Lanao, Pagadian MisOr media: "we're peace stakeholders, too"

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"ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/October 27)--- "While we struggle to
understand the conflicts in Mindanao, we also declare that we
are stakeholders in the quest for peace in Lanao and in Mindanao .
"This is part of the declaration of media practitioners here and from
neighboring Lanao, Pagadian and Misamis Oriental who gathered
for a two-day Media Peace Summit at the Maria Cristina Hotel that
ended evening of October 25.
"We are witnesses to the visible and invisible damages of armed
conflicts in Lanao; recognize the human rights violations done by both
rebels and soldiers to innocent children, women, and the aged in this
recent armed conflicts as evidenced by massive displacement, torching
of houses, indiscriminate killings and lootings of properties," the Declaration,
signed by 38 reporters from print, television and radiostations, said.
"Amid these sad realities, we consensually agreed to ask the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) to bring all issues and concern to the
negotiating table and to resume the peace talks as soon as
possible,"the Declaration read.
"To this effect, we further ask the government to reconstitute itspeace
panel that will be composed of qualified Mindanaw(o)ns," it added.
After assessing their reports and commentaries during the MILF attack
in the two municipalities of Lanao del Norte and the subsequent
military operation's 'punitive action' against the rebels, they
recognize the need "to improve our reportage in Lanao and in Mindanao
by ensuring that we deliver balance, accurate, and responsible reports
to the public."
During the summit, media workers also listened to
presentations and updates of conflict situations from civil society
on the state of the evacuees, output of the recent Mindanao-wide
fact finding mission thatdetailed the human rights violations of both
rebels and soldiers, and the intervention of Mindanao Emergency
Response Network (MERN) inLanao."
Journalists and peace advocates in Mindanao must
share a commonbelief, and that is to assert that
nobody, nobody except you who live and die here, must propose and
work to address the roots of unpeace inyour midst," said Joe Torres,
chair of the National Union ofJournalist in the Philippines (NUJP)
who graced the summit.
"Those outside Mindanao, politicians,
parachute journalists, eventhose who were born here but who
live outside, like me, have no righttelling you what to do, even
as we share a common vision," he said.
"We must remember that
peacebuilding, like writing, is an art, and peacebuilding, like journalism,
is also a skill that necessitates authentic dialogue among those involved
in the conflict, among those affected by the situation, among yourselves
especially," Torres stressed.
Torres said that "reporters and cameramen,
and many of our media colleagues here, are now always at the front lines
of almost every military offensive. Even news blackouts do not deter us
from bringing the news out to the rest of the country and the world. But
what news do we bring?"
"Unwittingly or otherwise, the media has
contributed to the creationof a myth - the myth that
presents Muslims, for instance, as enemies of the state.
We must accept that media has played a role in widening
the divide between the marginalized sector, the Moro people for instance,
and their own country, projecting the conflict as a religious war, good versus evil,
Christian against Muslim, thegovernment versus forces wanting to establish
an Independent Islamicstate," he said.
"As media reports on the situation, many of us ignored the historical
context of the Mindanao conflict, to the point of influencing public
opinion and condoning, if not actually encouraging, acts of cultural
violence," Torres added.
"This is where media can do its part. It is high time that media
should take a giant step and portray its role as educator and promote
understanding among people," he said.
Ted Khan Juanite, a publisher
of Mindanao Magazine based in Iligan,said "there are many
circumstances in conflict situations where it
isn't reported such as how Muslims helped many Bisaya settlers
by providing them malong to wear on so that MILF couldn't harm them."
Juanito Enriquez Jr. of DXLS (love radio) also said that "while
reporters ought to study and understand the differences of
multi-cultured and multi-ethnic communities that we have, we also
need to encourage other parties of this conflict to respect peoples'position
and to value the sense of acceptance."
"How can we really talk of genuine peace when military and rebels
are continually fighting and those accountable for staging the attack
against civilians remain at large?" asked Mar Sabate of
DXLS-LoveRadio and Mindanao Monitor.Col. Benny de Leon,
commanding officer of 104rth Infantry based here,said "the media
and the civil society in general acted as thesoldiers' conscience
para hindi kami mag-walang hiya."
"Although many of us do not really understand the role of the media
but we tried hard to maintain our tasks minus the exaggeration and
sensationalization," De Leon said.
Human rights lawyer Ver Quimco said he appreciated the active
coverage of media during the attack to inform the public of what is
happening in Lanao."
But the truth is media workers in Lanao are also the product of
conflicts and of social polarization… that's why there is also a need
to reorient the media because it is supposed to be an institution that
will educate people," he added.
"It's a challenge for all media workers to become bridges of peace
than walls of division," he said.
Billy dela Rosa, program director of VSO-Peace based in Lanao that
supports civil society in Lanao, also expressed that media workers
should be educators with historical context and should have deep
understanding of conflict in Mindanao .The summit was
organized by the Civil Society Organization Forum forPeace Inc.,
Kabnar Inc., with support from the British Embassy.(Violeta M. Gloria/
MindaNews )