“Thin-line that Separates Peace from War”

            The battlecry for social justice have long existed since the 1935 Constitution. Many battles have been won just to achieve the spirit of democracy. Thousands of blood sacrificed inorder to waive the Republic Flag to the wind of peace and freedom. But quoting the words of Atty. Christian Monsod there are “unfinished business to the battle of democracy for social justice”. So how much more sacrifices and compromises we need to give, in achieving the peace that has been long gone in the South of the country? Definitely the price for this aspiration is not free.

            The peace process in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is like the traffic in EDSA: slow, mind-wrecking and very problematic. The Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF entered into an agreement for peace talk. The result of that is the proposal in passing the Bangsa-moro Basic Law or BBL. This is achievement for the Moros. The BBL will have unification and acknowledgement of their ethnicity, according to Madam Amina Rasul Bernardo an advocate for peace in Mindanao. She also mentioned that, the effort of the government to have peace before is pushing to the arena of war instead. That is why BBL is highly needed for peace, according to her. But our Muslim brothers and sisters have been recognized and never been left out before. After all we are unified by one blood as Filipinos. We are governed by one law which is The 1987 Constitution.

            If passing the BBL is intended for peace, most probably there are other motives behind that. Motives, not engraved in the letters of BBL. Let me just share a brief information from Gracia Burnham one of the survivor in the kidnapping headed by the Abusayaff in early 2000’s. She mentioned on her book that those Muslim rebels have the motive to turn whole Mindanao into Islam until whole nation is controlled by it. They don’t care to die or kill anyone just to achieve their goal. It is scary and alarming. The Abusayaff is actually connected with MILF. Now MILF is actively pushing for this BBL. It gives me an idea that if the BBL is passed, it is just like we lighted our own torch of death.

            In passing a law, intent is the very motive. But if the motive is hiding in the words, we need to pause and dig deeper to investigate the real reason in the passage of law. It is very essential to look in checking its Constitutionality. Is peace really the intent or is there other than that in BBL. Can we just neglect the words of the survivor from the hands of Muslim rebels?

Remember, that the group who is behind the BBL is also the one behind the disturbance of peace in Mindanao. The question now is how we can resolve the distraught dreams for peace of our fellowmen in the south. My answer is ‘submission’, ‘commitment’ and ‘surrender’.

Submission to the authority is giving your full support to its aspirations for the betterment of Mindanao. It needs commitment in withholding peace to live safely without fear of death while walking in the street or to sleep soundly at night without fear of not waking up for tomorrows’ mist. Surrender the firearms and contribute to a successful nation for tomorrows’ generation.

Definitely this is difficult to achieve. But it is possible to attain. We, every Filipinos must be instruments for peace. Each has a role to play to win the battle for peace. BBL gives us thin-line between peace and war. The autonomy of our Muslim brothers and sisters has been long recognized by the law of the land. No need for BBL, because it will just separate us Filipinos who have been unified by thousands of blood more than 300 years ago.