I don't understand this peace process that the administration is pushing for after the slaughtering of 44 Special Action Force men. It is so off synch to the times, irrelevant at this point, and insensitive to the feelings of the nation. Yes, the people of the Philippines know right away when injustice has been done.
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We live in a humanized society and a dehumanizing act has just been done to the forces that is supposed to be the elite that is protecting the state, the SAF. So we expect civil faces to come to the negotiating table and then we will be forced to accede to their demands for "autonomy" or whatever liberal acts they want to be able to do in our country?
My dears, social change does not occur overnight. A people who have been used to living in the wilds with gunpowder and arms as their second or even first wives cannot be expected to follow the conditions on a piece of paper.
That is what it is - what this peace commission is doing. It is working on a piece of paper that is so easy to crumple that in a matter of hours, the major group that is supposed to be a major actor in the negotiations has just easily trashed.
Before any negotiations for peace in order to set up a "state" for the Moro peoples are conducted, let us explore other ways by which we can integrate into our Philippine non-violent life and let them learn how respect of the human rights of everyone is paramount in our society; respect of lives is honored; and how women ought to be treated with great gallantry and not as objects to follow men all the time and to be kept from view.
Why do feel vehemently angry over this issue of peace negotiations? I was at the funeral venue of the SAF men and I could feel and see the seething anger of the families because their relatives did not die in a war where there should be rules for engagement but were simply butchered to death, their heads mangled so that some of the caskets did not contain heads but just a body with a uniform as one SAF member from the Cordilleras.
No, Folks, the lives of Filipino men and women, and all other sexes deserve respect, whether in war and peace and we should not be nicey nicey to a group of people who time immemorial have made their trademark as anti-Christian.
Let us instead look over a cultural integration of the Mindanao tribes. Here are some aspects on which we can create festivals, exhibits, and tourism events:
Religion
costumes
jewellery
fish
banca
displays
marriage,
birthing, death burial customs
arts
women
history
tourist
spots
music
weaponry
crafts
historical
spots
Native
drinks
sports
pagan
festivals
horse
racing competitions
scientific
discoveries in Mindanao
food
festivals
Before we think of such thing as a state, let us look at points of cultural convergences with our Mindanao brothers and sisters first. Let us have deep cultural exchanges that will showcase their lifestyles throughout all of the country so that we shall not perceive them only as a bunch of hotheads and bloodthirstry individuals out to gain a dominant position in our society.
Being in a society needs their knowing also our own ways and manners of dealing with each other as a people. And if this is not happening now, it is only because some forces in society have been misusing their powers to cripple creativity and being nurturant in order to maintain their own position.
Hallelujiah, we should stop this rigmarole.
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