nightmare of September 21, 1972.

Invasion means the assault and occupation of the country by foreign enemy forces. Rebellion, on the other hand, may be of two kinds: (1) an organized armed resistance to the government with the purpose of overthrowing and replacing it (e.g., the CCP-NPA), and (2) an organized armed struggle that aims for freedom from the control and jurisdiction of the government (e.g., MNLF and MILF). Theoretically, in a democracy, the government would only resort to martial law when the rebelling forces have gained enough strength and foothold that threatens its very own existence. It is to re-assert itself and to protect the general populace. Martial law is a desperate act of government. President Quirino was not tempted to declare martial law despite the growing threat of Taruc’s Huks that had almost surrounded Manila in one occasion. Cory Aquino refused to declare martial law despite the series of military coups that hobbled the country’s economy. Erap would rather unleash the dogs of war in Maguindanao when provoked by the MILF than suffer the stigma of martial law. Only Marcos dared to do it in the past; but he had to concoct lawlessness characterized by a spate of bombings and killings here and there attributed to the toothless, newly-organized CPP-NPA rebels to justify his stay in power.

And now the Arroyo’s government has sunk so low in self-esteem when it declared martial law two weeks after the gruesome Maguindanao massacre and about a week after the declaration of the state of emergency in the area. It was unnecessary because the government was on top of the situation. Yet, she cited the dysfunction of the local judiciary and local government units, the discovery or recovery of voluminous arm caches allegedly owned by the Ampatuans, (courtesy of the Philippine military that supplied them to help in the war against the MILF, according to retired General Jovito Palparan), which, accordingly, is sufficient to arm 2 brigades or about 2, 2000 men, and an intelligence report of a planned uprising of the Ampatuan clan to protect its interest.

By all indications, there is no enemy invasion and there is no rebellion in fact to warrant the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao. The Supreme Court disavowed the claim of Gloria about the dysfunction of the local courts because these very courts were in fact the ones that issued the search and warrants of arrest directed at the Ampatuans. And if the LGUs could not deliver their services it is because they were suspended or their offices closed by the DILG at the advent of the massacre.

The atmosphere, thus, is now polluted with runaway speculations, to wit:

1. Martial law was declared to fast tract the recovery of elections paraphernalia that may expose the 2004 presidential election shenanigans that the Ampatuans may release when felt abandoned by their one time ally. It is to protect the squatter in Malacanang.

2. Martial law was declared to help the Ampatuans by charging them the crime of rebellion absorbing murder thereby - a political crime that may be quashed by amnesty - that would spare them from death penalty, if re-imposed, or life-time imprisonment. It is payback time.

3. Martial was declared to foment trouble in Mindanao and later throughout the country, resulting to No-El (no elections) and gradually put in place the rumored troika amongst the military, some church authorities, and the business and civil societies, with GMN remaining in the helm of power.

You may choose your pick or add the most likely reason behind the declaration..

The Best and the Worst of Times

Within the last three weeks my spirit soared to high heavens with so much pride being a Filipino over the magnificent feats of Manny Pacquaio and CNN 2009 hero Efren Penaflorida, Jr. But, suddenly my heart flipped from joy to terrible sorrow. The soaring spirit crashed in tailspin to the ground burdened with so much grief, agony and shame over the gory and senseless killing of innocent civilians in Maguindanao.

Manny proved that a Filipino can reach great heights in his chosen field if he wants to and works hard for it. Manny’s labor as a prizefighter has been adequately rewarded: On 15 November 2009, he took home the welterweight championship belt from Miguel Cotto and became the first boxer in history to have been crowned in seven divisions, namely: flyweight (112 lb), super bantamweight (122 lb)), featherweight (126 lb), super flyweight (130), lightweight (135), light welterweight (140 lb), and welterweight (145lb).

The unequaled accomplishment of Manny Pacquaio has brought honors and glory to the Filipino people. The euphoria over his win lingered sweetly for weeks here and outside the country.

According to the PNP, the crime rate in the country plunges almost to zero every time Manny fights. The streets are almost free of traffic jams and accidents, the thieves stop thieving, the hold-uppers and kidnappers suspend their noxious trade, the rebels and the military declare an informal ceasefire, and the politicians stop their nasty mud-slinging – all is glued on the TV set for some 6 hours. Peace thus reigns over the land, albeit temporarily, because of the Pacman. Manny deserves more than the Order of Sikatuna Award. If I were a member of the Philippine Congress, I would introduce a resolution declaring Manny Pacquaio a living Filipino hero.

While Manny has to smash the face of an individual, batter the body and soul of his opponent to bring honors and glory to his country, from nowhere another Filipino put his country into the limelight for his unique effort, his soft approach of touching the hearts and transforming the lives of the poor and forgotten slum and street children through his “pushcart” education. On 21 November 2009, 28-year-old Efren Penaflorida, Jr. of Cavite was declared the CNN Hero of 2009. A multitude was awed by the rare and unprecedented community service Efren does in bringing transformative education to the young and downtrodden that snatches their lives from the claws of drugs, alcohol and gangsterism. In his speech in accepting the award, Efren encouraged everyone to be an instrument of selfless service to those in need:

"Each person has a hidden hero within…, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.

So to each and every person inside this theater and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed. Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers ... you are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream, and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be."

I was extremely moved by the life and achievement of Efren. So young and yet so dedicated and determined to change the world of the helpless and hopeless. My heart swelled with pride for the young man. I told my wife who was nearby also watching the triumph of Efren on television: “You know, if I were the President of this Republic, I would immediately appoint Efren the Secretary of the Department of Education. No one has ever done what the young man dared to do. The guy, I believe, has still a lot to offer to improve the plight of our youth.”

The joy over Manny and Efren was dampened, however, and was quickly replaced by heart-gripping sorrow when on Monday, 23 November 2009, the news on the Maguindanao massacre filled the airwaves, splashed on TV and occupied the front pages of the print media in the days to follow, sending chills throughout the world on the magnitude of its bestiality unprecedented in recent memory.

I could not understand how I felt the very moment I learned about it. My immediate reaction was that of disbelief. As the details of the tragedy began to unfold, I became very angry and sad at the same time and then frustrated by my inability to do anything. It’s difficult to imagine how such inhumanity of man to his kind could happen in this modern time. But there it was, wasted and bastardized, scattered on the grounds or buried beneath, innocent and harmless women and men, whose only mistake, if it was, was to secure the participation of some people in the electoral contest in 2010, or for some, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Warned of possible harm to come to him if he pursued his challenge to the family of those in power, the primary political challenger sent his wife and relatives and their legal counsels to the COMELEC for the filing of candidacy, inviting the various media of communication to accompany them, relying on the traditional belief that women, particularly Muslim women, would be spared by the atrocities of men, so much so that some 30 media people would cover the event. The traditional wisdom and belief fell into broken pieces. The unexpected happened. Fifty-seven lives were lost (latest count) in an orgy of sadism and bestiality. Maguindanao will never be the same again.

Tomorrow evening, MSUans worldwide are invited to light a candle to show our solidarity with the families of the victims, most especially with the family of fellow MSUan Cynthia Oquendo and her dear father. At daytime, I will plant 3 hardy native Tugas trees in memory of Cynthia, her father, and the rest of the victims.

Cyns, you were the dream you wanted to. Goodbye.

Statement of Concern of the Mindanao State University Alumni Association on the Maguindanao Massacre

The Mindanao State University Alumni Association (MSUAA) condemns in no uncertain terms the tragic, gruesome carnage obtaining in Maguindanao, Mindanao Island, Philippines, last Monday, 23 November 2009. The bestiality of the act committed against innocent civilians - harmless women, their unarmed escorts, journalists and legal counsels, whose only mistake, if ever, was in helping sustain the fragile democracy in the area by their effort to ascertain the participation of some people in the incoming electoral processes, is unparalleled in the history of modern times, and has even eclipsed the equally condemnable senseless killings in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia.

We salute the victims for their courage in pursuing their respective role in their chosen professions, and as faithful citizens of the land who dreamed and believed that democracy may still blossom and bear fruits even in an arid and hostile environment.

The Association is aghast, however, by the very slow, tentative and unproductive actions of the government authorities in pursuing and bringing into justice the perpetrators of the heinous crime. It is therefore encouraging all sectors of society, the civil societies, the churches, those in academe and professional organizations to put more pressure on the government to prevent a whitewash, a fading action, and eventual amnesia of the event. The Association urges everybody to be vigilant on this matter and never to let this pass until justice is brought to the victims and their families.

The members of the Association are truly saddened by this unfortunate development in Mindanao. The people have already suffered so much from poverty, inequality, social and political uncertainty, and violence that grip the Island. The government ought to put an end to this, stop playing patronage politics, exercise political will and use its iron hand to restore order and sanity in the broken land.

The members of the Association condole with the families and kin of the victims with deepest and sincerest sympathy in this soul-wrenching time of their lives. But we are requesting them to remain calm and sober and to let the law and divine justice take their own courses so as not to escalate the crisis in our midst.

We pray to God to listen to the wails of those who grieve over the untimely death of their loved ones and to comfort and assure everyone whose heart has been seared by the tragedy that justice and peace will ultimately prevail in our beloved Mindanao.

SALAM!

Atty. Halil A. Lucman

President

William R. Adan, Ph.D.

President-in-Waiting

Boxing and Money Pakyaw

When I was in the grade school we had this neighbor who was already a good barber at age 14 named Manny. Manny was short and stocky and wanted so much to become a boxer. When he had no customer at his open barbershop under the mango tree, he would be hitting his punching bag and doing shadow boxing. He would give us, boys, free haircut on condition that we had to go into a round or two of boxing with him as referee. Inasmuch as he had no weighing scale the pairing of his fighters was made on the basis of the claimed ages, within a difference of 1 -2 years, regardless of the size and height of the contenders. As he had no kid gloves, he would just wrap securely the fists of his young boxers with his worn-out t-shirts. The pairs of boxers on line and the bystanders would form a circle around the fighters to serve as the boxing ring. The human boxing ring was mobile; it kept on moving away from a boxer who would back track unto it during the fight. We always looked forward with excitement to Saturday and Sunday afternoons where the scheduled fights were held on the grounds of his barbershop.

I was genetically smaller than anyone in my age group and was always naturally paired with bigger and taller opponents. But I developed a sort of strategy in overcoming my disadvantage and brought almost all of my opponents to the ground: At the start of the fight I would immediately rush like a flash of lightning to my opponent and pummeled him with head and body shots not-stop until he would drop to the ground or until the referee found it necessary to stop the fight. Of course after some time, my opponents recognized my trick and used it against me. But unlike them I refused to yield my ground and would engage any of them in an exchange of blows until exhaustion took its toll on the lesser mortal. Toe-in-toe in-fighting requires strong stomach and great stamina. I developed mine by running every time I was sent an errand to the market which was about a kilometer from our place. My younger but taller brother and I had also regularly sparred in the house sometime with our bare knuckles. After a while, we run out of opponents in the neighborhood; the barber-referee would be compelled to pit my brother against me in some Saturday or Sunday boxing afternoons. At times, the two of us went home with bloody noses or with a black eye.

That was how I was initiated into the art and science of boxing. The possible career in said sports never, however, had an opportunity to blossom. But the initiation has made me a boxing aficionado. I would never miss a Gabriel Flash Elorde fight in the radio. I followed on the boxing career of Cassius Clay, later re-named Mohammad Ali. I requested our professor in UP Los Banos to suspend our exam in a graduate course on the very hour of the Mohammad Ali-Joe Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975. She willingly obliged, and all of us in the examination room rushed to her apartment nearby to see the legendary heavyweight fight of all time. I loved the fights of Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, three great clean fighters in the welterweight division in the 80s. But no Filipino boxer captured my interest after Flash Elorde until I saw Manny Pacquiao’s fights on TV.

I started watching Manny’s four-rounder encounters on TV recorded from those Tanduay Rum-sponsored afternoon fights in some street corners in Marikina and other places in Metro-Manila. Manny was lanky and probably weighed only a little over 100 lb when he first entered the ring as a prize fighter. Manny, despite his size, was an aggressive fighter who, like Mike Tyson, overwhelmed and put his opponents off balance with an endless barrage of brute punches. His obvious lack in boxing skill was compensated by an amazing inner power, speed, focus and determination to crush his opponent. Of course, power, speed, focus and determination alone would not make a sustainable champion. Manny’s rise continued but was held suspect by many for lack of boxing skills. When he met Freddie Roach his prospect for eternity started to unfold.

We found in Freddie and Manny the almost perfect model of a relationship between a great teacher and a very talented student who is very eager to learn. Manny’s speed and firepower have been equipped by Roach with a different fighting strategy for every different opponent in the ring. I watched at noontime today (Philippine Time) how Manny pulverized the vaunted power tank and ferocious natural welterweight warrior Miguel Cotto. Manny effectively put off the Puerto Rican’s fire just after the fourth round. It was to Cotto’s credit that he was still gallantly standing some seconds in the 12 rounds after receiving probably the greatest punishment in his profession. Manny’s demolition of Cotto obviously showed some variation in style and approach to what he did to de la Hoya, Diaz and Hatton.

So one by one, all the great legends in seven different weight divisions in boxing – flyweight (112 lb), super bantamweight (122 lb)), featherweight (126 lb), super flyweight (130), lightweight (135), light welterweight (140 lb), and welterweight (145lb), fell on the wayside struck by the lightning called Manny Pacquiao. Manny has not been called Pacman for any reason at all. He has gobbled his opponents like nobody’s business, as well as the megabucks in the boxing world unparalleled in the history of any sports. The Pacman may now also be called “Money Pakyaw” by the way he rakes millions of dollars into his coffer.

All Souls Day

As kids in our early elementary years we always looked forward to All Souls Day. It meant a sumptuous eat-all-you-can fare of native delicacies: biko, suman or budbod, puto maya, and the cold-looking but deceivingly hot tsokolate. The neighbors would always have any of the preparations, and the practice then was to exchange what specialty was prepared among nearest households.

Even if we didn’t have any relatives buried in the cemetery, we would go there just the same because some friends were visiting theirs’. It was a pleasure to troop to the cemetery bringing a bolo, a walis tingting, a rake or whatever cleaning materials at hand to help our friends clean the final resting place of their loved ones. Some enterprising boys much bigger than us would carry around a gallon of cheap white paint and offer their services to visitors to repaint the tombs of their departed ones. We could only marvel at their skill of haggling for the price of their labor and their ability to finish the task at no time at all.

My friends and I were still too young then to concern ourselves with making money. It was enough for us to be rewarded for our collective labor with biko or suman, sometimes with coke or ice-drops. When our task was done we moved around the cemetery jumping from one tomb to another observing what people were doing in remembrance of the departed ones.

Moods in the cemetery differed. Many were happy and jubilant, especially those families and relatives who came in band, bringing with them food and other goodies. The gathering in the cemetery was a reunion of sort, a time to update everyone on the social, economic and even probably the political plight of relatives, or the health, the travails and pains of others. Tents were set up, and then there would be eating and drinking, and even some singing till nightfall.

But there would be others who either came alone or with company of one or two with so much sadness, remorse and depression swathed in their faces. They would kneel on the mound of earth that could be the burial site of the departed and pour out their anguish in silent cry. Children as we were yet the sight and melancholy rubbed on us and made us forlorn for some moments.

At night when the moon was round and bright we would gather in the barangay waiting shed and exchanged exaggerated stories about ghosts, kalag, multo and aswang until all of us were too scared to go home.

The Plight of the Gypsies in Mindanao: The Badjao (Part 2)

The plight of the Badjao – the sea gypsies, the boat people from the Sulu archipelago, is probably the worst that has ever happened to a Lumad in recent times.

The Badjao are the counterpart of the nomadic Mamanwa in the forests of Surigao and Agusan provinces. They lived in boathouses that clustered and moored near an island of choice in any particular moment. A community of Badjao would consist of 15 to as many as 50 boathouses. They spent most of their times in the sea, fishing, gathering seashells or pearls in the wild. They would only set foot on dry land to sell their products, to buy panggi or pyoto – a grated unsweetened cassava cake, to fetch drinking water, to gather firewood, and to bury their dead. The Badjao practiced sustainable fishing, getting only what they needed for the day with hook and line, spear and traps. They never harvested for surplus to process in any way for the proverbial rainy days.

The Badjao were humble and peace-loving people. They avoided conflict of any kind. If provoked by land-dwelling people, they would just bow their head and move away from their tormentor. They would never fight back even if they were right. When threatened, they would simply pull their anchors and sail to another place. Their land-based Sama and Tausog neighbors gave them derogatory names, such as Samal Palau (outcast Samal) or lumaan (God-forsaken people). The Badjao preferred to call themselves Sama laos (Sama of the sea).

The Badjao used to settle along the shores of some islands in the Sulu archipelago; but many eventually retreated to the sea to escape the oppression of the islanders.

Conflict among neighbors in the Badjao community was accordingly resolved in an impromptu-like singing contest within the hearing distance of everybody. The conflicting parties would sing aloud their grievances, resentment and sentiments one after the other until everything in their heart had been aired out. After the singing marathon things would return to normal.

The Badjao practiced monogamy. It was one boat one wife one family. For them sex was a natural biological phenomenon. When a husband felt like doing it with his mate he would do it, all inside the boat, the children might be playing around, or even within the viewing distance of their neighbors. There was no need then to wait for the night to fall, for the kids to go to sleep, for the neighborhood to become still, because everybody knew anyway anytime they would do it as their boathouses were interconnected in a temporary mooring. The Badjao had no concept of privacy, or an idea of malice, given that almost everything in life was done in an open boat.

Such was the simple and unadulterated life of the Badjao. Some Muslim and Christian missionaries tried to change their way of life but were generally unsuccessful. Certainly, they had captured some few unfortunate souls and taught them the concepts of malice and sin. But the rest of the Badjao had remained free from the tyranny of organized beliefs.

Things changed tragically, however, when Martial Law was declared in the country. To counter the MNLF uprising, the Armed Forces of the Philippines stationed military units in almost every island in the Sulu Archipelago. Some rogue military men befriended the Badjao and taught them how to improve their daily fish catch through dynamite fishing. This altered the perspective and the sustainable life of the sea gypsies. They experienced a sudden boom in their fishing activity, so radical the change that they didn’t even know what to do entirely with their excessive harvest or their extra money. They still lived in their boathouses and they had not much need for anything. Of course, some of the men now stayed longer in dry land with their new found friends and learned to booze. It was not too long, however, when most of the fishing grounds of the gypsies were destroyed and soon became unproductive. Life started to become a daily ordeal to the once self-sufficient people.

Then some NGOs and government agencies came to the rescue. They taught the Badjao how to operate and maintain a seaweed farm. This intervention made a positive change in their sinking economic life. The men in the boat houses would again tarry in dry land after harvest time, eating, drinking and spending their dough in pubs and local entertainment houses. But the economic rise of the boat people ended dramatically when pirates robbed and divested them of their income every harvest time. The Badjao were scared to the bone and scampered to safety. There was no option but to move away from the Sulu seas.

So began the diaspora and exodus of the Badjao away from home. They hovered for sometime in Zamboanga City, and without employable skills they reduced themselves to begging just to survive. Zamboanga City very soon became too crowded for them, thus many ventured farther away into the different cities of Mindanao, then in Cebu and finally in MetroManila. In many occasions, the boat people were herded by authorities in MetroManila and forced back to Zamboanga City. But after saving for some fare money, they would make a comeback to the great metropolis, now improving and honing the art of begging.

Such is the tragic plight of the once free and meek people of the Sulu seas. They are now dispersed everywhere. In a generation or two, they would completely forget their origin, their history, culture and traditions. Except those who practice begging in seaports, many Badjao very soon may even forget how to swim, when not long time ago they were already swimming even before they started walking. The government wants them to go home, but I doubt if they can still go home, home to the place and time where and when they were free from the burdens and demands of our own civilization.

The Plight of the Gypsies in Mindanao: The Mamanwa ( Part 1 )

The Lumads are the descendants of the free and proud people in Mindanao who refused to join the religious fold of the Muslims and, later, of the Christians and continued to maintain their beliefs and practices, their socio-economic and political life in their respective territories. History tells us that joining the Muslims provided the Lumads greater security and protection from their enemies. Joining the Christians, on the other hand, gave them access to educational, economic and political opportunities improving thereby their economic and social condition. To remain a free people proved costly at the end because it eventually dispossessed them of their possessions and pushed them into the margin of society.

Consider the Mamanwa. The Mamanwa are dark-skinned with kinky hair but are much taller and with well-proportioned body than their Aeta counterparts in Antique and Zambales. Nomadic, they used to occupy and roam the forest ranges of the Surigao and Agusan provinces. They were literally dependent on the bounty of the nature, satisfying their basic needs from what they could harvest from the forests and capture from the rivers. They never permanently settled but stayed temporarily in an area in huts without walls for as long as the bounty of nature still met their needs. After a while, they would roam again in a cluster of 3 – 10 families to another place enjoying life that is free from the trappings of a more sophisticated community. They were honest and peace-loving people who resolved conflicts among themselves through the mediation and counsel of the eldest member of their community.

After the Second World War, however, the landscape of Mindanao has experienced tremendous changes, especially in Surigao-Agusan mountain ranges. Miners have cut across and dug mountains to extract gold, nickel, cobalt, copper, iron ores and other minerals; and loggers, legal and illegal, have felled trees and secured their concessions with heavily armed guards. The Mamanwa could no longer thread freely in their former hunting grounds and have been restricted in the peripheral areas of the forests learning to survive through slash and burn farming from the lowlanders. They have resorted to trading with the people in the lowlands – selling or exchanging rattan poles and fruits, tubers, bamboo shoots, orchids, deer, wild pigs, monkeys and birds with corn grits, salted fish and some canned goods. Unschooled they are always at the losing end of the barter. The lowlanders look down at them and pejoratively called them kongking because of their scaly black skin and kinky hair.

When Martial Law was declared, the New People’s Army (NPA) for some time ruled the jungles of Surigao and Agusan. The Mamanwa, because of their familiarity with the terrains, were hired or forced to become guides by the military and the NPAs in pursuing each other and became primary victims in armed encounters and life-threatening suspicion from both sides of the warring parties. As a result the Mamanwa were ultimately forced out from their shrinking paradise. With no employable skills, they have been reduced to begging for food and clothing from the lowlanders who despise them. Anyway, some kind souls had taken pity of them and hired their men as farm hands or their women as house helpers. But their benefactors complained that they lacked initiative, motivation and concentration in what they were doing. In short, they were perceived as lazy and unreliable. They would accordingly escape work now and then pursuing and connecting with relatives in their wandering. The nomad in their blood refused a settled life. Disoriented, they keep on moving without definite purpose and direction except to survive out from the kindness and help of people they met along the way.

The passage, of R.A. 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, restored to some 1900 Mamanwa their forest land through the issuance of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) by the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) on 22 September 2006. The Mamanwa’s ancestral domain covers an area of 49, 870 hectares located in the municipalities of Claver, Gigaquit, Bacuag, Alegria, and Tubod, all in the province of Surigao del Norte. Under the provisions of CADT, the Mamanwa beneficiaries, as land owners, are responsible in the development, control, utilization and collective management of their ancestral domain on the condition that said land resource cannot be sold, disposed or destroyed in any way.

Unfortunately, for the Mamanwa, their return to their homeland has been compromised by the surge of some 20 or more mining firms or mine claimants within the domain, in addition to those already entrenched earlier in the area, particularly upon the passage and implementation of the controversial Philippine Mining Act of 1995 (R.A.7942). Under the IPRA law, the natives were entitled to a royalty of one percent of the gross income of each mining firm operating within their territory. This has not been done. One firm shrewdly managed to ink an agreement with the tribal chieftain to grant P500,000/annum to the tribe people and their host communities. Notwithstanding that this in violation of the IPRA Act, only P200, 000 so far has been released to the beneficiaries and their host communities. Meanwhile, the Mamanwa homeland is now crisscrossed by mining roads, bulldozed, opened, and dug again and here and there for the precious minerals, destroying biodiversity and the natural environment, and displacing some of the natives from their farm lands. Recently, the military have occupied areas in their ancestral domain to protect mining investors reportedly from the harassment of the NPA rebels. The Mamanwa, who have begun to settle in their recovered land, are forced once again to mass evacuate into the lowland for their safety.

An NGO (Filipino Tribe Mission) is reportedly assisting Mamanwa families live a settled community life somewhere in Taganito, Surigao del Norte. Mamanwa children are taught the rudiments of education and the adults, hygiene, sanitation, nutrition and improved farming methods and employable skills to enable them to join the labor force or generate self-employment. If the approach succeed this would save the Mamanwa from the indignity of living at the mercy of other people. And yet this benevolent intervention may yet ultimately lead to their ultimate assimilation into the mainstream of society and erase once and for all what little cultural heritage that is left in their soul.

A Short Lesson in Political Science 4: Here They Come Conning Us Again

Is our Constitution so flawed and sick that it needs urgent surgical operations?

The rah-rah boys of President Arroyo in Congress believe so or are made to believe that it is, such that they want to overhaul it before the 2010 national elections. The motion to do it picks up tempo with the passage of H.R. Resolution1109.

One of the eyesores of the fundamental law of the land that the advocates of amendments or revision want to remove is its patriotic provisions that prohibit foreign ownership of our national patrimony, especially land. The restrictive provisions are perceived to discourage foreign investments that have resulted to our economic doldrums. The wagtails of Malacanang want to open our land and our national resources for exploitation to those who have the dough wherever they may come from. Doing this would lead, accordingly, to the economic prosperity of the country.

This thinking is politically naïve. First, many of our lands, many of our national resources are, for all intent and purposes, already in the hands of foreign nationals. You go to the famous tourist destinations in this country, such as Boracay and Panglao, and the locals will tell you that the prime lots there are already owned by the Swiss, Belgians, Germans, Americans, Koreans, Japanese, and many other more. The strategy is to marry locals or hire dummy partners and, presto, these aliens may now do business in our blighted shores. Foreign investors are not interested in owning lands, the nitwits in the Lower House should know, but in using them to serve their business interests. Land titles remain in the names of their Filipino mistresses, second or third wives, or gambling and drinking buddies but the profits derived from their economic activities remain intact in foreign hands. Train your sight to plantation farming, mining, fishing, and other resource extractive or ecologically destructive enterprises and you will know that the scenario, the plots of their stories are similar, if not exactly the same. Indeed, if there is one need to amend our Constitution it is to provide provisions to stop the aliens from hoodwinking us.

The other primary argument for Charter change is the perception that our structure of government does not usher sustainable national development. Our presidential form of government, with its bicameral legislative body, is not, accordingly, politically efficient and effective and economically responsive. The executive and the legislative department may compete and not cooperate and unite for holistic governance but would rather engage in a political war of attrition, especially if the occupants are of different political colors. The Senate and the House of Representatives often clash on many agenda, economic and otherwise, that would only derail important legislative interventions to improve the quality of life of our people. The members from the two houses compete, rather than cooperate, develop and protect their own turfs, rather than spread development, are obsessed with investigation of scandals of all kinds, from mundane sexual exploits of certain psychotics to corruption in high levels, accordingly in aid of legislation, but had not been heard of actually coming up with legislative remedies for all the mess they had poked their noses into. It is contended that to become more efficient and effective and to stop or curb corruption to the minimum the solution is to change the structure from presidential to parliamentary form of government.

The perceived solution is wishful thinking. Theoretically, a parliamentary form of government appears in general to be efficient and effective in governance. The executive and the legislative bodies blend and become one integrated working machine. The parliament elects the head of state, the prime minister, from among the members themselves, and also appoints heads of ministries (departments) from the same membership to implement legislations or programs of government. This avoids the proverbial delays in legislation and execution of government laws and programs which seems to characterize the presidential form of government. Great, but this is only true if the members of government are dominated by a single party. But if the parliament is multi-party in composition, then it is all hell for everyone. There would be stalemates and paralyses in the operations of government as interests and directions of governance differ and clash. There would be constant abolition of government (ministries, including that of the prime minister’s, or the entire parliament itself at times) for lost of confidence, operational paralysis, and for other reasons.

How is corruption reduced or eliminated in a parliamentary form of government? Corruption is not spawned or stopped by the structure of government but by the people who run it. In fact, a parliamentary form of government run by a single party with members of corrupt tendencies may yet become an apparatus of grand scale corruption as they can easily connive, agree and unite to pursue their selfish interest.

The government is only as honest and as good as the people who run it. If this is so why the rush to change the constitution through a constituent assembly (con-ass) before the 2010 national elections?

The only possible political answer, claimed by critics and even by some followers of the tenant in Malacanang, is to really install a parliamentary government to extend GMA’s stay in power till kingdom comes. Once a parliament is in place, Arroyo Almighty may run for a seat in Pampanga, win it by all means as in the hello-garci 2004 elections, and become prime minister through the tyranny of number of her pork-hungry lapdogs. Thus, it is happy time forever more for her and her ilk.

Will the Supreme Court allow the actual conduct of the con-ass without the participation of the Senate?

The ambiguous provision of Article XVII, Section I (1) of the constitution is the bone of contention here. It says “Any amendment to, or revision of, this constitution may be proposed by: the Congress upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members.” The ambiguity lies on a missing clause (one obvious lapse of the framers of the 1987 constitution that really needs amendment!), that is either “voting jointly” or “voting separately” which should have been added to the end of said provision.

Gloria’s bright boys assert an interpretation that it is voting jointly (thus HR 1109). The Senate, which will definitely be outnumbered if this view prevails, counters it is voting separately in the tradition of making separate action on major legislations, a procedure that is inherent in a bicameral congress. Otherwise, the latter will accordingly boycott the con-ass.

A petition to nullify HR 1109 was filed with the Supreme Court. But the High Court dismissed it as “premature and lacked justiciable issue.” The Court contends that the House of Representatives has not yet performed an act (such as the actual convening of Congress into a constituent assembly) or done something that would warrant its intervention.

The sordid drama continues while the people are getting sick and numbed by the political maneuvers, manipulations and deceits.

Securing Peace In Mindanao

The Mindanao Problem

The current volatile peace and order situation in Mindanao may have been triggered by the cancellation of the signing of the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). The failed Agreement would have “restored” to the Muslims in Southern Mindanao their long-sought homeland, and they would have become the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (a largely autonomous state within the Republic). The Mindanao problem, however, is not a recent phenomenon but has its roots in the long history of Spanish colonization of the country.

Betrayal

The decision of President Arroyo to cancel the signing of the Agreement simply festered an old open wound. It was taken by some quarters in the MILF as another treachery; a betrayal to a cause that would have brought peace to Mindanao. But Arroyo was left with no option because many local government officials in Mindanao questioned the constitutionality of the Agreement before the Supreme Court. There was also this issue of non-consultation on a very crucial matter that affects governance in Mindanao, where a wide area would be carved out to give way to the Bangsamoro ancestral domain. The area proposed for segregation to become the Bangsamoro homeland covers a good number of Christian-dominated communities. The group opposed to the MOA, which increased upon its exposure, claimed that the agreement clearly violates the Constitution as it dismembers the territory of the Republic and allows the establishment of a separate state. The high court declared the MOA-AD unconstitutional before its scheduled signing on August 5, 2008 in Malaysia.

The killing, burning and looting rampage of MILF Commander Bravo in Lanao del Norte and that of Commander Kato in Cotabato areas in the middle of August 2008 is symptomatic of a mishandled settlement of the Mindanao conflict. The resumption of war has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and has spiraled the body count in the war zone. Indeed, there is a need for sober minds to rethink a way out from the present mess.

The “Muslim-Christian” Conflict

About a century earlier before the arrival of the Spaniards, Arab traders and missionaries were already in the country converting the natives to Islam not by force but by conversation and by its attractive way of life. Conversion and intermarriages of royal bloods resulted to the establishment of a number of Sultanates in Sulu and Mindanao. A sultanate is a Moro state where religious and political laws and practices are converged to form a way of life. When the Spaniards arrived in the country during the 16th century, they were very much surprised to find that their hated enemies in Europe – the “Moors,” actually the native adherents to Islam, were already effectively entrenched in the southern islands. The small states were progressive with organized armies and navies and were linked together at times by military alliances.

The enmity of the Spaniards towards the Muslims who invaded and occupied south of Spain in the 8th century was deep-seated. This was the reason why the Christian-Muslim War or, more specifically the Spanish-Muslim War, was exported to the Philippines to last for three centuries of costly running battles. The Spaniards could simply have avoided the local Muslims, pejoratively called latter as “Moros,” in the southern islands and concentrated their efforts in colonizing the fragmented barangays in the north. Instead, upon pacification and subsequent colonization of the natives in the Visayas and Luzon, they used the Christianized people in their intermittent raids, assaults and looting of Muslim villages. The Moros would also retaliate with equally ferocious and bloody pillage of Christianized communities in Northern Mindanao and the Visayas. This was the beginning of what is wrongly perceived as the “Muslim-Christian” conflict in Mindanao.


The Bangsamoro Struggle for Independence

In the later part of the 19th century, the Moros experienced more and more defeats in their battles with the well armed and more efficiently organized Spanish military. But until the end of Spanish colonization, they were never Christianized nor effectively conquered or ruled by the Spaniards.

The end of the Spanish-American War in the Philippines deprived the Filipinos of their well deserved independence from Spain. This led to the Filipino-American War that lasted for three years ending in the overwhelming defeat of the Filipinos.

Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the Spaniards, in the Treaty of Paris, ceded to the Americans their “Philippine territory,” which included Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan, at the price of $20M. The Filipinos considered the cession anomalous as the Spaniards had no more rights over the Philippines as they had already defeated and overthrown them. The Moros, who did not consider themselves Filipinos at that time (and still some today), considered the cession of territory as illegal and null and void because it included the sale of their homeland – Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, a territory that was never owned by the Spaniards.

How could one sell something that he does not own or possess? Argued the Moros. In their push to recover their homeland and recapture their independence the Moros assumed a more holistic identity as Bangsamoro (Moro nation) at the turn of the century. The Bangsamoro claims their ancestors were the original inhabitants of Mindanao and its adjacent islands, including Palawan and the Sulu archipelago before and at the time of Spanish conquest or colonization. Indeed, although the Spaniards were not able to control Sulu and nearby islands, and parts of Mindanao and Palawan, they were smart enough to include them in the territory they ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris.

Separation from the Christian Filipinos

Once the Americans had secured their rule of the Philippines the Bangsamoro people started to distance themselves from the Christian Filipinos. In 1921, 57 prominent Moro leaders signed a petition addressed to the US government declaring and manifesting the desire of the people of Sulu that Sulu Archipelago be made permanent American territory.

The petition complained of the failure of the Philippine Legislature to work for the benefit of the Moros; to recognize their religion; to pass any laws recognizing their marriages, and other customs and traditions.

The petition closed with these words:

“We, the people of Sulu, guarantee that we ourselves will maintain law and order in the event our territory is made part of the American nation. We feel assured that the American Government at Washington will provide special laws for our people, protecting our religion and our customs, and under the protecting arm of America we will have just courts, wherein we will receive justice” (Gowing, Muslim Heritage and Horizons, 1979).

In 1926 the US Congress placed on record a “Declaration of Rights and Purposes” sent to it in 1924 by a group of Moro leaders. In Moroland there was widespread support to the sentiment expressed in that Declaration (Congressional Record, 1926:8836, cited by Gowing, 1979):

“...in the event that the US grants independence to the Philippine Islands without provision for our retention under the American flag, it is our firm intention and resolve to declare ourselves an independent constitutional sultanate to be known to the world as the Moro Nation..”

That year their lobby in the US Congress secured them the Bacon Bill of 1926. The Bill, which was never passed, proposed to exclude Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan from the Philippine territory to be granted independence and make them part of the US territory.

When the U.S granted the Philippines its independence, the Bangsamoro leaders vehemently objected the inclusion of their homeland to the Philippine territory. Again, they would rather be under the control and supervision of the U.S.A. than to be part of the newly independent country. This attitude and political stand were born from deep distrust and insecurity of being together and be ruled by the very people they had fought for centuries with their Spanish patron and mentor.

Indeed, on foresight, if they have remained under the U.S.A they could have regained their independence the moment the United Nations decided for the decolonization of territories under the control of colonial powers.

Another proposal initiated by the Bangsamoro people to regain their independence was to hold a referendum in Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan. The referendum would allow the people in these areas to decide on the issue “whether these territories would be incorporated under the government of Luzon and the Visayas, or become part of the territory of the United States, or become independent” 50 years from the grant of Philippine independence in 1946.

This proposal gained no grounds and finally died in 1996 (50 years after the grant of Philippine independence), subsequent to the signing of the Peace Agreement between the GRP and the MNLF under the Ramos administration which expanded the benefits of Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the creation of the Zone for Peace and Development (ZOPAD) in Mindanao.

The Bangsamoro continued to work for its independence from the Philippine Government. However, their leaders realized that to work with the government and abide with the political regulations of the country gave them no opportunities of attaining their ancestral heritage. Thus, the MNLF under Nur Misuari who “slept” with the government under the peace accord of 1996 was discredited and kept in the cold. The cudgel for liberation transferred to the hands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Cotabato splintered group of the MNLF under the late Hashim Salamat. The goal of the MILF is no less than to build an Islamic state to rise in the Bangsamoro ancestral land.

Government Action or Reaction:
Appeasement, Negotiation, and War

Different government administrations employed different strategies in dealing with the Mindanao problem. The immediate post war regimes adopted a policy of appeasement. To restrain political leaders from committing disturbances, public development funds were disbursed to them that rarely reached or benefited at all their constituencies. This only worsened the plight of the Bangsamoro people. Pres. Marcos waged battles, made peace settlement here and there and likewise “bribed” influential Muslim leaders with positions in government and public work funds. President Joseph Estrada went beyond rhetoric and declared and engaged the MILF in an all-out war. Again the Bangsamoro rebels may have been defeated but not destroyed. They were able to recoup loses and were sooner back to their fighting form. When Arroyo came to power, she negotiated for ceasefire and began another peace talk with the rebels.

Mismanagement and External Influence on the Peace Process

The Arroyo peace initiative, which resulted to the ballyhooed breakthrough - the GRP-MILF Agreement Ancestral Domain and the consequent establishment of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), was actually undermined by mismanagement and the apparent intrusion of external interest into the accord.

The Arroyo dispensation put everybody in the dark as to the substance and extent of the agreement to the eleventh hour. The Congress, local government officials and the Supreme Court were not on board of the peace process. The backlash of protests and legal actions following the announcement of the scheduled signing of the MOA only showed how un-transparent the agreement was pursued.

On the other hand, the creation of a Bangsamoro state, which the MOA-AD by all intent and purposes was all about, was apparently influenced, shaped and supported by the US to protect its interest in Southeast Asia. This is evidenced by some preparatory moves - the heavy outpouring of US economic and capacity building assistance in Central Mindanao during the last decade, such as the massive road, airport and other infrastructure project in General Santos- Cotabato areas, and the many other confidence building projects under the USAID Growth and Equity in Mindanao (GEM) and Ecology Governance (EcoGov) in Muslim Mindanao, Basilan and the Sulu archipelago. It was also no coincidence that the amiable lady US Ambassador had been unnaturally visible in the war-torn areas while the MOA-AD was being forged.

Arroyo’s Flirtation with China

The flirtation of the Arroyo regime with the Chinese after the withdrawal of the Filipino contingent in Iraq, which irked Washington, apparently shaped developments in Mindanao. Arroyo had the Chinese smiling with the many favors given them, such as the joint exploration of the offshore resources in the Philippine waters near Kalayaan islands and Palawan, the controversial ZTE broadband and DepEd IT deals, the North Luzon Railway project and, lately, the mining concessions granted them. This maneuver to spread China’s sphere of influence worried the US to no end. This may have caused the rush schedule (sans public consultations) for the signing in Malaysia of the aborted GRP-MILF AD Agreement on August 5, 2008. It seemed to appear that Pres. Arroyo might have also been put in the dark by her lapdogs (negotiators) who warmly wagged their tails to their US master.

Apparently, the fingerprints of the US were all over the Agreement. A Bangsamoro state, whose people are historically friendly with the Americans, would allow the US to jointly exploit with the Bangsamoro the rich natural resources of the area, as well as likely to establish a military base within its territory, thereby recovering its geopolitical and military hegemony in the area that is now strongly challenged by China.


Back to the Negotiation Table

Of late, there is an apparent consensus to resume talks and attend to the various issues obtaining in the aborted ancestral domain agreement. Accordingly, the GRP wants to pursue peace negotiation with DDR as the guiding principle. The DDR refers to the peace process framework of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration. The MILF, however, views the framework as a strategy to return to the status quo, that is, to the period prior to the initialed MOA-AD. To operate within such framework is perceived as recapitulation, almost an abandonment of what has been reached in the aborted accord. Indeed, how the negotiation will proceed and end is a tricky question considering the many conflicting interests on and under the negotiation table.


Perspective

The Mindanao conflict is a complicated puzzle to solve. A win-win solution has eluded the peacemakers. What agreements reached in the past proved nothing but shaky compromises to suspend grand-scale bloodshed. Consider, for instance, the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Zone for Peace and Development in Mindanao (ZOPAD). Both were hailed as breakthroughs in peace negotiation. But even before the ink had dried on the peace document the combatants on both sides were already back in the warpath.

It requires most of the time blood to rewrite history, or to reverse the imperatives of history.

Mindanao, or a great part of it, might have been a Bangsamoro homeland. But it could as well be the homeland of the Lumads before some of them converted to Islam. The reality of the time, however, is that Mindanao is no longer the homeland of either the Lumads or the Bangsamoro but the homeland of the people who are now called Filipinos. To ignore this truth, to continuously harp on old favorable historical facts that have been covered by layers and layers of more recent and opposing facts, renders the search for justice and peace an exercise in futility.

Pragmatism should rule in the negotiation table. A win-win solution is a solution that addresses the aspirations of people within the framework of the current reality in Mindanao – that the island is now the homeland of a people who are there by virtue of their being a Filipino. While some special rights may be granted to some people who have different beliefs and traditions, this should not in anyway deprive others of their fundamental rights as citizens of the land.