THE Bangsamoro peace process can be considered as one of the longest peace process in the world where we have more than four decades of peace negotiation and implementation. Within these four decades we saw what happens when spoilers succeed in their objectives.
In 2008, the failure to sign the MOA AD, it resulted to a civil war in Central Mindanao and parts of Lanao del Norte. It also paved the way for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
During the Aquino administration, the failure of the passage of the BBL 2014, led to more splinter groups like the Ansarul Kilafa and the Maute Group in Lanao del Norte. In both cases of failures, the casualties of the armed conflict increased tremendously and resulted to displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians. By now, we must understand that if all spoilers succeed, the quest for peace in our land would be dangerously counterproductive.
We must recognize the fact that the crucial difference between the success and failure of spoilers is the role played by our government and the international actors as custodians of peace. If they can create and implement coherent, effective strategies for protecting peace and managing spoilers, damage may be controlled and peace will be achieved. But if they will fail to develop and implement such strategies, spoilers of the Bangsamoro peace process will definitely succeed at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
I recommend that our government must learn from the past experiences. We must also come up with an appropriate strategy with correct diagnosis of the type of spoilers that we face. To arrive at good diagnoses, policy makers like Congress must work hand in hand with the executive department. The recent incident in Marawi City is an eye opener. As we prolong the conflict in Bangsamoro and our failure to arrive at an acceptable political solution, the Bangsamoro communities especially our youth are prone for radicalization and recruitment for violent extremism.
As I monitored the different reactions of the youth from the Bangsamoro communities, I told myself that I cannot speak on behalf of the Moro Fronts and the Bangsamoro people, I can only speak for myself.
My dad taught me to always look at the brighter side of life. He also told me not to react, but to act accordingly and to respect the dignity of everyone. I still believe that our Congresswoman from Pampanga has the noble intention of helping not only the Bangsamoro people but to consider the entire welfare of the Filipino nation. She wants to help and that is the common ground where we can work together.
I understand the nature of politics. I understand the nature of plurality of votes. I also understand that there are two tracks of the peace process: the horizontal and the vertical dimensions. As always, I focus my energy on the horizontal peace process where we build communities, we bridge trust and confidence of Muslims and Christians. Our work is not yet finished. Our work has just begun even more deeply.