"Our next speaker is a Muslim from Mindanao. Let's reserve those questions for her" said Prof. Mari Kondo of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). She had to intervene when the seminar’s participants kept bombarding the incumbent guest speaker with questions relating to the Muslim community in Mindanao. The speaker was Mr. Philip Dael, a Christian Filipino. He is a Senior Manager at Pilipinas Kao Inc., based in Cagayan de Oro, a City in Northern Mindanao which is predominantly populated by Christian Filipinos.
The five-day seminar at the AIM Conference Center in Makati was organized by the Foundation for Advance Studies on International Development (FASID), a Japanese institution of advance education and research. The participants were all Japanese -- mostly development managers or consultants doing projects in developing countries like Afghanistan and Indonesia. Some of the participants were PhD candidates and researchers.
You can gauge the participant’s level of curiosity about Muslim Mindanao from the kind of questions that they asked. They must have thought that, coming from Mindanao, Mr. Dael was either a Muslim, or work extensively with the Muslims.
For what it’s worth, at least we know that Mindanao to the outside world means Muslims.
The seminar’s theme was “International development: with Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility”. I was invited to talk about ‘Community as Stakeholders’. My presentation was about ‘Targeting Muslim Community’ for Corporate Social Responsibility programs.
I highlighted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects involving the Muslims of Mindanao. There are three organizations implementing such projects: PBSP, UCPB Foundation, and AMORE.
PBSP
Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) is an organization that implements CSR projects for various corporate donors, in collaboration with government agencies as well international development agencies and donors such as USAID and CIDA. It is the largest CSR project provider in Mindanao.
PBSP’s CSR initiatives in Muslim Mindanao include Mindanao Peace and Development Program (MPDP) and Business and Peace Program. The projects include school buildings, scholarship funds, and YupPeace (Young Muslim Professional) Internship Engagement and Business advising /mentoring.
UCPB Foundation
The United Coconut Planter’s Bank (UCPB) Foundation implements CSR program through its wholly owned subsidiary, the UCPB-CIIF Finance and Development Corporation (UCFDC).
Most noteworthy program for the Muslim communities in Mindanao is UCFDC’s Islamic Microfinance Programs (IMP). The UCPB Foundation has had existing micro lending programs elsewhere in the country. When they plan to enter the Muslim market, they hired me as consultant to help convert the conventional lending program to an Islamically acceptable version. Thus, I designed the IMP based on Islamic financing principles such as musyaraka (partnership) and mudaraba (profit sharing).
UCPB will kick-start the Islamic microfinance program in Lamitan, Basilan then in Jolo, Sulu before going to Cotabato City.
One of the problems faced by UCPB Foundation and other organizations implementing an Islamic financing system is the lack of infrastructure for this kind of financing. For example, the IMP has savings and insurance components to help clients build up assets (savings) and put aside a certain amount from their income for rainy days (insurance). However, there is no Islamic savings bank and /or takaful (Islamic insurance) provider in this country. We do have our Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank, but it is currently undergoing rehabilitation- thus could not be considered operational as of now.
AMORE
The third case that I cited during my presentation at the FASID seminar is the AMORE program.
AMORE is short for Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy. It is a program funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by US-based NGO, Winrock International.
AMORE is also a CSR program of Mirant Philippines. Mirant, the largest independent power producer (IPP) in the Philippines sponsors the hardware (such as solar panels) of the AMORE program. This is part of Mirant’s CSR program to electrify 1000 remote Barangays in the Philippines- in response to the fact that more than 5000 out of 42, 000 Barangays in the Philippines were still un-electrified as of December 2002.
Of those 5000 unelectrified Barangays, 53% or 2650 were in Mindanao. Mirant, therefore tied up with AMORE to help implement its remote Barangay electrification plan for Mindanao area. AMORE is mandated to electrify at least 160 remote communities in ARMM and Western Mindanao by September 2004.
Recommending Islamic education for peace and prosperity
Besides talking about existing CSR programs in Muslim Mindanao, I could not resist presenting my own recommendations for achieving lasting peace and progress among the Muslims wherever they are.
A development program and/or a CSR program that will contribute to lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao must be long-term in nature. It must address fundamental issues, and reach down to the deepest concerns of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. In short, the CSR programs should be able to help shape the moral character of the future generation of Muslim communities.
I propose the following programs:
1) Propagation Islamic Finance and Insurance system
By practicing Islamic finance (recall case of UCPB Foundation- Islamic Microfinance Program for Muslim Mindanao) the Muslim clients will be happy, as they will become guilt-free, simply by following the Islamic tenets in their daily financial transactions. In this case, the corporation that provides Islamic financial services will capture the Muslim market, like in the Middle East, and Malaysia for instance.
Other than that, Islamic financing principles promote social justice and economic equality. In the long run, there will be no more unequal distribution of wealth, thus the gaps between rich and poor will be significantly reduced. Less disparity means fewer dissatisfaction and jealousy, hence decline in theft, kidnappings, and other crimes.
2) Institutionalization of Islamic Education throughout the Philippines from Kinder to Graduate schools.
A very good example is the Malaysian Education System, where Islamic education is taught in secular public and private schools, as long as there is/are Muslim student enrolled. There are two advantages of teaching Islamic education as a subject in regular schools:
i) The Muslims will understand their religion better. Why is it important (form a Christian Filipino point of view) to educate the Muslims about their religion?
o The surest way to eliminate corruption and crimes by Muslims:
Islamic education will produce new generations of Muslims with the moral supremacy and peaceful orientation of a true Muslim.
o To increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the Philippines, particularly ARMM:
o Islamic education will reduce security risks in Muslim populated areas, and as a result encourages investors to come (like what happens in Malaysia).
o Islamic education will teach Muslims not to engage in unethical, immoral, or criminal activities. We have the police (implementer), punishment (law), and jail (infrastructure) to deter people from committing crimes but crimes still happens. However, if the will to achieve peace and prosperity comes from inside, we will not have difficulties to assign more policemen and military officials to guard Mindanao, or pass stricter legislation that would restrict everybody’s activities , or build more jails. There is nothing stronger than faith to stop people from committing crimes.
ii) Reduce or even eliminate the need to send our children to the Madaris:
o Many people will not agree with me over this Madaris issue. Like all parents, I want my children to attain Islamic education. At present, there are 2 ways of doing this: (1) send them to a madrasa during weekends and holidays (2) teach them at home or get them tutored. Either way, it involves extra efforts on both the parents and the children. There is a third option that I will not consider- i.e. send the children to a madrasa, for full time course. I will not choose this option because I want my children to learn regular subjects such as science, maths, and geography in addition to religious subjects. I also want them to go to good colleges and land good jobs in future.
o Thus, the best option is to have Islamic education in regular schools. This will make it easier for parents to provide religious teachings to their children while giving them the best education available.
iii) Reduce or eliminate real or perceived Islamic terrorism or fundamentalism
o Some Madaris in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia have been identified with terrorism. They have been even labeled as “breeding Islamic terrorists”. True or false? Allah knows. But, why not just propagate Islamic education in large scale at secular schools to ensure that Muslims understand the peaceful nature of Islam - so they will not interpret the religion wrongly? Well informed and well educated Muslims will not resort to suicide bombings or terrorists acts in the name of Islam, because the truth is, Islam abhors any kind of cruelty or bad deeds
iv) Create inter-religious understanding, particularly among Muslim and Christian Filipinos: Thus avoid biases, misunderstandings, conflicts, and inter-religious hatred. Consequently, unity and inter-faith harmony will be fostered.
3) Last but not least, I recommend promoting Arabic language.
· Arabic lessons should be offered alongside other languages such as Spanish. Arabic is the language of the Koran, hence Muslims need to be able to read and understand Arabic in order to comprehend the teachings of Islam conveyed through the Holy Koran and Ahadith.
· Arabic will also serve as the “uniting factor” among the Muslims. Language is a uniting factor. For Muslims, Arabic will be readily accepted as an official Islamic language.
The author is a Professor at the MBA program, Graduate School of Business, Ateneo de Zamboanga University. She is also the coordinator of Information, Education, and Communications department of the USAID- AMORE program. She does consultancy in the field of Islamic Finance & Economics, Creative Communications, as well as Strategic Marketing. She is an active volunteer of the Young Moro Professionals Network Inc., a Muslim youth Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
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