A bright young Muslim leader in Mindanao calls Tiglao's game. About time. Good for you, Datu Muss. Sylvia Morningstar
Dear Mr. Tiglao,
I would like to tell you that your article last August 3, 2014 entitled “The next firestorm to hit Aquino” is a dangerous one that endangers our homes and communities if the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and our government come to a deadlock in the peace process.
Your points may be valid at some level of legal mind. However, I would like to know, what is your purpose in writing this article? Do you even have any suggestions or concrete points that may help our people understand the history of the Bangsamoro? Or do you simply hate the Aquino administration, and thus this gloom and doom?
Maybe I get it. You are pro-GMA, and it hurts you to see that PNoy was able to put her in jail. For a while now I have avoided your discussions on the DAP and all your other acerbic articles criticizing our present government as if it did nothing right. I was bothered but they were tolerable. I respected your views.
Yet in your recent article, you have just given a dangerous message that might lead people in our communities to consider a skewed view of the peace process. You said that “Aquino’s agreement with the MILF is a no-brainer as grossly unconstitutional, and there is little doubt that the Supreme Court will also throw it into the dustbin. If the DAP was a rape of the Congress, as former senator Joker Arroyo put it, Aquino’s agreement with the MILF will be a gang-rape of our Republic.” For me this a message of hopelessness and indifference to the genuine pursuit of Mindanawons towards just peace, and a possible cause for another conflagration of violent conflicts in Central Mindanao.
The Framework Agreement, the Annexes, and the Comprehensive Agreement need refinement. Yes. This is a given, fully understood by both parties when they signed the documents. The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has to ensure that the new political entity will be inclusive to all peoples in this region. It has to respect human rights and uphold the human dignity of Muslims, Christians, and indigenous peoples. The BBL also has to ensure that there can be more concrete reforms in the region compared with the current set up of the ARMM.
For the sake of argument, first let us ignore all the biases in your article against PNoy and the possible contents of the BBL, and instead follow your line of reasoning. If we are to accept your reasoning that the “CAB with its five “annexes” ignores the Constitution, as if it didn’t exist at all”, then you have a very limited appreciation of the history of the Bangsamoro struggle. You take for granted the fact that the Treaty of Paris has set aside our own history and political system. You take for granted the social, historical, and structural injustices towards the Moro peoples committed by the Spaniards, Americans, and the Philippine Republic. These injustices are at the heart of the Moro rebellion.
The entire Bangsamoro narrative and its future is still a work-in-progress. We are happy with the major accomplishments of PNoy that include the ongoing peace talks with the MILF, with concrete plans and actions that look beyond the current view of Philippine history and its Luzon-centered narratives.
The peace panels (MILF and GPH) are presently working hard to ensure that we sustain the peace initiatives our people are experiencing right now. We are also focusing on improving our madrasah education. We would like to make sure that the Islam that we have in our country is not like that of the extremist groups in the Middle East. We want to make sure that the violence in other countries will not happen in Mindanao.
I guess whatever I say will not matter to you. You are determined to paint the Aquino administration as black as you can. But please, spare us. If you have nothing better to say in this peace process, then please be quiet. Think about the families and communities in Central Mindanao who long for peace and security in their homes.
So while I too criticize PNoy and the MILF, I do it constructively. I know you have a good number of readers. But you are leading them astray. You are putting the peoples of Mindanao in a state of hopelessness and despair. You are consequently pushing the MILF to the edge, thinking there can be no compromise. I worry deeply for the Filipino people who carry biases and prejudices against the Muslims that read your article. If there will be another “all-out war”, what will you say to the innocent children living in the core territory of Bangsamoro? I hope you can sleep at night with a clear conscience.
Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan
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