4/30/08
Newsletter
Phase 2
So it seems that any attempt to make solid plans for writing and documenting my work here on a consistent basis is futile. Over the past few months my schedule has changed and shifted on a weekly basis, but I have remained flexible and kept written records of my experiences along the way. Now that our second retreat is approaching I am back in the MCSF office in General Santos City and I have a few days to compose my thoughts and write to all of you back home. I will recount as much as I can since my last newsletter, which I realize only covered my orientation period in any detail.
The first portion of my time here in Mindanao was spent in the academia. I visited Mindanao State University and Notre Dame Dejangas University to speak with students and faculty on a variety of subjects. My first stop was MSU, where I had the opportunity to stay at the house of an Islamic studies professor and meet many of her students. This was my first chance to become educated on the Moro situation and learn a bit of the cultural history. There are 13 tribes of Muslims here in Mindanao, the three largest include the Maguindanao, the Tausug, and the Maranao. Each has its own tribal dialect and various customs and originates from a particular region. However, all share the common faith and traditions of Islam. The professor at MSU gave me a book and several articles to read which have enriched my understanding of the Moro struggle.
After MSU I visited NDDU, which is a college run by the Catholic Church. I met with several professors and students, and it was very interesting to see the demographic differences between NDDU and MSU. For the most part, NDDU students come from affluent families and the facilities and curriculum reflect this. Class sizes are smaller, uniforms are required, and a more conservative course listing is provided. In addition, although there is a large Moro population in the Gensan area, NDDU is attended by very few. Those who are enrolled are largely secular Muslims who are not observing regular faith practices. It was also interesting to observe the difference between teaching philosophies of NDDU as compared to MSU. The former, being run by sisters and brothers of the Catholic Church, is quite reserved in their approach to social and political issues. When they discussed with me the current problems facing the Filipino people, I struggled to identify with their belief that by only praying for change, God will provide. I must say I admire their faith, but I also believe in the book of James, which in the context of the Philippines requires more than simple prayer. However, at MSU, a far larger percentage of the faculty and students are involved with activist work and progressive organizations that work for positive change in Mindanao. It was especially impressive to see the Christian and Muslim students of MSU working together on many such issues, whether against the policies of the Local Government Units (LGUs) or national level issues that affect all Filipinos.
Throughout my time at the local colleges, I also was visiting various UCCP churches in the SOCKSARGEN area. It is a Filipino tendency to create “official” acronyms for everything, and SOCKSARGEN stands for the wider region of southern Mindanao, the South Cotobato, Sultan Kuldarat, Saragani, General Santos areas. After I was finished in the academia I spent Christmas at the local church of my host father in a Barangay called Silway 8. It was great to be there for the holidays, especially because the youth there were some of the first people I met upon my arrival at the beginning of November. I must say it was strange to be sweating in church on Christmas morning, but so it is with any and all holidays in the Philippines! For New Years, I was in the MCSF office here in Gensan with the pastors and some friends of the family. Most fireworks are completely legal in the Philippines, and of course no police officer is going to go to the trouble of arresting anyone in possession of larger fireworks that are apparently outlawed. The Christmas season is extraordinarily long as it is the single biggest holiday in a nation comprised of ninety percent Roman Catholics. The lights started to go up in Manila the day after Halloween and the fireworks started at the beginning of advent. I thought that Christmas Eve sounded like New Years…. But I was wrong!! There were SO many fireworks set off on New Years Eve that a dense blanket of smoke filled the entire city and even in the office we sat and drank a few beers barely being able to see the road outside. On New Years day Gensan became a ghost town, no cars were on the road, and not a single store was open as it was time to spend at home with the family. I stayed in the office for the first week of January and left on the 8th for the first Intern Retreat on the island of Palawan.
I wrote my first newsletter after returning from the assessment in Palawan, but I excluded much of the above information for the sake of writing my second newsletter at the end of February. Unfortunately I could not find time to write, and so I will now account the time I have spent in the SOCKSARGEN area since January. I think for most of us the retreat in Palawan was timed perfectly after we endured an exhausting two months, and just experienced a very special time of year in a very foreign manner, half a world away from our family and friends. Now that it is April, I know we are all once again in need of some time to reflect and process our experiences. For me, the past three months have been a kind of rollercoaster of emotions and realizations. Some of my original perceptions have been enriched, while others have changed completely.
The week after my return to Gensan, a number of Lumads (indigenous peoples) arrived at the MCSF office seeking aid and legal assistance for a situation that arose in their mountain community. About a month prior, they were harassed by a detachment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and they were convinced to come forward with their complaint. It is suspected that this was another instance of government policy utilizing the AFP to intimidate Lumads off their lands in order to secure potential mining sites in the mountains surrounding General Santos. Instead of allocating the fiscal resources to properly relocate such communities, the Army is often used to forcibly remove IPs from their homes. In the case of those who arrived at MCSF, their houses and rice storage facilities were burned to the ground. It was a long and arduous process to formulate affidavits and petitions due to the fact that many of the B’laan (name of the Lumad tribe) victims only speak their tribal dialect. However, the statements of family members and community leaders were eventually completed and assessed by several human rights lawyers. The case not only included complaints against the AFP but also was hinged on the release of a man that was shot during the altercation and who was being held in a military ward of the local emergency hospital. The situation was complicated by deep animosities harbored by the local judge whose family has disputed land titles with B’laan tribesmen over the past decade. A writ of amparo was filed demanding immediate release of the wounded individual, but was rejected. Hearings for other complaints were postponed and will most likely not be heard any time in the near future.
These events served to confirm my perceptions that the judicial system of the Philippines is not only slow but in many cases it is stacked against poor and marginalized peoples. In addition, the personal history of the executive judge in General Santos impacted the case in a negative way. It is also widely understood that witnesses and jury members can be bought and thus the judicial institutions are tainted by corruption and bribery.
Less than a week after the Lumads arrived at MCSF, a national corruption scandal made headlines. Back in mid-2007 a government development plan was made with the Chinese to create a national broadband network in the Philippines. However, series of backroom transactions were made by the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo which raised questions as to the original spending for the project allocated by congress. As with many projects of foreign investment in the Philippines, the price is far higher than required because so many politicians expect a large kickback from the deal. In February, a star witness to the scandal returned to the country and the media had a heyday.
It was the hope of many activists that this individual would testify against the Arroyo administration and contribute to its demise. March rallies were held across the country, all calling for the “ousting” of President Gloria Arroyo. However, it was at this point that I began to question not the legitimacy of such activities, but their worth. After all, there surely are very few Filipinos who think that GMA should remain in office, and it is common knowledge that she achieved the Presidency through widespread election fraud. However, the question is no longer whether she is corrupt or illegitimate because she and her administration are both. The question in my mind became “What comes next?” In other words, if she is removed from office democratically or otherwise, what safeguards are in place to ensure that her successor will not follow the same disloyal and undemocratic practices? The answer is that there truly are none, and this is the perennial problem facing the Republic of the Philippines. I believe many volumes have been written and could yet be written that analyze such issues. I have indeed formulated and reformulated my own opinions, but it would take a book to truly manifest all of my observations!
Prior to a rally in Gensan, I went around with a community organizer to canvass and spread awareness for the event. It was great to see new parts of the city and meet many people who are part of the social movement here in SOCKSARGEN. During this process I visited several communities on the bay that are scheduled for demolition by the government. Some of these places have existed for nearly thirty years, but are going to be relocated into the hills for the sake of “beautification” of the Sarangani Bay area. This is particularly ironic because any attempt to furnish facilities or beach areas that attract tourism to the region are automatically defeated by issues of security for foreigners. Such government actions are further troubled by the livelihood of those Filipinos living near the water who are all fishermen. Thus, if they are relocated five or ten kilometers inland, they have no way to make a living. Many community organizers such as the individual who took me with her during these visits are working to draw up lengthy petitions against the government that request a reversal of decisions for demolition. The success of such appeals is yet to be seen.
One of the major issues here in Mindanao is the presence of U.S. troops, especially Special Forces personnel. It is a complicated topic and of course impossible for civilians to know all of the reasons for which they are training the AFP and conducting operations in the Philippines. However, I do know that many of the supposed dangers portrayed by the media and U.S. government regarding Mindanao are fake, or at least misrepresented. There are indeed dangers for foreigners in various regions and there are definite war zones. However, certain groups are confused with others and often the legitimate armed struggles are lumped in the same category as lawless bandits in Mindanao. I hope to have the opportunity to speak extensively about these matters when I return home, for the sake of this newsletter it is simply to complex to explain in the necessary detail.
During the month of February I attended a forum in Gensan that was held to educate and protest against the presence of U.S. troops in Mindanao. There were several speakers including a renowned professor from the University of the Philippines and a late senator. It was quite interesting to listen to the lectures and assess the knowledge in light of my previous studies regarding U.S. military intervention in Latin America. There is no doubt that the United States has historically classified potential threats to international business as “national security risks.” As such, the government has deployed troops or financed insurgency campaigns to deter such elements. Once again, it is in the interest of brevity that I do not discuss these issues further. Suffice it to say that I have learned that in the Philippines, as in other places around the world, U.S. military presence is not all that it appears to be.
Another major issue in the Philippines and Mindanao in particular is open-pit mining. I have attended numerous forums related to this problem and spoke to many people who have been directly affected by the fallout. As with the numerous other calamities facing the Filipino people, unrestricted and unregulated mining is a result of corrupt political and business practices. Instead of forcing foreign companies to adhere to stringent environmental laws and create legitimate employment opportunities, politicians are willing to take a bribe and look the other way. The results have been devastating. Entire communities of people, indigents, Christians and Muslims, have had no choice but to relocate after land and water systems have been destroyed by mining operations. In addition, although the companies claim to employ a vast number of people, they have an interesting policy; employees are contracted for only a month at a time. In other words, the company hires new employees on a frequent basis to replace previous ones and simply publishes the total number of different names as if all of them were employed at once for a year or more. Of course this is tolerated by government officials who care only for the kickback they receive for remaining silent.
There are also many cases where communities living downstream from a mining site suffer sickness and even death from contaminated water. Of course, as with the Lumads mentioned above, victims or families of victims have no legitimate legal recourse for such damages. Although many activists have taken up the issue in protest against the government, money speaks louder than words.
My most recent exposure was with a Moro tribe called the Maguindanao. I stayed for 2 weeks with a family in the municipality of Glan, about one hour from Gensan by jeepney. I have had many immersions with different communities and I have met a great number of people since arriving here in November. However, I can confidently say that my experiences with the Muslims in Glan were especially outstanding. Once I was able to make clear that I was not seeking to convert anyone, some of the most enlightening and important conversations I have had in the Philippines ensued. I spoke with family members, Imams and children all who lived in a fishing community near the mouth of the Sarangani Bay. Some of my fondest memories will be of the time I spent there, however short. Of course by the time I arrived in Glan I understood a good deal about the Moro struggle in Mindanao and this served as a platform for more personal discussion and a chance to learn about individual experiences of Muslims living in Sarangani.
Now that I am preparing for our second retreat, I am also putting myself in the mindset of the third and final phase of the internship. I will return to Gensan and have a one month exposure in the mountainous areas of Sarangani with several communities of Indigenous Peoples. At this point it is undecided where I will spend my final month; it is possible that I might work with an NGO in Davao City, about 3 hours northeast of General Santos. Due to the fact that there is no definite plan for July, I will request time here in the office to complete another newsletter that details my experience with the B’Laan peoples of Saragani!
Thank you all for your love and support, I think about you often!
Peace
Ted
