Last April, I attended a Peace and Security Forum at the Mandarin organized for then presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino. I do believe that Yasmin Lao, his senatorial candidate, and I were the only Muslims in attendance. But then Candidate Noynoy was campaigning, addressing the majority, whose support he needed to win. I thought, “there is time enough for a conversation with his Muslim constituents after he wins.”
Noynoy said we need a comprehensive National Security Policy (NSP) that focused on the root causes of the conflicts ravaging Mindanao, stressing that the Arroyo administration “merely paid lip service to the quest for true peace, security and progress.” Addressing the Ampatuan Massacre as symptomatic of the failed state that ARMM has become, he described how the administration “exploited the conditions spawned by the internecine conflict for political gain,” how it coddled warlords willing to deliver command votes, protecting them as they blatantly broke the law.
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