A one-liner for peace

COTABATO CITY - What is a one-liner description of peace?Peace, being wide-ranging in meaning over discussions is synonymous to calmness or tranquility. The internet-based search engine Google, for its part, aptly described it as freedom from disturbance quiet and tranquility and also as freedom from or the cessation of war or violence.But how does one describe peace in a personal approach?The late 1st Prime Minster Lee wan Yew of Malaysia, renowned worldwide as the founding father if independent Singapore after seeking nonalignment from Malaysia in 1965, described peace as a selfless leadership for love of God and country. God is peace and this is what the world need now, as world is on the verge of extinction,” he said in one his media interviews prior to his death on March 23, 2015 at the age of 91.In one of the media huddles here, Catholic priest Eliseo Mercado Jr. of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) order, briefly described peace as anchored on justice and equality. Peace would remain elusive if the prevalence of injustice and inequality continue among the Moro and other tribes of Mindanao,” Mercado, former head of the Notre Dame University here from 1992-2002 and current executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, stressed.Mercado, having served the Cotabato area his entire life as a priest, is also an acknowledged authority on the role of Islam in the Southeast Asian Region for his involvement in nonviolent resolutions between the government’s truce efforts with the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the 70s and its breakaway faction Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that is currently in the thick of negotiations with the Aquino government.Mercado once posted the same query on Facebook but abruptly terminated it after receiving a satire of narrative on peace.Asked over same assertion, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman has this sayand Peace to prevail is founded on mutual understanding and respect for each other.”The ARMM covers the Muslim-dominated provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Basilan, Lanao del Sur and the cities therein of Marawi and Lamitan.Hataman is tirelessly campaigning for the swift passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before Congress that would serve as the guiding principle for the setting of the Bangsamoro entity under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro by the government and MILF.The BBL proposal, which requires a plebiscite within the ARMM and included areas in Mindanao for expansion once passed into law, remains under heavy scrutiny before Congress in Manila.Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, when reached for remarks, briefly described peace as the prolongation of education of the youth sans any violence in his province and the three basic meals each family deserves in a day. Added to that should be the eradication of firearms, of course,” quipped Mangudadatu who lost his wife, Bai Genalyn, and 57 others that included his relatives along with 34 local journalists during the infamous Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre incident.Early this year, Maguindanao hogged the headlines of major newspapers in the country following the controversial mis-encounter between state police forces and MILF militants.On Jan. 25, at least 44 members of the police’s elite Special Action Force (SAF), 16 MILF rebels and eight civilians were killed in a dawn firefight at Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao.The SAF forces were on their way out after successfully neutralizing on a dawn mission Afghanistan-trained bomber and Jemaah Islamiyah operative Zulkipli bin Hir alias Marwan, one their two high-value targets, when met by heavy fire from the latter’s associates belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the armed wing of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) led by the late Ameril Umbra Kato who bolted out of the MILF two years ago due to ideological differences.The outnumbered SAF members, unwary of their exact whereabouts due to their pitch-dark location, withdrew near to an MILF encampment in same area resulting to a freak, three-way gun battle.The incident drew flak from numerous lawmakers in both House of Representatives and Senate, resulting to place the BBL under heavy scrutiny.On February, a follow up military operation to get Basit Usman, a Maguindanaon accomplice of Marwan, and his BIFF cohorts led to the displacement of nearly 100,000 individuals in 12 of 36 affected towns of Maguindanao.Usman was slain in an encounter last May 3 after chanced upon by MILF members in Barangay Muti, Guindulungan, Maguindanao.During a recent visit to Tukanalipao village, this reporter tested the same subject on peace to Charlie Senase, a media colleague, who said, Peace is vested interest. What you sow is what you reap. When asked, Tukanalipao villager Bai Dalanday Kadil, meekly answered in Maguindanao vernacular, Peace is contentment.”Indeed, peace moored on contentment is most touching.