jihad in the Philippines?

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.

the muslim issue

Few days ago, a fraternal brother died. Few days before graduation from the College Of Law, Tamtam Edpan’s life was literally snuffed out. He was driving his Mitsubishi Adventure in the city proper when armed men carnapped the car and brought him along from Cagayan de Oro to the remote area of Lanao del Sur. There, in a remote area, two bullets were pumped into his head, causing his instantaneous death. A cabal of Muslim ended his life. So went his dreams and hopes of a family

Flashback few months ago. A young man was beaten to death for having a relationship with a muslim woman. Since when loving a woman a crime so grave enough to be meted- out with death? And don’t ask me anymore who the culprit was.

I am living in Mindanao where the love-hate relationship between the Muslims and Christians has spilled blood in the island the Filipinos call the Land of Promise. Although Muslims are a minority here, our neighboring island of Luzon has always misconceived that Muslims are predominant. Truth of the matter, only 30% of the residents in Mindanao are Muslims.

I don’t want to sound racist, but keeping ones thought inside would kill a man. This is one sensitive topic that even the local media have opted to close their eyes. When media men discuss the spate of crimes perpetrated by the Muslims, they do so in whispers, and if they do it aloud, they sound more of apologists for the Muslims than purveyors of truth.

There cannot be peace without a dialogue. And a true dialogue comes out of the spring of truth. Pope Benedict the XVI was heavily criticized when he said that there is one basic schism between Christianity and Islam: the latter can justify violence in the name of religion, and in the former, the only justification for violence is self-defense. The violent tendencies of Islam is rooted in its philosophy. What the pontiff said may be a painful truth to swallow, but truth, no matter how it hurts, must come into the light of day.

Let me share my thoughts.

During Marcos dictator circa the 70′s, the Muslim secessionist movement was getting stronger. The Muslims wanted that Mindanao should secede from the Philippines. Led by a brilliant Nur Misuari, the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the call to secede by arm struggle was getting louder and deafening. The Muslim rebel ranks were swelling. Marcos unleashed his war dogs, with impunity.

The horrors of the military campaign during the 70′s came to me in so graphic form. In the early 80′s, our family resided near a big military headquarter, an Infantry Division of the army. We had a store, so soldiers would come to while their time or recall their recent battles. Accordingly, planes would fly above Muslims villages, spray gasoline, and the foot soldiers would incinerate the entire village. Fires by the way, like bombs , do not choose their victims. Burnt with the nipa huts were infants and the aged, the strong and weak, women and men. Bodies were charred beyond recognition. And after the fire, the infantry would charge, to kill those who were spared by the fire, and more, to claim the spoils of war. The villages were looted; and women who were still alive, raped. And better believe in the goriest of the details: the soldiers would eat parts of the charred bodies. The ears were their favorite.

These tales were repeated to me by countless soldiers that I could not do otherwise but believe in their veracity.

The bloodbath continued. Muslims too raided Christian villages, and their atrocities were just as gruesome. After the military assault, the Muslims took their vengeance, and the Christian communities had to defend themselves by forming militiamen known as the Ilaga gang led my the famous Commander Toothpick. Both sides, literally ate the innards of the other.

In this cycle of violence, there is always a question as to who started the violence. But just like any circle, the beginning and ending cannot be easily determined. The Muslims would argue that when the Spanish conquistadores colonized the Philippines in the 16th century, they defended their faith from the onslaught of the Christian cross. When the Americans came in the 1890′s up to 1940′s, they resisted the smothering of their culture, especially their language and beliefs, with the bodies and blood of their brethren. To them, the cycle of violence, the Christian cross started it all. But for the Christians too, as my grandmother ,who is already 96 years old, would recall, they dreaded the repeated sounds of the belfry because death and rape and torture and looting from the moros ( the pejorative word for Muslim then) were coming.

Who started it first? We may never know, or even if it is known, no one would admit responsibility. The beauty with history is that we can recall and retell without fear. My retelling of the soldiers’ accounts would mean death during the Marcos era. The downside with history though is that it cannot be undone. Yes, we have to look back in history. But having done that, we cannot let ourselves be imprisoned in the cycle of violence that bloody history has created even up to the present.

The death of Tamtam and the Christian lover may be attributed to this cycle of violence. But this cycle must end somewhere. Look what happened when the Superferry ship was torched allegedly by the Muslim militants. Thereafter, in Ozamis City, the innocent Muslim vendors and residents of that city were rounded-up, some were shot, and others were told to go home to the moroland. In Davao City, under the iron-rule of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, a Muslim body would float if a Christian died due to their undoing.

I dread the day when Cagayan de Oro, the City of the Golden Friendship, would become the jungle of the meanest. Before the 90′s, during my student days at Xavier University, I recall that we would stay until the wee hours in the morning in the city streets without fear to our property, limb, and life. We were so sure of the peace. But when mayor Vicente Emano welcomed the Muslims with open arms, I dread to stay out in the evening. May be this is my racial bias, or may be, the violence has gripped me that I lost my objectivity. But the death of Tamtam has definitely ignited passions, and individual, isolated rage, if remained unchecked may incinerate the society as well, beyond pacifying. In 1998 for example, my law office partner, Atty. Salvador Pacana, was kinapped. His friends went on air, and warned: “If Atty. Pacana would not be released within 72 hours, heads of the Muslims would roll, starting from those occupying the highest government position in the City”. Atty. Pacana was released. But what if he were not released?

This is the time to nip the embers of hate. The racial divide should be bridged. How? I don’t know exactly. But let me give a hint. Among the tennis clubs in Cagayan de Oro City, it is our tennis club where there are more than 20 Muslim members. Out of prejudices, the Muslims would play among themselves, so as the Christians. But there are those who have been willing to extend their hands of friendship. There are few Muslims who would play with the Christians, and vice-versa. And count me in. I often talk with the broad-minded Muslim members about this racial divide, and we learn from each other much. These are the interactions we sorely need if we have to douse the embers of hate.

But individual efforts cannot the whole system change. One time, somebody approached me to authenticate three death certificates. I was suspicious. After inquiries, I found out that the persons whose names appeared in the death certificates were facing criminal charges. And death, in any penal law, extinguishes liability. What an excuse. The case would be dismissed. Yes, when I went over the death certificates, I realized that a hospital, a doctor, and the local civil registrar were in conspiracy in this grand but devious scheme. There is lawlessness here that must be punished. If a Muslim is wronged, and he files a case, then good for you: He is submitting to the penal system. But more often than not, if a Muslim is wronged, he would not file a case, but brace yourself, for as the Biblical saying goes, “A tooth for a tooth; an eye, for an eye.” The famous rido, or family vendetta, is a way of exacting revenge. And this is something culturally ingrained, although it is diametrically opposed to the majesty of law.

Social bacterias breed most in isolation and darkness. It is difficult to enforce law and order in places where even the vehicles cannot easily access. Unfortunately, the Autonomous Muslim Mindanao Mindanao is lagging way behind in terms of road networks. The outlaws can easily play hide-and-seek with law enforcers in the Muslim areas, that crimes there are unabated, with impunity. This is the time to infuse infrastructure projects in the Muslim areas so that the outlaws would be exposed easily to the shining light of law enforcement.

Educate! Education is so far the greatest liberator. This is true story. A kidnap-for-ransom gang composed of Muslims kidnapped a man with the initials R.H.D. The victim, together with his wife, were brought to the gang’s lair. The gang demanded from R.H.D. TEN MILLION PESOS ransom. But R.H.D. pleaded that he is only the assistant to the driver of the truck. The gang was furious, “But you have so many trucks which are marked RHD? The victim explained, “RHD are not initials for my name but Right Hand Drive vehicles.” Incredible story, but true. Where the people are illiterate, they cannot possibly compete for decent livelihood. They go underground.

The love-hate relationship between Muslims and Christians have biblical roots, and the root causes are so deep that historical perspective may not suffice. As the Pontiff admonished: True dialogue must go deeper into the Philosophical bases of the discord. We cannot just give a palliative. The historical manifestations of the discord are skin-deep. The violence we are witnessing can be trace to the clash of civilization, the schism of the world into Muslims and Christians and Jews. But this schism is rooted in our divergent philosophical views of life, of the now and hereinafter. But since we inhabit a common Earth, then we have no option but to bridge this clash of civilization; or else, our civilization may be annihilated, and Mother Earth scorched with the nuclear energy.