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By JOSE L. ESCOBIDO
Contributor
Conclusion

AT present, the Maute problem is basically local. But if the problem will persist, the international element or component will probably become dominant. Because some sectors have internationalized the Maute group by calling them members of Isil/Isis, and the latter happily granted their unilateral affliction with it, foreign undercurrents will continue to flow to Marawi City. In the near future, the Isil/Isis in Iraq and Syria will be militarily defeated by their opponents or enemies. Where will the remnants of their armed forces go? These forces will still be considerable, and even if only a portion of it will proceed to Marawi City because they have their affiliates there, the military and political equation will radically change. The local Maute Group could be supplanted by these foreign remnants, and eventually, they will be the ones calling the shots in Marawi City.

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Will these foreign elements listen to the leaders of the Maranaw clans? Chances are they will not because they have their own agenda. So the conflict in Maranaw society will now be managed and fought by these foreign elements. The government, of course, will step up its military operations. The armed confrontation will become more intense, more violent, and more destructive. Civilians will be killed and houses and other properties will be destroyed. These foreign elements will not listen to the leaders of the clans in Maranaw society. These leaders will then be marginalized, and they will lose their privileges and financial security. Many of them will even become refugees. So it is in their self-interest that the leaders of all the clans should come together and agree to end the violence created by the Maute group. These leaders know that some members of the group belong to their clans. They should exercise their traditional and cultural influence on their members to end the violence. On his part, the President should exert his political clout to effectuate this all-inclusive conference of the leaders of all the Maranaw clans. The President should be a stateman in this regard.

But calling this all-inclusive conference should not end by having such assembly and by agreeing to defuse the violence. After the President shall have caused all the leaders of the clans to agree to end the Maute violence, he should implement a mini-marshall plan for Muslim Mindanao. Ending the violent conflict should only be short-term objective. The long-term objective should be the development and upliftment of the economic conditions of the Muslim Filipinos. This is the only solution to end the intermittent violence in Muslim Mindanao, and this is the only road to peace. In this regard, I humbly offer the following proposals:

Reform the educational system so that educational opportunities will be open to all Muslim Filipinos at reasonable cost at all. This should be given priority so that ordinary Muslims will have access to quality education. The elite in Maranaw society can take care of themselves in matters of getting quality education.

Massive infrastructure projects should be implemented in Muslim Mindanao. The government should see to it that these projects could be seen on the ground. Class A highways and roads should be constructed connecting the towns in Muslim areas. These will have direct economic benefits to the ordinary Muslims. They can now easily market their farm products without the intervention of middlemen. To complement these projects, huge warehouses should be constructed in strategic seaports in coastal areas of Mindanao where agriculture products could be stored and sold directly to buyers from all parts of the country bypassing the middlemen. All the buyers have to do is to go to these warehouses and buy the products directly from the farmers. The government should shoulder the cost of maintaining and operating the warehouses.

To further complement the foregoing, the government must render financial assistance to the farmers for their inputs and costs of farming. This could be in the form of interest-free or low interest loans.

The local governments in Muslim areas should be given sufficient authority to exploit and develop the natural resources. There is information obtained by satellite mapping that there is gigantic deposit of oil and natural gas in Liguasan marsh and surrounding places. Why not allow the local governments in these places to exploit these natural resources? If this requires real autonomy, or federalism, so be it, and implement the federal form of government. Let us not listen to the people from Luzon who are allergic to federalism in Mindanao. Whenever federalism is mentioned, the people in Luzon have the knee-jerk impression that this will lead to secession of Mindanao. This is their knee-jerk reaction because their paradigm revolves the idea that Mindanao is a colony of some sort of Luzon, and, therefore the people of Luzon are entitled to exploit Mindanao’s resources. Just to stress this point: Who caused, or who were responsible for, the disappearance of Mindanao’s rainforest? It is the businessman or carpetbaggers from Luzon.

The cost of implementing the foregoing proposals will be huge. But there is no alternative if we want to have lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao.

The Christian population in Mindanao should exert all efforts to uplift the economic conditions of the Muslims, who have been neglected for ages, and whose importance is highlighted only by our national politicians during elections. Whether we like it or not, we, the Christians in Mindanao, will be affected by what is happening in, or what will happen to, Muslim Mindanao.

(Jose L. Escobido studied at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City from 1968 to 1972 where he obtained his AB in political science. Then he proceeded to study law at the College of Law, University of the Philippines where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws in 1976. In 1994, while working at the Office of the Solicitor General, he studied at the National Defense College of the Philippines which awarded him the degree of Masters in National Security Administration. He is a reserved Army lieutenant colonel.)

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