I have not lived too long in Mindanao to understand its situation, but I have lived in it to deserve an opportunity to state my side on the matter of the creation of the BJE. I arrived in the island years ago afraid of a war that has long been fought between the military and the muslim rebels. Coming from Manila, only the images of bombings, rolling tanks, flying mortars and dead bodies were what I associate with the island. I looked out of my hotel window the first day and Zamboanga City was like downtown Manila with narrow streets, dingy places, old rundown theaters, lots of people, situated along the bay with a mini fortress. I was like taken into a recreation of Manila in an island 2000 kms away. Aside from the occassional bomb scare, the city was experiencing a change, business was up and new buildings were constructed. Not as fast as everyone hoped for but there was movement.
Then there was BJE. I am not a lawyer to comment on its merit, but the way I see it is the MILF will be handed areas in Mindanao as part of their ancestral domain. My views in the matter: 1. Was it not covered by the agreement with MNLF? 2. The creation of ARMM did not improve the lives of the people in the area covered by the charter. Why include a bigger area? 3. What is the purpose of giving them these areas? Is it to govern? Is it just to appease whose egos? Or there is a different agenda altogether for the government? 4. I maybe wrong but I don't see large numbers of people crying for the fall of the government here in Mindanao. Is the movement backed by guns and terrorism only?
When I ask locals, they just answered it has always been this way. But when will it stop? Maybe it can be answered by when did it start? History has been afraid to expound on what really is Muslim Mindanao. For most part it has even neglected it. I never really learned my Mindanao geography and history until recently from books published by the Ateneo press. It is not part of standard elementary textbooks. Films about the area are romanticized adventures and the recent ones are taken straight out of the imagination even the supposedly war movies. So where can we get our answers when all these years, we have tried to erase them from our memories like what we have done with our recent past?
I have grown to love this place. In fact I am even more comfortable now moving in this city than Manila. To see it change for something better is what everyone here hopes for. Locals cannot afford to live anywhere else. If we just let it deteriorate because of egos and principles and hidden agendas, we are not doing it a great service. I hope there will be a time when they can bring back the glory that was Zamboanga.
