From Jolo to Kabul, to Baghdad: A common misunderstanding?

Right on cue, a bomb blast in Jolo, the capital of the Sulu archipelago, reminded us that not all our troubles consist of the political noise-making in Metro Manila. At least nine people were killed and about 20 others injured when an improvised explosive device exploded in the Sulu Consumers Cooperative store. By this act, even though the destruction is nowhere near the magnitude of the bomb attacks in Iraq, our local terrorists called attention to the fact that they are still in business.

Naturally, the Abu Sayyaf, whose signature-weapon is the bomb, are being blamed. But why was the target a harmless cooperative store with the victims mostly Muslims? The stock in trade of the terrorist is to create mayhem and the very mindlessness of his choice of victims is what makes him terrifying.

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In any event, Sulu remains a very dangerous place. The fierce Tausogs from there have for centuries lived by violence. Calling themselves "the people of the current" their ancestors used to take their swift sailing craft named vintas as far as the coasts of Ilocos Sur and La Union, in northern Luzon, which is why you still find the ruins of old Spanish watchtowers beside the coastal highway.

As soon as the colorful sails of those vintas were spotted by watchers, warning bonfires were lit and the word was sped to the sleeping Christian towns: "Hay Moros en la costa!" The local Guardia Civil and the menfolk were mobilized to fight off the raiders who were in search of loot and slaves. Of course, in true fundamentalist Islamic fashion, the Moro raiders put the men to the sword, and reputedly carried off the women and children as slaves. Often enough, when adequate warning was given, the attackers were driven off, suffering heavy casualties themselves. Yet the kris and the kampilan were terribly feared when wielded by the Tausog warriors. In short, the Tausog way of life was piracy, kidnapping – and the slaying of the Infidel, meaning us Christians.

In the Spanish and American colonial periods, the most fanatical juramentados and amoks always came from Sulu. A well-known prewar adventure movie entitled "The Real Glory," starring Gary Cooper, was even filmed to chronicle how the Philippine Constabulary, in those days under American officers, had to battle Tausog ambushes and cope with the sudden attacks of the juramentados. The PC served in the American era under the famous General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing in whose honor Pershing Plaza in Zamboanga City is named.

In our younger days, we used to bum around the Sulu archipelago to observe the Tausog way of life. If you’ve never seen the enchanting islands of that archipelago from the pilot window of a small plane, you haven’t lived. They are strewn like a sparkling necklace of green jade on the backdrop of an azure sea. The truth is that I was trying to learn how to fly an airplane in those days and my instructor was a young American Oblate priest who was, in addition to his theological expertise, an accomplished aviator. He taught me how to take off and fly, but alas, before I learned how to land that darned aircraft, my friend abandoned his vows and ran off to marry a local lass.

But I’ll never forget those coral-fringed islands in the sun. Ungus Matata, Bongao, Sitangkay, and of course Tawi-Tawi.

My friend the wayward Oblate, was obviously the notable exception. For two generations, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) have been doing devoted and wonderful missionary work in Mindanao. They run the excellent Notre Dame schools, for instance. Among my best friends in the Order were the late Bishop McSorley of Basilan. He was the chum of my former boss, the late, unforgettable Father C. B. Billman. One of my first jobs was as Associate Editor of the Catholic Weekly newspaper, "The Sentinel" in which Father Billman was the Editor-in-Chief. My fellow Associate Editors in those years were Mario Gatbondon, Gus Piedad, and Eggie Apostol. It took more than a year for us to get Billman, who hailed from Boston, to admit to us what his first initial, "C" meant. He sheepishly revealed it was "Cuthbert." Billman taught us how to write without fear or favor – and how to drink heavily. The Oblates of his time, I discovered during my several visits to them in Mindanao, always kept well-stocked bars in their convents. After all, hadn’t Jesus’ first miracle, C.B. used to quip, been to turn water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana? In vino veritas, he said.

And that’s where we all got into trouble. The employees in the Philippine Trust, which was then owned by the good Primate of the Church, the late Rufino Cardinal Santos, went on strike and we in "The Sentinel" rashly supported the strikers. Worst of all, in doing so we quoted the Papal Encyclicals, "Rerum Novarum," and "Quadragesimo Anno..." Never quote two Popes to embarrass a Cardinal! We were all fired from The Sentinel including Father Billman!

I was asked in the course of time to be guest speaker at some of the Notre Dame schools in Mindanao, like the Notre Dame de Cotabato. My most memorable speech, however, was that delivered in the Notre Dame de Sulu. To my horror, I found myself in Mt. Hagen in the Western highlands of Papua New Guinea when I suddenly remembered I was supposed to deliver the Commencement Address in Sulu within two days.

Frantically, I grabbed the first plane I could get, and it turned out to be a C-47 carrying an entire load of cattle. So, there we were, pilot, co-pilot, and this writer, crammed into the cockpit, with 12 head of cattle mooing behind us. They dropped me off at Madang. I desperately hired a bush pilot to fly me to Port Moresby, from where I luckily caught a plane leaving for Melbourne, Australia. From Melbourne, I got a flight to Manila, then, dashed across the tarmac to get the PAL flight to Zamboanga.

Luckily, a private pilot was available in Zamboanga City to get me across the Sulu Sea to Jolo. Rushing over from the airport in a hired jeepney, I barely caught the tail-end of the academic procession. They threw a cap and toga on me as we marched and fortunately somebody had brought along a Master’s hood, so I was properly attired by the time our procession got to the stage. Thus, I got to deliver the graduation speech, almost out of breath though I was. I’ll have to say that was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life!

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I can’t say whether the Oblate Fathers still drink or have become strict teetotalers. Our beloved Father Billman, and his brother, an Irish-American missionary too, have both gone to heaven. I’ve lost touch with today’s Filipino Oblates and Bishops, but they all seem completely sober and serious.

The Oblate Fathers taught me one important thing about their schools, however. The Rector of one Notre Dame College told me that even if most of their pupils and students were Muslims, they never tried to convert any of them to Christianity.

"If any boy or girl converted to Christianity," he had said, "the young convert was immediately thrown out of the family. He or she was considered ‘dead’ by the entire family, from parents to brothers and sisters." (Could one or two of them even get actually killed? I thought to myself when he said this.)

This is exactly what is happening to poor Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan. If you’ll recall as we’ve been writing in the past two columns, Rahman was arrested in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, after it was discovered that he had converted from Islam to Christianity 15 years ago. He was on the verge of being sentenced to death for apostasy or ridda by a stern Shariah court when an international outcry erupted over his plight. America’s President George W. Bush complained, as did Germany, Italy, and Canada. All those countries have thousands of troops serving in Afghanistan to support the government of President Hamid Karzai, combat Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and try to promote "democracy" in that land plagued by fratricidal strife. Many other western countries also condemned what was being done to Rahman. The bizarre story made front page headlines all over the world, and many editorials sharply criticized the Kabul court for its medieval thinking.

The Court last Sunday decided to release Rahman on bail, although it did not completely exonerate him. What’s worrisome is that several fanatical Muslim Imams then angrily assailed Afghanistan’s President Karzai for having yielded to pressure from the infidels, like Bush and the Europeans. Furious Islamic mobs rioted and demanded "death" for Rahman for his having abandoned Islam and embraced hated Christianity. If you ask me, Rahman had better be rescued and hidden somewhere, otherwise, he will surely be murdered in Afghanistan.

A similar thing is happening in Iraq, where the Baghdad City Council is refusing to have any more dealings with the Americans unless the Americans can prove that they had nothing to do with a raid on an alleged prayer center which they are calling a "mosque" during which several militia men belonging to the Shia Mahdi Army were killed. The American forces keep on insisting that it was not their operation at all, but that of an Iraqi special unit. It’s difficult if not impossible, I guess, to assuage Islamic fury whether it’s over any such incident, or a Danish cartoon insulting the Prophet Muhammad, or some poor fellow like Abdul Rahman who left Islam and became a Christian.

Alas, the Americans who have sacrificed much are beginning to learn what they should have learned from their Vietnam debacle. Never go into a country whose language you don’t understand, whose religion you don’t understand, and where the people are ready to tear each other apart anyway. In such a situation, one never knows from what direction the fatal bullet or bomb may come. The Americans did their best, and I feel, although perhaps a minority view, that they had the best of intentions. But it’s time for them to go home.

Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his visit to Australia a few days ago, told Prime Minister John Howard and the Australian nation, that they should stick it out in Iraq, and not abandon the fight. I admire Mr. Blair for his gallantry and courage of leadership – these qualities have cost him much suffering – but he, too, ought to know when it’s time to depart.

The Americans, Brits, Australians and their brave coalition allies won’t be abandoning Iraq. The Iraqis have already abandoned them.