This writer is hailed from the “promised land” known as Mindanao and a living witness to the ruthless war where hundreds of thousands killed in combat for the past four decades and most of the victims of these atrocities are innocent civilians trapped at the crossroads of the battlefield. The stand off in Zamboanga City was just an off shoot of a perennial problem in Mindanao. The recent encounter between government forces and AbbuSayyaf bandits with the presence of some MILF elements is classic example that peace is evasive. There are many critical and complicated issues involved in this problem, and unless the government through its peace negotiators clearly understood the complexities and implications of this problem, it may possibly sink the nation into the abyss of endless war and killings not only in Mindanao but also in the countryside. Our Muslim brothers in Mindanao have distinct mindset compare to the rest of Filipinos specially in Luzon and in the Visayas. Most of them strongly believe, by historical and ancestral rights, that the island of Mindanao belongs to them. Therefore, they have to take possession of the Promised Land, if possible, by conquest. They have to engage in a long and bloody war for the belief that it is their own land and they want to establish a separate, independent Islamic state in the south.

When the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under the leadership of Chairman NurMisuari was about to sign the peace agreement with the Ramos Administration in 1986, a factional group within under Salamat threatened to break away from NurMisuari accusing the latter of betraying the Muslim cause for an independent Islamic State in the south, thus the birth of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). And before the forging of the last phase of the peace agreement between the MILF and the GOP, a disgruntled group within threatened to break away from MILF and declared their group as Islamic Freedom Fighters whose radical objective is to put up an independent, separate Islamic State in the south. Alongside with this complicated situations, the perennial problem of the AbbuSayyaf identified as a terrorist group linked with international terrorist group of Osama ben Laddin, the Al-Qaeda. The government must be extra cautious and discerning enough in dealing with this complicated issues.

In war there is no winner, everybody is a loser. While we condemn all kinds of atrocities and ruthless killings all around us, we should never forget that we are all Filipinos. We are not supposed to kill each other but rather help each other up to build a strong one nation, the Philippines. One factor why there seems to an endless war in the promised land of Mindanao is economic. The island has been left behind in terms of development and progress. We would like to appeal to the national government, specially to President Noy Aquino to fast tract the socio-economic development in the island and pour out its resources for the development of Mindanao. The government must have a strong resolve to hasten the needed reforms that will bring about transformation and development in the south. When there is true and genuine progress and development, these wars would become obsolete, would become a thing in the past. Because how can you afford to disturb and disrupt the stability in the region if you can see with your naked eyes the tangible and sustainable growth and development in the island. Sustainable economic growth begets stability of peace. Regardless of religious affiliations, we can live and attain peaceful co-existence under the umbrella of progress and development as we recognize our unity in diversity and diversity in unity. For your queries, you may email me at pastorlitopon@yahoo.com or text me at 09157112654.