12.07.2015 Views

kababaihan-at-kapayapaan-issue-3

kababaihan-at-kapayapaan-issue-3

kababaihan-at-kapayapaan-issue-3

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

FROM THE PUBLISHER“IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THE TRUTH BUT IT IS BETTER TO SPEAKOF PALM TREES.”The depth and paradox of th<strong>at</strong> Arab saying come to mind as I pen a message forKababaihan <strong>at</strong> Kapayapaan.Lent came early to Mamasapano in Maguindanao this year, with the de<strong>at</strong>hof 67 commandos, comb<strong>at</strong>ants, civilians, driving the peace process betweengovernment and the MILF into a wilderness th<strong>at</strong> would daunt the most stoutheartedof peace advoc<strong>at</strong>es. Whereof comes this wilderness? To my mind itsprings from three divides, faultlines, if you will: “them” vs. “us”, north vs.south, and CSOs vs. other groups.“Them” vs. “us” bespeaks a deep-se<strong>at</strong>ed dualism cemented by culture andhistory. It rel<strong>at</strong>es to the Crusades in Europe th<strong>at</strong> waged war against the Moors(Moros). Spanish colonial C<strong>at</strong>holicism then painted Muslims as the “other”, thehe<strong>at</strong>hen, the infidel. Th<strong>at</strong> this dualism is bred into our psyche recently came tolight: “Muslims are traitors, the MILF cannot be trusted.” And the unspoken: ”Letthe BBL pay the price.”The second divide is north vs. south: Divide and conquer. Spanish colonizers pitted local chieftains against one another(e.g. the B<strong>at</strong>tle of Mactan for which we immortalize the fearless Lapu-Lapu with a fish and in a song). The north-southdivide has ramified over time, taking root in the most unlikely places, as in Mindanao and Cebu joining forces, in NGOassemblies, against “imperial” Manila. In the furor ensuing over Mamasapano, war’s alarms ring loudest in the safeconfines of Congress, for instance. But close to Ground Zero, the people flee even as they cry out for peace.Other sectors in Mindanao seek peace as well: the religious – both Christian and Muslim, business – both big and micro,the academe. And rightly so, because Mindanao bears the brunt of the fighting, although the entire country must pay theprice of war.The third faultline overlaps with the second: CSOs-NGOs (especially the peace constituencies) vs. other groups. Threedecades of sustained peace building have grown robust support for the peace processes in country. Yet in press, broadcastand social media, we hear calls th<strong>at</strong> range from “No more BBL”, “No more peace talks with MILF”, to “Freeze the BBLhearings”. The subtext is: Let us not sell the country short, let us not be hoodwinked by the MILF.But the fact is th<strong>at</strong> the current GPH-MILF peace process, now running five years, has been transparent from Day One.Portraying the MILF as villains and the GPH panel and peace adviser as MILF lackeys – does this sum up the truth of fiveyears of hard negoti<strong>at</strong>ions? Or has Mamasapano become grist for the political mill, a pawn in realpolitik, with interestedparties coaxing the truth in certain directions to lead to certain narrow conclusions?“It is good to know the truth but it is better to speak of palm trees.”Let not a narrow reading of Mamasapano dict<strong>at</strong>e the narr<strong>at</strong>ive of peace in Mindanao, and in the entire country. For peaceand violence have a back story th<strong>at</strong> goes back millennia; it counts the cost in rivers of blood and gener<strong>at</strong>ions of stuntedchildren. Let not the faultlines forever condemn our country to brother killing brother, sister killing sister. Let not thosewho have not known grief and pain peror<strong>at</strong>e about war and violence.We must speak of the dead and injured, disloc<strong>at</strong>ion and despoli<strong>at</strong>ion, on both sides. But truth is not only about de<strong>at</strong>h.Truth is about life, about palm trees, about our children’s future. This, I daresay, is wh<strong>at</strong> peace is all about.Then, and only then, can we find our way out of the wilderness.TERESITA QUINTOS DELESMarch 2015KABABAIHAN<strong>at</strong>KAPAYAPAAN1

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!