Conflict in Mindanao: My own experience

The standoff in Zamboanga is reminiscent of previous Muslim--AFP confrontations in the last four decades in Mindanao. In the 1970's (I served there at that time as education supervisor), the skirmishes were a regular occurrence.

In fact, some of these were full-scale wars like the one in the town of Buldon in 1971, where the Blackshirts, as the Muslim rebels were called, and government forces including the army, the air force and the navy fought for several weeks resulting in a heavy casualty for both sides.

In the ensuing years after that event, intermittent firefights would take place in various areas in Cotabato and Lanao Sur, sometimes between Muslim militia and the army; sometimes between the former and a para-military group called "Ilaga". Composed mostly of Ilonggos, the Ilaga were known for their ferocity in combat as well as for their alleged atrocities toward captive enemies. Ambushing of vehicles, burning of villages and massacre of civilians happened every now and then. Despite these, however, life went on as usual in Cotabato and other provinces, and government offices and schools continued operating. Anxiety, of course, was always in the air because death seemed to lurk everywhere.

I remember one time when I was aboard a passenger bus bound for Davao City, a squad of military men stopped us and told us to disembark and take cover because fighting was going on some distance towards where we were heading. We could hear gunfires and when these quieted down we were allowed to go. 

A more dangerous encounter, however, was experienced by me and two other education officials somewhere in the town of Ampatuan, a Muslim community, sometime in 1973. It was late in the afternoon and we were on our way aboard a bus for General Santos City to attend a conference. Before reaching the town proper, we passed by burning houses, an indication that fighting had just occurred there. When we reached the Poblacion, about a dozen heavily armed Muslims blocked our way. Our driver, a Muslim, told us; "Only Muslims should go down, Christians stay put". There was sudden a scramble to vacate the vehicle and only four of us Christians were left. "Don't leave the bus," said the driver as he went down to confront the armed men.

Fear had gripped me (and my companions, for sure) because the armed men were brandishing their armalites towards us. I told myself, "this is it," and tried to pray the "Our Father." But the words wouldn't come out and I couldn't say the entire prayer itself. So I just kept on whispering Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…for some minutes. Somehow, I seemed to calm down, and the thought of death seemed to lose its sting.

At that moment, the armed men and our driver shuffled towards one of the houses where they stayed for several minutes. Then after what seemed an eternity of waiting, the Muslim passengers came back and boarded the bus-along with the gun-toting warriors, some staying atop the vehicle.

As the bus rumbled towards the outskirt of the town, we were wondering where they would kill us. But upon reaching an area where the grass grew tall and thick, the bus suddenly stopped and the gunmen clambered out and disappeared into the dark.

 What a relief! We were still alive! "I told them," said the driver, "that if they killed you, important people, the Sultan who owns this bus would go after them."

 That was Mindanao then, but even these days the peace and order situation has not improved. True, there was a hiatus of killing when the Tripoli Agreement was signed in 1996 and the MNLF got its autonomous region. But shortly after, the MILF started stirring up trouble, so a new peace negotiation has been initiated. Yet why the Zamboanga attack?

The answer goes deeper than claims for ethnic autonomy or conflict of leadership. It's something that lies behind the clash of Christian and Islamic cultures which is happening in many parts of the world particularly in the Middle East.