Seize the moment

By Carlos Isagani T. Zarate

THAT news item (PDI, 5/13/03) on the exclusion of Sultan Kudarat Gov. Pakung Mangudadatu from a closed-door meeting between President Macapagal-Arroyo and local officials in Koronadal is troubling. Mangudadatu was refused entry by members of the Presidential Security Guard despite his insistence that he is a governor and the concurrent chair of the Regional Peace and Order Council in Central Mindanao. He was however told that his name was not on the list of Central Mindanao officials who were to meet with the President.

Embarrassed, the governor had no choice but to leave dejected, saying, "Maybe they don't trust me because I am a Muslim...I want to attend the briefing because I want to help solve the problem (on terrorism)."

By shutting out a known Muslim leader who is the president of the Muslim National Leaders Association, the Macapagal administration may well have slammed the doors on engaging in talks not only with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front but also even with respected Muslim officials. It brings no comfort that this came amid disturbing events in Mindanao these past two weeks starting with the MILF attacks in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and Maigo, Lanao del Norte, the Koronadal bombing and the virtual collapse of the peace talks between the GRP and the MILF following the government's cancellation of the May 9 exploratory talks in Malaysia.

The rebuff of Mangudadatu may be interpreted by some sectors as riding on the wave of anti-Moro sentiment clamoring for quick military solutions to the conflict in Mindanao. This intolerant view is apparently shared not only by the now hawkish Macapagal administration but also by others outside of the government who, rightly or not, have gotten impatient over the seemingly unending peace process with the Moro Front.

In fact, in coffee-shop talk here, there were suggestions, made in jest though, to let loose the dreaded Manero brothers to resume their anti-Moro campaign that brought them notoriety. Just like in the '70s, anti-Moro vigilantes are now being reportedly organized by local executives in some areas in Central Mindanao and armed by the military.

In the midst of these, a statement coming from Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte warning of a "civil war" that will inevitably erupt in Mindanao is not consoling. Duterte, who is the Macapagal administration's consultant on peace and order, claims that "the level of animosity is nearing that line of being in the state of Rubicon." What is worrisome is that statements such as these from government officials may only sow confusion, or worse, further create a wedge in a multi-ethnic populace.

Are the options of the people in Mindanao at present really limited to waging an "all-out war"? Are the people in Mindanao resigned to the fact that the island's historical problems can only be resolved on the battlefield and not on the negotiating table? I do not think so. And, so do the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and the countless peace advocates in Mindanao who remain unfazed despite the staccato of rhetoric played by the hawks, both inside and outside of the government. In fact, last week two successive conferences held in Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City by various peace and civil society groups both highlighted and called on the government and the MILF for an immediate resumption of the peace talks. But it is unfortunate that this symphony of peace seems to fall on deaf ears. Last May 5, the CBCP Council, through Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, made an impassioned plea to both President Macapagal and MILF Chair Salamat Hashim to stop the fighting, declare a ceasefire and resume the peace talks.

In response to that call, the MILF replied in a letter dated May 9 and signed by one Mohamad Nur, chief of staff of Hashim, indicating the Moro Front's openness to a possible ceasefire and resumption of talks. Part of the MILF letter reads: "Is ceasefire still possible at this time and may the peace process still continue at the negotiating table? We answer yes because we remain truly committed to a sincere and principled peace talk. But for as long as the oppressors in government and military are not giving us the chance to live our normal lives, for as long as we remain on the run and are kept away from our families, we can not anymore say how this common wish of peace-loving members of humanity may truly happen."

With the MILF's response, Archbishop Quevedo expressed hope that the government and the MILF will "seize the moment." While President Macapagal is yet to respond to the CBCP letter, Archbishop Quevedo in the meantime poses the following challenges: "So how can the desire of both parties and the desire of civilians caught in the crossfire be realized? What initiatives can both the MILF and the government do? Can President Macapagal-Arroyo and Chairman Salamat Hashim contact each other at least through personal emissaries discreetly and informally and sound each other out? Can they come to a meeting of minds on the minimum requirements of a ceasefire and the resumption of the peace talks without becoming inflexible, doctrinaire and dogmatic? ... It is uncommon wisdom to seize the moment and do so."

Will these challenges be heeded? We hope they will be. The answer now falls squarely on the laps of both the government and the MILF. Otherwise, there will be no end to this cycle of war, violence and bloodshed that has sadly attended the history of Mindanao and its people.

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