Party line for RP's Centrist Democrats

While some are gnashing their teeth in frustration that political reforms in the Philippines seem headed for nowhere, small steps are being taken unnoticed. One small step I wish to acknowledge and make known to more people is the publication of The Party Line which aims to be the official organ of the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP or the Centrist Democrats in short, the alternative name for Christian Democrats. As the ruling party, it needs to consolidate its platform, a recognizable ground plan through which we might be able to say whether they deserve a new mandate come elections 2004. This would be a test of how sincere its party leaders are about political reforms. On the other hand. what better way for the people to follow up the progress of a party’s performance than through a party newspaper, provided it is geared towards information and honest self-appraisal.

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The credit for the revival of a party newspaper must go to Speaker Jose de Venecia who as the party national chairman knows the importance of information in a country that purports to be democratic. "This newsletter will serve to unite the party on issues affecting our leaders and the general membership," he said. The crucial word here is unite because party platforms to be effective need the support of all members from the leadership down. But first the Centrist Democrats must have a platform. Then it must make this platform known to all members and memorized like a creed so they are able to move it forward whether they are senator, congressman, mayor or governor. If they do not speak with one voice, then they are not a party, just a gang, a barkada who come together in good times. If the aim is to consolidate party politics as the reforming vehicle for good governance, then The Party Line deserves our support.

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I have the first copy before me as I write this column. I am honored that I have been invited to join the board because I believe in the tenets of Christian Democracy then and Centrist Democracy now. It also published a column I wrote for The STAR after the recent Leaders’ Summit in Mexico "Political Networking and the Mexico Visit" which cites the advantages of being part of the CDI, an international group with political clout.

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Centrist Democratic stalwarts make up the list of officers in the masthead: Jose C. de Venecia, Jr., national chairman, Teofisto Guingona, president, Heherson T. Alvarez, secretary general. The editorial board is composed of Heherson Alvarez, chair, Jose Ma. Rufino, vice chair and members, Gualberto B. Lumauig, Jose M. Guerrero, Edgardo M. Malay and yours truly. Named as publisher and editor in chief is Lumauig with Jose Ma. Guerrero as associate publisher, Nixon A. Canlapan, managing editor, Hilarion Pawide, associate editor and Ernesto B. Rojo, Jr, news editor. It is published monthly by the Lakas Media Bureau with offices at the LTA Bldg in Perea St. Makati.

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With this column, I have come to the end of the series on Islam as part of the cultural identity of Filipinos – a Paper I submitted for the 17th Al-Janadriya, a Festival of Heritage and Culture in Riyadh. The series, by any means, should not be considered the final word on the subject matter. It was an attempt to show that there are other approaches to tackle the problem of peace and order in Mindanao. But the first battle must begin in the mind by finding out the cultural roots of the problem. Having chosen a direction, I know that there are more able and more competent historians who can fill in the gaps in the approach. In a nutshell, the paper aims to demonstrate that Filipino Muslims deserve to be treated as co-equals in national policy direction because of their historical role in the wars against colonialism. The Philippine government must diligently search or cultivate the best and brightest among them in the shaping of this nation.

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In an article entitled "Awakening our Asian Heritage" written by Emmanuel Yap in 1998, he says finding our Asian kinship may be the key to our survival as a nation.

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"In an analytical document issued a few months ago, the London based Royal Institute of International Strategic Studies stated that in 20 years we could very well see not only the ‘Asianization; of the world economy but also that of world politics. This is an admission that the 500 years of domination of the world by the Western power is ending, and that a new multipolar universal dispensation different from what we have known in our lifetime is aborning.

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This means that the highly pro-colonial culture (Western) that we have been practicing as a people for the past 200 years or so may not serve us well in the decades ahead. The colonial values we have imbibed from Spanish and American colonialism may have to be reconstructed to match Asian ways of thinking and doing things."

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It is in this respect that a correct appreciation of our Islamic heritage as an essential part of Filipino’s identity can help. In the same article he calls on Filipinos to remember that as a people we Filipinos descended from "sons and daughters of old Asian civilizations that are now re-emerging as great political and economic powers."

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"It is vital because our own national survival may hinge on how well we can coexist and cooperate with our Asian neighbors mainly on the basis of common racial and cultural moorings." Yap argues.

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One of the bridges to our Asian neighbors especially the Malaysian, the Indonesians and the Bruneians are our Muslim brothers and sisters in the south. If Filipinos are to invigorate their Asian identity, we must look to the South, to Mindanao.

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"It is for this very large and deep reason that we should reinvigorate in ourselves the Asian values that our forebears cherished. We must place great value in our roots as Asians belonging to the Malay Massif, a civilization that arose from the Chinese, Indian and Polynesian civilizations.(and may I add, Islamic.)

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In the same article, Yap also points to the bad effects of Spanish policies that thwarted the development of the country. In contrast to the flourishing trade that Filipinos had with neighboring countries encouraged by the presence of Muslim traders then before the Spaniards came, colonial Spain closed the country for trade. "The deliberate stoppage by the Spanish colonial regime of the Filipinos’ trade and intercourse or other forms of communication with other free peoples of their region was regarded by Rizal as one of the most destructive colonial policies. This isolated Filipinos culturally, killed the once flourishing trade and commerce with other countries and destroyed all the maritime skills of the Filipinos which, had it been allowed to continue and develop further, might have later made the Philippines an England or Scandinavia of the Western Pacific."

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All of the foregoing is to demonstrate that modern Filipinos, whether Christians or Muslims, will have everything to gain if they retrace their steps and discover the Islamic part of their national heritage, and not to regard it just as a fringe religion in the south as they have been made to believe by their miseducation. Filipinos may have been isolated from their neighbors in the colonial era but they need not be isolated from their Muslim brothers and sisters today. They must retrieve the Islamic part of their heritage and hold it up with pride and honor. As Yap said, "It was colonial policy that made Filipinos unable to identify political, cultural and economic interests with its neighbors in Southeast Asia, making them strangers in their own home region."

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Saudi Arabia as the religious fountainhead of Islam can help bring about a new awareness of the historical Islamic identity of Filipinos. This 17th Festival of Islamic Heritage and Culture is the appropriate forum to deliver this appeal from a Christian who ardently wants to understand Islam and integrate this with her identity a Filipino. That is why information and cultural exchanges must not be limited to Muslims alone but to Christians and to the world at large.

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Sometime ago an Omani named Malallah Bin Ali Bin Habib Al Lawate came upon the last poem of the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal entitled "Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell)." It eloquently expresses his patriotism and sadness before his execution by the Spanish colonialists.. Al Lawate was so touched by the poem it is said that he sat down and translated it immediately into Arabic. With his translation the Omani poet helped bring the Christian dominated Philippines closer to the Arab world. Although the translation has been made, as far as I know, the Arabic translation has yet to be published and distributed widely among Filipinos and Arab speaking Muslims. That is also the kind of activity that can strengthen the cultural links between Filipino Christians and Filipino Muslims.

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My e-mail address: [email protected]