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August 27, 2007 | Editor Al Santoli
When conducting peace mediation and community development in active war zones, at times when situations appear to be the most desperate, opportunities for great progress may emerge. Such a development recently occurred in Muslim Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Since mid-Summer, intensive battles on Jolo and Basilan islands have raged between government forces and local guerillas during the agricultural harvest season. These events threaten to turn a region that is already considered to be the most impoverished area of Southeast Asia into humanitarian crisis and trigger a wider regional religious war.
On August 15, Asia America Initiative President Albert Santoli and Program Coordinator Hani Sumndad traveled on a fact finding mission to the conflict areas with a Philippine Red Cross Society delegation led by Philippine Senator Richard Gordon, who is also the National Red Cross Chairman. Our goal was to identify possible solutions to prevent a humanitarian crisis and prepare for an influx of families displaced by the fighting. Beginning in 2002, AAI’s Development for Peace in Sulu project has emphasized, as a guiding premise, that military operations by themselves would not overcome the complex underlying factors that create terrorist movements. Community-based humanitarian social and economic programs are essential for sustainable deterrence.
The AAI – Red Cross visit led to enhanced partnership of non-governmental organizations, coordination by the prominent Senator and a newly-elected Province Governor, as well as the cooperation of the local military, local officials and non-extremist guerillas. The delegation’s findings were discussed at a Presidential Cabinet meeting and delivered on the floor of the Congress by Senator Gordon. The effort has led to the creation of a Presidential Directive to all government agencies to build peace through unified social and economic development. If successful, this initiative could become a model for overcoming religious and inter-ethnic violence and terrorist penetration across the region.
The AAI team, with 5 years of grassroots experience in the region, delivered over 1,000 pounds of children's medicines donated by the Sisters of the Poor in the Naga region, as a continuation of our Inter-Faith humanitarian assistance and peace building process. The joint delegation conferred with senior commanders of the Philippine armed forces, province officials, as well as health and education professionals and local residents who live near the fighting. In a climate of fear and uncertainty, all expressed a desire for peace and progress but felt frustrated by the forces at hand and the lack of basic necessities.
The crisis started on July 10 on Basilan island when a convoy of Philippine marines searching for a Catholic priest kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits mistakenly encountered guerillas from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. This resulted in 14 Marines killed. Abu Sayyaf Group [ASG] terrorists took advantage of the situation by scavenging the battlefield and brutally beheading 10 of the corpses. This led to a cry for revenge, not only from the military, but much of the Philippine media based in Manila. Thousands of combat troops from other areas of the Philippines began pouring into the Sulu Sea archipelago. Aggressive tactics by soldiers on Jolo island to destroy suspected groups of Abu Sayyaf, led to August 9 attacks on rural camps of the traditional guerillas of the Moro National Liberation Front [which do not have any formal links to the ASG], costing the lives of 26 soldiers.
As the battle lines intensified, the Red Cross and United Nations reported hundreds of families evacuating from their homes in the areas caught in the crossfire. In Jolo, some of these battle zones were just outside the area of Asia America Initiative’s Development for Peace [DPIS] project. In previous instances, AAI Model of Excellence Schools, such as Kasambuhan Elementary in the Peace Zone in Indanan, have become overcrowded refuge centers.
Seeking to assist local government and humanitarian care providers, the delegation focused on the emergency services infrastructure. As the Senator later reported, “In the Integrated Province Hospital we found much to cheer about. Health care services were available. The place was spotless and very orderly.” The Province Hospital Director, a courageous mother of three children, Dr. Farah Omar is a longtime partner of AAI. Her hardworking staff works for minimal pay and are supplemented by a number of enthusiastic volunteers.
Education is the central component of any credible long-term development plan. Community leaders introduced Senator Gordon to the AAI’s 16 Model of Excellence Public Schools, where attendance is now more than 20,000 students. These schools, often run by teachers who seldom receive their pay on time, and whose pensions were “lost” by less-than-honest regional officials, have become key pillars in building the Hope needed to sustain peace. The visits to each campus allowed the delegation to listen to the candid views of the grassroots community on their hopes, dreams and fears. We found an overwhelming desire for peace and to conduct normal lives without fear of violence, whether imposed by government forces or militant extremists.
In a very emotional experience, the delegation participated in an early morning assembly of the more than 2,000 students of Mohammad Tulawie Elementary School. We joined the children in the raising of the Philippines flag [donated last July by AAI because of the inadequate operations budget from the Region’s Board of Education] and everyone sang the national anthem. This was highly significant in a region where the tribal peoples have fought for centuries to maintain their religion and cultural identity. Yet the innocence of the children’s songs displayed a need to belong to a larger community that respects the dignity and humanity of all citizens.
The delegation was accompanied throughout by the Province Vice-Governor Ms. Nur Ana Sahidulla. She emphasized the lack of clean drinking water everywhere in the province while we visited the new library and small computer laboratory in the AAI’s Peace Zone school in Kasambuhan, within artillery fire of sites where recent fighting had occurred. At the AAI’s model livelihood programs at the Fisheries High School and Mindanao State University’s Fisheries College, teachers and students displayed their commercial food products of canned and preserved fruits, fish and seaweed.
At the Agriculture High School, located on a former dumping ground for assassination victims, instructors showed the town’s only poultry farm that was initiated with a grant by AAI on the school’s grounds. The examples of community partnership in the AAI’s Development for Peace model permitted Senator Gordon to see the opportunity for peace that exists even though there are small but virulent bands of extremists and criminal gangs on the fringe of the community. He emphasized that to win the peace people must assertively believe and work for unity. Using his skills as the former National Tourism Minister, the Senator coined the slogan “Trust in Sulu,” as a magnet for future prosperity.
Senator Gordon’s plan was to support newly elected Governor Sakur Tan to coordinate local farmers, fishermen, distributors and business people to rebuild the economy. He recommended they start immediately to build a haven for tourism on the island’s white sandy beaches. AAI was requested to maintain our grassroots organizing role in working with community committees, educators and religious leaders, and to act as representatives to the central government and military to support fairness and unity in the overall process.
Returning to Manila, the delegation respectively conveyed their findings to national officials. A trip report written by Senator Gordon was delivered to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and discussed at a Cabinet meeting. This led to Presidential Directive 192 which instructs all government agencies to compliment targeted military operations in Sulu and Basilan. The AAI’s role remains as a catalyst for the local community to develop the skills to rebuild and to be an “honest broker” in the economic process.
In Senator Gordon’s Privileged Speech on the Senate Floor he stated, “We believe that the campaign against terrorism will yield more lasting results if the military effort is matched by a comprehensive effort to build up the physical, social and infrastructures of Basilan and Sulu, as well as in the ARMM [Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao] in general.” Under Presidential Directive 192, with the Office of the President to Administer the Peace Process [OPAPP] as overall government coordinator, the Philippine military was assigned to use cargo aircraft to carry perishable farm products to supermarket distribution facilities in Manila, nearly 1,000 miles away.
To address the inequities faced by educators in the region, described in Senator Gordon’s findings, at the Cabinet meeting President Macapagal Arroyo instructed the Secretary of Education to address the grievance of “provisional teachers.” They amount to 1/3 of the teaching force and have received teacher training but have not been able to take their teacher’s certification exam because they are too poor to travel to Manila. She ordered Certification Boards to travel to the region to administer the tests there. In addition, she addressed the issue of the widespread stolen pensions, by ordering the Administration of the government’s pension system to investigate and reinstall the pensions of the teachers.
- First and foremost, Peace begins with Hope. There is a common humanity that bonds us all, regardless of religion or language. A community can be united by working together to provide the opportunity for their children to have a better future.
- Equally important, Peace is built through Trust. A dynamic partnership capable of transforming a war zone can only be achieved when respect is earned through one's consistent actions over a sustained period of time.
- Respect the Local History and Culture. As an outsider, if you go into a community plagued with debilitating poverty and violence and expect to impose your views on the local culture or seek to control the environment exclusively on your own cultural terms, you will be in for a rude awakening. Unfortunately, the US is paying a heavy price in Iraq and Afghanistan for what the "best and brightest" who control strategic policy failed to learn from Vietnam. To the contrary, peace building is always about personal relationships. Transformative action can only occur in an environment of mutual respect and trust.
- Invest in the "Human Infrastructure" of a Community. With the best of intentions traditional foreign aid programs spend billions of dollars on building physical infrastructure such as buildings and roads. However, these projects are often rejected or under utilized by local communities. As a result, entrenched poverty and dysfunctional conditions that perpetuate hatred and violence are not changed. It is essential to emphasize building the "human capacity" of a community through training teachers, service providers and future leaders. Integrated physical infrastructure building is strengthened when communities can take pride in their own abilities to participate as partners with "sweat equity" in the rebuilding process.
To overcome terrorism and many of its root causes, a comprehensive approach that emphasizes security and law enforcement must also address the basic social and economic needs of a community. Senator Gordon summed up his fact-finding report by stating, “The autonomous region is quite simply the poorest region… After taking everything into account, we believe that the campaign against terrorism will yield more lasting results if the military effort is matched by a comprehensive effort to build up the physical, social and legal infrastructure.”
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