Randy Ford Author- I’M NOT DEAD YET, a new novel, 59th installment

      In another letter he returned to his plea for peace, this time setting it more in the context of history and his own peace initiative. Fr. Deon obviously put a lot of thought into this one.

      I will try to explain my position as a long-time resident of Bongao.

      The Jabidah Massacre on Corregidor was not the beginning of the movement for the autonomy of the Sulus (which for the record I indefatigably say I support) that seems to be gaining momentum.   Unfortunately we have not learned to pursue our aspirations without bloodshed.   When it comes down to a struggle for independence this has become the expectation (violence and death) which history seems to support.   But in our own century, there has been, as I’ve noted in my previous letter, two exceptions that I know of (Gandhi and King); it has become evident to me that there are non-violent options, and they’ve been proven to work.   As in all human endeavors, so it is in the process we’re talking about; that the easiest path is often seen as the only workable one.

      We all agree that the Jabidah Massacre was a horrific crime, from start to finish by not only the plotters or the soldiers that were directly involved, but also by the Marcos administration that fermented the plot.   After that event and with the uproar over it in the Philippine press and elsewhere, it has been easy to allow our thirst for revenge to supercede everything else which has only added fuel to a festering rebellion.   Revenge should not cause us to deviate from a rational plan; acts of revenge usual involve acts of violence, and I’m afraid acts of violence will only harden the hearts of the opposition, and even the kidnapping of the American will have that effect.   But the most militant within your group will argue that there is no other option.   They’ll say show us where something else has worked besides a violent response to tyranny and will cite revolution after revolution, including the American revolution, so it will be difficult, if not impossible, to prove to them the merits of a non-violent approach.   Even though it may seem as if I’m suggesting surrendering, I’m definitely not suggesting giving up the ultimate goals of autonomy and peace; far from it.   There have to be reasons why here violence hasn’t worked in the past.   Thus we live and die, to a great extent, by the choices we make.   But what if the easiest path of revenge and violence only prolongs the struggle?   We have of course been struggling for three centuries.   When I say “we”, I’m including myself, though there would be many among your ranks whom would exclude me because of my religion and my nationality, and accordingly I couldn’t possibly be for the Moro cause, from which they would conclude that I am an imperialist.   Now I have lived in peace in Bongao for over thirty years.   I’ve served my God.   I vowed in the beginning that wherever He sent me that I would faithfully serve and support my parishioners and here, where God sent me, my parishioners happen to be mostly Moros or Muslims.   Don’t make it your objective first of all to divide Christians and Muslims.   This is one thing that violence does.   And whom does it hurt?   The Americans, Marcos, or the government?   No.   Instead, it is the ordinary Christian and Muslim who worships his or her God, who works for his or her family, and of course yearns for freedom and independence and a life without tyranny.   Generally he or she has neither time nor inclination to think this all through , so they have to rely on intellectuals and leaders (and yes, perhaps warriors) like you.

      The kidnapping of the American on Basilan I consider to be in the first place pointless, second misdirected, and third a waste of energy.   Pointless, because as I understand it your kidnap victim grew up on Mindanao and not in America and that he had been fighting (for Moro fisherman) against an invasion of the Malay and Japanese fishing industry.   Misdirected, because I think you’ve chosen the wrong target.   Waste of energy, because to be effective you need to confront your enemies directly.   Note that I used the word “confront” rather than “kill.”

      Randy Ford

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