Jose Ma. Montelibano
It is like watching a tragedy unfold before our very eyes. It is not even the issue of ancestral domain, federalism needing Charter Change to happen, or the extension of the Arroyo administration under any set-up. All these are bad enough when control and power drive motives more than the well-being of people. What is truly horrifying is the slide back to religious and cultural prejudice, a major setback for the oneness of Filipinos and the advancement of human consciousness.
Eight years ago, the sitting president ordered the attack on Muslim enclaves in Central Mindanao after he was twitted by the kidnappings of foreign tourists by terrorists in islands situated far away. It was a vengeful reaction directed, not at the enemy of the moment, but at a people considered by Christians as the enemy of history. War against Muslims in the Philippines is a war that cannot be won by government. It cannot be won by the Muslims either. War between Muslims and Christians makes losers of us all. It also shows how stupid we are, how easily manipulated, how Filipinos of different faiths fight for crumbs while vested interests pocket our patrimony.
The United States is a vested interest. China is a vested interest. The Muslim world, especially our neighbors, is a vested interest. There are many more with vested interests, and it is not difficult to understand why a small country is the object of vested interests. By being pinpointed as one of the richest, if not the richest of all, in bio-diversity, the Philippines is the most blessed by creation. For those who believe in a Creator, it can be said that the Philippines is a clear favorite.
The spectacular bio-diversity found in the Philippines is not a secret. Much of its minerals, much of its forests, and much of its people have already been exploited by the rich and powerful, by kings, bishops, and the merchants of the world. Such is not the fate only of
the Philippines. Greed and the twisted sense of power and control have moved around the globe several times over looking for victims, finding them, killing, raping and enslaving them, and, of course, looting their natural treasuries.
It is almost incidental that the Spaniards got ahead of the British, the Dutch, the Americans and the Japanese. Philippine history, then, has to name Spain as the first successful colonizer, the first to use force to extract the wealth and the submission of the natives of our islands. Considering the way that Europe was circumnavigating the undiscovered world of Asia at that time, and the strategic position of our motherland, it would have been impossible to avoid landing in one of our more than 7,000 islands.
And that is our country's next greatest value - that it is strategically located in a region that promises to be the center of development and opportunity in the decades to come. For superpower America, especially, the Philippines is not only the best option it
has to be in, but more importantly, may be the only option. Asia is China, and Asia is Muslim. Both China and Islam make the United States uncomfortable. Confucianism and Islam are not basic in the belief system of America, of the whole Western world, in fact. For the less adventurous in the traditionally dominant West, the possibility of China as a superpower and Islam as an emerging global influence can cause nightmares.
Well, this nightmare is here for Filipinos who will be in the eye of the storm. Both Christian and Muslim Filipinos have not grown much in the last four centuries. Our colonial past was not as successful in developing our productive capacities as much as it succeeded in making our foreign conquerors pleased with controlling and exploiting us. Despite having experienced three great nations as our masters, all by force, of course, the lack of intent by them to empower us and their manifest will to simply use us did next to nothing in making us grow as a people. Instead, we were left with a conditioned propensity to bicker and betray one another, a patented virus from centuries of divide-and-rule governance.
Today, with what is happening in Mindanao, there is no clearer testimony of just how weak we are, of how abused we are, of how divided we are. There is no leadership that elicits respect and loyalty; only a deep-seated natural love for the motherland keeps us together – and precariously at that. It is not the ancestral domain issue which makes us turn against one another, it is the state of distrust that has evolved among Christians and Muslims. It is ironic that Filipinos think more kindly of other nations than their fellow Filipinos.
Despite a pathetic lack of effort from national leaderships to re-unite Christians and Muslims, to re-kindle the bonds of a common blood and a common habitat, many individuals and groups have never given up and keep trying to transcend historical prejudice and bigotry. These efforts, from NGos and members of the clergy from both faiths, have been the counter force to an aggressive virus called divisiveness. Laudable these may be, and effective as well up to a certain point, they are no match for the deep pool of animosity that vested interests can stoke into active life. Thankfully, even senior military officers today do not believe that war is a higher option than peace.
Filipinos have no option except one – rise above history and take destiny into our own hands. We must hold the line for peace. We must set aside feelings of distrust and not allow ourselves to continue being puppets and be irreparably damaged as one people from one motherland. We may not be powerful enough to change the course of history of Asia, but we are powerful enough to say no to hate and violence, to say no to prejudice and bigotry.
Hold the line for peace. This must be our daily prayer. It is not the current issues that harm us the most, it is the manipulation of others, including many of our own compromised leaders, that do. Christians are not the enemies of Muslims, and neither are Muslims the enemies of Christians. We are one people, one blood, created by one God. Let us not be blind to the beautiful and divine intent of creation – that we are one. Against all odds, against all manipulation, against all provocation, let us hold the line for peace.***
--It is like watching a tragedy unfold before our very eyes. It is not even the issue of ancestral domain, federalism needing Charter Change to happen, or the extension of the Arroyo administration under any set-up. All these are bad enough when control and power drive motives more than the well-being of people. What is truly horrifying is the slide back to religious and cultural prejudice, a major setback for the oneness of Filipinos and the advancement of human consciousness.
Eight years ago, the sitting president ordered the attack on Muslim enclaves in Central Mindanao after he was twitted by the kidnappings of foreign tourists by terrorists in islands situated far away. It was a vengeful reaction directed, not at the enemy of the moment, but at a people considered by Christians as the enemy of history. War against Muslims in the Philippines is a war that cannot be won by government. It cannot be won by the Muslims either. War between Muslims and Christians makes losers of us all. It also shows how stupid we are, how easily manipulated, how Filipinos of different faiths fight for crumbs while vested interests pocket our patrimony.
The United States is a vested interest. China is a vested interest. The Muslim world, especially our neighbors, is a vested interest. There are many more with vested interests, and it is not difficult to understand why a small country is the object of vested interests. By being pinpointed as one of the richest, if not the richest of all, in bio-diversity, the Philippines is the most blessed by creation. For those who believe in a Creator, it can be said that the Philippines is a clear favorite.
The spectacular bio-diversity found in the Philippines is not a secret. Much of its minerals, much of its forests, and much of its people have already been exploited by the rich and powerful, by kings, bishops, and the merchants of the world. Such is not the fate only of
the Philippines. Greed and the twisted sense of power and control have moved around the globe several times over looking for victims, finding them, killing, raping and enslaving them, and, of course, looting their natural treasuries.
It is almost incidental that the Spaniards got ahead of the British, the Dutch, the Americans and the Japanese. Philippine history, then, has to name Spain as the first successful colonizer, the first to use force to extract the wealth and the submission of the natives of our islands. Considering the way that Europe was circumnavigating the undiscovered world of Asia at that time, and the strategic position of our motherland, it would have been impossible to avoid landing in one of our more than 7,000 islands.
And that is our country's next greatest value - that it is strategically located in a region that promises to be the center of development and opportunity in the decades to come. For superpower America, especially, the Philippines is not only the best option it
has to be in, but more importantly, may be the only option. Asia is China, and Asia is Muslim. Both China and Islam make the United States uncomfortable. Confucianism and Islam are not basic in the belief system of America, of the whole Western world, in fact. For the less adventurous in the traditionally dominant West, the possibility of China as a superpower and Islam as an emerging global influence can cause nightmares.
Well, this nightmare is here for Filipinos who will be in the eye of the storm. Both Christian and Muslim Filipinos have not grown much in the last four centuries. Our colonial past was not as successful in developing our productive capacities as much as it succeeded in making our foreign conquerors pleased with controlling and exploiting us. Despite having experienced three great nations as our masters, all by force, of course, the lack of intent by them to empower us and their manifest will to simply use us did next to nothing in making us grow as a people. Instead, we were left with a conditioned propensity to bicker and betray one another, a patented virus from centuries of divide-and-rule governance.
Today, with what is happening in Mindanao, there is no clearer testimony of just how weak we are, of how abused we are, of how divided we are. There is no leadership that elicits respect and loyalty; only a deep-seated natural love for the motherland keeps us together – and precariously at that. It is not the ancestral domain issue which makes us turn against one another, it is the state of distrust that has evolved among Christians and Muslims. It is ironic that Filipinos think more kindly of other nations than their fellow Filipinos.
Despite a pathetic lack of effort from national leaderships to re-unite Christians and Muslims, to re-kindle the bonds of a common blood and a common habitat, many individuals and groups have never given up and keep trying to transcend historical prejudice and bigotry. These efforts, from NGos and members of the clergy from both faiths, have been the counter force to an aggressive virus called divisiveness. Laudable these may be, and effective as well up to a certain point, they are no match for the deep pool of animosity that vested interests can stoke into active life. Thankfully, even senior military officers today do not believe that war is a higher option than peace.
Filipinos have no option except one – rise above history and take destiny into our own hands. We must hold the line for peace. We must set aside feelings of distrust and not allow ourselves to continue being puppets and be irreparably damaged as one people from one motherland. We may not be powerful enough to change the course of history of Asia, but we are powerful enough to say no to hate and violence, to say no to prejudice and bigotry.
Hold the line for peace. This must be our daily prayer. It is not the current issues that harm us the most, it is the manipulation of others, including many of our own compromised leaders, that do. Christians are not the enemies of Muslims, and neither are Muslims the enemies of Christians. We are one people, one blood, created by one God. Let us not be blind to the beautiful and divine intent of creation – that we are one. Against all odds, against all manipulation, against all provocation, let us hold the line for peace.***
"In bayanihan, we will be our brother's keeper and forever shut the door to hunger among ourselves."
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