kababaihan-at-kapayapaan-issue-3

Saving the BBLCitizens rally for all-out peaceText by KRIS LANOT LACABAPhotos by JOSER DUMBRIQUE and KRIS LANOT LACABATHE MAMASAPANO INCIDENTwas a national tragedy, the pain andconfusion of which reawakened incertain sectors age-old biases againstcommunities in southern Philippines.The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL),a proposed measure to establish ajust and lasting peace in war-wearyMuslim Mindanao became an easytarget. Some lawmakers viciouslyattacked the BBL as benefiting abloodthirsty terrorist group that is outto dismember the Philippine republic.And there were those who havedisingenuously declared their desirefor peace while calling for all-out war.Many have seen through the smokeand mirrors and decided it is time tospeak up for genuine peace for thepeople of Mindanao. They are on radioand television, and speak in forumsto explain the BBL and counter thehalf-truths being peddled to the publicby the media and the legislature. Andthey are out in the streets and parks,to march, to rally, to plead, to pray forthe continuation of the peace process,the preservation of the ceasefiremechanisms, and the passage of theBBL.They are civil society members,women’s groups, nuns, priests, police,students, academics, legal experts, andordinary concerned Filipino citizens –Christians and Muslims alike – who seethat the promise of peace in MuslimMindanao, once so close one couldalmost touch it, must urgently befulfilled through the BBL.One of the first demonstrationswas a march to Mendiola by morethan a hundred members of womenand youth groups and civil societyorganizations. And on March 6, whichwas declared by peace advocates asa “National Day Towards Healing forUnity and Peace”, interfaith prayerrallies, marches, musical concerts,peace vigils were held in Baguio, MetroManila, Bacolod, and Dumaguete.Peace advocates also gathered invarious places in Mindanao, includingTawi-Tawi, Davao, and Mamasapano,to rally and pray for peace.The groups called on the public tounderstand that all-out war will onlymean a continuation of the viciouscycle of hatred and violence. Thepassage of the draft law, they said,will help break that and establish avirtuous cycle of peace, security, andsocio-economic development forpeople badly in need of it.As the peace advocates declare, “Warsolves nothing. Let us pursue theMindanao peace process.”10 KABABAIHANatKAPAYAPAAN March 2015