ALEOSAN, COTABATO, March 6, 2015 (Friday) – “What about our future?” asks 11-year-old Bai Malija S. Akmad tearfully. Her message, in turn, brings tears to the audience at the launch of the nationwide “All-Out Peace” campaign in the Municipality of Aleosan, North Cotabato.
Bai is from the Barangay of Pagangan and is a Grade 6 pupil of the Pagangan Elementary School. The community has been, for years, a hotspot of violent conflict between the government and non-state armed groups. It comes as no surprise, then, that despite her young age, her experience is full of conflict, war and displacement.
“(Because of war) we had to stop going to school, we had to leave our homes. Our parents’ livelihood was destroyed,” Bai continues.
She says she wants to finish school so she can achieve her dreams for herself and her family. She asks everyone in the audience to continue to work for peace. She says she hopes that the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be passed, fully believing that it will be one path to a future where she and her family can finally live peacefully. Finally, she says, most passionately, that children should not experience war.
Bai is not alone in her plea. Loriely C. Calambro, a young nurse representing the Mission Station Youth Council (MSYC), says she cannot fathom the need for war and its atrocities.
“(We) don’t understand why we have to evacuate,” says Loriely. “But bullets do not choose who they hit. So our instincts tell us that we need to run, we need to leave.” She then makes a call similar to Bai’s: that the community should pray hard, and do everything possible to achieve peace.
Bai and Loriely were just two of the many young people who shared not just a sentiment, but a need for peace in their community.
The All-Out Peace Campaign where they shared this need was launched during the National Day of Healing for Unity and Peace on the 6th of February 2015. The day served as a tribute to those who perished 40 days earlier in a bloody encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that resulted in the death of 44 Special Armed Forces (SAF) of the Philippine National Police, 17 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and five civilians, including an 8-year-old girl. The incident triggered a national outrage, threatening the almost-completed yet fragile peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Supportive of the peace process, the Municipality of Aleosan dubbed the launch as “Let Hundreds of Candles Glow in Aleosan. Remembering the Fallen: A Call for Justice, Unity and All-Out-Peace.”
Peace is everybody’s business
Eight hundred individuals from all over Aleosan participated in the three-hour program amidst peace and security concerns following the government’s declaration of all-out offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), an MILF breakaway group also involved in the Mamasapano encounter.
The Aleosanons in attendance were composed of people from different walks of life, of varying beliefs, principles, cultures, backgrounds and ages. Among the organizations represented were the Municipal Local Government Unit of Aleosan (MLGU), representatives from the 19 Barangay Local Government Units (BLGU), religious groups, youth organizations, Madaris and Department of Education officials and school children, 40th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, Civilian Reservist Brigade, Philippine National Police-Municipal Police Station (PNP-MPS), and civil society organizations (CSOs). In this way, the diverse people of Aleosan took the stand to keep pursuing peace.
This was not the first time gatherings for peace happened. In 2008, tens of thousands were displaced in Aleosan following the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the GPH and the MILF. In 2011, as the peace talks again became tense, the community once more faced threats of massive violence and displacement. The community then took it upon themselves to organize dialogues, and to speak to leaders of the conflicting parties, thus preventing a repeat of the 2008 incident.
Because of this, the people of Aleosan know that preventing violence is possible. And they know that, unarmed as they are, it is within their power. As Reverend Marilou Rizane of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) would say in her message: “Peace is everybody’s business.”
Magkakaiba, Nagkakaisa sa Hinahangad, Kapayapaan
“There are still many stories that have not yet been told,” says Hon. Loreto V. Cabaya Jr. of Bai’s story. Cabaya is a board member of the Province of North Cotabato. “Peace is not only for the Bangsamoro, but also for the whole of Mindanao and the municipality of Aleosan. It is a real aspiration of the people.”
Cabaya emphasized that the gathering was not only for those who fell in Mamasapano, but for everyone who has ever experienced violent conflict. Many other places have experienced violence, he says. And Aleosan is no exception. Therefore, he continues, there is a need to learn about the peace process and become aware of the initiatives of the Government, of the peace panel members, of the military and of the police force. He also highlights the need to listen to the voices of the MILF as they are among the stakeholders in achieving peace
From Cabaya, this statement is powerful, considering that back in 2008 he himself led local militias in the frontlines against the MILF. Seven years later, he calls for dialogue, understanding and peace. In his own words: “Peace is to live in harmony with our neighbors and with our nation.”
Police Superintendent Arniel Melocotones agrees with Cabaya. “Each citizen is part of building peace,” he says.
“And peace starts with our heart, our family, church and community,” adds school principal Jol Alemania. “No matter our differences, we should continue to share, to blend and to take a proactive role in making the community peaceful.”
Gregorio O. Guanzon, the Punong Barangay of Pagangan and coordinator of the Lawig Kalinaw movement, shares the relevance of peace in everyday life. “Within days of my birth, my parents had to evacuate me as a baby to Midsayap to seek refuge from war,” he shares. “We have to strive for peace. And this is not only for us as Moro, Christians or Indigenous Peoples but for everyone.”
Another powerful message was delivered by representatives of those who are at the frontlines of war and armed conflict – the military. LTC Joel Mamon emphasized that “soldiers are the people who will be the first to say that we do not want war.”
After the messages, the different groups then came together as one community conducted a ceremony, laying a peace symbol at the center. This was later adorned with a thousand paper cranes, which also became a symbol for peace because of the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who fell victim to the effects of World War II. This, they said, symbolized that peace is the only way to solve the conflict, and that all stakeholders have a moral obligation to protect the peace process.
Kapayapaan ang Panawagan at Dasal
Despite each stakeholder’s commitment to peace, fear and displacement throughout North Cotabato and Maguindanao continue amidst the ongoing military operations against the BIFF. While violent conflict continues, it is ever more important that the call for All-Out Peace becomes louder than the call for all-out war.
The participants unanimously agreed to send the messages of “No to War, Yes to All-out Peace” and “Kapayapaan ang aming Panawagan, ito ang aming dasal, para sa Mindanao, para sa Pilipinas, at sa buong Mundo” to the Philippine Government, the MILF and all stakeholders.
Similar calls for peace rang not just in Aleosan, but also in many parts of the Philippines, where peace-loving people took part in the National Day of Healing for Unity and Peace. The event not only commemorated the lives lost in Mamasapano, but also in many other tragic incidents such as the Bud Dajo Masacre in Jolo over a century ago, and the Jabidah Massacre. As March is also women’s month, the event recognized women and girls as not only victims of war, but as resources in the peace process with the capacity to participate and offer their lives for peace.
At the end of Bai’s sharing, as a girl and as a young peacebuilder in a conflict-affected community, she declared: “Alhamdulillah, pass the BBL, Kapayapaan, Kapayapaan, Kapayapaan,”
To which the audience responded together: “No to war, yes to all out peace!”