Mindanao, Our Mindanao

HAVING been born and raised in the heartland of Mindanao, in the frontier territory of Wao, Lanao del Sur, I have a firsthand experience of the Mindanao problem. My parents were pioneering settlers -- my mother an English teacher at the local Catholic school, and my father a bill collector at the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Muslim rebels blew up the brains of my uncle in an ambush. I witnessed soldiers summarily execute Muslim rebels, spilling their brains and guts out into the parade grounds of the military barracks.

Now detached from the scene of the bloodbath, I can now see that Muslims have reasons to begrudge Christians' encroachment into their territory. Abetted by the government's southward land reform policy, Christians staked claims on properties that used to be communal Muslim lands. In short, Muslim hostility towards Christians is not unprovoked.

Given that, the central government's response represents a classic colonial experience wherein the colonial power is able to placate only the elite but leaves the greater Muslim masses marginalized. Worse, the Muslim elite, of which Nur Misuari is a typical example, is exploiting this historical grudge for political ends, crying freedom to rattle Manila, but just as readily being coopted when his personal political ends are served.

The grant of autonomy to the Muslim regions has failed to bring about the filter-down effect because resources earmarked for the economic development of the masses have stopped in the pockets of the elite.

Nur Misuari's revolt in the face of an impending end to his governorship of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Minadanao (ARMM) shows that far from leading his impoverished constituency towards modernization, he has only converted the ARMM into his personal fiefdom. The subsequent discovery of a bomb factory and a secret tunnel within the ARMM compound reveals his political duplicity, using his governorship to build a personal fortress while pretending to be a legitimate channel between Manila and the autonomous Muslim region.

He has deceived successive governments that he is the only viable alternative to chaos in the south. Likewise, he has deceived the Muslim populace by pretending to be the visionary who would lead them to progress, but has in fact secretly fomented the belligerent factiousness of fellow Muslims so that the central government would weigh its favors with him.

Misuari has unmasked himself more than a year ago when he told Muslim delegates to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Saudi Arabia that he was repudiating the Tripoli Agreement and calling for independence because Manila has "reneged on its international commitment." Manila was only too willing to accept his facile excuse that he was misquoted. In the light of his latest misadventure, with fatalities reaching 150, Misuari should be thoroughly investigated for his complicity in the long-festering banditry of his Muslim brothers -- including the Abu Sayyaf, the MILF, and the Islamic Council Command. Although he has long disavowed their criminal activities, he has now disclosed himself to actually share their rude political means to achieve the political end of separatism. *

Next: Read Nestor C. Punay M.D.'s commentary