Mindanao youth want to assert voice in peace talks, governance and development

by H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:44

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 March) -- Politics was the main fare tackled in a gathering recently held in Davao City by some 100 youth leaders from all over Mindanao, and speaker after speaker urged the participants to get involved in it. But something was conspicuously missing – the faces of politicians who would normally exploit such event especially with the May 10 elections just around the corner. Samira Gutoc, a youth leader from Marawi City, said the Mindanao Young Leaders Parliament was being deliberate in barring the politicians from interfering in the group’s affairs because “we are sacred” and “the nation’s leaders should recognize us”.

Waxing emotional in an impromptu speech before inducting MYLP’s new members, Gutoc hit politicians who she said only use the youth during elections. “Are there politicians who carry the youth agenda?” she asked, tears streaming down her face which was half-concealed with a colorful scarf. “Damn the politicians who would say na pangbasketbol lang tayo (that we’re only good in basketball),” she added.

“Our love for the young flows until…Forgive me for these tears. The tears I shed today were the same tears I shed 15 years ago when we were just starting with the National Youth Parliament,” she said.
This and other messages of inspiration guided the delegates in the 2-day parliament especially in crafting resolutions that matter most to the inhabitants of Mindanao. The resolutions focused on the peace talks, governance and development issues facing the island, one specifically calling for the inclusion of youth representatives in all government peace panels.

Earlier, Fr. Eliseo Mercado, who gave an update on the stalled peace process in Mindanao, said that he would welcome the youth to both panels “because the world belongs to them”.

“But it’s a political action on the part of the GRP and MILF. I just act as bridge, not an official of either party,” Fr. Mercado clarified.

He said that in the remaining three months of the Arroyo government it is very unlikely for the parties to reach a comprehensive compact and unlikely for them to forge an interim agreement. The best that could happen is to arrive at an agreement on executive doables to bridge the peace efforts of the current government to that of the next administration, he added.

Gutoc, who along with Fr. Mercado presented the Mindanao Agenda 2020, also welcomed the idea of having the youth in the peace panels. “The youth, women and children are missing in the talks when they are the ones who sacrifice in times of war.,” she noted.

Two other resolutions called for the implementation of Executive Order 570 mandating schools to integrate peace education in the curriculum.

Ironically, it was an elder in the civil society movement – Lito Lorenzana – who set the tone of the assembly by urging the youth to become active in politics.

“Focus, learn well, educate yourself on the possibilities, debate, open up political conversation among yourselves. A clash of ideas is the only way. But don’t be perverted by the system by always looking forward. Create a critical mass to hit the tipping point,” Lorenzana, president of the Technical Assistance for the Development of Rural and Urban Areas (TACDRUP), said.

But Lorenzana dodged the question who he will vote as president on May 10. “None of the above. I’m a system man. All of them are good people, but this is not a beauty contest. They will be perverted without a change in the system. We should be the ones to change it,” he said.

He gave an overview of how the presidential candidates in the May 2010 elections came to land in their current state, to illustrate the irrelevance of party politics as the guidepost for choosing the country’s leaders. He contrasted this with the strong party system in the US where voters choose their leaders based not on personal traits but on beliefs in a party’s ideology. He, however, noted that “Filipinos seem no longer affected by the crass opportunism of politicians”.

Aside from Lorenzana’s misgivings over the usefulness of parties as tools for political change, the delegates got heavy doses of inputs on the country’s overall situation, a large part of which portrayed the gloomy side of the economy, environment and social landscape as well as, bleak prospects for the May 10 polls. All the speakers blamed these problems as mainly caused by defects in the political system.

Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Eric L. Castillo pointed out that the economy is beset by such problems as lack of productive investment, extremely high unemployment and underemployment rates, budget deficit and growing foreign debt. Growth in Gross Domestic Product was only 0.9 percent in 2009 compared to 3.8 percent in 2008 and 6.4 percent in 2007, he said.

In addition, he said, there has been less hiring of new overseas Filipino workers, a major source of dollar remittances. Employers abroad tend to rehire old ones, a pattern which implies the low quality of new ones.

The official also cited pressing problems in the environment front particularly the country’s inability to cope with the effects of climate change such as extreme weather conditions and degraded air quality caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. He noted the increase in the number of typhoons from 2004 to 2007 (39) compared to only 27 for the period 2003-2007 Ondoy, which brought unusually heavy rainfall, proved the country’s inability to cope with disasters, he said.

Castillo shared his thoughts on the country’s automated election system. He said his view is different from that of Commission on Elections which declared that human intervention not the technology will cause a failure. He expressed apprehensions over the existence of double registrants, lack of information drive, delays in the training of teachers and technicians and printing of ballots, clustering of precincts and the absence of backup machines.

He quoted Comelec Chair Jose Melo as having said around 100 PCOS machines could fail, which the speaker said will affect the result and might result in a no-proclamation scenario.

The assistant secretary clarified that his presentation was not an official assessment of the Department of National Defense but just a personal view based on data from various sources, including news reports and government agencies.

Reacting to the inputs, Prof. Jose Ma. Cruz said: “I teach a topic on political ethics. I gave the students the unfinished statement ‘Politics is…’ to be made into 20 sentences. The answers of some 200 students alarmed me – politics is ugly, immoral, corrupt, where I don’t want to be, unfair, complicated, place for greedy people.
“So my question is, ‘will this work’? The first automated election system is done now. The youth are the most techno-savvy, but it seems we will have another generation of cynical youth. We have to work so hard before, during and after the elections. Fr. Jun [Mercado] has been in this work for 40 years. However, this is no guarantee to reach the Promised Land. It may take three generations. But whatever the result of the election, don’t stop dreaming.”

Diane Rodriguez, who works for an NGO, shared Cruz’s optimism.

“I’m going to say what other civil society groups have to say. We have to believe in things bigger than ourselves. Mindanao has many of the poorest provinces in the country. Leadership is the key hence the election is linked to this issue of poverty. A lot of subversion is happening in the uplands because the people there have no chance to better their lot. The election is for the youth and we have to make sure to be part of the solution,” she said.

The MYLP started in 2005 as an initiative of alumni from Mindanao of the National Youth Parliament until it became a network of young leaders from all provinces in the island.

Steve Laurence Arquiza, outgoing MYLP president, stressed that the organization is now focusing its efforts in the areas of peace in Mindanao, development (human, social, political, structural and environmental), and governance.

In the election conducted during the same forum, the parliament elected Hadji Balajadia, a faculty member at the Ateneo de Davao University, as new president. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)