Dividing M’dnao by faith

The spate of bombings in the cities of Cotabato and Cagayan de Oro late July and early August had some local and national officials worried. A city administrator described the bombing as “un-Islamic” as it happened in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan. Many columnists instinctively framed these incidents of bombings as attempts to rile the Muslim community in Mindanao and unsettle the ongoing Philippine government-Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace talks. Culprits were identified: Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Both groups have explicitly religious agenda. So the question: Is the problem of peace in Mindanao religious in origin?

My answer: No, it is not; though BIFF and JI would gleefully jump at any opportunity to turn this into a religious conflict. If religion is involved, then a corollary question arises: Does it need a religious solution? Conflicts in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Rwanda remind us why religious solutions are convincingly unreliable. I did, however, come across one Catholic priest, Fr. Eliseo Mercado, who ridiculously promoted the idea that Nelson Mandela, a Christian, peddled religious solutions in South Africa. His article, titled “Searching for Mandela in the Bangsamoro,” entertained the idea that a Filipino version of Mandela is conceivable in our lifetime. While I appreciate his sentiment to bring lasting peace in Mindanao, Father Mercado is wrong in his assessment.

First, Mandela recognized that religion is a divider of nations: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Mandela’s concerns are definitely secular in nature. He envisioned his country where races and religions were equal and free. Mandela became the president of South Africa because he upheld democracy and freedom, not religious laws and edicts, as the ideals for his nation. Those who wish that only through a religious discourse between Christians, Muslims and lumad is the only way to forge peace in Mindanao is laboring under an illusion. Unless the Bangsamoro leaders start using secular language and stop prioritizing religion and religious solutions, there won’t be any semblance of Mandela. Only in secular society can we create a Mandela.

Second, the problems in Mindanao are ultimately about improving the economic and political situation of the people in Mindanao. I recoil when someone says, “Catholic country” or “Muslim Mindanao.” This “religious partitioning” of the Philippines often harbors antipathy between different faiths. Mandela made sure that during his watch, the minority Afrikaans would be integrated into the majority black population. Any form of separation would lead to fragmentation of his country.

Anyone who says that only through a religious solution can Mindanao move on has already lost the argument. Our growing and maturing secular society mandates that we foster a pluralistic society. Christians, Muslims, lumad, and I dare say, nonbelievers, are here to stay. There is a better chance if we learn to live with one another. Those who pretend otherwise are leading us into a troubled present and immediate future.

—ALLAN ESPINOSA,

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