Juan | Luis

From Assemblywoman Samira Gutoc-Tomawis

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I am Maranao. I come from Marawi City, where many of the political vendettas in the Philippines are based. I live three hours away from Aguak where the 2008 infamous massacre happened. Yesterday was another big tragedy for peace activists in Marawi and co-MSU alumni of Mindanao State University respected professor Othello Cobal. Mercilessly, he was killed with his student assistant in his own domain at the Mindnolia Net Cafe which was torched, worth an aggravating circumstance plus a death penalty in criminal law. I could not bear to see his remains although the ashes on my skin upon seeing the whole burnt place will embed in my mind and will remain of this continuing fight against vigilantes and those who think they can take the law in their own hands.

Security sector work is no longer the domain of the police, army or the campus peacekeeping. It is now a community effort. Every minute of helping douse a fire could save a life like that of saving 13-year old Estrella who is now surviving second-degree burns. Seeing the Inspired Youth Optimists Guild (IYOG) at the open field in MSU campus, we urged they turn their activities into a Cause for Justice. Let us pressure the police and the judiciary so that no death follows Prof. Othello, 23-year old student assistant Erwin and 8-year old Gaily Miraato (caught in stray bullet last August 8).

This Eidul Adha prayer is a prayer that passivity in our homeland will turn to activity. Sultans I conversed with offer themselves in information drives but have no resources to speak up on TV. They are also not part of local government unit mechanisms thus their distance from the ground realities which require their moral voice.

The last month I had sat with CSO leaders, army and police in varied sharings that seem to have woven themselves into an inter-related tapestry of surrealness and reality. Now is the time to see the Bangsamoro through. Can we make peace among ourselves? Can we professionalize our security sector to be more responsive? Can a Christian army protect a Muslim civilian just as a Muslim cop protect a Christian child?

Will lack of technology and funding be an excuse not to catch criminals? Should we not use our profession to fax tens of letters expressing the need for whatever equipments we need in our offices?

I recall our research called Mindanao 2020 where the island is imagined 30 years from now . In our Scenario Building facilitated by a German trainor, I had joined a sub-group that would imagine the Worst Scenario in Mindanao . Just THREE days before the Ampatuan town massacre, we had imagined gangsteerism and ruthless violence taking its toll in the island. Entitled Islands of Despair , our report’s discussants included an ARMM executive, Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) President Grace Rebollos, Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) representative Ruby and Indigenous People’s leader Edtami. We acknowledged warlordism and possible martial law in the face of certain pockets of lawlessness although isolated in the island. The rent-seeking padrino leadership in the Muslim areas and geographic distance of a national government aggravated by displacements because of the protracted peace process lent to lack of basic services and thus discontentment , disenchantment and grievance, very potent causes for recruitment to the underground world of criminality.

The sermon in a congregational prayer was relevant. The imam (religious preacher) said, every person/Muslim had a role to change things. Every person had the capacity to do good and make a difference. And the good must be done and operationalized in this world. MSUans and young people are doing their role through social networking.

After the noise settles down on the nth death in our homeland, serious steps are needed to address violence. With every step we take, the imperative for coming together for the positive causes of conflict-resolution, justice and development are the more relevant. And this we take seriously as many of us work in the communities to solve the small rifts that can escalate to large confrontations. These are not documented but let me hail them now – the female and male conflict-negotiators in Moro areas who invest time, thought and space to solve the many domestic and political vendettas that prevented the loss of life. We , the young wanna-be peacemakers, are wanting in wisdom but wanting so much to learn and act and move and do our small part.

But for now, let us always be vigilant. When will the next shooting happen because the roots of barbarity aren’t addressed.