What brought about this blog I am about to write? Read this link.
(http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/regions/10/19/11/19-killed-basilan-encounter)
For those who did not find time to read that link, let me just relate to you the content of that link. 19 Filipino soldiers were killed in an encounter in Basilan. 6 of them, if my memory serves me correctly were butchered after they were already down and gunned.
The culprit: MILF says the military.
Who are they anyway?
The MILF or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is an Islamic group from southern Philippines who was once part of the MNLF or the Moro National Liberation Front. As of today, MILF has been charged with a lot of bombings and killings down south in Mindanao. Most recent is the "ambush" of the special forces of the Army in Basilan which killed 19 soldiers.
What are they fighting for anyway? Let's take a trip down history first for you to understand the situation.
The MNLF was formed because of the Jabidah Massacre. Here's a brief background of what happened with the Jabidah Massacre:
In 1963, the resource-rich island of Sabah, which had been under British control since the late nineteenth-century, formally became part of the Federation of Malaysia. The Philippines, however, protested this, claiming that Sabah had never been sold to foreign interests, and that it had only been leased (padjak) by the Sulu Sultanate and therefore remained the property of the Sultan and by extension the property of Republic of the Philippines. This dispute led the-then Philippine presidents Diosdado Macapagal then later on Ferdinand Marcos to establish special military units tasked with fomenting dissent amongst Sabah's non-Malay ethnic groups, namely the Tausug and Sama, two groups closely aligned ethnically and culturally with the Bangsamoro. The code-name of this destabilization programme was "Operation Merdeka" (Operation Freedom), with Manuel Syquio as project leader and then Maj. Eduardo Abdul Latif Martelino as operations officer. The end-game of this is the annexation of Sabah to the Republic of the Philippines. The plan involved the recruitment of nearly 200 Tausug and Sama Muslims aged 18 to 30 from Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and their training in the island-town of Simunul in Tawi-Tawi. Simunul was where the Arab missionary Makhdum built the first mosque in the Philippines in the 13th century. The recruits felt giddy about the promise not only of a monthly allowance, but also over the prospect of eventually becoming a member of an elite unit in the Philippine Armed Forces. From August to December 1967, the young recruits underwent training in Simunul. The name of the commando unit: Jabidah. On December 30, 1967, 135 to 180 recruits boarded a Philippine Navy vessel for the island of Corregidor in Luzon for "specialized training." This second phase of the training turned mutinous when the recruits discovered their true mission. It struck the recruits that the plan would mean not only fighting their brother Muslims in Sabah, but also possibly killing their own Tausug and Sama relatives living there. Additionally, the recruits had already begun to feel disgruntled over the non-payment of the promised monthly stipend. The recruits then demanded to be returned home. The sole survivor of the Massacre, Jibin Arula, recounted how the young Moro recruits were taken in batches of twelve to a remote airstrip where they were executed with machine gun by their military handlers. Arula, who was wounded in the left knee, managed to attach himself to driftwood long enough to be rescued by fishermen from the nearby island of Cavite. Though there has never been an official count, the number of dead ranges from 28. As of 1980,some of the axe-bearing military trainers of jabidah were even in the active service, particularly in the 2nd Army (sep), 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army wearing the Jabidah pin. (Google)
Thus, MNLF was born. And in 1981, the MILF separated from the MNLF. This new group was supposedly a more conservative one.
Why am I blogging about this? No, I AM NOT AND WILL NEVER BE AGAINST MUSLIMS. I respect their religion and beliefs even though I was once a Catholic and now I am a born-again Christian. I will never hate or generalize my statements just because they are of a different religion. For I was once, almost, became member of their religion.
Reading the news and seeing them on TV these days brought back memories of the past. Memories I would rather not relieve yet I know that whenever news down south would reach me, I would still be concerned. Not for the man I once gave my heart and soul to, but for his people. Yes, you read that right. I fell in love once, a long long time ago, with a Muslim prince. (But for the sake of the promise I gave him, I will never mention his name on any blog or online post I make.) But more than the love I felt for him, I fell in love with his people. Not because of their religion and traditions but because my heart yearns to bring them one thing that all of them yearn for - PEACE. The war and the conflict down there has long been in their lives, starting from the Moro Wars that started in the time of the Spaniards until today, when Noynoy Aquino, the second Aquino to hold office, is stating that he will not give the go signal for an all out war.
Peace, they say, is not the absence of war. It is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. And peace is something that is lacking down south. Among many other things. They lack good education, a good health system, proper housing and a whole lot more of societal problems that every new set of government officials failed to address.
When God gave me the word that He is sending me to the nations and someone confirmed my visions of where He is preparing me to be sent, all I could say was, "Oh God, surely you have prepared me for this long time ago. You really made the bad things to turn into good because you have prepared my heart for this mission long before I walked in Your light." Guess where He is sending me? Yes, I am being sent to the race that will always have something against my belief. The land of hijabs and mosques. I have totally forgotten about this mission I received until recently, when the news showed the bodies of the soldiers being carried into a truck, to be taken to the hospital or the morgue. My heart cried. Not only for the soldiers, but for the people who are caught in the middle of all these. The women, elderly and children and the innocent ones who are caught in the middle of all these conflicts in Mindanao. Where's the peace? Where is the product of the so-called peace talks? I want to know. I sacrificed the love I felt for one man just so he can reach for his dreams for his people - a safe and conflict-free environment, wherein there is the presence of peace. Now that part of me is asking, where is the peace? What are we doing to bring forth peace? Please let me know. It may be a far-fetched dream for a lot of you but I know, someday, down south, there will be PEACE. Hard fought it may be, not be guns and ammunitions, but by prayers, Providence, and the desire to bring forth peace but PEACE WILL FLOURISH.
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