Focus on the prize: Peace

WITH the signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) by the President, here comes the hordes of naysayers as well as doubting Toms who foresee only the stumbling blocks, and even malice, that cannot be found in the law. And that is sad.

For anything as important as peace, we can only wish that people -- whether invested in this or not -- only focus on peace. True, there will be kinks and bumps. There will always be. But if the vision is a shared vision of peace, then there is the greater chance that the spirit of the law will be lived up to. We’ve had too many naysayers, even statements intended to destabilize.

We, of and from Mindanao, have the bigger stake here. It is about our peace and our land. It would be most beneficial, especially for the most vulnerable and those whose only recourse is to evacuate whenever there is an outbreak of conflict, for all of us to collectively focus only on peace.

The on and off negotiations with the Natioal Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army is one clear example of what will always happen when the focus is on ideologies and not on the people and peace: breakdown, of talks and of peace. That is historically proven.

A negotiation to resolve conflict can move forward only when the common ground is for the good of the greater majority of the stakeholders, especially the vulnerable.

“Imploring the aid of Almighty God, in recognition of the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people and other inhabitants in the autonomous region in Muslim MIndanao to establish an eduring peace on the basis of justice, balanced, society and asserting their right to conserve and develop their patrimoney, reflective of their system of life as prescribed by their faith, in harmony with their customary laws, cultures and traditions, within the framework of the Constitution and the national sovereignty as well as territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines, and the accepted principles of human rights, liberty, justice, democracy, and the norms and standards of international law, and affirming their distinct historical identity and birthright to their ancestral homeland and their right to chart their political future through a democratic process that will secure their identity and posterity, and allow genuine meaningful self-governance, the Filipino people, by the act of the Congress of the Philippines, do hereby ordain and promulgate this Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” reads its Preamble. Even reading through it would make you stutter and stumble with all those parenthetical specifications, but that’s how clear it is.

Seeing the bad even before anything can be established is like cursing a baby before it is born. One thing is sure, the original Armm failed to deliver its functions, an upgrade is always worth another try, especially if everyone is on board focused on one vision: Peace for the greater majority especially the vulnerable.