First part of a series

 

I am writing again simply to share another ‘perspective’  of events and tragedies that has befallen Mindanao.  I have adapted my symbolic bird - the Owl - to present the perspective not only from the ground or frontlines but also from the night where the real things are kept hidden.

 
The owl stands as a singular watch during the night. The owl is, also, the symbolic bird often used to communicate wisdom.  And in the crisis brought about by the Zamboanga siege, more than ever, people have to stand on watch not only for the people (rebels) that menace their security but also for the policy makers whose grave ‘miscalculations’ have unleashed an equally destructive force. 
 
I share the view of many social analysts who subscribe to the often repeated saying that ‘war is but the unfolding of miscalculations’. There are two basic ‘miscalculations’ unfolded by the ‘2013 Battle of Zamboanga’. The first is the premise of government peace adviser/s that Chairman Nur Misuari is a ‘spent force’.  The second is the delusion of both government policy makers and security forces that the MNLF is so divided to be able to pose any threat to national security.  On both grounds, government’s peace adviser and security intelligence have gravely erred. And the people paid dearly for such grave error of judgement!
 
A little look ‘backward’, the previous administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, after several attempts to engage Chairman Nur, had finally decided that further efforts would be futile.  A conspiracy was concocted with the cooperation of the Chairman’s trusted men within the MNLF Central Committee to ‘dislodge’ Chairman Nur Misuari not only from the ARMM hierarchy but also from the very MNLF leadership structure. The group formed was, for some time until it self-destructed, known as the Executive Council of the 15 or EC 15- referring to the 15 MNLF prominent leaders that plotted with government ‘operators’ the ‘ouster’ of Chairman Nur from the MNLF leadership structure. They ‘retired’ Chairman Nur and they appointed him as MNLF ‘Chairman Emeritus’.
 
No doubt, the government had always seen Chairman Misuari as a difficult partner (to say the least) in the implementation of reforms and the needed development in Muslim Mindanao.  The so-called Misuari ‘trajectory’ post the 1996 Final Peace Agreement was both ‘intractable’ and ‘judged by government as a dismal failure’. Chairman Nur had his period of ‘GLORY’ as Governor of the Autonomous Region and Chairman of the two transitional mechanisms - the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) and the Consultative Assembly.
 
It was much easier for the government to oust Chairman Nur from the ARMM, but it was altogether a different story in the attempts to dislodge him from the MNLF hierarchy. The former was a successful undertaking and in no time government anointed one of Chairman’s trusted lieutenant and a leading member of the EC 15, Dr. Parok Hussin, as their new ‘horse’ to run the affairs of the ARMM. The latter ended as a miserable failure.
 
The MNLF rank and file and the field commanders have, by and large, remained faithful to Chairman Nur Misuari. Notwithstanding the government propaganda that Chairman Nur was a ‘spent force’ and his group of MNLF was branded as ‘rogue MNLF’. The irony of it all was the belief that Chairman Nur under house arrest would be an easy target to destroy by state mechanism.  But government and the EC 15 underestimated the ‘mystic’ or ‘magic’ of Chairman Nur. The Organization of the Islamic Conference or OIC continued to recognize Maas Nur Misuari as the CHAIRMAN of the MNLF. The ‘coup’ staged by the EC 15 never took off the ground.
 
When government saw the futility of their attempts to dislodge Chairman Nur, the EC 15 met for the last time sometime in 2008 and it restored Maas as the UNDISPUTED CHAIR of the MNLF and the EC 15 self-destructed.  By doing so the EC 15 hoped that they, too, would all be restored to their positions - a sort of maintaining the ‘status quo ante’.
 
I was asked by the EC 15 and government to speak to Chairman Nur and plea for the acceptance of this formula for the ‘GOOD’ of the entire MNLF. I did talk to Chairman Nur on a one-on-one basis and I used all my power of persuasion and ‘wiles’ to convince Chairman Nur. I, too, was NOT only a failure in this regard but Chairman Nur gave me a two-hour tutorial on Betrayal 101. There was NO HOPE of reconciliation, for the simple reason that Chairman Nur considered the EC 15 as TRAITORS and to him this is a CAPITAL OFFENSE!
 
Fr. Eliseo Mercado is senior policy adviser at the Institute for Autonomy & Governance. Follow him on Twitter @junmeromi.