Mindanao Daily News (September 14, 2014)

Mindanao Daily NEWS northmin . westmin . caraga . davao Your Regional Mindanao-wide Community Newspaper

Volume III, No. 095

REAL ESTATE EXPO

web portal: www.businessweekmindanao.com

Some 40 exhibitors gathered at ‘BPI Housing and Family Auto Loan Festival’ and BusinessWeek Real Expo organized

by BusinessWeek Mindanao Group of Publications and Jatico Events held at the Limketkai Center on September 12, 13 and 14. Prior to the opening of the event, a press conference was conducted to hold discussion about the

Sunday

event and other matters concerning housing, real estate developing and automobile industry. In the photo are Ford Group Sales Manager Ryan Jay Santos, Mazda Sales Manager Lucelo Gono Jr., BPI Family Savings Bank Division Head and Product Marketing Noel Altamirano, Avida Sales Corporation Project Sales Director Emmanuel Magto, Oro

One Oasis: Come home to haven

By Irene dayo

ONE Oasis Cagayan de Oro, a condominium under the pillar of Filinvest Land Corporation, is continuing its service in providing a green community to its stakeholders here in Cagayan de Oro City.

“We are very happy to offer you One Oasis, a rare gem right in the heart of the city,” Ms. Maria Arabelle Solidum said during a press conference held along the conduct of ‘BPI Housing Festival with Family Auto Loan’ and BusinessWeek Real Expo. Solidum is FilInvest’s Area General Manager for Northern Mindanao.

See HAVEN, page A2

A ribbon-cutting event was held to finally open the three-day BPI Housing Festival with Family Auto Loan and BusinessWeek Real Expo, happening September 12-14, 2014. In the photo are BusinessWeek Mindanao Group of Publications Publisher, Mr. Dante Sudaria; City Administrator, Atty. Roy Hilario Raagas; BPI Family Savings Bank Product Marketing Division Head, Mr. Noel Altamirano; and Oro Chamber President, Mr. Efren T. Uy. Photo by Glenn Palacio

ZING

QUANTUM PENDANT I N S TA N T S TA M I N A ENHANCER

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See story on Page A1 12 September 14, 2014 P15.00

Chamber President Efren T. Uy, FilInvest Land Inc. Area General Manager for Northern Mindanao Ma. Arabelle Solidum, Subaru Sales Manager Joane B. Arellano, Jin Bei Auto General Manager Neil Que and Hyundai Dealer Sales Trainer Keith Ervin Gamil.

Photo by Glenn Palacio of the Cagayan de Oro Times

A salute to BWM, BPI housing expo stakeholders TOP corporations in the Editorial housing industry and automotive business have gathered at Lim KetKai Center for BusinessWeek Mindanao’s Real Estate Expo and BPI Housing Festival With Family Auto Loan, giving more credence to Cagayan de Oro’s title as the Most Competitive City in the country.

The event which started Friday and culminates today is another feather to the cap of Dante Sudaria’s BusinessWeek Mindanao and Mindanao Daily’s campaign to give a boost and support the economic strides of Cagayan de Oro’s business communities.

Co-organized by Jatico Events, and supported by the City government of Cagayan de Oro, the threeday event magnificently exhibited the products and promotions of some 40 stakeholders in the real estate and automobile industries. Such event as the Mindanao Real Expo and BPI Housing Festival is a manifestation of the credibility and prestige of stakeholders of our local economy.

Merging media force and business institutions such as BPI, Ford Philippines, Mazda, Subaro, Hyundai, Jenbei, Filinvest, Avida, Primavera, Smart Condo, is a gigantic feat in itself.

Our salute and congratulations to the prolific sponsor and exhibitor- panelists Noel Altamirano, vice president of BPI, Arabelle Solidum, area manager See HOUSING, page A2

Editorial: e-mail: mindanaodailynews@gmail.com • Advertising: e-mail: mindanaodaily.ads@gmail.com Contact: 0917-7121424, 0947-8935776

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News In Focus

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sunday, sept. 14, 2014

Malacanang to coordinate closely with Congress regarding President Aquino’s emergency powers THE Palace said it will coordinate closely with the members of Congress on the emergency powers wanted by the President to address the need of the energy sector.

“We will continue to work with our colleagues in the Senate and in the Lower House to make sure that everybody has a clear footing on what the President wants to do in terms of the emergency powers that he spoke of yesterday para malinaw po ang parameters nitong hinihinging emergency powers,” Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio interview on Saturday.

Valte was reacting to some statements saying the Palace may not be able to get the emergency powers needed by the President because Congress has other pressing issues to attend to like the national budget and the Bangsamoro Basic Law. It was reported that Malacanang expects to have that authority for the President by the end of September.

S ome quarters were saying that there must be actual shortage in the supply of electricity before the President is granted such powers.

But Valte told dzRB Radyo ng Bayan that the President is not a person that gets spooked easily and when it comes to the concerns in the energy sector, he consults the energy secretary and other stakeholders to see the projections.

The Palace spokesperson also said that even Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla mentioned an impending energy shortage situation next year and the country must prepare for that.

A lot of t he p ower plants run on hydropower, experts said, noting that as the summer season kicks in, the power supply will be depleted.

“So siguro mas mabuti na pong magpakasigurado tayo dahil mahirap na kapag nandiyan na ay doon pa lang gagalaw ang pamahalaan,” Valte said.

Another issue on the President’s emergenc y

Haven...

powers is sovereign guar- dent asks for this kind of antee, which became prob- authority, there must be lematic in the past. Valte limitations.

“Just please be rest assaid that as the Presi-

sured that the matter has been studied, and studied well, and that what the President is asking for has

a very clear set of delineations and delimitations,” Valte added. A report from the Philippine News Agency

CAGAYAN de Oro City–– Government officials and the Philippine Independent Church in Northern Mindanao have sent an appeal to President Aquino and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to ask their help to persuade a local military commander to suspend military operations in Bukidnon province.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona Jr., chair of the Senate’s committee on peace and order, said the suspension of military operations in Bukidnon will pave the way for the release of Pfc. Marnel Tagalugon Cinches and Pfc. Jerrel Hapay Yorong, who were captured by the New People’s Army last August 22.

“We have sent letters of appeal to President Aquino and the Defense secretary. I believed they are studying it right now,” Guingona spoke to reporters by phone last Sept. 12.

Alan Juanito, spokesperson of the NPA Julito Tiro Command in North Central Mindanao, said they are willing to release Cinches and Yorong if government forces will implement a 10day Suspension of Offensive Military Operations (SOMO) and Suspension of Offensive Police Operations (SOPO).

Juanito said the temporary ceasefire should cover San Fernando, Cabanglasan, Malaybalay City, Impasugong, Manolo Fortich and Malitbog in Bukidnon.

The NPA also wanted to extend the area where a temporary ceasefire will take effect to Claveria, Balingasag and Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.

“The NPA will immediately declare its own suspension of offensive operations with the same duration and scope as soon as the GPH declares its SOMO and SOPO,” Juanito said in a statement

emailed to news organizations here.

However, the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, which oversees military operations in Bukidnon and Northern Mindanao, underwent a change of command last Sept. 12.

Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao assumed command of the 4ID replacing Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, who was assigned to head the Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command in Lucena City.

Lactao, who was the former AFP deputy operations chief, has given orders to continue operations to rescue Cinches and Yorong, according to Maj. Christian Uy, 4ID public information officer.

“Our orders are to continue operations to rescue the two soldiers. But of course this may change if new orders will come from the President or the General Headquarters,” Uy said.

The situation has became unbearable for the family and relatives of Cinches and Yorong whose last communications from the two soldiers was on August 23.

“Gimingaw na kaayo mi nila (We miss them so much),” weeps Ana Curita Tare, the aunt of PFC Marnel Tagalugon Cinches.

Tare was accompanied by Pfc. Yorong’s sister, Genieve Yorong-Tagadiad, and Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Philippine Independent Church, to the office of Cagayan de Oro Press Club last Tuesday.

The two relatives appealed to the military to implement the ceasefire as demanded by the NPA so the two soldiers can be safely released.

A crisis negotiating team led by Bukidnon Gov. Jose Zubiri and Calang has already made contact with the NPA rebels since the first week of September. (MindaNews)

ment here in CDO. One Oasis CDO is located along Rosario Limketkai Avenue, Barangay Camaman-an, along the perimeter fence of Limketkai Complex and J. R. Borja Extension. It is just five-minute ride away from prime commercial centers and lifestyle hubs in the city such as Limketkai

Center, Centrio Mall and Gaisano Mall.

Mo r e ov e r, i t i s a n Asian-Balinese inspired master-planned community of mid-rise residential buildings and sits within a sprawling 2.7 hectare property.

It is offering first-rate and resort-inspired amenities such as clubhouse,

administration and fitness building, pools, basketball court, multi-purpose hall and children’s play area. In here, families can enjoy a convenient, quiet living and can feel secured of being near to venues that can provide their necessities.

FilInvest also recognize giving back to its clients by means of rewards. One of

these is the Konnichiwa: Hello Japan rewards that entice consumers to buy their dream home and get a free trip to Japan. This promo could be availed through buying from any participating FilInvest project with a minimum total selling price of P 500,000.00. Local buyers shall be sent an enrollment

receipt through e-mail and SMS that confirms enrollment in the promo and indicates details of their available reward travel.

These qualified buyers can avail packages depending on the TSP. The promo period of Konnichiwa Hello Japan reward is from July 1, 2014 and will end on September 30.

tion, Ryan Jay Santos, sales manager, of Ford, Lucelo from page A1 Gono, Jr., sales manager of Filinvest, Emmanuel Mazda, Jin Lee, CFO, Smart Magto, project sales direc- Condominium, Joan Kathtor of Avida Sales Corpora- leen Hernandez, assistant

sales manager for Hyundai, with Keith Ervin Gamil, dealer sales trainer; and Neil Que, general manager for Jenbei, who ditto with Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Oro Chamber) President Efren Uy and city administrator Atty. Roy Raagas, for gracing the press conference and their inspiring messages.

Atty. Raagas’ assurance

that city government is doing its best to provide assistance and support to investors in real estate and automotive industries was well-said.

Services such tax incentives, updating housing board standards, and land-use reclassification to accommodate real estate investments are by no means necessary if we want to maintain our status as

most competitive city.

BPI, Vice President Altamirano also assured clients of incentives and easier payment schemes for its housing and auto loans, offering less than six percent interest for financing if they apply during the three-day event.

Thank you BPI for helping the house-less and the car-less families. Indeed, your consumer outreach program as BPI’s “most important effort,” is innovative and noble.

Mr. Dante Sudaria, CEO of BusinessWeek Mindanao

Group of Publications, conveys his gratitude to all participants.

We at BWM publications vow to help Mindanaoans explore more business opportunities as we forge relationships with investors and stakeholders in various industries.

Establishing our prominence as a Media entity, we also assure everyone our continuing task and responsibility to heighten awareness on economic developments for Cagayan de Oro and the rest of Mindanao.

from page A1

Ms. Solidum proudly said that FilInvest is celebrating its 50th year of being a successful player in real estate development, considered one of the country’s leading companies in the industry.

One Oasis is their invest-

Housing...

Suspension of military operations in B’non sought to facilitate soldiers’ release

MDN: June 16-Dec.15, 2014

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Opinion

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EDITOR: RUEL V. PELONE • ruel_pelone2002@yahoo.com

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The Mindanao Daily nORTHMIN, Mindanao Daily CARAGA , mindanao daily westmin and Mindanao Daily DAVAO newspapers are published daily by MINDANAO DAILY NEWS at Door 2, Tanleh Building, Abellanosa St., Brgy. Consolacion, Cagayan de Oro City. It is registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Region 10 with Certififcate No. 01791042, and with Business Permit No. BP-02275 Under Business License Certificate No. 2014-00525, TIN No. 209-980-927, Tel. Nos: (088) 856-3344, (08822)7233-44, 0917-7121424, 0947-8935776 E-mail: mindanaodaily.ads@gmail.com, mindanaodailynews@gmail.com MINDANAO DAILY NEWS Publisher ALLAN M. MEDIANTE Editor-in-Chief ruel pelone Managing Editor cheng ordoÑez Associate Editor CRIS DIAZ Executive Editor Arjay Felicilda Assistant Editor felix santillan Layout Artist Rene Michael BaÑos Regional Editor-Northmin PAT SAMONTE CHRIS PANGANIBAN Regional Editors-Caraga SAM NERI Provincial Editor-Bukidnon MARLON GAYOG Regional Editor-Davao AL JACINTO Regional Editor-WestMin irene dayo Reporter-NorthMin gerry lee gorit Photo Journalist URIEL C. QUILINGUING JOE FELICILDA Editorial Consultant ATTY. MARIO T. JUNI NOTARY PUBLIC- JUNI LAW OFFICE CELL NO: 09352379999/ (088) 8573595 CRUZ TAAL ST., CAG. DE ORO CITY Legal Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------

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Life’s primacy and cultural imageries since 9/11

By Julkipli Wadi of MindaNews

QUEZON City––There is a beautiful line in the Holy Qur’an, which many of us are very much familiar with that says: “That if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: And if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people (Maida: 35).”

This sublime passage of the Qur’an ought to be given much reflection amid rampant killings in many countries particularly in the Muslim world today.

The 21st century should have supposedly provided us immense lessons: that past wars like World War I and II and other small and big wars that happened after them had undeniably shaped present history; yet, if they could have been avoided, history would still have taken a course of continuity although we would not know what kind or what form.

The point is, big powers must have learned hard lessons after engaging in those two devastating wars, as they now prefer to engage in indirect, proxy wars and continue to wage low key and subtle “secret war.” In this regard, image-making or propaganda, while deeply rooted in political ideology and psychological warfare, have been utilized quite well even making it as the strongest form of political and cultural domination against Islam and the Muslim world these past several years.

This thought comes to mind in light of two major events that I consider significant this almost midmonth of September.

9/11 Image-making Yesterday was the 9/11 13th year’s commemoration.

It was used to coincide with President Barrack Obama’s declaration of US strategy against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or (ISIL). The 9/11 and the new US strategy speak volumes on how imagemaking and propaganda have been utilized especially so that the erstwhile World Trade Center also known as the Ground Zero is now replaced with a museum that displays various images about that fateful day of 9/11.

The message projected is that America is a victim.

And anyone who’d visit the museum would develop a mental image of Islam or the Muslim world as inhabited by violent and bigoted Arabs, zealot Muslims and other politically charged labels representing too empirically-based and powerful cultural symbols couched in gripping religious and psychological stereotypes. This process of image-making and cultural representation has become essential part in the molding of America’s psyche about Islam and the Muslim world and will be continuously etched in America’s narratives and remembering in the coming years and decades. A year after the 9/11, we were able to visit New York and had

the chance to linger around on then prohibited area of Ground Zero. It was clear to me then that the ashes and rubbles of 9/11 would be transformed into powerful symbol of America’s imagery not only against the perpetrators and all the attendant ideas and culture they represent but trademark of America’s ideals and power in the 21st century.

On the contrary, if we look at the Arab world and many parts of the Muslim world hardly had they moved forward since 9/11.

In fact, many Muslim countries and communities retrogressed considerably since then. Killings and mayhem have been rampant with religion wantonly invoked as justifications. The new rounds of violence have gone beyond reason. Relics and sacred sites and many other important places of Islamic heritage were not spared; they were demolished, bombed, and flattened altogether. What had been there these past centuries were effaced forever.

The blatant display of violence and hatred emboldens even more the spread of cultural imagery and representation and the use of subtle propaganda that pressed even harder the Muslim world. From the look of it, the new US strategy as advanced is not wholly intended to eliminate the threat of ISIS. The aerial strike strategy has the angle to basically strengthen anew US hegemony in the heartland of the Middle East particularly in the post-Arab

Editorial

Spring period. It is to make Arab states around Iraq and Syria more constricted leaving them with less option but to hang on to America’s skirts thus rendering them into complete subservience while luring them to buy more weapons from the US and Russia and other European powers. In other words, the use of cultural imagery and representation, while attached to global power and domination is now fully utilized and is made to parallel with, and even playing as a more effective tool of, imperial and cultural domination in the Arab world.

This is one dimension of cultural imageries that I observed this month of September.

MILF’s reconfiguration In different but related development, while the above imagery is relatively negative, I guess, Malacañang’s submission of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law to Congress two days ago augurs well in terms of projecting a new cultural image of engagement with Islamic community in the Philippines. Where the Middle East suffers with propensity to regime change that spiraled to more chaos and violence, at least, the picture presented in the Philippines is that, an alternative route of doing peace with Muslim rebels is possible.

We have to note that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was born around the mold of Islamic state rhetoric like many other Islamic movements

See primacy, page A11

Daily Inspiration Opportuniy “Never miss an opportunity to make others happy even if it means you have to leave them alone in order to do it.”

Anonymous

Juvy Sarraga

cal and cross words are second nature to them. Spending time thinking you can change them is futile. They accept change when they choose to seek a new Sometimes you meet people with a attitude on their own. In the meantime negative nature and they find it difficult leaving them alone may be the kindest to be happy. Grumbling, anger, criti- gift you could give.

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Environment

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DENR: PH committed to increasing public access to environmental info

T

he Philippines is working toward increasing public access to data and information that are crucial to policy- and decision-making and management of its vast natural and environmental resources.

This was the assurance made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) during the 2014 Asia-Pacific Regional Working Group on Environmental Information meeting, which was held September 1-3, 2014 in Mandaluyong City.

Manila played host to representatives from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives and Taiwan.

During the meeting, DENR Undersecretar y Analiza Teh said that a comprehensive, trusted and timely environmental information is key to more effective environmental protection.

“Information has the power to change our lives.

The more an individual is informed, the more he or she is equipped to play a meaningful role in protecting the environment for present and future generations. Improving public awareness and education remains a top priority,” Teh said.

She added: “The challenge is to provide an effective platform for the management of environmental information that the public can use with greater efficiency.”

Presided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the annual meeting was attended by selected countries from the Asia-Pacific region to discuss commitments and willingness of governments

to share environmental information to the public.

Environmental information and data are used for research purposes or to aid in policy and decisionmaking processes.

Participants gave updates on the environmental information systems in their respective countries, as well as the challenges confronting them.

The country’s representative to the meeting, DENR Human Resource Development and Information Systems Assistant Secretary Bresilda Gervacio, reported on the different systems that the Philippine government uses in planning, monitoring, facilitating, permitting and licensing, and in enhancing public access to environmental information.

She discussed about the Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR) Statistics Information System, a web application that serves as an information bank on ENR facts and figures, allowing a qualitative analysis on the government’s performance on key ENR programs.

Gervacio also talked about the use of geotagging in monitoring the progress of the National Greening Program (NGP), the Aquino administration’s flagship reforestation program that seeks to cover 1.5 million hectares with trees by 2016.

“This (geotagging) helps us when validating monitoring reports and eliminates possibilities of ghost plantations,” she said, noting that the use of this latest technology has resulted in a more accurate and effective monitoring of NGP projects, including those in remote and conflict-affected areas.

During the meeting,

the DENR disclosed that its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) is currently upgrading all air quality monitoring stations in the country with equipment that can automatically generate ambient air data, which serves as basis for air pollution policies and programs.

The equipment can

monitor finer particulate matter that has more adverse impact on human and environmental health.

The environment department also reported that the EMB will soon provide an online permitting system for services like waste registration, securing discharge permits, and application for environmental compli-

ance certificates, as part of enhancing transparency and accessibility of public services within the agency.

The DENR is also set to launch a mobile application called “Alerto Pinoy,” which would contain geohazard maps, alert warning and other advisories during disasters and calamities.

It is also a partner agency

for the Philippine Geoportal, a web application that integrates geospatial data and services from all government agencies concerned with mapping.

Standard multi-scale base maps used in the system serve as tools for planning, decision making and situational analysis especially in times of disaster.(DENR)

A6 Mindanao Daily NEWS

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GenSan hopes to bag Guinness record with display of 33 metric tons of tuna

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Fish port workers here displayed and weighed around 33,610 kilograms or 33.61 metric tons (MT) of tuna in about 15 minutes on Thursday to notch a potential new Guinness world record for the largest fish display.

Such figure was based on the official records of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), which operates the General Santos Fish Port Complex (GSFPC) and main organizer of this year’s 16th Tuna Festival.

Paris Ayon, food safety chief of the GSFPC and 16th Tuna Festival assistant director, said they were able to achieve their target of breaking the Guinness record for the largest fish display, which featured part of the fish port’s fresh tuna catch for the day.

As early as 5 a.m., workers at the city fish port complex started unloading various tuna species from around 20 fishing boats that landed at the port.

Each fishing boat unloaded an average 60 pieces of tuna that weighed about 20 kilograms and above.

Cecilia Egasan, the event’s organizer, said the freshly-landed tuna were initially displayed at the bidding tables of the fishport’s market 1 and later weighed by the workers with the use of Azuki digital weighing scales.

She said they were able to surpass the world record in less than six minutes but continued the process to complete their 15-minute target.

Organizers initially targeted to put up a display of around 50 MT of tuna or around 2,000 pieces at 25-kg each for the world record attempt.

The event was not witnessed by an adjudicator from Guinness but the entire activity was properly documented through official records, photographs and videos.

Ayon earlier said they will immediately submit the activity’s records and documentation to the Guinness World Records office in London.

He said they tapped personnel of the AMA Computer College here to document the weighing of the tuna catches.

Ayon said they expect the results to come out by next week.

Festival organizers originally applied to come up with the longest grilled tuna that would fall under the Guinness record for the longest barbecue but were instead advised by Guinness to work on establishing the largest fish display.

Guinness has no specific world record for the largest fish display but it acknowledged the largest seafood display established by Schmidt Zeevis and Wichter Steller of Schmidt Zeevis in Rotterdam, Netherlands on June 26, 2011.

The display consisted of 2,271.7 kg or 5,008 lb of seafood that was achieved with the help of executive chef Erik Troost and his team on the Lido deck of the SS Rotterdam, Guinness said.

Egasan said Thursday’s feat was proof that the city remains the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”

“I’m sure no other (port) will be able to surpass this achievement before Guinness will release its evaluation for the activity,” she said.

City Councilor Shandee Llido, chair of the council’s committee on tourism, said the potential world record could bring more economic benefits to the area.

She said it could also help attract more visitors or tourists to the city and the neighboring areas.

Government records showed that the city is currently the country’s top source of fresh and processed tuna exports.

The city is home to six of the country’s seven tuna canneries and other related ventures that generate average annual export receipts of nearly US$ 300 million. (MindaNews)

Vice-Governor Cristy Atay (left) sends of Muslims pilgrims availing of Lanao del Norte’s Hajj program. This is the 10th year of the program’s successful implementation.

(PIO-LDN)

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Primacy... from page A4

in the ‘60s, ’70, and ‘80s. With the changing landscape in the Muslim world, the MILF engaged in a subtle reconfiguration of Moro struggle by bringing it back to the f rame of nat ional liberation and the right to self-determination, while re-drawing it away from the highly accentuated and politicized religious str uggle like many Islamic movements in vogue in many countries then.

Hence, the MILF was able to shift its agenda and ideology away from the rhetoric of political Islam and “return” to the frame it previously abandoned when it broke away from its mother front, the Moro National Liberation Front in 1977. Thus, the image created is that Islamic movements do not always tread along the path of radicalism, and extremism, and so on. Whereas the Abu Sayyaf took the reversed course in the late ‘80s and was hardly able to sustain its cause few years after, the prospect of radical Islamic line now pursued by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and its political and military future remain to be seen. To say the least, if the government fails with its peace process with the MILF, it will have a hard time engaging the new cadres of Moro jihadists.

This development of MILF’s reconfigured stance is significant because, I guess, the 21st centur y gives premium to movements that advanced a struggle whose advocacy is protection of human rights with strong pro-life appeal. In fact, any movement that continuously uses violence could become object not only of physical assaults and intimidation from bigger powers; it could also be potential targets for stereotypical imagery and representation.

Hence, the two separate but analogous imageries yesterday and the other day gave us lessons particularly in addressing the questions: where do we go from here and what are the things we should avoid as an ummah in our future trajectory?

Although the context of the above Qur’anic injunction of saving lives is an imperative for the children of Israel to adopt a universal view about life and to avoid killing and violence, it nonetheless pres ents t he universal creed on the primacy of life; and conversely, if lives are saved the whole of humanity is saved too.

Such sublime vers e of the Qur’an has universal import as Islam gives premium to sacredness of life. In fact, there is hadith (saying) of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that one of the kabair or greatest

sins is murder. Other kabair are, namely: joining partners in the worship of Allah (SWT); disrespect or undutiful to one’s parents; making false statement, and false witnesses. In ot her words, b ot h t he Qur’an and the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) abhor killing “unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land.”

We mention this as a background to the fact that there is a trend in warfare these days that, if it is avoidable, to limit casualties to very minimal number, although this is an ideal as we witnessed, for instance, Israel’s exceptional brutality in the new round of war and destruction in Gaza few weeks ago. The point is that, violence or any other form of extremism is being frowned upon generally.

At times, violence can be used as a cultural image to destroy or to create an imprint in people’s psychology that would be etched for a long time in their consciousness.

Propaganda and maturity The 9/11 is a classic example how a lemon has been transformed into lemonade in the United States. What was supposedly a negative event was transformed into America’s source of collective memory where a powerful image has been created to continuously project cultural representation not only amongst the perpetrators but even the source of their thought, their culture, their communities, and so on. That is how potent and powerful cultural imager y, cultural representation, and propaganda are. Even if particular event has already happened long ago, they could be utilized for certain ideological, political, and strategic purposes.

The other dimension is while the submission of the BBL, or at least the draft, would provide certain opportunity for the Moro struggle to be taken or be understood in new prism, we just could not help and raise questions in terms of the level of maturity not only those in the national government and the Moro community as well but also in terms of how ready they are in upgrading their understanding of Moro struggle and its new mode of engagement.

In our view if the majority is not ready to accept or accommodate and provide higher premium to new configuration of Moro struggle particularly the line now pursued by the MILF, then we might as well miss an opportunity to resolve the Mindanao conflict this time around.

The MILF, by taking the parliamentary route away from its revolutionar y past, shows that there

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is a way, a new path of Muslim struggle unlike what is happening in the Arab world these days.

In truth, the Arab Spring should have ushered the birth of a new beginning in the Middle East. But the factors and forces in the Arab world are simply not ready to push forward the new vision of social change; so that, in few years time, that vision crumbled and was subsequently supplanted with the rise of groups like the ISIS opening therefore the Arab word to new era of big powers’ proxy wars and intervention.

This reflection is for us to learn higher principle of struggle that takes the

primacy of life as core value and remind us to adopt new ways, if need be, in envisioning social change. It also reminds us not to tread into areas that could further press us hard or use us unscrupulously as source or pretext for cultural imagery and representation especially by powerful ones. It is also a message to perpetrators of hatred and violence to realize their pitfalls, to assess their assumption, to mend their fanaticism, and to return to the tenets that take life as sacred akin to the sacredness of humanity.

That beautiful line in the Qur’an about saving lives and avoiding killing

represent Islam’s cardinal principle of life. It has to be continuously reflected so that we will take life as truly sacred as we become mature and calibrating with our actions.

••• [MindaViews is opin-

ion section of MindaNews.

A revised khutbah delivered at the UP-Institute of Islamic Studies on 12 September 2014. Julkipli Wadi is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, University of the Philippines].

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