the conceit . . .

MALAYA‘s editorial today asks if, and thinks, yes, the bangsamoros’ demand for a homeland in mindanao is just.

The conceit of the Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, etc.

It’s probably not news to most people that among the poorest regions of the country are the Au-tonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Western Mindanao and Central Mindanao. The first is predominantly Muslim, the second (covering the Zamboanga peninsula) has also a significant Muslim population while the third (composed of the Cotabato provinces, Sarangani and Cotabato City) is where Christian and Muslim communities have a history of engaging in communal violence.

This fact should give pause to those rallying around the Republic in the name of national sovereignty and territorial integrity in opposing the grant of genuine autonomy to the Muslims. The national government has long neglected the Muslims. Were we the victims of such abandonment and discrimination – not to speak of outright exploitation – we probably would take up arms against the government too.

Let us be frank with ourselves. While we tend to see ourselves as members of a liberal, pluralist and secular society, what is the reality?

Even as our attention is focused on the rebellion in the South, theRepublic remains threatened by a communist insurgency that is fundamentally rooted in the poverty and injustice that mock our deeply held pretensions to a modern, prosperous and progressive society. Let’s leave aside Gloria Arroyo and her delusion that she could defeat the communist rebellion within two years. As long as poverty and powerlessness remain the lot of the mass of our people, we will not see the end of rebellion in our lifetime.

Most of our people have already tuned themselves out from our leaders’ stirring speeches about democracy, civil liberties, the rule of law and equal opportunities for all. Many have voted with their feet to repudiate their allegiance to the Republic.

A minority with a distinct way of life and inhabiting a well-defined territory have chosen to carve out through armed means a homeland for themselves. They are, for the moment, willing to stay within the Republic, or so they say, under a framework of autonomy. But they are also prepared to secede if their demand for self-rule is frustrated.

Is their demand for a homeland just and fair? We think so. And our belief springs from what we feel is a more principled adherence to the ideals that our forked-tongued politicians spout during historic occasions such as our Independence Day celebrations.

We have made a mess of our country. If we cannot clean it up, let us not stand in they way of other people who want to carve out their own destiny. They would probably end up under the misrule of their equivalent of a Gloria Arroyo. Or worse.

But at least they are fighting for what they believe is right. They should shame the far bigger conglomeration of Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, Visayans, etc., who have quietly acquiesced to the rape of their hallowed institutions, the plunder of their patrimony and the robbing of their dignity as a people.”

mindanao muddle

what a mess. it would seem na si gma-in-china lang ang maligaya about the grp-milf ancestral domain deal.

almost everyone else is unhappy, especially muslims and christians living in lands that government is willing to cede to the milf: muslims and christians who were not consulted – where’s the democracy nga naman. hindi man lang sila tinanong kung payag sila, at walang paliwanag kung bakit nararapat (kung nararapat man) at paano narating ang ganoong desisyon.

the grp-milf deal simply gives away too much to an armed milf, to the detriment of other muslim groups and lumads and christians, rightly raising fears of more terrorism, rather than none, which could be the point of the whole thing.

seems like the grp-milf deal (or no-deal) isn’t meant to settle anything, rather it is meant to UNsettle things further, which lends credence to theories that in her “last two minutes” gloria is out to create an environment that would give her reason to declare martial law, or congress reason to change the charter, both of which bode ill for the nation.

as always, i have a hard time giving gloria and her congress the benefit of the doubt. it’s hard to believethat she did not anticipate this kind of fall-out. she is, after all, neither stupid nor naive.

catching up

good to be home and blogging again after four days in medical city – as bantay lang naman, not as pasyente – without laptop dahil walang wi-fi except sa 15th floor suites. we had cable tv naman, so i was getting snippets of news, enough to know that a lot’s going on, mostly discordant, what else is new, but i’ve lost track so have a lot of reading and catching up to do.

of course i’ve read djb’s rant vs. my mindanao fairytale and also manolo’s the march of folly in mindanao which pointed me back to djb’s sultanic verses and comments by abet carino and danilo ignacio that save me the effort of responding. thanks, guys.

justice sabio reminds me of jun lozada

besieged court of appeals justice jose sabio reminds me of nbn-ztewhistleblower jun lozada, both good guys.

a pattern emerges. you blow the whistle on someone powerful and corrupt, and very quickly the information is spinned and twisted so that you turn out to be the villain of the story. it happened to jun lozada, it’s happening again to justice sabio.

this time the real meanie would seem to be quite savvy about setting things up, exactly what to say when and where, for spinning and twisting later, just in case. having a giant media network hanging on his every word helps no end, of course.

what’s interesting is, elevated agad ang kaso to the supreme court, with the investigation to proceed on tuesday. hmmm. who wants to bet that the court will go the way of gma, as usual, which means against the lopezes? for sabio? really? hmmm. that would be good, for a change. abangan.