If you have an online account, be a peace ambassador!
This was the challenge issued by Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman,
a member of the National Peace Council and founder of the youth group Teach
Peace, Build Peace Movement, to young Filipinos as peace advocates await
Congress’ approval of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
Usman called on young Filipinos to take on a bigger role in
eradicating biases against Muslims as she noted that responsible and pro-active
use of social media accounts by young people could help break barriers set up
by differences in religion, help build bridges of understanding among peoples,
and help correct individual prejudices.
“[I]f you have 3,000 or 4,000 friends in [your] social media
[accounts], let’s contradict those negative messages or barriers [between
religion and culture] by posting all those that we have learned everyday about
peace and understanding,” Sumndad-Usman said.
Sumndad-Usman is a member of the National Peace Council, a
group composed of respected community leaders assembled by President Benigno S.
Aquino III that led a national discussion to help people understand the bill
aimed at establishing a new parliamentary regional government that will replace
the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The peace council member and youth leader stressed “the importance
of building a culture of peace in creating different generations of peace
builders.”
“Through peace education, you are able to create a space for
every Filipino to understand each other. You can make love and understanding
beginning with the younger generation. Continuously, engage yourself not just
in the Bangsamoro course but also in the peace discourse,” Sumndad-Usman
advised.
Focusing on the Bangsamoro peace process, Sumndad-Usman
implored the youth to help end the conflict once and for all. “The need for
peace and social justice in Mindanao should be
cleared or else the next generation will inherit the conflicts. Our goal is
that someday the future generation wouldn’t know what war is.”
Social injustice is root of conflict
“To answer the Bangsamoro question, we must know and realize
what the Bangsamoro is. The problem of Mindanao is rooted in social injustice,”
Sumndad-Usman commented, stressing that the biases against the Moro people and
the Bangsamoro is the cause of the armed rebellion in Mindanao .
“The Mindanao conflict is
the second longest internal conflict in the world. The massacres of the Moro
people are the reason for the call of Muslim Independence by the armed groups.
This can be traced within the historical context,” she said.
Visayan youth groups call for BBL passage
“Youth development can only thrive in a climate of peace.
Conflict is a deterrent to the realization of young people’s full potentials,”
National Youth Commission (NYC) Assistant Secretary Perci Cendaña stressed in a
parallel event held elsewhere.
The NYC executive added that peace was a key investment in
youth development and that conflicts prevented them from attaining their
aspirations. “The Philippine Youth Index in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) is very, very low and it has the highest unemployment rate in
the youth. Ang Mindanao ay isa sa pinakamayamang land source sa Pilipinas pero
sila rin ang may mataas na poverty incidence (The Mindanao is one of the
richest land sources in the Philippines
Meanwhile, Federation of Muslim Students Association Vice
President Jabar Sabdullah reiterated that the BBL would end the inequality to
the Moro people and that now was an opportunity to know our Muslim brothers and
sisters. “We must give peace a chance; after all, if war is the answer we are
asking the wrong question.”
“Further, it is high time to realize the grievances of the
Bangsamoro and to translate our visions of peace into reality in the form of
BBL,” Sabdullah said, expressing his hopes that the BBL was a chance to end the
conflict in Mindanao and to correct social
injustices in the Bangsamoro.
Student Ronald Ray Ensalada of Cebu Normal University
Publication voiced his concern on the delayed passage of the draft law in Congress
and appealed to enact it before the administration ends. “We have to rush the
passage of the BBL under President Aquino’s administration because the next
President might not be able to put this in priority and delay more the step in
achieving peace in Mindanao,” he said.
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