by Jonallier M. Perez
Sovereignty-based conflicts are essentially war of ideas and ideologies. No matter how reprehensible an idea may be, one does not kill it with a bullet. Rather, you kill it with a better idea. Tomorrow, the army may be able to capture Umbra Kato, leader of the breakaway faction Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. The next day, another Umbra Kato will step in and lead the group. Today, police forces may kill a father-freedom fighter. Someday, his son will pick up the gun and kill a police officer.
There is much euphoria about this coming Monday’s signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro. I, myself, share the same euphoric feelings. We applaud the government and MILF panels for straightforward and candid talks. These are necessary for a peace negotiation to commence. Equally laudable is the substantial transparency on various negotiation points. MILF, specifically, took significant strides by conducting series of multi-sectoral consultations and creative engagements, particularly among Christian stakeholders that their fears may be allayed. Those are praiseworthy and commendable acts on the part of the MILF.
Peace and stability are some of the essential ingredients for economic growth. Of the many industries in Mindanao, tourism is the most fragile and sensitive to these conflicts. It even behaves like the stock market. Mere rumor has the potential to send tourists and investors away. Tourism investors profit by selling experience as a product. By its very nature, it requires the transport of tourists into the area. For other industries, like manufacturing, agriculture, mining, fishing, etc., as long as farms and factories are intact, despite bombs falling around, and as long as workers keep on reporting to work, it is business as usual. You just ship out the goods and still profit from it. It is different in the tourism sector.
The Framework Agreement is only the first of documents that will be inked between parties. It only sets the direction and the framework within which future agreements will be forged. The Annexes and the Basic Law, both of them must get congressional approval and pass constitutional test, will contain the more extensive details. The signing of the Framework Agreement on Monday will be momentous. When the 32nd GPH-MILF Formal Exploratory Talks were concluded in Kuala Lumpur last October 7, MILF Peace Panel Chair Mohagher Iqbal was reportedly shedding tears. Two of his panel members were holding back theirs. Decades ago, they were fighting government forces for neglect and the failed ARMM experiment. Last Saturday, they were fighting their emotions.
When the Tripoli Agreement and the consequent peace agreement between the government and the MNLF were signed, MILF was practically a small group, with few members and confined to a small area in Mindanao. After the euphoria subsided and patronage politics, among others, soon corrupted the essence of the ARMM experiment, MILF eventually emerged as a formidable force engaged in the same sovereignty-based conflict. MILF is a force to reckon with that the government saw it fit to ink a second peace agreement for Mindanao. The biggest challenge that faces the government, MILF and the new Bangsamoro political entity is how to prevent the emergence of groups that will someday engage in yet another sovereignty-based conflict with the authorities. Either new groups will be established or existing factions will be transformed into a liberation movement. Some of them are initially established for non-political reasons. The Framework Agreement is silent on this. The challenge, therefore, is to how address it. Find the root causes and direct solutions to the grassroots level. When a group of people becomes alienated and feels exploited and neglected, they are likely to rebel against established authorities. With firearms seemingly available practically anywhere in Mindanao’s hinterlands, it is not altogether difficult to form another armed liberation movement.
That potential failure explains why peace in Israel, for example, remains elusive. Agreements are reactionary and no serious mechanisms are put in place to address core and grassroots causes. If we are to enjoy lasting peace in Mindanao, we must face the challenge. And the government and MILF alone cannot do it. We, ordinary Mindanaons, have a large role to play. The challenge begins now and it begins inside us.
