Restless Midyear

Restless Midyear

by

Ric F. Maulion

            Land of promise, that’s what we’ve been  taught of  by history books about Mindanao. Indeed  it is. In fact, the sobriquet is simply  most fitting given all the promise Mindanao has. The millions of migrants coming into the island and have the rest of their lives spent here speaks for itself.

 Golda Meir, then Israel’s Prime Minister was right. Ours is the island chosen by God not theirs’ in that while they have to subject their vast track, barren  and  parched  desert  land to an extensive agricultural extension services to make them fertile and productive, ours is always there ever  ready and available  for planting all year round. No sweat. All you need are fertile hands to make them productive.  The island is definitely   blessed more than the rest of the countries around and across the globe. Witness how Bukidnon as breadbasket of the island could feed alone its entire population. That no to mention Davao, Cotabato, Gensan and the rest of Mindanao providing an alternative should its supply of livestock, poultry products and pineapples and all that would run dry.   There’s gold rush too at Mt. Diwalwal in Compostela Valley, blue marlins in our seas specifically Gensan and Zamboanga, tropical fruits in Davao, tourist haven practically in all places but notably in Misamis Occidental and Camiguin. Almost heaven in fact is what Mindanao to us. Moving on reaching your career is also peanuts given all topnotch  accredited university spread  throughout the island.

Truly,  God must be laughing up there realizing His lapses.  No wonder that He has all sorts of religion from Islam to Christianity, animism to Budddhism and all that established here. Peter Gowing’s Island Under the Cross  chronicled how the Christian churches have evolved since Magellan planted the cross in Cebu on March 1521. Had he came to the country two hundred years later however, Philippines would have become an Islamic country.

 It’s probably this slice of history that lend credence to hostility that has remained implacably brewing in the island all through the centuries. Or is it  the case of conquer, rule and divide  typifying  the past that still reign supreme today.  What about the feudalism that still existing  among many  Muslim areas. Or is there simply an unjust political system with   lopsided top-heavy development enjoyed by Imperial Manila leaving the crumbs to Mindanao. There are obviously too many reasons as far as our imagination would allow.  But where all of these leave us. Peace and no less! That’s the bottom line and seemingly an incontrovertible proof without which we could safely say that there exist no development in the island at all.

Unfortunately, the precarious development of its existence giving rise to various hostilities, sporadic encounter between the military and perceived enemies support the still  alarming situation of Mindanao. For one there is still the unsolved issue of MOA-AD that brought many stakeholders holding peace dialogue all over Mindanao. Second, the unsolved Maguindanao Massacre is still haunting us. Bombings have taken too its toll all over the place from Cotabato to Iligan. And slipping by, Abu Sayyaf  lately had their presence felt by beheading three innocent individuals. Broadcasters among the media sector were also killed in Davao. And very recently, Norodin Yusoph, the son of COMELEC Commissioner in Lanao del Sur is still held captive by his abductors more than a week now. And the demand – rendering of failure of election in Lanao del Sur province. What a height of scandal these people are doing. As is in Davao, the fearsome Vigilantes or Death Squad is still exacting their toll among suspected bad elements. Even Cagayan de Oro today is caught in insecure situation prompting the Mayor-elect Dongkoy Emano of reviving Mayor Action Squad to secure Taguanao Bridge from  the spate of criminality and killings.

Land of compromise, this should be an apt description today of Mindanao. Never mind the promise. Leave it to  the marines. Sadly,  the peace and order situation today is barring further development. Maybe it’s time to think twice that more than what the people outside wrongly perceived the sensitive peace situation in Mindanao as n for us  to make it happen. Various development organizations have already cropped up joining the crusade. But I wonder whatever happen to these peace-oriented groups that peace is as elusive as ever. We should move on or find ourselves overtaken by still volatile past events blown away adding us  as additional fertilizers for Mindanao. But  God forbid! What do you say? Need to say more.