During my secondary education, our family lived near the military camp. We had a store where customers could drink until late at the night. In that store, many secrets were revealed, and many dreams shared aloud. When soldiers drink, they either talk about their exploits with native lasses or their war adventures.
It was still in the mid-70’s when we had the store. The common tale soldiers loved to recount was how, in a war frenzy, they set the entire village in Sulu ( a province in Mindanao, Philippines) on fire, followed by aerial bombing. When the bombing was over, the infantry would charge, not so much to fight, but to claim the booty and loot of war. Outnumbered and ill-equipped, the muslims, mostly civilians, were charred to death, and the living, especially the women, were raped. To cap the day, they roasted human parts, and the ears were their favourite. They had the burning houses for a bonfire.
The story was retold several times that even in moments of stupor, these soldiers must have told the truth. I had this story confirmed by a veteran who did not drink. But according to the soldiers, they were only avenging the gruesome deaths their comrades met in the hands of muslim fighters.
In the early seventies, most parts of Mindanao were war torn – between the Ilaga and the Barracuda. The Ilaga consisting of Christian militias were as brutal as their muslim counterpart, the Barracudas – they would skin each other to death, literally and figuratively. And in the cycle of violence, it is difficult to point who fired the first shot. Imagine the circle: there is no clear beginning and ending.
Now and then, the muslim-christian animosities spark, and the civilians are mostly the casualties. Just like the circle, it appears to be without end.
There have been many peace talks already. The Moro National Liberation Front led by Nur Misuari entered into a peace pact with the government of the Philippines when ex-President Fidel Ramos signed the agreement. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front of then Hashim Salamat is forging a peace accord. In the past, when the material rewards of the peace pact are depleted, the deeper differences prevail, and the first victim of the peace pact is the agreement itself: it is more observed in its violations.
Peace accord among leaders is most welcome; in fact, any attempt at peace should always be encouraged. But peace pacts without the people in the ground truly understanding each other, of having cultural tolerance, is a piece of document without the spirit of peace. The resolution of the Mindanao muslims and Christian conflict hinges on bridging the cultural divide.
Last weekend, I listened with undivided interest the true story of a retiree who lived his life virtually in Bacolod, Lanao del Norte ( Mindanao, Philippines). He has been living among the muslims. One time, there was this Christian who challenged a physically-handicapped muslim. The latter could not obviously fight. This retiree told the Christian to apologize because humiliating a muslim is like killing him. Death is even better than shame for the muslims. The Christian did not listen. Months after, he was shot. Among Christians, challenging one to a fair fight is not as big an issue as killing. But that is not so for the muslims.
While in college, I was in a classroom of eight students. So we had a round table during classes. Of the eight, there were six muslims, and one of them was so pretty that I could not help but stare at her. Knowing how sensitive and protective muslims are with their women, I apologized to the other muslims in the class. I did not stare at her anymore.
The Christians too have axe to grind, so to speak. One time, a muslim came to me to have three death certificates notarized. The death certificates have glaring similarities: three persons, who died under the care of one doctor in one hospital, and their deaths were registered with the same local civil registrar. Worse, the three had pending criminal cases. The death certificates were used to dismiss the criminal cases of drug pushing, carnapping, and rape. Indeed, there are muslims who have wronged Christians with seeming impunity.
We live in a world under different banners of faith. Often, our religions determine our culture. Our cultural intolerance has killed millions of people, during the Crusades in the dark ages, the Holocaust, the genocide in Darfur, in Kosovo, and many other places. One day, our religious intolerance would lead to our extinction.
There is a need to understand the other cultures so that we can relate to them accordingly. With communication comes understanding. Fortunately, we are living in an era of fast and efficient communication. There is the cell phone, internet, fax, radio, cable tv. If we just reach out, there is no reason why we can’t understand each other, and therefore tolerate the differences.
However, there are people who choose to kill, not necessarily to seek religious or historical justice, but simply to promote their interests. In the town of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, still a part of Muslim Mindanao, it is said that the powers-that-be intentionally cut electric power so the folks will remain unconnected with the outside world. Without cable tv, internet, and other mass media, the people are kept in the dark purposely to keep them ignorant, and therefore, easy to mislead.
The worms thrive best in the dark. Exposed to the shining light of education, the folks would embrace cultural tolerance. The government should cut across Muslim Mindanao with a railway system, road networks, and information infrastructure so those muslims who want to keep their folks in the dark will be exposed. The government must cut-open the isolated areas.
Lest we be charged with being naïve, the groups that resist change for their own vested interest, to them the guns must be aimed. To these groups, the Abu Sayyap, Jemaah Islamiah, and the Osamas belong. For them, the war must be waged.
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