Shoulder to Shoulder

The problem with the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) is that we have allowed politicians and pundits in Manila to transform it to an election issue.

It may have been impossible to skirt the issue of Charter change considering that the MOA-AD necessitates Constitutional amendments. But the manner by which the issue got quickly hijacked by politicians with clear ambitions in 2010 made sober discussion on the MOA-AD impossible.

True, things would not have turned for the worse if only President Arroyo had come out and said, clearly, just what she wants and how she intends to get them. True, it would have helped had the President, in pushing for Charter change, did not equate federalism with a parallel shift to a parliamentary form of government. It would have helped, too, if the President and all her lackeys in the Lower House had not been too eager in pushing for Charter change via Con-Ass.

But as things now stand, the issue of forging a peace agreement with the MILF has become a mere side issue, with Charter change now taking center stage. We all know the issue of Charter change to be highly contentious, with politicians and sectors clearly divided between those favoring Cha-cha now and those who think Charter change should come after GMA. Like oil and water, we know, too, that neither side is willing to give ground. Especially since 2010 is less than two years away.

Meanwhile, conflict with the Moro rebels has again flared up and civilian casualties are mounting.

It is easy for politicians from far away Manila to seize the issue of the MOA-AD and use it for all the political mileage it can serve them. But when push comes to shove, when political posturing turns ugly and ignites a shooting war as it now has, the worst that can happen to them is a temporary political setback, nothing that a good PR can not remedy.

Not so for the people of Mindanao. Here we do not have the privilege of using incendiary language and to hell with the consequences. Here we mind our language. Or we throw caution to the wind and use nasty language as the likes of Manny Pinol has done. But even Manny Pinol lives among us, in Mindanao, not in some comfortable house in a posh village in Manila.

We do not mind the likes of Senators Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, and other Manila-based politicians using the issue of peace in Mindanao to gain political points. We do not mind anybody from far away Manila to talk about solving the Mindanao problem using language that ignite the tempers of Muslims, Lumads, and Christians alike.

We do not mind them at all, even if they muddle issues and feed decades-old animosity between the peoples of Mindanao. So long as when the shit hits the fan, as it now has, they come here with their families, in the war-torn areas of Mindanao, and stand with us shoulder to shoulder, and face the consequences of all their off-the-cuff talking.