I AM a Christian working as a teacher in the Islamic City of Marawi; in the region counted as one of the poorest and lowest in literacy rate.
Marawi City is beautiful with the sight of the majestic Lake Lanao; the sarimanok, okir, and other Meranaw art. I came back to Marawi after graduation because I have missed the memories and the place. Even the simple and quiet life away from the hussle and bussle of the metropolitan.
I have been living here for almost six years now, leaving my hometown, Palawan, and left for college in Mindanao State University Marawi for its cheap but quality education. There, I was enlightened with the ideals of cultural integration, peace, and understanding. I came to love and respect the Muslim Filipinos and Islam. I had lots of Muslim friends; from the Meranaw tribe, Tausug, among others. Some of them are the best companions you can ever have. Years later, I came back to work as a college instructor in downtown Marawi.
Who would bother coming back here when you are neither even a Meranaw nor a Muslim?
Marawi and Lanao del Sur as a whole is poor despite it having quite wealthy families. The salary is below or just minimum, unless you work there as an instructor in MSU. But good thing I was able to get in in a decent-paying college.
Everyday, I come to a classroom where women wear veils and hijab while my head is most of the time uncovered. There are a lot of restrictions in Islamic schools that are highly hinged on their culture. For example, women, even teachers, should not be found alone with a man in the room. You cannot touch a student. We cannot let our student stay beyond 6pm in the school as well which means we barely have enough time for extracurricular.
These are not major problems though. I and the rest of my co-faculty members are able to cope with this.
There are more hurtful situations than those.
I had a student named MJ who always comes late. He lives in the municipality of Marantao and while driving to school, a group of people got pissed at him and drew out their guns on him. That morning, I was thankful that he still made it out alive. How many more people are hiding guns in their car's backseat?
Another student of mine was supposed to already be dropped in class for consecutive numerous absences. One day, Norhaniya showed up in the middle of the trimester with the guidance counselor’s endorsement and told me she and her family had to hide for several days for being involved in a rido, a family to family kind of war popularly dubbed as “ubusan ng lahi.”
She had a hard time coping with my subject since then and she almost failed.
A high school teacher in Balindong, Lanao del Sur told us that there were times that their classes would be suspended because there was a rido happening in the vicinity of their school. The operations of a whole school was stopped to avoid raging bullets from two warring families.
Other instructors in the college I work at share some other stories of their students and why it became difficult for them to study.
A female student texted one instructor, begging the teacher to allow her to pass his subject because if she fails, her parents would force her to marry, “selling her off” for a hefty dower at the age of 16.
Other students also had to be absent for a week because of marriage. Another student had to be absent every so often because of pregnancy struggles.
Princess, a student of mine, almost always texted me before classes that she could not go to school because she could not find anybody to watch over her one-year-old daughter. Another student of mine, Nina, literally brought her daughter to my classroom, made her sit in an armchair beside her, just so she would not miss the class.
Other students who were made to marry at a young age had to be absent a lot or drop out of schools for being busy being wives or doing mother duties, either being forced to fulfill such roles or were enamored by it.
These are cases we do not see everyday in majority of areas and are mostly exclusive in Lanao del Sur. I could only wish my students’ situation were normal so they can focus more in studying and learning. I often ask myself, are these happenings the fault of the culture? The religion? The system?
Whatever this is, the people are not the problem but are just victims themselves.