Peace? Try economics!

If Datu Toto Paglas was alive today, he would shake his head and say there could never be peace in Muslim Mindanao without the right economics. Joblessness is the key recruiter of Muslim rebels, and religion and culture merely enhance the rebellion in the hearts of our brothers in Muslim Mindanao.

I think it was in 2003 when I first heard of Toto Paglas. I visited his town named after his grandfather, Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, in the company of Rina Lopez of the Knowledge Channel Foundation. We delivered the satellite dishes to provide connectivity to the schools there with the Knowledge Channel.

Datu Toto was a big and tall man by local standards. He belonged to a local royal family with large land holdings in the area, but he exhibited no airs. He was usually dressed in an ordinary white t-shirt and denim pants. He was a leader of the rebellion there, largely because of his vision for his people who had lived in poverty for years.

But Datu Toto realized that more powerful than armed rebellion is a successful business plan that uplifts the economic condition of his people. He came to realize that the right milieu to achieve his dream is through a regime of peace and prosperity.

What I saw in Datu Paglas town amazed and surprised me. Muslim leaders in the area are not usually comfortable with non-Muslims, but Datu Toto welcomed everyone to work in his banana plantation… Muslims, Christians, Lumad, and he even had some Israeli agriculture experts helping out.

Indeed, Datu Toto caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal which pointed out that one of the Israeli experts fought Muslim militants in Lebanon while in military service. This Israeli expert and six others “work hand in hand with former MILF guerillas who tend the fields, oversee fumigation and provide security.”

According to the Journal, no less than Hashim Salamat approved the fielding of the Israelis after ascertaining that they were working well with the locals.

I asked Datu Toto what made him shift gear from a war of secession to this peaceful transformation of his town into a major banana export producer. I remember him saying that he figured war has failed all these years and peace is possible only by unleashing the economic weapon instead.

He said in so many words that no smart bomb could win a hungry and impoverished people over to the cause of peace. The model for a lasting peace lies in the eradication of poverty, Datu Toto explained. Good economics is key to peace in Mindanao.

Citing concrete examples, he said he hired some of the more reliable commanders of the Muslim secessionist movement as supervisors in his banana plantation. Then he paid them well and made sure their children got a good education.

We talked to one of those former commanders and he confirmed what Datu Toto said. “When you can feed yourself and your children can go to school, the motivation to wage violent insurgency diminishes.” Indeed, Datu Toto observed, wouldn’t they instead fight to keep their new lives if they have economic security?

Datu Toto launched his economic warfare back in 1997 by consolidating land owned by his family and friends and agreed to go into the business of growing bananas for export. Working through a company called La Frutera, the venture created jobs for some 2,000 people, 90 percent of them had been members of the MILF or sympathizers.

And Datu Toto didn’t just want to have any banana plantation, but one that uses the latest technology. He went to Israel and learned about drip-irrigation farming from a visit to a kibbutz.

The banana business also gave rise to other businesses whose benefits filtered through to the rest of the local economy. The datu has set up trucking, security and gas station businesses to serve the plantation. Jobs have opened up for local residents and the town’s new bank offers loans to other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Datu Toto also cracked down on violence and crime, constructed good roads and an irrigation system. His town is like an island of peace and prosperity.

There was an ambush in the national highway not far from the town’s edge while we were there. But Datu Toto said renewed conflict in the region has not affected his agri business operations and they are sending container loads of bananas for export to the Middle East daily.

When I interviewed him at his house on top of a hill with an outstanding view of the surrounding countryside, he said he plans to share what he has learned with other Muslim leaders in other parts of the ARMM. He said there is the possibility of growing asparagus for export out of Lanao among other cash crops that would keep people busy and out of trouble.

I think what Muslim Mindanao needs is another enlightened Muslim leader like the late Toto Paglas. As we can plainly see these days, the typical leaders like the Ampatuans have done nothing for their people. Not even Nur Misuari, an esteemed professor of ours during our UP days, has done anything to uplift the economic conditions of the Muslim people.

Maybe today’s MILF leaders mean well and are ready to help their people improve their lives, which explains why the peace process has gone as far as it had. But they are getting old, and if nothing positive happens soon, younger firebrands are ready to grab leadership from them. Even now dissidents are forming splinter groups.

If we are to learn anything from the Datu Paglas experience, we need to replicate it, but on a larger scale. A mini-Marshall Plan should work wonders. That is what the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL is supposed to make possible.

Even if just to set the ground rules for an economic plan, we shouldn’t abandon the passage of a BBL. We can revise the current draft in the light of Mamasapano. War shouldn’t be an option. As agri expert Dr. Rolando Dy of UAP observed, “The economic and social costs of war are unthinkable.  By contrast peace will bring inclusive growth.”

Last year, a group of economists from the Foundation for Economic Freedom conducted workshops for Bangsamoro leaders to make them understand how the right economic policies could help bring economic development faster to the region. Indeed, the FEF recommended the adoption of many economic policies that elements of the ruling economic oligarchy in Manila have been resisting for decades.

Many countries, notably Japan have shown interest in helping jumpstart economic development for Bangsamoro. Industries would be attracted to the region with a package of incentives. It would be interesting to see them succeed which we have failed because of our restrictive policies.

Datu Toto thought he could spread the benefit of his town’s economic transformation by running for governor of ARMM. But unfortunately, he was no match to the established warlords who even made it look like he lost in his own town, and that’s simply impossible.

Somehow, our Muslim brothers, just like the rest of us, are unable to elect the right leaders. That explains why most of our people are poor and hungry. It is just that in Muslim Mindanao, extremists use religious and cultural factors to justify an insurgency that in reality has basic economic roots.

It is also unfortunate that Datu Toto died at such a young age of 48 of meningitis. It is so unfortunate for his fellow Muslims and for the Filipino nation to lose someone with the ability to engender harmonious relationship between Christians and Muslims.

While the 1,200 hectares of banana plantation Datu Toto started is still doing well, I am sure Mindanao would be more economically vibrant if he had lived. As I wrote in a column some years ago, Toto Paglas is another missed opportunity, which is the story of our lives.

So now we shouldn’t let that unfortunate event two weeks ago stop our drive for peace. While we must find out the truth about Mamasapano, the MILF must now demonstrate more sincerity and the peace process must continue.

If it becomes impossible to implement the current BBL, we simply have to start a new peace process. Maybe we should try to win the peace by making economics first and foremost. We must start by making sure enough jobs are created and people would be busy producing goods and providing services rather than waging war.

Sounds idealistic perhaps, but that’s how good things start. If we want it badly enough for peace to happen, it will.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected].  Follow him on Twitter @boochanco