Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on March 05, 2015

In early November last year, I opened the idea to our peace groups the idea of conducting activities of bringing the discussion of the Bangsamoro peace process in Metro Manila. Our platform in doing this in Davao was through a roundtable discussion we call Peace Lens.

“Peace Lens” is a conversation format of roundtable discussions on different relevant (but often under-discussed) issues relevant to the Peace Process. We were able to conduct 10 peace lens sessions in Davao City and all this discussions can be viewed on YouTube.

Peace Lens in Manila aims to bring the discussion of the Bangsamoro peace process to a national scope. Our goal back then was simple. We need to make sure that if we get strong support from the people in Metro Manila in understanding the peace process, then our senators and congressmen would have a strong informed decision in passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

But then, on January 25, 2015, the Mamasapano tragedy happened. It changed the landscape of the Bangsamoro peace process. It changed the whole context of the discussion.

The tragedy, however, did not discourage us to proceed with our goal of bringing the discussion of the peace process at the national level.

Thus, with our partners from Forum ZFD, Kaya Natin, Ateneo de Manila University, and Ateneo de Davao University, we conducted last February 27, 2015 our first Peace Lens on Mamasapano Tragedy at Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan.

The activity is “conceptualized, organized, and aimed to promote respectful, deeply informed, visionary but also pragmatic discussion of the Mamasapano tragedy” (Concept Note, 2015).

It will look at the tragedy through the particular lens of peace building. After the Mamasapano tragedy, the death of the PNP SAF 44 has been discussed incessantly in the past weeks through the perspectives of grief, anger, belligerence, and indeed war-mongering.

We all agreed that a space has to be created for the many alternative discussions that are actually transpiring in various parts of the Philippines, but are drowned out by the intensity of fighting words.

To keep a different perspective of the whole tragedy, Peace Lens on Mamasapano deliberately concentrates attention on the possibility of prosecuting peace on the basis of peace-building work that has transpired over decades. However, we also made sure that the forum is also built on a comprehension of the ongoing rage. It proposed to respond to this rage by gathering voices of reason, deep experience in conflict resolution, informed policy-making, and refined advocacy work.

To discuss a little bit further the Peace Lens Mamasapano, we designed the activity in this manner. There were three panels of brief (10 minute) remarks by lead discussants, followed by conversations involving all participants.

First panel was entitled, Mapping and Contextualizing Mamasapano. We had Teng Mangansakan, a Moro writer/director from Maguindanao; and Ms. Marian Pastor Roces, an anthropologist/writer/researcher who have recently conducted a study in Ligawasan Marsh and the Ilaga conflict in Lanao and Cotabato. The first panel of discussion was not a fact finding or an investigation process. It simply described Mamasapano in a different lens. One of the highlights of the discussion was that Mamasapano was the birthplace of Samaon Sulaiman, a National Living Treasure Awardee back in 1993.

According to Prof. Felipe M. de Leon Jr., “Samaon Sulaiman has achieved the highest level of excellence in the art of kutyapi playing. His extensive repertoire of dinaladay, linapu, minuna, binalig, and other forms and styles interpreted with refinement and sensitivity fully demonstrate and creative and expressive possibilities of his instrument. Aside from kutyapi, Samaon is also proficient in kulintang, agong (suspended bossed gong with wide rim), gandingan (bossed gong with narrow rim), palendag (lip-valley flute), and tambul. Samaon is a popular barber in his community and serves as an Imam in the Libutan mosque.”

The second panel was focused on Mamasapano and Notions of Justice, the Past and the Future. The lead discussants were Congresswoman Sitti Djalia Turabin Hataman and Atty. Ruben Carranza.

Cong. Sitti said that, “"At this point in time, it’s hard for me to define justice. But after mentioning the different massacres in Mindanao prior to the Mamasapano tragedy, I know what injustice means." After her talk, Atty. Carranza, who is an expert on transitional justice, discussed the meaning of justice in a conflict and post conflict situation. I will discuss this in another time.

The last panel was entitled, “The Language of a Continuing Peace Process”. We had Fr. Albert Alejo, Atty. Benny Bacani, and Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer was the lead discussants. This is also a very profound topic and will be discussed later.

The overall goal of Peace Lens on Mamasapano was to build a “support group” for individuals who desire a cogent discourse on the current crisis, beyond demagoguery and political opportunism. This outcome can only be assured by building, as well, a deeper awareness of the context in which the crisis erupted. The participants and discussion leaders will collectively consider the relative values of various languages of discussion, and the ways to widen the circles of face-to-face and media-circulated conversations.

The forum will bring to surface the terms of reference for an emergent discourse of peace in Mindanao and the Philippines. Post-Mamasapano, peace building will be, expectedly, needing a refreshed terms of reference. It was this anticipated need, which the activity hoped to address—with the understanding that the need is, in fact, now.

The whole activity reminded me of a quote from Rumi that says, “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do; there are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth."

This realization from Rumi helps me to move forward despite all the negativities and prejudices surrounding the Bangsamoro peace process at this point in time.

Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan is the director of Al Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia based in Ateneo de Davao University. Follow him on Twitter @mussol22.