TAMBARA 28 (2011):

BOOK REVIEWS

Layson, Roberto, OMI. 2011. Fields of hope. Davao City: Mindanao

News and Information Cooperative Center. ISBN 978-971-951-5616.
229 pages.
page 2 pa lang tulo na akong luha

have to shake myself back to my senses while reading Fr. Berts

book. I have to remind myself that no, Im not listening to a homily.
On second thought, with the little that I know of Fr. Bert, he must
have shared these stories in his countless sermons already. This time, his
words are frozen on paper. I can now catch up with his homilies.
When Carol Arguillas of MindaNews invited me to the book
launching of Fields of hope, I sent my usual regrets. Im paying through
the bank. Send it through courier, or have it handcarriedI just want
the book. Khalas.
A few days later I uploaded a picture of the book on my Facebook
album Food for the Mind. Eizel, a friend on FB and in real life,
commented that it should be labeled Food for the Soul. While I
still need to find my own description of soul, I say isnt she right
reading Fields of hope just makes me feel indescribably good, it must
be feeding something to my soul!
Eizel shared that she reads it to her months-old Pablo. Whoa! If
thats not an effective way of Righting Mindanao History, I dont
know what is.

BOOK REVIEWS

Fields of hope is a collection of 214 stories that put faces to the

names we just hear of in the news. Places and people that are part of
statistics to drive home a point or quash an argument that Mindanao is
misunderstood, misconstrued, mislabeled, misdirectedall mishaps
one can think of. Add to that the Preface, Responses from the Readers,
and a profile of The Authoryou get 217 stories all in all!
MindaNews notes that at least 259 books and journals on
peacebuilding in Mindanao have been published from 2000 to 2010.
Fields of hope is included in this years harvest, and since the year is
not yet over, this is a sign that consciousness towards the real face of
Mindanao is gaining momentum.
Fr. Layson notes that storytelling is a powerful medium not only in
the countryside, but in the metropolis as well. That means storytelling
is also a powerful medium anywhere in between. Each of us must be
in many places within that spectrum, arent we?
Page 2 by the way tells the story of a tricycle driver in Jolo, Sulu, who
instinctively tried to protect a young girl from kidnappers. The kidnappers
shot him dead in the ensuing struggle. The girl, seven-year-old Rachel
Ann Gujit, who was rescued a few days later, was a Christian. The driver,
unmindful of his own safety, was Iskon Abubakar, 40, a Tausug Muslim.
Religion was never a barrier between these two human beings in the
crucial minutes of their lives together. With this tone, Fr. Bert illustrates
the interconnectedness of the people of Mindanao in the entire book.
Written in simple, conversational English, each story breathes a
life of its own in two to three pages on average. Each shows distinct
images of warm bodies and hearts full of compassion for each other.
Not that these stories were just told to Fr. Bert, but these are stories
that he himself experienced.
Where can you find Muslims guarding Christians while
they attend dawn masses for Misa de Gallo? Where can you find
Christians crawling to the nearest detachment to inform the soldiers
that helicopter guns are pointed at Muslim and Christian families
huddling under coffee trees?
Its not always that these stories find their way outside
Mindanao, much less elsewhere. Capturing it in print allows it to
be told and retold; its no different from planting seeds in a field
one by precious one. As Fr. Bert puts it, while nothing seems to be
happening, waiting in Gods goodness and mercy, one day green
fields may just carpet the land.

TAMBARA 28

Lets take the story of Kali and Pax, named after the Cebuano
Kalinaw, and the Latin Pax, both meaning peace. They were convent
dogs at the time Fr. Bert was parish priest of Pikit, North Cotabato.
While Kali was your ordinary critter, Pax was the extraordinary one.
He liked to lie on the patio, which, during evenings was visited by frogs
whose main purpose was to get all the insects bathing in the light.
But Pax wanted to stretch, too, and the frogs got in the way. So he
carried one gently in his mouth and dropped it on the grassy lawn.
He came back for another and went through the same routine. By the
time he was done, a handful was already back in the patio! He was
outnumbered, but he just continued without hurting them. Somehow
he managed to get his little stretching space.
This is the concept of the Zones of Peace that Fr. Bert built with
the communitiesasserting without being offensive. Take note: he
did not do it alone.
Like many of us, at one point in his life Fr. Bert also could not
distinguish tribe from religion: that Tausug, Maguindanao, Maranao
are tribes; and that Christianity and Islam are religions. Imagine how
much ingrained knowledge he had to deconstruct upon knowing that
one can be Tausug and a Christian at the same time! And he had to
learn it from his students at the Notre Dame of Jolo College.
He also showed how Muslim leaders could also be so pragmatic in
the most mundane of situations. When pilots petitioned a Jolo Mayor
to remove the cathedral belfry maybe because it was obstructing their
vision, the Mayor told them to transfer the airport somewhere else!
Appended to the bottom of the stories are verses from the Bible
and the Quran. These passages seem to top off ordinary encounters
as profound interfaith experiences: one doesnt have to lose ones faith
to be accepted by the other.
With our daily overdose of news on conflict and
misunderstanding, have we ever wondered how four million people
lived and survived in the provinces where Fr. Bert has served as a
missionary priest since 1988? It must not have always been conflict
and misunderstanding, then.
This is the book that will affirm your belief that the goodness of
people always prevails. If you want to be nearer an accurate picture of
Mindanao in your mind, this is for you. At, kung mababaw ang luha
mo, be prepared.
- Aveen Acua-Gulo

BOOK REVIEWS

Yabes, Criselda. 2011. Peace Warriors: On the Trail of the Filipino Soldiers.
Manila: Anvil Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-971-27252-8-9. 244 pages.

would like to begin my review with a quote from this book that
read: No one can tell when peace will come, but maybe, in trying
to define what peace means, the Muslims and all other actors in
the Mindanao Theater have embarked on a journey that is also the
destination.
Peace warrior is a welcome addition to the very scanty literature
on the Philippine military, much more on the Philippine military in
Muslim Mindanao.
The title itself rendered to me the current trend in the shift of
the military mindset from military operations characterized by war
fighting to civil military operations characterized by community
development, partnerships, and collaborations with local communities.
I must admit also that prior to my invitation to be the reader
of Peace warrior, I have already encountered books like Soldiers as
Peacemakers, Peacekeepers, and Peacebuilders by then General Ben
D. Dolorfino AFP and War wounded by Professor Gail Tan-Ilagan
of the Ateneo de Davao University. I was also fortunate to have had
exposure with the Philippine Marine Corps during my fellowship
with the Institute for Autonomy and Governance in 2009 during
which I participated in implementing its 2nd Phase of the Security
Sector Reform Program for the Philippine Marines in Zamboanga,
Basilan, Sulu, and Palawan. These, plus my being a Tausug and also
working on conflict studies in the last eight years, have given me the
lenses to both appreciate and celebrate the Peace warriors.

TAMBARA 28

This book is a journey of a person with deep affection for the

lands, the peoples, and her journeys which often tended to be the
destination in itself. The personalized style of writing is a refreshing
read of the conflict situations in Muslim Mindanao. While it missed
the accounts and life of the ordinary infantrymen, it nevertheless
captured stories and provided images of ordinary people where the
military were present.
The strength of Peace warrior lies in how it tended to
cluster around history, some of which I have only read now, the
Commanders of the Philippine Marines, and their current efforts
to win the hearts and minds of the people on the ground. I am
especially delighted in the fact that some of the people encountered
and befriended by the author were people I have also worked with
at one time or another. This, without any prior intentions, gave
more credence to Peace warrior.
Worth noting here is an account of the Jabidah Massacre,
which is seen by many historians as the catalyst of the Bangsamoro
rebellion in the 1970s. This specific account in Peace warrior
provides an alternative look at how one junior military officer made
a difference by providing military training and military leadership
to those who survived the said massacre in Corrigidor. That those
Muslim recruits just wanted to become soldiers of this country and
be given the opportunity to prove their worth is a testament of where
we have failed to look into whenever we try to analyze the conflicts
in Mindanao today.
Technically, there were some oversight with local terms, phrase,
and context. In page 11, the phrase should have been mangi sayan
inggilun in taymanghud mu, which means its bad to envy your
brother or sister. A Tausug word also overlooked was the word for
teacher in Tausug that should have been mastal in page 23, which
is a corruption of the word mister in reference to male teachers in
Sulu during the American time. In page 24, the celebrations cited
should have been weddings, hariraya or eidl fitr and eidl adha,
mauludun nabbih, not birthdays, anniversaries, or fiestas which are
not celebratory events for Muslim communities.
Nonetheless, the rich account of people and places across
Mindanao and through the heartlands of Muslim Mindanao provides
vivid images of people and places which are often feared but in many
instances loved by the author. I am more than satisfied with how the

BOOK REVIEWS

movement of the Peace warriors account from the Islands of Sitangkai,

to the hills of Lanao, the Iranun provinces, and Maguindanao gives us
a closer look at the real situation on the ground. The truth is, finally
the military has realized that fighting a good war entails winning the
support of those people in the places where the soldiers operate.
Lastly, I believe we need more literatures of this kind. Where
scholarships have failed to produce significant impact on the hearts
and minds of people on the ground, maybe it is high time to emphasize
the need for more writings from the heart. Where the power of intellect
has been limited by hatred, prejudices, and perpetual injustices,
the need to understand through establishing personal connections,
hearing real stories of communities marginalized by conflict and
poverty, and reaching out cannot be overstated.
In her accounts of Peace warriors making their difference in
places where danger, anger, and hopelessness seemed to abound, the
author herself, knowingly or not, may have just become, in her own
right, a Peace warrior.
- Alber A. Husin PhD

TAMBARA 28

Timonera, Bobby, Keith Bacongco, Jowel Canuday, Roel Catoto, Romy

Elusfa, Froilan Gallardo, Glocelito Jema, Victor Quintanar, Toto
Lozano, Gene Boyd Lumawag, Rene Lumawag, Skippy Lumawag,
Marcos Mordeno, Ruby Thursday More, BJ Patio, Charlie Saceda,
and Bong Sarmiento. 2011. In Carolyn Arguillas, Gail Ilagan, and
Rudy B. Rodil, eds. MINDANAO into the 21st century: A photographic
journey. Davao City: Mindanao News and Information Cooperative
Center. ISBN 978-971-951-5623. 188 pages.

hen I first saw a copy of MINDANAO into the 21st century,

A photographic journey, my heart skipped a beat. It came
about with the conscious thought that I was holding
something quite historical. One can only stare in wonder at something
that is a first while wishfully thinking this should have been published
much earlier. But it is never too late to have a photo album book such
as this one.
Indeed, if my exposure to printed materialsthat have seen the
light of day due to the efforts of Mindanawons and published by a
press located right here in Mindanaois adequately extensive, I would
claim that this book is perhaps the first of its kind to appear from out
of this beleaguered big island surrounded by smaller ones and islets in
the southern part of our nation-state which is at times referred to as
Mindanao-Sulu.
Those of us who love photo album books are indebted to the
books publisher, the Davao-based Mindanao News and Information
Cooperative Center (MNICC), its project coordinator, Bobby
Timonera, and the seventeen photographers whose collective works
are included in this collection. This book proves undoubtedly that
there is already a rich pool of talented, highly-skilled, and courageous

BOOK REVIEWS

photographers out there willing and able to document the unfolding

events and multi-faceted realities in Mindanao. Their photos in this
book eloquently state that Mindanao no longer needs foreign or
Manila-based photographers to project to the rest of the country and
the world the visual images that could help people know what the
situation is like in Mindanao.
Keith Bacongco, Jowel Canuday, Roel Catoto, Romy Elusfa,
Froilan Gallardo, Glocelito C. Jayma, Victor Kintanar, Toto Lozano,
Gene Boyd Lumawag, Skippy Lumawag, Rene B. Lumawag, H. Marcos
C. Mordeo, Ruby Thursday More, Bj A. Patio, Charlie Saceda, Bong
Sarmiento, and Bobby Timonera are Mindanaos gift to the world of
photography. As they are grounded in Mindanao soil, their photos
reveal the Mindanawon soul. In the images that they captured on
camera, the Mindanawon voice is heard. One hopes they will sustain
their photographic engagements in the years to come to make sure
that Mindanaos realities remain documented for the public spheres
purposes. There is, however, a weak element here: among the seventeen,
there is only one woman in this pool. One hopes there will be more
women who will find their place in this circle soon.
Of course, it is not only in 2011 that weve encountered photos
that take our breath away. In the 1970s, there were the missionaries
Ed Gerlock in Tagum and Neil Frazer in Ozamis. With their cameras,
they captured facets of the Mindanawon landscape and produced
black-and-white photos that helped conscientize the people as to the
bleak situation in the countryside even as they also projected the
dignity of the ordinary folks. The late Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud also
came up with dramatic black-and-white photos which he himself
photographed and developed. He even had a one-man photo exhibit at
Xavier University in the late 1970s. Vir Montecastro and his colleagues
at DEMS, a media Center based in Davao headed by Macario Tiu, also
were into this kind of photography. Unfortunately, no photo album
was produced of their masterful works.
If a picture paints a thousand words as the song goes then
with 442 photographs compiled together, there is close to half-amillion words in this book. That certainly gives the reader an idea
of the power of photographs. This is especially so if the photos are so
striking that one is never the same after viewing the photos.
What are the usual criteria for assessing the power of one
photograph? The usual answer to this question from a wide range

TAMBARA 28

of viewers is that a photo is a good one and embodies a powerful

image if it tells us about life itself, if it talks about facets of our life,
if we recognize ourselves in that photo. Between the photo and the
viewers, there is a connection as the latter are not alienated from the
photographic image. They either consciously or intuitively grasp the
truth in the picture that is part of their own lives.
It is important that a photo conveys meaningspreferably layers
of meaningsso that after seeing it, the viewers know they just saw
great art in the photograph. When they leave the space where the photo
is exhibited, they are in awe and spontaneously think OMG! It is not
so much the quality of the print or the technique in the developing
of the photo; it is its content that underlie so much emotions that the
viewer can easily find deep meanings in it.
There are a number of photos in this album that I consider the best
in this collection. (I am sure all readers of this book assert their right
to make their own list which is inevitable.) Mine would include those
in pages 7 (the father and child, the family bakwit), 31 (the fiery sunset
scene), 33 (the barrel of a gun juxtaposed with voters), 54 (a child in
a hammock at an evacuation center),73 (the impact of drought), 89
(a mountain range shrouded by mist), 107 (an overloaded jeep), 158
(a Blaan woman with mortar and pestle) and the books cover. These
photos were taken by Lumawag Gene, Timonera, Bacongco, Lumawag
Skippy, and Patio.
Put together as a collection, a photo exhibit or a photo album
book takes on an added significance if in the words of the renowned
photographer, Eugene Smith, the truth is projected that cuts down
on the prejudice. This is why the pleasure of viewing Mindanao into
the 21st century is that it asserts that truth be the prejudice. In the
case of Smith, it was his set of photos of the victims of the Iminamata
mercury disease resulting from the mercury tailings at Chisso
Chemical factory of Hitachi Limited in Japan (the most famous one
is the man Tomako Uemura bathed by his mother) that catapulted to
the top of the list of distinguished photographers. For Dorothy Lange
it was her photos of the poor Americans suffering the consequences
of the Depression (her famous photo is the sorrowful mother with
her children). For the Mindanawon photographers of this book, it is
their photos about war and peace in Mindanao as well as the peoples
ordinary lives as embodied in the symbol of the habal-habal.
In his Introduction, Timonera refers to how Mindanao is
perceived by many as backward, a place to be avoided, an island

10

BOOK REVIEWS

of danger, war, terrorist, bombings, mass evacuations... (but) these

images of Mindanao, the countrys resource-richest island, have been
carried over from the last century into the next. A lot of photos in
this book indeed refer to these realities. Timonera, however, asserts
that the violence and wars notwithstanding, Mindanawons have
moved on. There, too, are photos about how they have moved on.
As a way to provide such a profile, Timonera and his team who
came up with this book opted to divide the book into two parts,
namely the major news events of the first decade of the 21st century,
and life in Mindanao by geographic location. Unfortunately, this
decision may have diluted what could have been a tremendous impact
of the book on the viewers.
Part of the problem is that the production team consciously
or unconsciouslywanted this book to do a number of things at
the same time: report on the major news events that took place in
2000-2010; highlight the issues of war, environmental degradation,
exploitation, injustice, neglect; reveal the hidden beauty of many
spots across the islands that tourists would love to see, champion
the dignity and grace of the Moro and Lumad peoples and the
aesthetics of their cultures; privilege the importance of investigative
journalism; and assert that photographers covering the news could
be artists if they improve on their craft.
With such an agenda, naturally there was a pressure to include
as many photos as possible into the book resulting in 442 photos
crammed into 191 pages. The number may have been far too many
leaving very little space for the pages to breathe. Thematically,
the book fails to jell together into an integral whole. Somehow little
thought went into an objective assessment of which photos to include
as well as highlight.
I tried to get a sense of what logic was behind the choice of which
photos would be given more space. Of the forty photos that were
provided a full page, more than half were of beautiful landscapes and
the photos could very well be used by the Department of Tourism.
Ten showed Moro images and five dealt with Lumad. Only five dealt
directly with environmental issues, four showed people struggling,
four showed religious images, four related to the everyday life, three
were on the war, one on peace, and one on education. (The total would
be more than forty as some of the photos cut across various categories).

TAMBARA 28

11

Of the ten that I choose as the best in this collection, only three (those
on pages 89 and 158 and the cover) were given full page treatment.
So why would more than fifty per cent of the photos be touristic
considering the main purpose of this book?
Lastly, because as a whole I found this book really stunning,
I wanted to know who were responsible for the photos. To my
disappointment, there is only a list of names on the credit page and
the size of the font downplayed them. I could understand that the
really good photographers are modest with very little ego that get in
the way of doing a good job in the field. But come on, there could have
been a few sentences to introduce them to the public.
Then the readers would know to whom they will offer their salute!
- Carlito M. Gaspar, CsSR

12

BOOK REVIEWS

Ayala, Tita Agcaoili Lacambra. 2011. Tala mundi: The collected poems
of Tita Agcaoili Lacambra Ayala. Edited with a critical introduction
and guide by Ricardo M. de Ungria. Manila: UST Publishing House.

ita Agcaoili Lacambra Ayalas book, Tala Mundi, is the latest

and perhaps the most comprehensive collection of her poetry
yet. I first delved into the mundithe world, as creative writer,
of Tita Ayala when I chose her literary works as subject for my masters
thesis. I was quite enamored then with the feminist concept and
decided to use that lens to view the poetry and fiction of a remarkable
woman writer. Some of her works seemed to me to speak of the world
of women, and I was fascinated with the silencesthe subtextsof
these creative compositions that seemed to illuminate the silent world
of a womans consciousness.
Reading this present collection of her poems, containing 273
works written during the years 19542007, opened to me whole new
textures to the creative vision of Tita Ayala. She is not just a woman
revealing her world, she is a poet writing about sundry mattersfrom
women and domesticity, to art, philosophy, love, politics, and even
the environment. More than this extensive vision, it is her mode of
incursion into these topicsher poetic language that would send a
stylistician into raptures of delightthat puts a fresh and refreshing
context to the human experiences she communicates in this book.
This poetic language, which would scare a good number of readers,
is made less intimidating through the critical introduction and guide
of the editor of the collection. Ricardo de Ungrias editing of Tala

TAMBARA 28

13

mundi is truly ingenious and inspired. The Introduction to the book

gives the readers a glimpse of Tita Ayala as a person, a painter, and
then as a poet. One would perhaps ask why the editor would include
anecdotes of her life as visual artist to introduce the poems, but de
Ungrias purpose is soon made clear. As Tita herself says: poetry is
like painting, and it is this simile that would elucidate some of the
more difficult images used in the poems.
Taking his role as editor one step further, de Ungria categorizes
the poems into five divisions, whimsically entitled Suites with
no stronger rationale than in honor of our mutual love of music.
The editors attempt, however, to clean up the poems reveals
another rationale behind the grouping of the works into five suites.
Structurally, the poems are grouped into either: short poems
(Suite gift of silent waters); experimental poems (Suite saxophone
windows); shorter poems (Suite ungarbled and pearl); long poems
(Suite blue raincoat); and love poems (Suite hip of earth). This is
the only jarring note to the categorization of the poems. Except for
the last suite, the groupings are determined by the poems structure,
and the love poems at the end of the book are the only ones that are
thematically, not structurally, determined.
The first suite was prefaced by the editors guide, which was
really his attempt to be a good tourist guide in this venture into
her poetic terrain. De Ungria presents eight language peculiarities
of the poemsreally a good summation of what a reader can expect
from Titas poems. Foremost of these peculiarities of language is the
grammatical oddities as seen in the poem Cactus which transforms
word functions in the line: See how it bleeds / to fossils the old sand
with the word fossils used as a verb instead of as a noun.
The second suite is a very interesting collection of experimental
poetry, which uses quite a few enjambed lines and shows that the poet
can also be political in such works as Hard times are hard Times
and how Solid the Country Is. The third suite presents tiny poems.
One gem in this collection is the poem Domestic, which so very
matter-of-factly presents that disturbing picture of quiet women
sitting waitingly beside open doors. It is one of the poems in this
book that reveals that world of women, which the poet talks about
with such honesty.
The fourth suite is a revelation to me. This section of the book
allows the reader to see the wit and humor of Tita Ayala. My favorite in

14

BOOK REVIEWS

this group is Poem for Santy Klus a humorous take on St. Old Nick
from the perspective of the ordinary Juan dela Cruz. Another funny
poem, which really tickled my funny bone, is Three Wise Guys. The
prose poem is another humorous poke at another Chrstmas iconthe
three wise kings.
The last section of the book is the suite on love poems, and the
works under this group are in some ways, more emotional and intense
than the other poems. A familiar poem included in this group is The
Dragon, a poem showing a womans dilemma between her duties at
home and her desire for adventure. The wit suffusing the words of
the first part of the poem contrasts with the wistfulness expressed in
the line: Only who would mind Baby and spoon his soup? This tiny
glimpse into a womans heart is a moment of illumination for those
who can relate with her experience.
In its entirety, Tala mundi is a showcase not only of Tita Ayalas
vision and craft as a poet, but also of the influences that brought that
vision and craft to life. The book ends with a tribute to Jose Ayala,
Titas larger-than-life husband. This tribute was written in prose,
and perhaps it is included in this collection to show that a poet needs
a Muse for her poetry.
- Rhodora S. Ranalan

TAMBARA 28

15

Tuason, Bobby, ed. 2008. Rethinking the Bangsamoro crucible:A reader.

Quezon City: Center for People Empowerment and Governance. ISBN
978-971-93651-6-7. 277 pages.

e all felt uneasy in August 2008. Men in military uniforms

wielding M-16 rifles and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs)
were all over my beloved Davao. We did not understand
why. Of course, we had heard that some parts of Mindanao were beset
by armed conflict, but surely not Davao. Perhaps it was providence
that in my senior year as an AB Psychology student that semester, I
was enrolled in a course on Social Issues and Justice. My professor
was Gail Ilagan. She is NOT your usual teacher. She is a researcher
and a columnist who has a penchant for storytelling. Rightly so, since
she often found herself at the heart of where the news happens in
Mindanao. So while other classes read about the brewing conflict in
the newspapers or watched the television for the news, we heard it
from someone who had come back from seeing these with her own
eyes. Her stories in class showed us how real these events were that we
read about or saw on the evening news.
In class or out, my friends and I would often find ourselves
discussing Mindanao secession. It seems like the eruption of armed
conflict in August 2008 was about Muslim secessionism. Many among
us did not want a Muslim state. Too risky, my friends would say. I
understood the fear and the distrust for I too felt the same. We could not
conceive of how a Muslim State would be possible. Mindanao is part of
the Philippines. How could itor a mere portion of itcease to be that?

16

BOOK REVIEWS

Perhaps it was also providence that I would stumble upon

Rethinking the Bangsamoro crucible: A reader, released by the Quezon
City-based Center for People Empowerment and Governance. It was
provided for us by Prof. Ilagan as resource material for class. She gave
us a list of books, but I specifically chose that (along with David C.
Martinez A country of our own: Partitioning the Philippines) because I
wanted to learn more about the Muslim issue. I felt had to. There was
a lot to what was going on in Mindanao that I did not understand, like
why Davao City needed to be secured by the military at that time. So
I began reading and after a few pages I realized that there was more
to the presence of the state security forces than the vague fear evoked
in Ateneo students by the thought of a Muslim state being created
somewhere nearby.
Rethinking the Bangsamoro crucible introduced me to twelve
articles by scholars and public intellectuals that delved deeper into
the Bangsamoro question. It explored the roots of the struggle, its
dynamics, and consequences and provided some recommended
solutions. While reading this book, I sensed that the most potent
arguments were those that narrated the historical context of the
struggle. I had never heard of these events before, much less heard
about these interpretations to these events. I suddenly realized the
tragic disparity between my history education and these seemingly
lost histories of our people. How myopic the efforts and fatal the
consequences of those nationalizing attempts when our history books
choose for our people what to remember about us. Lost history. The
sin of omission. One voice talking. Such could only breed prejudice
and distrust and set us fighting each other.
The history I learned in school was layered with contradiction and
distortion. I realized that those who seek a little clarity must go back
in history, rediscover what was lost, work in what was omitted, and
bring in other views to the same events. This is what Rethinking the
Bangsamoro crucible tries to do, and it could not have been released
at a more appropriate time than in September 2008 when the nation
rediscovered the nightmare of the fight for the ancestral domain claim
of the Muslim Filipinos.
Most if not all the articles in this book are situated in a historical
backdrop. Lualhati M. Abreu has devoted over forty years examining
the emerging, forming, and articulating ethos of being Bangsamoro.
In her article Colonialism and resistance: A historical perspective,

TAMBARA 28

17

she took me to an old world of the Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan Nation

States, essaying for the reader their glory and decline. I would never
have known that there was such a political entity as the MinSuPala
of centuries ago until I chose to read this book. Abreus Ancestral
domain A core issue guides us to the very crux of the matter and
introduces us to Islamic customs and worldview. By choosing not
to forget, Abreu reminds the rest of us of the arrogance to impose
upon the Muslim Filipinos our conditions for their integration and
acculturation into a largely Christian, post-colonial nation.
Temario C. Riveras The struggle of the Muslim people in
the Southern Philippines: Independence or autonomy? tries
to shed light on the Moros struggle for independence and selfdetermination and hypothesizes on federalism as a viable solution.
Julkipli Wadis Multiple colonialisms in Moroland examines the
decline of the MinSuPala nation states through what he termed as
multiple colonialisms that took hold of Moroland. He charges the
neocolonizers in the last 100 years in succession: the older United
States colonialism, the Philippine State, corporate globalization, and
the more recent US war on terror to have brought down the peoples
of the Moroland to abject poverty.
Abhoud Syed M. Linggas Understanding the Bangsamoros right
to self-determination brings out the consistent dissent of our Moro
brothers against inclusion in the Philippine state, and how the 1921,
1924, 1935, and 1968 petitions of the Moros to that effect were also
consistently ignored. This continued disregard for the Moro nation
gave rise to the armed independent movement. This explains to a
young Mindanawon like me why there was the Moro Independence
Movement (MIM), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF),
and now the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It also explains
why despite some successes in peace negotiations with some of these
groups, the formation of some other kinds of Moro liberation front
would be in store for the future. For Lingga, however, the question of
self-determination could be resolved by the holding of a referendum
to decide for federalism or independence. A referendum is something
we predominantly Christian, post-colonial, democracy-asserting
citizens understand, but could we accord it as a citizens right to our
Moro brothers? If I only have my friends to go by, theyd say Too
risky without even thinking about why they said so.

18

BOOK REVIEWS

Ever since that day I first read it, I have kept a copy of Rethinking
the Bangsamoro crucible close by. It had introduced me to the
liberation of an informed opinion, freed me from the hegemony of
textbook history lessons that glossed over why Mindanao needed to
be pacified time and again. My history teachers had told me to look to
the lessons of history, but they did not tell me that the textbooks they
gave me suffered from selective amnesia. As with many of my former
classmates who were taught with those books, it would have been
easy enough to dismiss Mindanao in Philippine history as something
incomprehensible, except that those of us who are here want Mindanao
to serve our interest. I am beginning to see, however, that there are
others here, too, and that they have an equal right to want a Mindanao
that serves their interest. It is possible, too, that what I want is not
what they want because they remember something that I do not have
a memory of. It is not that I choose to forget. It is because I never knew
it in the first place. They, however, have not forgotten.
Indeed, graduation and three years after my first encounter with
Rethinking the Bangsamoro crucible, the Moro autonomy and selfdetermination movement has taken a new turnthis time sending up
a new clamor for the granting of a sub-state. I realize that the whole
Moro struggle is a fight against forgetting who they are as a people. It
is waged for memory and identity. They choose not to forget, and the
psychologist in me can only respect that.
I am now 22 years old, but things in Mindanao have not really
changed. With these new troubles, such as the recent breakaway of the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) or the Al Barka, Basilan
incident on 18 October 2011 when nineteen soldiers were killed in an
encounter with armed Muslim groups, I just know that there would be
peoplesome of whom among my own circle of friendswho would
agree to another round of an all out war against the Moro. They would
demand one as a form of a patterned response that we had learned
from our textbook history. It seems like we read history in order
to repeat its mistakes. Should I however find myself talking to idle
warmongers, I interrupt their predictable tirade and slowly recount
what I learned from Rethinking the Bangsamoro crucible. I begin with
Chapter 1, Abreus Historical perspective. They fall silent and they
listen. Maybe they too would see the light and rethink.
- Fritz Gerald M. Melodi

TAMBARA 28

19

BOOK NOTES

Quimba, Roawie L., Teresita M. Francisco, and Amelia M. Sagaral.

2011. The church. Davao City: Blue Patriarch Publishing House. ISBN
978-971-95094-0-0. 156 pages.

n excellent feature of this book, The church written by theology

instructors in Davao City, is that it addresses a bipartite
process of learning about the faith which we have received.
The first process involves information. The thematic coverage
of Church history spares the students from being overloaded with
cumbersome data. This was achieved without having to sacrifice the
details to the important information needed to enlighten our students
and make them realize that our faith is reasonable and informed and
not merely a blind adherence to unintelligible concepts and doctrines.
The second process is about formation. The authors remind us
that faith is hardly based on information alone. Through insightful
points of reflection provided in the book, students are led to
understand that the things they study are personally relevant to them.
The process deepens and fosters communion and communitytwo
very fundamental aspects of the Christian church.
In this day and age which is characterized by the bombardment of
competing and conflicting ideals, helping our students appreciate our
shared faith is a daunting task indeed. We keep at it, hoping that our
humble efforts at retelling the overarching history of salvation would
allow our students to make that leap of faith and realize that their own
storieseven those that they think are not remotely religious at allare
in fact part and parcel of our relatedness to one another, the story of our
being church. It is in this that I think this book would be of great use.
- J.L. Ivan V. Pineda

20

BOOK REVIEWS

Quimba, Roawie L. 2011. Jesus Christ. Davao City: Blue Patriarch

Publishing House. ISBN 978-971-95094-1-7. 142 pages.

his book on Christology successfully occasions the overlap

between historicity and transcendence. On the one hand,
historicity is exemplified by the books careful account of these
interrelated writings: geographic, political, cultural, and religious. With
these aspects considered, the book provides a balance between rigor in
scholarly research and the capacity to make the sensibilities of a historical
presentation accessible to its readers. This is a feat which requires insight
on the necessary contributions of a grounded presentation of concepts
and thoughts on Jesus being a wholly Human Person.
The transcendental face of the book, on the other hand, is configured
in two directions: 1) the discussion on Jesus Christ from the lens of
the Synoptic Gospels; and 2) an invitation for personal reflection on
Jesus Christs role in our lives. With the first direction, the book opens
the complexity of exegesis. Studying the contribution of the gospel as
a text is pedagogically sound since the book has already provided the
historical platform of the life and story of Jesus Christ. In turn, the
transcendental direction is opened by lifting the discussion to the level
of the science of hermeneutics and the possibility of universal meaning.
Transcendence takes place in this direction, since the mind is obliged
to go beyond ordinary thinking and be committed to well-thought
out statements. With this cogent combination of the sensibilities of
historicity and transcendence, the book provides a beautiful and
meaningful presentation on the life and message of Jesus Christ.
- Raymund Pavo, PhDc

TAMBARA 28

21

Ilagan, Gail Tan. 2010. War wounded: Combat stress sequelae of 10ID
soldiers. Davao City: Ateneo de Davao University and the Philippine
Army. ISBN 978-971-0392-18-6. 156 pages.

ail Tan Ilagan has written a book that to me (a retired lay

pastor who worked within both the United Church of Canada
and United Church of Christ in the Philippines and is now an
active Buddhist) is a clarion call to possibly the best way to allow peace
to grow in the Philippines.
My understanding of her working paradigm is that she is a
nurturer and comes to the problem of healing war wounded minds
through her inner mother rather than as the Doctor of Clinical
Psychology which she also is. This is not to say that she does not use
the education, skills, and tools acquired through many years of school
and practice (this is a well documented, researched, and academically
solid book). It does mean she filters these skills through her inner
nurturer. I believe that this is the brilliance of her approach.
Compassion and wisdom have been called the two wings of the
eagle. Anyone who has heard the Dalai Lama speaking on peace is
undoubtedly aware of his high regard for these two mindsets. They
are certainly two of the needed character traits of any nurturer or
healer of the mind and as I read G.T. Ilagans book these two traits
surfaced time and again.
In the Inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace lecture broadcast
via G+ on youtube.com, the Bishop when asked how do we build
a culture of peace answered simply and eloquently: Its actually
very straightforward. Let women take over. War wounded shows

22

BOOK REVIEWS

the wisdom behind his statement. As an evolutionist I believe that

nature has prepared males and females for different roles. This is not
to say inferior or superior roles, but simply differing roles. Women
are biologically the nurturers of life. Wars end when women get fed
up with watching the children they have carried for nine months
and raised for decades turned into cannon fodder. To borrow from
another culture: Men are only good for two things - making babies
and making war.
G. T. Ilagan has accepted the mantle of nurturer and by accepting
it has become what millions of years of evolution have prepared her
for. She has, in War wounded shown not only the way to healing the
warrior but as well the way to peace in the Philippines.
If others, and by others I mean the women of this country would
also accept the mantle of nurturer and healer that evolution over
millions of years has prepared them for then the men would have no
choice but to accept the inevitable and lay down their weapons.
- Brian Waddington