PENANG, Malaysia (MindaNews/27 September) — The former president Joseph Estrada declared an “all-out-war” against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2000 that lasted for nine months.

A perfect icon for war, he made good his acting as a soldier-president fully dressed in green fatigue leading his military troops to annihilate the rebels. And just as fitting as a war hero, for every military success, he went to visit the captured MILF camps and feasted on victory.

The Philippine media had a field day. They had great pictures of war - Estrada as the superstar- complete with his sensational war statements like, “pupulbusin natin sila.”

Those were very painful days for every Moro—whether they were in Mindanao, Manila, or elsewhere. It was painful because the greatest casualties had been the vast majority of the Moro people, besides the military soldiers of course.

Not only did the war bring out physical affliction and hardship, it also opened deep wounds of discrimination and biases. While, at that time, I may have been fully integrated to the Philippine society having grown up in Manila, the reality of the conflict in Mindanao did not escape me.

Those nine months of horror became a baptism of fire for me. Suddenly the words “Abu Sayyaf”, “Camp Abubakar”, “MNLF, MILF” (without necessarily knowing the difference) had become familiar lingo to the Filipino society to the point of using it as part of daily humour. My own friends, and even acquaintances, would ask me about some of these words. Sometimes, they would jokingly say, “Do you own Camp Abubakar?” and most of the time, I would laugh with them. However, after a while, I stopped laughing at these jokes or insinuations. Instead, I started to feel a sense of pain and unhappiness on how the Moro identity and the rest of the Moro people are generally viewed in Manila. It made me think how callous society can be to think that the war that is being waged in Mindanao is an acceptable reality…that Estrada is right in crushing the Moro rebels at all costs in order to achieve peace in Mindanao.

The “all-out-war” context made me realize that perhaps, what peace really means to President Estrada, and all those who support his view, is for the Moro people to be banished from their own homeland.

For the very first time, I actually felt something that none of my other Filipino friends seemed to understand. Later on, it was only with my Moro friends with whom I had found the same feelings of frustration and great concern for the plight of the communities bombarded by deafening sound of aerial bombings and exchanges of firefights.

To the majority of the people of Manila, the war in Mindanao was so distant and amusing as another cinematic feat of an actor-president—it was so casual and entertaining just like watching a movie.

While among my Moro friends and families, it was like we are made to understand that the life and future of a Moro is not as valuable as another Filipino. And that if we are to survive in Mindanao and in the Philippines, we would have to live by the dominant culture, identity, and other social systems. Sadly, this would also mean that we can only be contented with vague recognition among my Filipino friends that I must have come from some sort of Moro royalty (a usual generalization among Filipinos in Manila when they meet a Moro person as they view this as exotic), while the rest of their memory would be filled with the never-ending war in Mindanao, and how the Moro areas remain to be the last frontier of the country.

Undeniably, the war in Mindanao has brought me back to my ancestors’ history. It did not only help renew my own identity as a Moro, but it also inspired me to search for solutions to the problems that continue to plague us in Mindanao. While in the beginning I subscribed to the notion that is education and development that would bring about a better future for the Moro people (having been trained in development work), I have also come to understand that this will not end the injustices that we will continue to experience under the Philippine State.

Our historical and ongoing relationship with the State has not shown any change for the better, but instead has worsened the condition of our communities. Consequentially, the “all-out-war” and all other succeeding armed conflict waged by the State will continue to make the people poorer, hopeless, and as a natural impact, it is these wars that further marginalize our status and value as a people in their very own homeland.

Granting after every war, the State does mobilize all its resources to bring education and development to Mindanao, does it actually guarantee the Moro people of being fairly treated as decision makers of their own destinies? Or will it continue to promote an outsider’s intervention mode of development with little respect of what the people actually want for themselves? Will this kind of development bring us forward to a future of reconciliation in spite of an absence of a closure from our violent and unjust history as a result of the conflict?

It is therefore upon these questions that I have shifted my view to a need for conflict resolution in Mindanao through peaceful means in contrast to the tactical development oriented solution. There is no other way but for the State and the Moro people to forge a peace agreement and a new relationship for the future. There is no easy road to peace, and surely, any use of military means will take us a much longer path ahead.

As soon as the spirit of Edsa 2 succeeded in overthrowing president Estrada, his successor, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was quick to reverse a pro-war stance to an “all-out-peace” government policy towards all the revolutionary groups, including the MILF. I was one of those in euphoria. After all, I, too, took part in Edsa 2 and helped her become president overnight.

However, since the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF commenced in 2001 with Malaysia as its third party facilitator, it had been a very difficult process. We have witnessed the forging of some of the initial agreements and having these agreements implemented, again, with much more difficulties (like the establishment of the Bangsamoro Development Agency) which idea was welcomed with mixed reactions by civil society itself in the beginning.

While the peace talks were conducted steadily, the armed violence that is escalated from time to time had threatened the whole process. It was only up until the International Monitoring Team (IMT) was deployed that we saw a more stable ceasefire situation in Mindanao. The relative peace had bought us some dividends and had enabled more development initiatives by various NGOs, government agencies, and donor agencies. This period has also allowed increased activities on the promotion of peace education and peacebuilding work by civil society groups. These two strategies are very significant foundations because these will ensure sustainable peace in Mindanao.

President Gloria Arroyo’s management of the conflict in Mindanao and her goal for achieving peace with both the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has always been a puzzle. Although she appears to give her support to her government panel of peace negotiators and other agencies working towards her peace agenda, at the same time, she has been thrifty in unequivocally declaring her priority for peace in Mindanao.

Instead, she has always been very vocal in throwing her support to political allies and advisers who are more comfortable in using military power as a means to demonstrate her strength as a national leader.

In her 2008 State of the Nation Address, there were six lines dedicated that mainly asks the legislative bodies to support a move for constitutional changes that will hopefully implement the government’s peace deal with the MILF.

However, knowing that there is already a deep resistance towards chacha, she couldn’t get any further by assuring that her intentions are clear–to bring peace to Mindanao, and not to use this as part of her own political agenda.

Another great example is how she embarked on her succeeding reactions and actions upon the stopping of the signing of an agreement with the MILF as caused by a temporary restraining order in the Supreme Court.

When her own government peace panel, OPAPP, and secretary for Foreign Affairs are put in an embarrassing situation arriving in Putrajaya, Malaysia but not being able to deliver its commitment, she has embarrassed her own leadership all the more when she allows her Solicitor General to tell the Supreme Court that the officials sent to Putrajaya did not have her authority to sign any agreement. As the Arroyo administration takes the heat of opposition to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain from political enemies and from its own allies, it found a great opportunity, again, to demonstrate its “strong leadership” by waging war with the MILF.

The president had to blame and fire its own peace negotiators, suspend the peace talks, and challenge the MILF to surrender (its commanders and accept an immediate DDR implementation) if it wants to move for peace.

And recently this September, while many peoples from Mindanao (as part of the Mindanao People’s Caucus advocacy) appeal to her to put a stop on the ongoing military offensives as it destroys homes and kills innocent civilians, she insists that this has to be done to protect the people and the territorial integrity of the country.

The president’s view is not unique, it is a view she has taken together with millions of Filipinos who maintains their firm belief that the Moro people can only be tamed by the use of force. It is a view that articulates well how the MILF, as the governments counterpart party in the peace negotiations, will only be worthy if it first accepts the latter’s own conditions and terms and puts itself at the mercy of the powerful Philippine military. It is also a view that upholds no equitable respect to the lives of innocent civilians who are often the collateral damage (mostly Moros) of this war.

Lastly, the President’s statement and actions further divides by playing the “good cop, bad cop” game in which it allows the media and the opinion of the major influencers in Manila to capitalize on the miseries and trauma of conflict and unrest in Mindanao.

We should not lose sight that this war has been provoked by local disputes and escalated by traditional leaders who were opposing the MOA-AD.

It had become a communal conflict participated by not only some MILF commanders but also by CAFGUs and CVOs of local politicians. It was only a matter of time that these peace spoilers had succeeded in making President Arroyo take a stand—whether she values her commitments with the MILF (in their peace process), or her political allies and constituencies. The rest of it is history as we reach a full circle of this culture of war that president Arroyo’s leadership continues to nurture. How then, can Philippine leaders expect the Moro people to believe in a promise for peace in Mindanao when they continue to become the victims of military rule and pawns of national and local politicking?

I have no regrets about my commitment to working for peace in Mindanao. It has taught me many life lessons and has made me proud of my identity and history—something I did not get while being assimilated as a Filipino in Manila. It has allowed me to build on more honest and meaningful relationships with the indigenous peoples and Christians in Mindanao, and in Manila, with mutual respect and acceptance. It has earned me new friends, who, this time, do understand how I feel when another war is waged in Mindanao—mostly because they, too, have found themselves to be stakeholders in this conflict and in this never-ending search for peace.

Although leaders like presidents Estrada and Arroyo have never learned their lessons well with Mindanao, I console myself by being hopeful that their values and judgment cannot be the long lasting norm. Should the Filipino society truly want meaningful change, it would have to recognize that it is a nation of diverse peoples. And as a credible and strong nation that is part of the international community of nations, it must fully embrace a culture of peace, not war, as its societal value.

As the end of the month of Ramadhan brings us to the celebration of the Eid’l Fitre, I wish to end this article with the following verses from the Quran. May be all be blessed!

“But if the enemy incline towards peace, do you (also) incline towards peace, and trust in God: for He is the One that hears and knows (all things). Should they intend to deceive you,–verily God suffices you: He it is that has strengthened  you with His aid and with (the company of) the Believers; And (moreover) He has put affection between their hearts: not if you had spent all that is in the earth, could have produced that affection, but God has done it: for He is Exalted I might, Wise. O Prophet! Sufficient unto you is God, –(unto you) and unto those who follow you among the Believers.—Holy Quran:  8: 61-64

 [Mindanawon Abroad is MindaNews’ effort to link up with Mindanawons overseas who would like to share their experiences in their adopted countries, the countries they’re presently working in, their growing up years or homecomings in Mindanao, their hopes and dreams and suggestions for Our Mindanao  Ayesah Abubakar is the coordinator of the Mindanao Peace Program at the Research & Education for Peace Universiti Sains Malaysia or REPUSM in Penang, Malaysia. E-mail  ayesah@bangsamoro.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ]