AS MINDANAOANS, we look into Duterte’s third Sona with the thoughts of what happened in the past 12 months in Mindanao. How Marawi, martial law, the Lumad bakwits and Lumad schools closed, Bangsamoro autonomy have deepened the wounds of historical injustice.
Did Duterte’s Sona try to address the healing of these wounds?
His speech had these strange wordings about Marawi: “We owe it to our fallen soldiers and police officers in Marawi and elsewhere to put an end to the bloodshed and seek the path of true peace.”
There were 168 government soldiers killed and 1,400 more wounded in the course of the long-drawn war in Marawi. But there is no mention of the 300,000 residents of Marawi who are still staying in evacuation centers or makeshift towns, enduring hunger and lack of access to water and electricity, loss of livelihood and services. There is much owed to these people, who still cannot return homes as the government lays down plans of rehabbing Marawi but does not include them.
“War is not an option,” the president said in the course of searching for peace.
In three regions in Mindanao, the effect of Martial Law had forced Lumads to leave their villages. Some 1,600 Manobos left their villages in Lianga and San Miguel, Surigao del Sur as the 75th Battalion have occupied their villages and built a detachment. The trauma of losing their school director and two leaders three years ago are still fresh in their memory. In Koronadal, hundreds of Lumad parents and teachers from Sultan Kudarat set camp in the Department of Education Regional Office since July 2, as they demand DepEd to act on the release of the permits of their 14 Lumad schools. Lumads from Talaingod and Kapalong are not able to return to their villages as the paramilitary continue to threaten them because of their schools.
The Lumads have known better how Duterte’s words work. An evacuee in Lianga remembers that the president said he would bring investors into their ancestral lands. They believe this is the reason for the militarization, to clear the way for five mining companies into their land. This is also true to Talaingod as the Manobos fear their Pantaron Range is coveted by mining interests.
Martial Law could end this kind of attacks on the Lumads’ ancestral lands. But the Lumad group PASAKA believes what the Duterte administration is going is “panga-gago and not pagbabago” that the president has promised.
For the Bangsamoro, the President promised to sign the Bangsamoro Organic Law within 48 hours after the Sona. The signing was delayed over a day because the House did its political circus.
The Bangsamoro people and their supporters praise the signing has finally happened. Is this peace? Peace advocates said there should be guarded optimism. One said this is not the end for peacebuilding, but rather a beginning.
Even with a Mindanao president, the question for peace in this land remains hanging.