The military has made a significant impact on Sulu
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:38:00 05/16/2008
I was among the very few people of Sulu province who shouted “Military out!” I wasn’t really into asking for independence. I just joined the protest group because I was made to hate the military.
Well, it’s a long story. I lived with my grandparents here in the town proper of the provincial capital, Jolo. I grew up with all these stories against the military. I was told that my parents died in a crossfire when I was two years old. My uncles were members of the Moro National Liberation Front who fiercely fought government troops.
I don’t know what really happened. I don’t remember a thing. What I remember is that every time I misbehaved, my grandmother would threaten me by saying: “’Yan na in sundalo, timbakun na kaw.” I would hurriedly hide in fear. The word “sundalo” [soldier] conjured an image of a monster running after me.
I left Sulu and went to Cebu when I was 16 years old—to an aunt who helped me out in my studies. Now, I am a registered nurse. For six years, I did not go home to Sulu. Even when my grandfather died, And honestly, I didn’t want to. I was happy in Cebu, enjoying the comfort and beauty brought by development, something far different from where I came.
But last January, when told that my grandma was sick, I hurriedly went home. She died in February. And then I met a high school classmate who convinced me to join an anti-military rally. He explained that the fight was for independence. I joined because the “monsters” were still around.
But then I learned that the roads I walked on were roads the monsters constructed. I found out too that they’ve been building schools, conducting medical missions and bloodletting activities, and donating books.
They’ve even built a basketball court for our village here. Both young and old play basketball and I cheered for my team. I have come to realize that Sulu now is much different from the Sulu that I left for Cebu. Gunfire was an everyday and normal occurrence when I left. But now, the peace situation is markedly better. Children now wave to soldiers. Old people shake hands with them. People now mingle and chat with them, with smiles on their faces.
And so I asked myself: What am I doing? Why try to get rid of the soldiers who are helping my fellow Suluans? I started to question our group, which hasn’t done anything except demonize people who have helped Suluans achieve relative peace and development. Only very recently, I was told that the wheel chair that was used by my grandmother when she was still alive was donated by the soldiers. All this has convinced me not to join anti-military rallies anymore. I am optimistic that someday, Sulu will be like Cebu in terms of development.
I cannot undo our sad past, but I can change the course of Sulu’s future by choosing peace or development today. And I choose both.
FARMA ABDUHADI (via email)
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