Mindanao from A to Z: A Photo Exhibit

The habalhabal is a motorcycle with wooden extension behind its body to serve as extra seats, with or without a roof to protect the passengers from sun and rain. Along with its big brother the “Skylab,” which has extensions protruding sideways that make it appear like its namesake, the habalbal is ubiquitous here in Mindanao and can navigate through narrow streets and even overtake four-wheel drive vehicles along rough roads.

It is very much like Mindanao, which has navigated through extremely difficult pathways and terrains in its journey across a troubled century and against all odds, and which has moved forward into the new millennium determined to correct historical injustices and find solutions to end the conflict.

In the eyes of many, Mindanao is “backward,” a place to be avoided, an island of danger, war, terrorists, bombings, mass evacuations, a constant no-no in travel advisories of embassies.

These images of Mindanao, the country’s resource-richest island, have been carried over from the last century into the next – images of war,  environmental degradation, exploitation, injustice, neglect.

The violence and wars notwithstanding, Mindanawons have moved on.

Indeed, as Mindanawons we find ways to work around our limitations, improve our situation with what little we have and go on with life. We stumble, we fall in our journey many times, but we get up and move on. We move on even with our meager resources, even with the most primitive of tools – like the habalhabal found in many parts of Mindanao, from Agusan to Zamboanga.

Like Mindanao, MindaNews has, despite its limited resources, continued to move on and this year, we celebrate 10 years of documenting our island’s issues, dreams, woes and hopes.

The photographs in this exhibit offer a ringside view of the places and people of Mindanao through the lens of MindaNews photographers, dispatched to all the island’s 26 provinces.

Allow us through these photographs to guide you to the other places of Mindanao and discover its other faces and facets.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 June) — A convergence of peace advocates in Mindanao is set to offer a blueprint to the negotiating panels of both the government and the Moro rebels that will serve as a common peace platform.

The Mindanao Peace Weavers (MPW), a network of non-government organizations, academe, religious, human rights groups, peoples organizations and grassroots communities, will launch on Friday the document that contains the 14-point agenda before representatives of the peace panels.

In a press conference at a hotel here, International Dialogue (IID) executive director Augusto Miclat Jr. said the MPW has formulated the Mindanao People Peace Agenda (MPPA) that aims to steer the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels to finally resolve the decades-old conflict in Mindanao. IID is a member of MPW.

“We have conducted area consultations with leaders of Bangsamoro, Lumads, and settlers from all over Mindanao,” Miclat disclosed, adding that they discovered key issues that need to be addressed to build lasting peace in Mindanao.

Among the key points embodied in the MPPA, Miclat said, is the right of everyone to self-determination.

The right to self-determination, he pointed out, is even included in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “Respecting this right is vital if we are to achieve the goal of peace,” Miclat stressed.

He added that the MPPA’s agenda is primarily “an affirmation of the right to self-determination of the peoples of Mindanao while calling on government to develop a cohesive national peace policy and pursue a negotiated peaceful settlement of the conflict.”

Other points included in the MPPA, which MPW envisions as a living document for solidarity, that needs to be discussed is the issue of corruption and impunity, and environmental protection.

The MPPA will be presented in a forum on Friday at a resort in this city. Expected participants include high-ranking government officials, experts in the field of peace negotiations, and members of indigenous groups, among others.

In a separate statement, Fr. Angel Calvo, of Peace Advocates of Zamboanga who is also MPW’s current lead convenor, said that the MPPA is a humble contribution from the grassroots civil society organizations in Mindanao, to the agenda of the government and the MILF peace panels.

“With this document, we hope to put the agenda of the people within the agenda of these players who, like us, have been searching for a peaceful solution to Mindanao,” Calvo, a Claretian priest who spent years in Basilan in the 1970s and 1980s, said.

Guiamel Alim, chairperson of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and one of the lead convenors of the network, said in a statement that the document does not intend to supplant or replace existing processes such as the peace talks between the government and the MILF but will in fact affirm these and try to identify gaps that may still surface. (Keith Bacongco / MindaNews)

Unlike other parts of the country, when you’d say “historic,” you’d see traces right on the streets of the place. But in Butuan, nothing “historic” would greet you as you enter the city or even some landmarks that would really prove why it should be called “Historic City of Butuan.”

Coming from Davao City, only the  familiar steel bridge and murky Agusan River would remind travelers that  they are already in Butuan City.

On Tuesday, we were able to visit the National Museum  in the historic city of Butuan. A staff of the museum named Boy Mitra, served as our tour guide  in the small but history-laden in the museum. I was amazed on the black and white photographs on the unearthing of the remnants of the balanghai in barangay Liberatad. Aside from the photographs, displayed on the museum were ancient tools of our ancestors, kitchenwares and even trading goods from Chinese merchants.

Unfortunately, no photographs allowed.

Listening to Mitra, slowly we understood why Butuan is such a historic place.  He also suggested to visit the archeological sites in Barangay Liberatad, some five kilometers away from downtown area.

We ran out of time, so we opted to visit the archeological site next time around.

“Given these archeological artifacts, there is no direct evidence that the Spaniards really conquered Butuan the first time the set foot here,” Mitra said while referring to the evidences that were traced only to early Filipinos.

He said the Spaniards may have only conquered other portions of Agusan del Norte on the later part of 17th to 18^th century.

Anyway, Mitra only means one thing, as I understood it: Butuan City was not easy to conquer during those days.

As I also understood it, Butuan was a trading center in the past based on the artifacts recovered.

The problem is that, it seems the local government, including the provincial government, is not really that aggressive in promoting what really makes city historic. Even the local residents don’t know so much of their place and what can be found in their place.

For first time visitors in Butuan City, a visit at the National Museum is a must for you to understand why it’s called “Historic City.”

Outside Butuan City, many historical landmarks were indentified in the internet and have been identified as “historical structures” were already defaced. But that’s another story.

As of this writing, the headline of the same news website still says: “Bomb attack on Cotabato City cathedral kills four, hurts 30.” It’s clear on the story , not just on GMA News, that the bomb went off across the church and not even inside the compound of Immaculate Concepcion cathedral. Although the blast scene is just about 20 meters away from the gate the Cathedral,  it’s still not right to write the headline that way.

I understand that writing headlines should always be ‘catchy’ but it should not sacrifice the accuracy or even mislead the public. Accuracy is the word.  With that headline, it really appears that there is an attack against the place of worship. It adds fuel to the already complex Moro-Christian relationship in the region.

With this kind of treatment to stories, it does not actually help to the atmosphere of peace in Mindanao. Because for those who are not really familiar with the situation in Mindanao, it really appears that the conflict here in Mindanao has something to do with the religion.  That headline has an undertone.

For the story to sell, sensationalize it? I think it should not be like that. For the story to be credible, get it right.

Photos: AKP Images / Keith Bacongco | Music: Kapayapaan by Tropical Depression

DATU PIANG, Maguindanao – What would have taken only a few minutes to negotiate the 14-kilometer stretch from the Cotabato-General Santos highway to Datu Piang in Maguindanao took more than an hour as thousands of evacuees and residents lined the road chanting “MOA-AD,” raising messages written down on manila paper, sack and plywood, demanding government to “respect, implement, sign and support” the MOA-AD (Froilan Gallardo / Mindanews) . read more