Balabagan

A rustic town that knew better times in the 50’s, situated in a stretch of land that is partly beach east of the Moro Gulf. It could be accessed via a riverbed of a road from an inconspicuous junction at the Narciso Ramos highway in Lanao del sur. A highway that is punctuated every few kilometers by armed checkpoints and stern-faced military personnel.

This town has an unkempt bodega-like municipal hall manned by officials who have better constructed houses in the metropolises of Davao, Manila, or Cagayan de Oro and who most of the time manage the town affairs by remote control. Public services are either insufficient or virtually non-existent, notwithstanding the up-to-date disbursement of money budgeted for these operations, by and for employees whose names are aliases of the officials themselves.

With these facts one could imagine the plight of the residents who by this time have accepted this fact of life and have learned to “live and let live,” but when it comes to their hated ‘infidel’ Christian neighbors it should be “live and let die.”

Into the picture comes “Kalilintad 2.” A team organized by the Mindanao Peace Volunteers on a tour of the Muslim villages to give humanitarian assistance. The team arrives dressed in the traditional Muslim garb on board an open-bed truck outfitted with church pews. The truck maneuvers through a winding cow-path under the coconut palms through cassava fields to a village called Magulaleng. The villagers have been informed beforehand that a team of this sort would be arriving and in a few minutes the team is surrounded by mothers with their children and some gun-toting men.

Today would be a different day in the lives of many who have long been suffering from physical ailments but didn’t have the money and the means to see a doctor. Many would also be freed from a nasty tooth or two by a lady dentist who had the stomach to withstand the red betel-nut-stained smiles and the frequent spitting of the patients. The children would also have their first taste of a nutritious and palatable porridge, and the men would be taught how to make a garden that could always supply nutritious vegetables for the table.

At the end of the day the tired yet elated team members are treated to a bath by the light of some fireflies in a cool clear creek that is home to some innocent turtles. The following day sees action in the beach where the team intends to have a picnic, but which is cut short by the arrival of four young men with assault rifles who fire their weapons in the air in what they perceive is a display of courage or marksmanship, but to the team is a threat and necessitates a hasty retreat and a search for a better and safer place to have lunch.

Balabagan, you are held hostage in the grip of your own sons who have the intentions of keeping their constituents in ignorance and poverty, but Kalilintad has opened your doors and the future will be bright if only you will realize the truth of the gospel. May Allah smile down on you.