WELLNESS IN EDUCATION: Catholic Educational Assoc of the Phil (CEAP) advocates Peace in Mindanao

In order to make its voice heard, it had to come out with a full page advertisement. Its manifesto is entitled “ Hear Mindanao: Requite Evil with Good.” It begins by saying: “We are profoundly saddened and shocked that the deliberations on the Bangsamoro Basic Law have been indefinitely suspended.” Before I restate their major points, it is important that we first know what is this organization all about. The CEAP is the national association of Catholic educational institutions in the Philippines. Founded in 1941, it now has 1,252 members which are all educational institutional. Although it includes schools catering to the more affluent sector of society, its members also include around 700 mission schools offering basic education to the country’s poor and the marginalized. Its manifesto raised several major issues which every Filipino should be aware. First, it said that the tragic events of Mamasapano requires the search for truth so that justice can be served to all the casualties, both combatants and civilians. There are so many investigations but in the pursuit of truth “humility is more helpful than arrogance, more helpful than rage or anger.” Senators, congressmen and media commentators should listen to the wisdom of the CEAP when it said: “ Humility admits one’s biases and prejudices against others in the search for truth and justice. Humility admits respect for persons or organizations from whom we seek truth.” So many public statements on the Mamasapano encounter are clearly the result of biases or even worst based on personal political agendas. Just as bad are media commentators who are riding on this issue as if it was just another scandal that could increase both listenership and viewership. The CEAP urges all of us to look at this armed struggle from a historical perspective. That is why it says: “Let us not forget the MILF is a revolutionary group. It took up arms against the government in the face of an undeniable history of intolerance, violence and exclusion.” This is a profound statement coming from a Catholic organization that publicly admits that the Muslim minority in this country have been victimized by the Christian rulers from the time of the Spanish colonizers. The present struggle with the MNLF and MILF, however, is a history of 45 years of intermittent war that has brought suffering to Mindanao. It began in 1968, after the Jabidah massacre instigated by the Marcos regime. It intensified during the martial law years when Marcos declared all out war against the Moros. During the Marcos years, around 11,000 soldiers and policemen died during the struggle. But around 150,000 other combatants and civilians, predominantly Moros, also died. The CEAP manifesto said: “Both the Moros and the Philippines came to a share insight that the road to violence in Mindanao only led to more wars, more wailing of widows and children, impoverishment. More was to be gained on the path to peace.”