Can a bottle of ketchup battle rebels in Mindanao?

MANILA, Philippines - A peace advocacy group has concocted a bottle of ketchup and sauce popular among Christians and Muslims to do battle against Islamic fundamentalists and rebel groups in Mindanao.

Venturing into social enterprise, the Kristiyano-Islam (Kris) Peace Library (www.krislibrary.com) peace and literacy advocacy group is bringing to Manila the spicy satti food brought here by the Arabs, popularized by the Filipino Muslims, and embraced by the Christians in Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. 

“By introducing satti to the national palate, we want to show that there is more to Western Mindanao than bombings and kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” says Kris founder Armand Dean Nocum, adding that the social enterprise project is their group’s answer to the fresh bombing in Zamboanga that killed three and injured 27.

A former journalist-turned-public relations executive and peace advocate, Nocum says that although Zamboanga’s image is “down in the pits, things are not hopeless because we can fight the perception war by aggressively showing the good things about the city like its exotic foods, white-sand beaches, and undisturbed caves and waterfalls, among others.”

“We from Mindanao should join hands in getting the good news to drown out the bad news,” stresses Nocum, adding that satti is one undiscovered food that can attract adventurous tourists to go to the city to have a taste of the food people in Manila call pagkaing apoy (flaming food).” 

According to Nocum, satti is similar to the satay or sate food attractions that are famous in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. All these foods originated from the Arabian favorite food shish kebab in Turkey. But unlike its Asian counterpart where satay is eaten as gravy, satti comes in the form of thick soup eaten with beef, chicken, and puso or rice cooked in coconut leaves.

The satti sauce — made mostly of chili and peanuts and 15 other ingredients — is a closely-guarded secret among Muslims but which Nocum’s Muslim wife Annora obtained in Zamboanga. The Nocums had the satti sauce processed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to come up with the Satti Hot Chilli Peanut Ketchup.

Apart from changing perception, Nocum says satti can fight terrorism and rebellion in a concrete way since part of the profit from the bottled ketchup will go to the building of more Kris Peace Libraries in Mindanao, educate poor Christian and Muslim scholars, and allow them free use of donated computers and the Internet so they will get hooked to computers and not to fighting.

The Kris advocacy was started in 2001 to “flood Mindanao with books, not guns,” stop the rise of child soldiers, and counter the culture of guns in Mindanao. In 2008, Kris started building five libraries, the first rising near an Abu Sayyaf jump-off point in Zamboanga City, with two more being established near an MILF camp in bombed-out Zamboanga Sibugay. There are also Kris Peace Libraries in Quezon City and Rodriguez, Rizal.

There are now 101 Kris scholars, half of them graduating as valedictorians, salutatorians, and with high honors last year.

Say no to guns: The Kris (Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library) advocacy was started in 2001 to “flood Mindanao with books, not guns,” stop the rise of child soldiers, and counter the culture of guns in Mindanao.

“I hope people all over the country will make our satti product part of their personal and corporate gifts this Christmas to help us battle perception, terrorism, and rebellion in Mindanao,” muses Nocum, adding that Kris ventured into social enterprise to cope with the high cost of maintaining the five libraries.

Satti ketchup can be bought at the Kris Library-Quezon City at No. 9, Don Antonio Heights, Diliman, Quezon City; and at Dean & Kings Legal Public Relations, Suite 300, Kimvi Building, Maria Orosa Street, Ermita, Manila (check maps at http://www.krislibrary.com/contact-us.html).