A proposal made after certain groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) went on a deadly rampage in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Maguindanao last week was that residents be allowed to arm themselves for their own protection.
At first the proposal seems reasonable, because the instinct for self-preservation is the strongest human instinct. But why should citizens arm themselves and constitute themselves into a defense force when there are entities required by law to protect them from lawless elements? The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are the entities authorized and required by law to give the people protection. They should be doing their job.
Nandy Pacheco, proponent of the Gunless Society and founder of the political party Kapatiran, is one of the leaders of civil society who are opposing the proposal to arm the people of the areas that are under threat from so-called “rogue elements” of the MILF. He says that instead of ensuring peace, such a move would only worsen the conflict and violence in the area. It will result in a Philippine version of the United States’ Wild, Wild West where almost every man carried a gun and disputes were settled with guns.
Pacheco is urging that a total gun ban be enforced in Mindanao, and indeed in the entire country, by the police and the armed forces. Only policemen and other law enforcement agents and soldiers on duty would be allowed to carry firearms. The presumption then would be that other people bearing firearms are not authorized to do so and they could be challenged and their guns confiscated.
The guns confiscated in the course of the enforcement of a total gun ban should be accounted for in an inventory, kept securely under lock and key and then melted down in a public event, to be transformed later into the proverbial plowshares.
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Media bias
Media leaders did some self-examination of their role in reporting the so-called “Mindanao problem” in MediaNation 5.2 in Tagaytay City over the weekend.
One observation made (which is actually not new) was that the media tend to focus on the bad or negative news about Mindanao and to underplay the good or the positive news. It was said that very often the choice is made based on what the market (the audience, the readers) want. Conflict and violence are “sexy” and sell, whereas peace and development are not, and they rarely sell newspapers or radio and TV programs.
But positive and good news will also sell if they can be made so interesting, so attractive and so readable as to grab the attention of readers. The Philippine Daily Inquirer has done this. Every day, the Inquirer makes a deliberate effort to publish at least one positive story on Page 1. About 70 to 80 percent of the front page of the Inquirer’s Sunday issue is composed of positive stories.
A similar approach could be adopted to “sell” positive stories about Mindanao, and to show that good things are happening on the island, and not just fighting, conflict and violence.
Another observation made was that very often the reporting is not balanced and is skewed in favor of the Christian viewpoint. This could be due to the usual prejudices and biases, not only of reporters but also of editors. In turn, the prejudices have their roots in lack of information or, in some cases, just plain ignorance. This could be corrected by having periodic short-term exchanges of personnel in Mindanao and Metro Manila. Journalists also have to be given additional training, including education on the history and culture of Mindanao, so that they can report the developments there intelligently and in depth.
The journalists covering Mindanao will also have to work double time to be able to hurdle the wall of secrecy and concealment of information that the Arroyo administration has put up to keep information on matters of public interest away from them and from the people. In the particular case of the current conflict, they will have to tap sources other than the government and rebel spokespersons to get the complete picture.
Journalists have to put current developments in historical context, and do a lot of research and analysis to be able to give in-depth reports to the newspaper readers and the radio-TV audience.
Intelligent, accurate and fair reporting should keep the people better informed about what is happening in Mindanao.
Copyright 2009 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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