A call for peace and safety

Last week it was not just ordinary gunfire in the City of Zamboanga. Unexpected gunfire was heard last week from a faction mad over the independence promised to them. Later, civilians were abducted and used as their shields when the police responded to the area. Children cried looking for their parents, trembling in fear.

The mayor stood firm, she didn't want any flag raised at the City Hall except for the Philippine flag as the faction wanted. And she was right, I thought so too. Their province belonged to the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines and no other.

When the faction spoke, reports told us that they attacked for an action they wanted to ceremoniously do. Now we do not know who is telling the truth, a typical blame game.

Almost half of the airtime of newscasts and radio programs were devoted to the big encounter at Zamboanga. Their names made it to the headlines of newspapers and news websites the following day. A lot of people appealed for help and prayers. They wanted the firing to stop. The peace that was promised in previous talks seemed to have lost its purpose.

When the president visited, they submitted to a ceasefire at twelve midnight over the weekend. But then the firing started again. It was a false hope of having peace. They have hurt their fellow countrymen not just physically but emotionally as well. It was a traumatic event.

After following this very tragic event in our country, I wanted to ask the Moro National Liberation Front myself, are you proud?You who are men who probably have families to take care of as well, yet you took your time to disrupt peaceful lives.

Are they proud that they have robbed of the people in Zamboanga of the peace and order? Not to mention operations of offices, schools, airlines and ports were halted due to their scheme. The city was like a ghost town, everybody was afraid to come out. Nobody wanted to risk their freedom for their fellow Muslim brothers, even just for a short time.

Has is not occurred to them that the rest of the Philippines is also fearing for their safety? They have scared the whole world with their arms, especially those who have planned to visit the Philippines as tourists. Even international news made us their stars for a time. I wonder if they have ever felt the shame or they just do not care at all.

I grew up knowing Mindanao as a promised land. It is full of natural resources that other parts of the Philippines do not have. Some are left undiscovered because of the presence of these factions. If only these resources will be put to good use with proper monitoring without the threat of attacks, I bet we can raise our country's prestige.

And I believe in peace talks and negotiations. Arms will never answer the problem. Just like master Yoda of Star Wars said, "Wars do not make one great." It never does.

I am too young to remember when the Mindanao uprisings started but I plan to live to the day when it will all be over. My prayers go out to the affected families. To the men of the faction - I hope one day you'll realize that you do not have to fight anymore. At the end of the day, we are humans who live in one country. How hard is it to unite?

Even in our local scene, a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7 officer was gunned down by an unknown assailant on a motorcycle last Saturday. Is this trying to say that our country is not safe at all? Or maybe the world really isn't.

‘I believe in peace talks and negotiations. Arms will never answer the problem. Just like master Yoda of Star Wars said, 'Wars do not make one great.' It never does’