Many lessons can be derived from watching the Senate hearings. It gives us a broad view of political life at the highest legislative level, showing us the caliber and character of every member. We say that we did not make a mistake in voting for our chosen few there because they showed their "heads on their shoulders" as my Division chief at the Budget Commission, now the DBM would say. May utak talaga, a far cry from the usual TV fares where the programs show all kinds of "ewan" characters, shouting, screaming, "Kakaloka talaga!" or whatever. We say that the program shows the best minds of our land, especially Madame Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago who can deal with a military general, a suspended general, talk international and local laws with the justice secretary, without batting an eyelash. Minus her imperious tone, she is a great model to the female youth to imitate.
Yes we have a dearth of female role models in our midst that is why those sexy singers like Beyonce, Lady Gaga are being imitated by many showbiz people, as if having brains is an alien aspiration.
Anyway, I spent another six hours glued to the TV set, because of which the thief in our house was able to pilfer my watch. I saw Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and thoughts of my father, Antonio, who hails from Surigao del Sur, surfaced -- did he speak that way in that Visayan accent, I wondered. And my too hardened disposition softened because I surmised my father's roots. He came to Manila in search of a better life for himself in his teens. My mother didn't like him at first but he was very persistent in his courtship of her until she finally had to accede. They bore us, five children (my mother subsequently remarried when he died of nephritis at a time when dialysis was not yet available and begat another daughter, my stewardess-sister who was responsible for some of my travels in Asia and the United States for free due to discounts allowed for relatives.)
So Mr. Iqbal sounded very articulate and knowledeable about laws. He is a sophisticated man and when he said, "sa aming mga Muslim gagawin namin ang lahat para ma-attain ang gusto namin at kung walang mangyari, bahala na ang Diyos." I think that is a typical Visayan (Mindanao has many Visayans who migrated there when the government called Mindanao as the Land of Promise) attitude - go for it.
You will note that kind of attitude when you visit Greenhills Shopping Center where there are many Muslim-run stores. You ask a girl, how much is the cellphone? Oh it's two thousand, you say and then you start to leave. She runs after you and asks, how much do you want Ma'am? Or what is your budget?
I remember very well when I was in a market in Southern Tagalog and I asked a female vendor, how much is that dress, and she said P200 and so I started to leave. She said, "O bakit ka aalis kaagad? Hindi tama yan, Tumawad ka ( in a rather arrogant tone as it I owed her a haggling of the price.) After I answered P100, then she said, "O di nakatawad ka," a rather cruel and anti-sales joke. That is not how to handle a customer, according to managerial books, is it not?
So, my feelings for Mindanao run deep because my father hails from it. One time in 1987, I went to Cotabato to visit my children Ogening and Dadai then vacationing with their father. After that I took a bus going to Surigao del Sur passing through the Misamis provinces, and Cagayan de Oro City. It was very hot -- the weather -as if my skin would peel off. Then the bus proceeded to Surigao.
My goodness, I didn't know the bus would be winding its way around farms -- pilapil at bukid. Literally the tires of the bus were running on ricefields the palay from which had just been harvested. When I reached my father's hometown, I enjoyed the rustic scenery until I swam at the beach. There I saw many timber, logs that had just been sawn floating on the waters ready for export to Japan, I was told. And my heart seemed to bleed for them. They were tall and huge logs, as if they had seen centuries of oppression and abuses during the past colonization periods.
As soon as I arrived in Manila, I wrote then Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Sr. Sir, I said in my letter, Mindanao is so hot because of the illegal logging occuring there. A few months or weeks after, I read that he had filed a bill declaring logging as illegal all over the country. Yes, as early as the 80's we were already suffering, actually even much earlier than that from environmental degradation.
Now, let me go back to the Senate hearing. I hope that it would result in laws that would help all the indigenous peoples there recover their own self-esteem, their dignity, from being citizens of the country, not from being pawns in the political struggles among different factions. I don't want to learn anymore that the Mindanaoans migrate to MetroManila in order to seek a better life. Mindanao is so beautiful, so rich that I have had plans to relocate there when my mother was still alive and I would bring the bones of my father there. Actually, he had wanted to stay there except that not much business could be had there at the time. My plans did not materialize because I wanted to take care of my mother in her sunset years.
So, I hope that Mr. Iqbal could pick programs and projects and ask the government to implement them there, uinder the helm of the Mindanaoans, instead of building a separate state. Actually, the Indians of American did not have to declare themselves as separate from the United States of America, although they are the original inhabitants there.
I am also thinking of having a separate radio station for them -- where they can showcase all their cultural undertakings and Koran teachings. Our society must be a hub of multi-cultures that allow everyone to express themselves. We could learn a lot from them, I am sure.
By having outlets for their ideas, we would slowly see the unfolding of their real natures -- not prone to using arms and other violent means, but rather nurturant of humanity. Then their women would also be working side by side with the men and develop into equal partners for achieving that humane and peaceful world.
*1. Matanza, Sp. meaning slaughter. I don't like to use the English word because it sounds so brutal.
2. The painting above is by Picasso, a Spaniard.
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