Friday, August 29, 2008 Editorials: Prospect for peace, the Ilagas
NORTH Cotabato is a troubled land again, as it was in the ‘70s when the infamous “Ilaga” roamed and dominated the area.
It seems it is again no longer a place for those in search of peace and quiet.
It is a truism in social conflicts that for any action taken by a contending party, there is high probability an equal contrary move maybe taken by the other party.
And so, this sad reality appears in North Cotabato after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) killed innocent civilians in the midst of their frustration over the failed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Ancestral Domain.
The Ilaga, which had gone on a killing rampage in North Cotabato in the late ‘80s against Muslim armed groups, has reappeared.
Search for peace
During the 12th Annual Conference in November 1979 on Mindanao-Sulu Cultures at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, the talk was about the search for peace.
“If this seminar achieves the goal of getting us all to think peace, to talk peace, and to be involved in peace efforts…then it will far exceed the hopes of those who have planned, worked, and supported this 1979 Peace Seminar,” said the participants.
Since then, the people involved in the long-drawn conflict in southern Mindanao are still searching for peace, are still trying to negotiate for one.
It was recognized then that the conflict has ceased to be mainly religious but is a three-way controversy between:
1. The Philippine government, whose concern is largely the national interest and all that the rest of the Filipinos stand for;
2. The Marxists, which in those days was a global political force and, in the Philippines, was represented by the Communist
Party of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front, and New People’s Army;
3. The Muslim rebels led by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under the leadership of Nur Misuari, who was at the same time a known Marxist.
No end?
It is quite worrisome to note that the grant to the MNLF of their wish to have the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) did not actually result in the achievement of peace in the area.
The ARMM merely spurred to further action the MNLF’s splinter group that became known eventually as the MILF.
If it were not for the failed signing of MOA, there would have emerged an expanded ARMM.
Where, when, would this conflict end?
Enter once more the Ilaga to protect the civilian innocents that are mostly Christians.
