Illusive and fragile

One of Senator Richard Gordon’s readily noticeable traits as a national and local public official is his courage to act based on his firm conviction; to take up even extremely unpopular causes he believes in. He shows this again when he dared to propose amnesty to the elderly Abu Sayyafs coming on the heels of the release of Italian Eugenio Vagni, the last of the three International Red Cross volunteers taken hostage by the group. Obviously Gordon’s move was not a reflex reaction caused by euphoria of a relatively happy ending to this harrowing six-month episode that has regrettably further tarnished the nation’s image before the International Community.

As head of the local chapter of the International Red Cross, Gordon was expectedly concerned with the safety of the volunteers taken as hostages. Thus he actively albeit quietly participated in negotiating for their safe release aside from discharging his functions as Senator of the Republic. His “hands on” role in the negotiation must have given him a closer look and actual experience of the problems in Mindanao and the grievances of the Mindanaoans particularly the Muslims.

Undoubtedly, Mindanao or some portions thereof remain among the most neglected and underdeveloped parts of our country. Poverty and hunger appear to be without any solution in sight as the gap between the rich and the poor grows bigger and bigger. Gordon must have confirmed this situation during his actual forays in the place as he tried to seek freedom for the Red Cross workers. And he was convinced that the only way to achieve peace in the area is not by force of arms but by developing it and allowing humanitarian missions like that of the Red Cross to go on unhampered. He wants the protagonists in the protracted and seemingly endless conflict to “beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks”. This is well and good.

But Gordon’s idea is nothing new. It has been proposed and tried time and again, yet real and long lasting peace in Mindanao remains elusive. The solution is really not that simple because the problem entails a chicken-egg situation of whether there is war because of poverty or there is poverty because of the war. Considering that Mindanao conflict has been raging even before the Americans came and that the groups who started it (now better known as MNLF, MILF and Abu Sayyaf, allegedly) really want to secede and establish an independent Islamic State it would seem that the war itself is the cause of poverty and not the other way around. Hence even if poverty is licked the war will continue for as long as the secessionists have not achieved its purpose.

Besides Gordon should not readily swallow the line of the Abu Sayyafs who staged the kidnapping of the three Red Cross workers that they were just calling the attention of the government to the people’s plight in their area. The fact that they did not allegedly asked for any ransom money during the negotiations for the release of the three hostages does not make their story credible.

While this group was founded in the 1990s supposedly to fight for an independent Islamic State, it subsequently staged a series of high profile kidnappings for ransom, hostage taking and bombings which are pure criminal acts of terrorism. To be sure, the group is even widely known to have a tie-up with the dreaded Islamic terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah which was responsible for deadly bombings killing hundreds of people in Indonesia. Hence their alleged intention intimated to Gordon is simply unbelievable.

Gordon’s proposal to grant amnesty and livelihood assistance to the bandits in exchange for laying down their arms, even if made in all sincerity and with good intentions is therefore not only unpopular but untenable as it is based on false premises. He should not have readily accepted and relied on the story of the Abu Sayyaf people he talked to, as basis for proposing amnesty for them especially because these elderly members were the head of the group and mainly responsible for most of the atrocities which happened during their time.

Indeed, even if it is true that the recent hostage taking was staged merely to call the attention of the government to the plight of the poor people in the area, the dastard means they employed cannot be justified by their avowed noble intentions. “One may not do evil so that good may result from it”. The end does not justify the means. And this applies even to Gordon’s proposal. Even if his purpose is to attain peace in Mindanao, his means of attaining it — to grant amnesty to the bandits especially the commanders who control and provide haven for the younger ones now at the helm — is not justified by such laudable and well meaning end.

Undeniably during the heydays of these elderly members, so many abductions, bombings and killings have happened and so many lives were lost in fighting them and trying to stop or control them from further perpetrating crimes and other injustices. In fact even the government soldiers have suffered heavy casualties. Granting them amnesty is therefore misplaced because amnesty covers only political offenses, not common and heinous crimes like those committed by this group. It obliterates and puts into oblivion all the offenses committed by the group as if they have not committed them at all.

 The common and heinous crimes committed by the Abu Sayyaf bandits or “terrorists” as the rest of the world knows them cannot be amnestied because justice will never be served by such gesture. So even if these bandits are wrongly granted amnesty there will still be no real and lasting peace because without justice there can be no such kind of peace. It is only by serving the ends of justice that true and lasting peace can be attained. Peace without justice is fragile and illusive.

But neither is an all-out war the solution. While bringing to justice those who may have committed crimes must be pursued, the government should also address the legitimate grievances of the people in the area. They have to win their hearts and minds by improving their conditions in life and thus withdraw support for the bandits. In the meantime those who want to come out and return to normal life must lay down their arms and face justice. Selective amnesty may then be granted to those not really involved in the atrocities.

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