by Jeremy Simons
“I can no longer in good conscience support
the government’s formal peace efforts that not only builds peace on a
foundation of gross injustice and deception, but uses “peace and development”
as an excuse legitimizing the state-facilitated killing of nearly 5,000
people. The current state of impunity
perpetuates the violent methods that have entrenched corruption, dynasties, and
underdevelopment at the expense of the masses over the decades. To paint Marcos
as a hero is a lie re-victimizing those who died in the struggle for national
liberation.
For those reasons and for the thousands of
Filipinos who have been killed at the hands of state security forces and whose
families suffer without recourse to justice or compensation for their losses,
that I ask for your collective wisdom gained from years of active non-violent
resistance – how to express this journey and conversation, to join and walk
together if you feel so inspired, and to no longer allow peace and development
to be used as pawns of injustice and violence.
I understand that this choice means closing
some doors for a “popular” peace, but I believe this will open new
opportunities for a deeper transformation of our land, our people, our nation.
If you also have dreams for what that new potential looks like, please get in
touch with me….This principled disengagement is with the government process
only that will free up energy for informal, civil society, spiritual, indigenous,
revolutionary and other peacebuilding process and activities.”
This was a text I sent to some friends in
November of last year, as Ferdinand Marcos was being buried in the national
cemetery, and the peace processes seemed on “fast track”. Events since then
have simply confirmed my decision. The reality of limited time and resources
dictates that we put our energies towards what is true and lasting in the
movement for peace and justice.
Today we hear news that 32 people were
killed in Bulucan drug raids; 5 were killed in North Cotabato in mysterious
assassinations (according to Mindanews); the CA rejected the appointment of a revolutionary
social worker at the helm of the DSWD (no surprise after rejecting a true
environmentalist at the helm of the DENR); the president of the Philippines
ordered his police to kill Human Rights advocates (again); the peace process with
the NDFP remains in tatters; the justice element of the Bangsamoro peace
process (embodied in the creation of a National Transitional Justice and
Reconciliation Commission on the Bangsamoro) is nowhere to be found; Federalism
faces a congress that can’t even confirm people-friendly cabinet heads; Marawi
is in ruins and violent extremist have a now larger pool of recruits; drugs
keep flowing from it’s “ally” north of the South China Sea; Martial Law has
been declared with a congressional and judicial rubber stamp; the Bangsamoro
Law sponsored in congress betrays the work of the Commission that created it; the
OPAPP itself is embroiled in corruption (just ask Jess about those travel services
contracts and payments) and a fundamental betrayal of its mandate in mishandling the Marawi crisis, and the list
goes on….
One of the bedrock principals of conflict
transformation and active non-violence is non-cooperation with the organs and
instruments of oppression and violence. A second fundamental is to “do no
harm,” that is, ensuring that well-intentioned interventions do not lead to unintended
negative consequences. A third core value is not to sacrifice long term goals
in the eradication of root causes of injustice with short-term violence. It
should be clear to all people who dream and desire genuine peace with justice,
many of who are my friends and colleagues, that the efforts of the current
Philippine government are at a dead-end. The current actions of the Philippine
government are simply antithetical to these fundamental and emancipatory
peacebuilding principles, and the results are now obvious.
Samira Gutoc-Tomawis was right when she
resigned from the Bangsamoro Transition Commission in May, and I know of many
others who have left, or even refused lucrative assignments in the current
government, out of their principles and values. It is time for these people,
and those who listen to the voice of conscience, to stand together, and declare
that we will not allow our efforts, our time, blood, sweat, and tears in the
struggle for genuine peace, simply be used as an excuse for the perpetuation of
historical oppression, the violation of human dignity, and the destruction of communities.
There is so much to do, so little time in one persons’ life – let us make the
most of what God has given us.
May Salaam/Kalinaw/Peace be upon us all.
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