True reconciliation

Reconciliation is a much-abused word. Through the mouths of politicians and malefactors, not only does it turn prosaic but can actually become a sinister plot for carte blanche exoneration of past crimes, a ploy to rewrite history. Reconciliation comes from the Greek word reconcilare,” to bring together again”. It needs three major elements to happen: 1) Admission of the truth, 2) Repentance of wrongdoing and 3) Resolution with consistency. Malcolm Fraser was spot on when he said “Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action”. 

The Marcos children, Bongbong and Imee, were the most recent abusers of the R word. When a state burial for their father was denied with finality, the two stated that PNoy was not sincere in wanting reconciliation. They demand that the country honor their father with a hero’s funeral. But the conditions for accord are far from fulfilled. The Marcos family wants the Filipino people and the victims of Martial Law to forget 21 years of dictatorship under the most oppressive, corrupt and bigoted tyrant. There is no repentance, not even a public apology for the unspeakable transgressions against the Filipinos. There is no restitution to the victims, no atonement for their crimes. True, the sins of the father should not be visited upon his children. But when there is denial of past indiscretions, how can there be resolution not to commit the same in the future?

Then there is the Left. Orphaned by their global inspirations, the defunct Marxist USSR, the Maoist-turned-capitalist China, and their well-provided-for titular heads Joma Sison and Luis Jalandoni— they falter and flounder in ideological babble that sounds hollow and passé even among their own divided flock. Entering through the backdoor of Government as party-listers sworn to uphold the law, the NPA and assassin squads nonetheless continued the hostilities, extorting “tax”, attacking police stations, liquidating targets, even their own.

Lacking sincerity, openness and unity— who can call for peace and reconciliation? Not their political arm that was clobbered in their bid for the Senate. Not the NPA who even kept the death of their spokesperson a secret for 3 months! Not the absentee leaders who have been living comfortably in the Netherlands since 1987. Under a government that made poverty alleviation their top priority, what is left for the Left to fight for? Will corporate greed be its new cause? Nothing is more pathetic than a spent force that doesn’t know it. National reconciliation must begin with the Left’s reconciliation of its own purpose and reason-for-being. Without self-deception, they might even discover that their objectives are in harmony with those of the nation.

What about peace and harmony in Mindanao? Within Bangsamoro, MNLF, MILF, the various clans, tribes and breakaway groups, reconciliation among themselves seems elusive, more so a united stand. There are calls for the right to self-determination with myriads of definitions from various groups; some are content with autonomy, others opt for integration. No one knows who among the claimed leaders really commands support from the people.

Paul Murphy, a British Parliamentarian and former UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales emphasized that peace talks “need to be intensive and full-time to attain success…The Northern Ireland peace process took many years, but those involved finally discovered a winning formula to achieve peace on the basis of trust, perseverance, intensity, parity of esteem and international dimensions.”

“There’s no substitute for proper dialogue between those people involved. You can’t negotiate peace part-time. During negotiations, 200-300 people at a time were working in the talks building, and they worked every day, every week, every month, every year until an agreement was made…that’s the intensity of those talks. It was a hothouse atmosphere—intensive, serious and stressful,” Murphy recalled.

It took 5 years for the North Ireland talks to come to an agreement and 10 years for the agreement to be implemented. “It’s better to talk for 15 years than to fight for 15 years,” he said. Drawing from similarities between the Northern Ireland and Mindanao conflicts — such as cultural and religious identity differences —Murphy said “treating everyone as equal is a key ingredient to the success of the peace process”.

Murphy noted that the Northern Ireland peace process involved independent chairs from the US, Canada and Finland, agreed by all the sides to oversee the talks. They tapped a Canadian general for the decommissioning of the arms held by paramilitary groups. “Ultimately, every peace process has to be home grown. It involves compromise without giving up the basic principles… the people who have to make the agreement are the people who are affected themselves.”

Then there is our most recent nightmare, the Arroyos. As more and more anomalies are linked to the family, its bid for reconciliation is now a mere whisper. Allegedly too infirmed to attend Senate hearings, too addled about the amount of hard evidence the Aquino government has gathered against them and too anxious that they might experience real jail-time— the former first family alternately blusters and whimpers. Most of the time, they are not too sick to travel to places like Syria, where even a political turmoil does not deter them from allegedly guarding their stashed wealth.

“Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn’t be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice”, said Cory Aquino. 

And at this moment, the burning question is whether justice is attainable at a cost. In a not-too-subtle move to divert attention from the Supreme Court’s most recent PALpak, CJ Corona went on the offensive, carping about the Executive branch’s attempt to squeeze the Judiciary budget, and the Legislative threats of impeachment. It doesn’t seem like reconciliation based on justice will happen anytime soon. As Murphy pointed out, trust is the basis for any agreement. At present, surveys say that Corona has zero trust.

* * *

[email protected]