HOUSE OF KANABAN

Leader: IMPERIAL, Darryl

Members:
LUMAWAG, Hazel
AGBAYANI, Gellie
SALAZAR, Francis

THERE COULD NEVER BE PEACE IN MINDANAO

A Reaction to Asin’s Cotabato

Cotabato is the song that tells about the never ending war and plea for

peace. Indeed such song still embodies the sentiments of many people in

Mindanao (Lumawag, 2018). It portrays how both pure blooded Filipinos fought

each other (Agbayani, 2018)

Is there still hope? Could there never be peace in Mindanao? As we live

most of our lives in Mindanao we still strongly believe that someday Mindanao

will have that peace we all long for (Imperial, 2018).

Imperial (2018) argues that war is inevitable. War may mean not just

physical battle between two opposing parties but rather an idea of clashing

principles, ideologies, perspectives and beliefs. Man is a rational being. It is in

his nature being discontent and gets frustrated when something do not come

into what he has been expecting. Having this discontentment and frustration,

entitled with rationality, a man might question one’s principles, ideologies,

perspectives and beliefs, and that will be a starting point of conflict that will lead

to war.

The song Cotobato by Asin was an eye opener to the all citizen not just in

Cotobato. The word respect is badly needed to sort out this problem. The song

encourages us to accept each culture and admire what is contrast to one

another Lumawag, 2018).

As the lyrics in the song “Dahil di magkasundo sa relihiyon at prinsipyo,

nagkagulo”, the main reason of this long war but it no way hinder the people to

continue striving and give effort to attain peace, harmony and co-existence

despite the circumstances. According to Antonino, as cited by Imperial (2018)

"We recognize these challenges as affecting our dogged efforts to

accelerate Mindanao's overall socioeconomic growth, but are in no
way keeping us out of focus," Antonino stressed. She said that despite
the impasse on the BBL, there is a demonstration of commitment from
various stakeholders to pursue lasting peace, in which everyone can
move forward for sustained development. “What is important is we find
means to interface and coordinate on development initiatives,
including private sector investments so as not to derail delivery of
benefits especially to conflict-affected communities," she added.”
(Source:http://minda.gov.ph/news/174-mindanao-resilient-can-overco
me-challenges-antonino)

Mindanao resilient, can overcome challenges – Diversity in culture and

belief is the strength of Mindanao not its weakness. Mindanao in so many

decades has continued to strive for co-existence and promoting unity despite

diversity. And the continued economic growth and potentials of the entire

region just shows that hope for peace is not impossible. As stated on the same

article:
 “In 2015, six Mindanao provinces made it to the top 10 of the 2015
Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index of the National
Competitiveness Council (NCC), reflecting economic dynamism,
government efficiency, and infrastructure growth.Under the Mindanao
Development Corridors Program being coordinated by MinDA,
Mindanao has able to get between 25-30 percent of national public
works budget over the last three years, reflecting a steady hike in
Aquino government's infra spending for the region.Mindanao's
competitiveness is also seen playing a critical role in its contribution to
the national growth. The island's Gross Regional Domestic Product
(GRDP) has many times outperformed national average.Its economy
grew by 7.4 percent last year, from 6.3 percent recorded in 2014, and
contributed 14.4 percent to country's overall growth. “Mindanao’s real
progress is hinged on the unity of all its peoples, amid diversity,"
Antonino said.”

When concerned to the welfare of the people over power and greediness,

development is possible and violence is preventable or in likely to occur. We

should maintain communication and understand one another in order for us to

keep the community safety (Salazar, 2018).

The people of Mindanao want peace and only those who wield weapons

that have their own agenda and benefited from this long ranging war are the

ones at wrong (Lumawag, 2018). Peace is not impossible, the government and

us the people of Mindanao should not give up holding to the hope that one day

we will have it (Imperial, 2018). It might be not today, next few years or even in

our lifetime but these continued efforts to attain peace we believe will bear fruit

if we don’t give up and unite to attain the same goal. As what Escovilla (2016),

cited by Imperial (2018), said that, “It is easy to wage war. To work on peace is

an uphill battle. Building peace requires all our efforts, regardless of where we

come from or where our political sentiments lie. It requires all creative means to

make it happen”.