UP MSA hold ACLE on Mindanao

Home

Written by Ayesa Z. Sadain
Sunday, 19 October 2003
The University Student Council (USC) of UP Diliman traditionally holds an Alternative Classroom Learning Experience (ACLE) twice during the academic year. According to the newsletter of USC, Oblation, “Kamalayan” is the first ACLE for the term which promises to showcase an afternoon of fora, symposia, workshops and other alternative activities sponsored by different organizations, fraternities, sororities, student councils, publications and other student formations in the University. Classes were suspended for the students to take part in the activities of various organizations. Kamalayan 2003 served as a tribute to the late Dean Armando J. Malay who was a journalist, nationalist, activist, and was popularly known to students as “The Dean” during his heydays as Dean of Student Affairs. Held last August 28 rom 2-5 PM, Palma Hall, College of Engineering, College of Law, and the College of Science were just among the venues for the ACLE. The ACLE organized by the UP Muslim Students’ Association (UP MSA ) was held at Room 228 of Palma Hall. The organization featured two documentaries entitled “The Other Mindanao” and “Rido” directed by broadcast journalist Howie G. Severino. Twenty non-Muslim students and thirteen Muslims, including the members and officers of the said organization, attended the film showing and forum that followed. Professor Agerico de Villa of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and freelance journalist Samira Gutoc, who served as Severino’s cultural guide during the making of the documentary, were invited as main speakers. The Other Mindanao Stories of progress, peace-making, and community development among Muslims were just what the viewers saw in “The Other Mindanao”. Instead of focusing on conflict as war reports have, the documentary featured the activities of peaceful community organizers, which goes against the stereotypical Muslims (i.e. the rebels and bandits) being portrayed in the media. As shown in the film, idle lands were lent to people for good use and community members (mostly evacuees) were taught on how to determine their needs and develop plans to meet them. There was also a prayer meeting and a focused group discussion for women on coping strategies for the times when men in their communities would be absent. New settlers helping each other rebuild their homes and prepare fields for planting, a child fetching dirty drinking water from a shallow well, and a couple returning to their burned home are but some of the striking images of the documentary. During the forum, Ms. Samira Gutoc emphasized on the importance of peace building in Mindanao . She further reiterated that one can help counter the negative imagery of Muslims in the media by knowing what is really happening at the grassroots level and seeing what real people do aside from fleeing or fighting a war. Professor de Villa, a Philosophy professor, discussed several interesting points in the forum. He said people need to become more aware of the cultural nuances of the different Moro groups if they truly want to help build peace and development in Mindanao. He also revealed that prior to the coming of the Spaniards, the Moros were already civilized people and that their mind-set were that of traders since Mindanao was at that time a peaceful trading center for the Moros and the Dutch. As evidence for this, archeological findings such as jars were unearthed in Mindanao with an emblem of the Dutch East English Company. He also mentioned that Marawi City was once the Silk Production Center of the Philippines and had exported silk to other countries. The climate of Marawi was conducive for the breeding of silk worms and it came to be called a “city” because of the presence of trade. Prof. de Villa also emphasized how the presence of trade and the absence of war can make Mindanao a progressive center, just as it was during the pre-Hispanic times. Land grabbing by non-Muslims that eventually caused grief and war has prevented Mindanao to be the successful trade center that it was. Lastly, Prof. de Villa mentioned that the use of gender-based peace talks or peace approach might further promote peace in Mindanao. The Bangsamoro Women’s Groups of Lanao and Sulu have no problems working together even if they come from different tribes, whereas other male-dominated groups have had some problems before. Prof. de Villa also encouraged the UPMSA members to come up with a volunteer group that will go to Mindanao (to be funded by UP Pahinugod, if possible) to help Commander Najma with her Adult Literacy-Education Program in Lanao. Commander Najma, according to Prof. de Villa, is the community leader of 760 leaders in her camp, with 22 municipalities under her 35 years of leadership, and who was able to keep drug addicts out of their place. Prof. de Villa suggested to Ms. Gutoc that media people ought to take interest in Com. Najma for her successful leadership. Rido The documentary entitled “Rido” tackled the issue of family-feuds in Mindanao and specifically examined the Ampatuan deaths in Cotabato among other cases. It discussed the negative effects of rido to both Muslim and non-Muslim residents and how this kind of war is killing many people, besides the war between the army and rebel groups. It commended a certain district that was declared a “zone of peace” by preventing the occurrence of rido in their community. Members of UPMSA explained to the participants that rido resulted from cultural, and not religious, beliefs among the Moro groups . It was emphasized that there is a thin line between religion and culture and that Islam should not be mistaken as espousing such practices. In fact, rido is considered by the enlightened, educated, and religious Moros as un-Islamic and a primitive way of dealing with conflict. Professor de Villa also shared that rido does not only take place among the Moros but also among the other tribal and minority groups in Luzon and Visayas. He explained that perhaps the concept of rido took shape during the pre-Islamic times since it shows in our history that the coming of Islam in Mindanao brought with it peace and trade among the inhabitants of the Southern Philippines . Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Hits: 252 Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Write the displayed characters