Hereunder
is the full text of the Privilege Speech of House of Representatives’ Deputy
Speaker Pangalian M. Balindong of the 2nd District of Lanao Del Sur on the
Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), delivered on February 10, 2015:
“I
TOOK WOUNDS FOR PEACE”
A
privilege speech, February 10, 2015, by
DEPUTY SPEAKER PANGALIAN M. BALINDONG
Representative, 2nd District of Lanao del Sur
Mr.
Speaker, distinguished Colleagues,
I
rise to speak for peace and support the policy of the President to push for
peace without let up, and call for this August Chamber of Congress to
deliberate on the Bangsamoro Basic Law with urgency and pass it in opportune
time.
Mr.
Speaker, distinguished Colleagues, the Bangsamoro Basic Law is a product of
peace negotiation, and the MILF and the Government worked for 17 years to put
it together.
No
doubt, it is a political resolution to the secessionist struggle of the
Bangsamoro.
As
we all know, obstacles littered the way.
But
the parties were able to surmount them.
For
peace, to borrow from George Bernard Shaw, is not only better than war, but
more infinitely arduous.
That
cannot be gainsaid.
But
I’m afraid I’m hearing the drumbeats of war within this August Chamber in the
wake of the Mamasapano Incident.
Mr.
Speaker, at this time and without a thorough investigation as yet, I do not
wish to locate responsibility for the incident.
But
I understand that it is a foison of an earthquake, and some of our colleagues
were stirred into antipathy at the BBL and are pushing for the suspension of
its deliberation.
I
too felt the shock.
But
instead of antipathy, I was moved with greater resolve to work for peace and
mend fences.
I
know war and it is cruel.
Many
kin and friends, more than the figure of 44, died in the struggle of the
Bangsamoro for self-determination.
According
to literature, more than 100,000 of our people, most of whom were innocent
civilians, lost their lives, their graves mostly unmarked and the whole of
Moroland their graveyard.
And
how they were done in and abused were much horrendous.
Many
were killed in the masjids and while in prayers, their villages and masjids
looted and burned, crops destroyed, draft animals either killed for meals or
carted away, the bodies mutilated, pregnant women disemboweled, children left
to survive without ears.
Moroland
was a warren for soldiers and the Bangsamoro were the game.
Let
me highlight instances that flash me red even to this day.
In
Manili, Carmen, 70 Muslims were killed inside a mosque including 29 women and
13 children, one of whom was a 3-month-old infant suckling his mother’s breast
when they were both felled.
In
Siocon, Zamboanga Del Norte, Muslim women were herded in a school building and
openly molested and later killed.
In
the towns of Lebak and Kalamansig, Muslim women were dried naked under the heat
of the sun and made to do striptease act, the pretty ones frequently taken to
naval boats to satisfy the lust of its officers and crewmen.
Every
night at least four to seven men took turns to divest every woman of her
dignity.
Many
professionals with promising careers have left the comforts of life and
preferred a difficult existence in the care of rebellion to vent their pent-up
emotions.
In economic terms, the war is a deadweight on the
progress of the country. In a 26-year period, the Philippine military spent 73
billion pesos, or an average of 40 percent of its annual budget.
Mr. Speaker, distinguished Colleagues, I want this
war to end now.
I
am afraid time will come when I have no more tears to shed for empathy.
I
am now old and I know when that time comes, my legs will not carry me to the
warfort of rebellion.
But
many of my descendants and kin will.
The
Muslims persevere and their armed champions have entered into peace agreements
with the government and observed ceasefire holidays.
We
Muslims love peace, its pursuit an injunction of our faith.
One
of the names of God is Peace.
Our
salutation is an expression of peace.
Our
formalistic prayers end with words of peace. The Qur’an says
“If
your enemy is inclined to peace, Muslims should also be inclined.”
Mr.
Speaker, the Bangsamoro have taken wounds for peace.
The
Tripoli Agreement of 1976 between the MNLF and the Government were violated by
the latter and went on to create an Autonomous Region for the Bangsamoro sans
the participation of the MNLF and the Organization of the Islamic
Conference.
The
1996 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the same parties were not
implemented fully, and until Misuari’s Zamboanga’s show off, it was a subject
of discussion between them under the auspices of Indonesia
The
2008 Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the MILF and the
Government was scrapped off by the latter despite having initialed it.
Autonomy
for the Bangsamoro was treated by Government as a political experiment and only
half-heartedly passed an emasculated autonomy law, Republic Act 6734 and its
amendatory law, Republic Act 9054.
Mr.
Speaker, at this juncture, let me pose the question: What is bothering some of
us as to be unwilling to take wounds for peace?
The
voice of the first woman legislator in the U.S. House of Representatives and
human rights activist Jeanette Rankin brattles in my ears.
She
said, “You can never win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
Even
Napoleon Bonaparte himself, the first emperor of France
He
said, “If nations want peace, they should avoid pinpricks that precede cannon
shots.”
I
emphasize, however one slices it, war is cruelty.
Earnest
Hemingway says it is a crime.
It
dehumanizes warring parties.
To
borrow from John F. Kennedy, war ensues because of failure of wisdom. And in
the Mindanao Conflict whose failure of wisdom is it?
Mr.
Speaker, Just asking, and I have no intention to dwell on the issue.
What
I am concerned about is our state of affairs in relation to the Bangsamoro
Basic Law.
Do
we stall its passage in view of the Mamasapano Incident and wait for what
eternity will bring and miss altogether the bus of peace?
A
great medieval bard wrote an eternal verity, a font of wisdom that should guide
our action on the issues before us today. And I quote him:
“As peace is of the nature of conquest, for
then both parties
nobly are subdued and neither party loses”
The
pursuit of peace is not only a divine injunction to Muslims.
It’s
a mandate on Christians as well. In the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall
be called the
children of God.”
Mr. Speaker, distinguished Colleagues,
In
conclusion, I urge the Leadership to resume our review of the BBL, and not to
equate the bill with the Mamasapano incident, or else, those who want the armed
struggle to continue will have won.
We
must not fail to take the chance to make our nation right, or the lives lost
for the sake of peace, like those of the fallen in Mamasapano, shall have died
in vain.
It
is NOW, or it may be NEVER.
Thank
you.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/document/item/771-privilege-speech-of-house-ds-balindong-on-bbl
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