The hard road

The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has recently been making its way through the House of Representatives, with lawmakers convening to discuss possible changes and amendments to what has now become a markedly controversial piece of policy. It’s generally agreed that peace in Mindanao is a noble aim, but in the wake of the tragic clash at Mamasapano, the BBL has come under fire, with both members of the public and politicians voicing concerns at the feasibility of the law’s passage.

Objections to the law often follow the same argument — how can we pass a law reaching a peace agreement between the government and the MILF and BIFF when 44 of our countrymen were cut down by those factions? How can we reach peace without vengeance for our fallen? These arguments are passionate and powerful, and they rile up a seemingly righteous hatred in us. It is a hatred that calls for a twisted form of justice; it is a hatred that calls for no peace until we have evened the score between our fallen and theirs.

But, the fallen 44 do not need our vengeance or our justice. If we pull back the BBL in their name, what kind of justice are we going to dispense? The justice of more battles fought? The justice of more lives lost? This so called “justice” will only destroy the best chance we’ve had in years for peace, and it will not avenge the fallen 44. Instead, it will ensure that more will join their number. If we stop the BBL in its tracks, then neither the government nor the Moro groups will win; only death will. Our anger will be sated, but we will pay a bitter and foolish price.

In the wake of tragedy, we Filipinos are faced with a difficult pill to swallow. Continuing to support the BBL may strike us as wrong or cowardly, especially when faced with the easy passion that anger brings. Supporting the BBL may even seem like an abandonment of the ideals that the 44 fought for. But the BBL is not a negation of what the fallen stood for; it is, instead, a way to ensure that no more have to fall in the name of wanton violence.

And in the wake of tragedy, it is also easy to classify the MILF and the BIFF as enemies; it is easy to box them in according to discriminatory stereotypes and religious biases. It is easy to cast the MILF and the BIFF as villains and extremists who follow a religion of violence. But the easy way is not the right way; not here, not now.

Instead, our challenge is to take the hard road. Our challenge is to understand the MILF and the BIFF instead of ostracizing them, even when stereotyping them as violent extremists is an easier channel for our rage. Our challenge is to understand that Islam is not the reason for violence; the reason for violence is the anger of any man left unchecked, whether Muslim or Christian or atheist. And our challenge is to fight for the Bangsamoro Basic Law and the steps toward reconciliation it will make possible, even when vengeance is easier than cooperation, even when hatred is easier than peace.

Revenge should not be the reason we fight. Hatred should not be the reason we fight. Instead, peace should be the reason we fight — not with guns, not with arms, but with the passage of a law whose provisions, once amended, will be powerful steps toward order in a region of turmoil and division. I think Tony Stark put it best — “Isn’t why we fight so we can end the fight and go home?”

Let’s take the hard road. Let’s support the BBL. Let’s fight for the passage of this law, so that our brothers and sisters — whether in the army, the MILF, or the BIFF — can end the fight and go home.

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