TO MY MORO FRIENDS

Paulino Jose Misa

I'm afraid you need to understand a few other things aside from just your side, my Moro friend (if you don't mind my calling you that). There is the historical side but there is the practical side to be considered. Insisting on just one side can only result in one side being exterminated. While I have no doubt that your religion would allow you to exterminate us, fortunately, while you can surely put up a good fight, the government vastly outnumbers you in men and resources. However, our religious beliefs do not allow us to commit genocide although there have of course been abuses on both sides. But, just like in WWII, although the Japanese committed horrible atrocities, there has to come a time when these must be put behind us for everyone's benefit.

So let us forget about the bloody past for a moment and think about how to set things right okay? We all know this was practically impossible in the past because the past Presidents were not honest in their dealings with the Moros. This was also made worse by the fact that had not the elected Moro leaders been duplicitous themselves, they could have accomplished a lot more for their people instead of becoming sometimes even worse than the usual Christian politician. They were only too willing to sell out their brothers and gladly keep them in ignorance and misery if only to be better able to control them. In fairness, this is also true of the Christian politicians as well. I hope you will not think I am again blaming the Moros who are the victims. No. I am just trying to make an objective observation to try to figure out even just the BEGINNING of a solution.

What has made the problem so much harder to solve is that the modern Moro struggle has been going on for about 3 generations already such that most of you who have lived there all your lives have never known real peace, progress. opportunity for livelihood and education and relative prosperity. Those who return from war having known peace would usually do even better than they did before and would be more eager to do so and more hesitant to return to it. However, if everyone alive has known nothing but war, the prospect of peace and the unknown unfamiliar change it would mean would be rather strange and could be even terrifying. How would an NPA commander who was born in the mountains and inherited their command from their NPA parents and who knew nothing but war and extorting revolutionary taxes really feel about coming down from the mountains? He would not know what to do, how to support himself and how to live/fit in a totally different society! And it would not be his fault really! Di ba?

So now, let us say the whole Mindanao is simply returned to the Moro. Who would run it? No Moro politicians have ever become popular and accepted by all the tribes. No Moro politician has ever been noted to be exceptionally successful at governance except Duterte and he is only half Moro. Even the mainstream rebels cannot manage to unite as there is the MILF and the MNLF. And then there are the various splinter rebel-cum-criminal/bandit groups as well. So would these people run their governments, if ever, better than the current Moro politicians? Who knows? Perhaps they could. But what if everyone just goes back to the accustomed practice of fighting each other and grabbing whatever they can for themselves? You know this is a real possibility. Even now there are suggestions that there should be 3 federal Moro states instead of just one because they all would not agree to be ruled by the other.

Now am I saying it is impossible and should not be done or cannot be done? Not at all. I am simply saying it is easier said than done. And it can be done properly only by the right EXCEPTIONAL PROVEN LEADERSHIP. Duterte was able to do it in Davao almost single-handedly so blaming Manila for everything is only partly true. But a premature Bangsamoro lacking such direction would only end up like the EDSA revolution - all hope and no glory but rather just more misery. There is only really one chance at this so it must be done properly and patiently. Di pwedeng padalos-dalos, di rin pwede yung tutulog-tulog o bahala na.

Then, let us talk about injustice to the Moros. It was the Americans and the government who lured the settlers from Luzon and Visayas to settle in Mindanao. It is not the settlers fault. Much like the Muslims now driven to live all over the country if only to escape war. If you look at world history, this is usually the case when a land is even just partially conquered by another people or when it is mostly unsettled. To claim that ALL these lands must be returned to the Moros is neither practical or feasible. To whom should it be given back to considering the the former owners have been dead for generations? Would their descendants, if ever, not just end up fighting and killing each other over their share? E di ganun din. And would anyone even have the resources and knowhow to put all these lands to use? Who would work on them if all the Christians were either made to leave or exterminated? Would it become a Moro paradise/wonderland or would it get even worse? And who would help fund and support this new nation if all the settlers were driven out?

As you might notice, the issues that need to be faced actually have NOTHING to do with ownership, religion or jihad or violence. They have everything to do with everyone using their heads for a fair, positive and lasting change and working together for the greater good instead of just waiting for things to be handed to people with the barrel of a gun as persuasion.

I hope you do not again accuse me of being biased or whatever. You are free to logically dispute my practical observations and I would be glad to be proven wrong. I am also not disparaging the Moro or saying they are not capable of succeeding. I am just defining the practical issues that must be settled to prevent going from bad to worse. And this has absolutely nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with enlightened, dependable and competent LEADERSHIP that can lift the Moro mindset from over 3 generations of war and start learning how to live with law & order and peace.

I hope you can take my observations in an objective and positive light and I would be glad to discuss any objections or observations of your own.