Reflections on the Bangsa Moro

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is starting its canvassing of the Maguindanao votes today despite the obvious, transparent, clear, palpable, evident frauds committed by the powers that be in the May 14 elections there.

Teachers / Chairs of Board of Election Inspectors had come out to say that they were abducted and forced to sign already filled Election Returns and Certificates of Canvass (COCs). One such Maguindanaon teacher was gunned down. Maguindanao Provincial Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol could not produce the municipal certificates of canvass (COCs), statements of votes (SOVs) and other election documents because he claims that they were stolen from his office.

Yet now, the COMELEC is still counting the copies (not the original) of the Municipal COCs.

In the initial count reported in the media, Chavit Singson topped the Maguindanao vote, which gave the administration candidates a sweep of the top 12. Now, even that has changed. Zubiri now is number one. How very convenient!

Garapalan na! The COMELEC appears to have thrown delicadeza out of the window to insure one more vote in the Senate for the administration.

Personally, I do not want Mr. Pimentel to win because his father is already in the Senate. There is simply nothing extraordinary for father and son to deserve two seats out of a mere 24 seats in the Senate. It is the same for the brother-sister team of Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano.

However, insisting on counting tainted COCs is simply too horrible for my taste. After all that had happened, there is nothing in the world that could convince a right thinking mind that the Maguindanao COCs are “genuine”.

Koko Pimentel should not have insisted on the exclusion of the Magundanao votes. Disenfranchising a whole province on mere assumptions is quite draconian. He should first show that there really were no elections held there. The ERs and COCs are tainted and allegedly illegally and fraudulently filled up. He should have insisted on opening the ballot boxes and counting the ballots themselves. But the ballots are the ORIGINAL documents. The ballots can show if elections were really held in Maguindanao last May 14. Or, it could prove that the ballots have no correlation with the numbers in the ERs or COCs.

Of course, Pimentel would not be sure what the ballots really contain. But it would be a better strategy since the Justices or the lawyers for the administration could not raise the defense of disenfranchisement.

From logic and experience, it could be surmised that most Maguindanaons did not even vote for 12 senators, while some probably voted only for local candidates. Also, Pimentel’s (father’s) name is quite known in Maguindanao which means he had the advantage of name recall. There is a great chance that Zubiri would not have a very big lead over him, which would still make him (Pimentel) win over Zubiri in the over-all count.

Because the Supreme Court practically sided with COMELEC, this will now set another precedent in the electoral process. Coupled with the Garci tapes, the legacy of this year’s Maguindanao vote can only be one thing –  dirtier elections next time around. Next time around, there would be no holds barred. All the election special operators of the land will sell their services to the highest bidder because they would never go to jail anyway even if they would be caught.

Trillanes: Zubiri a cheat

Senator-elect Trillanes should not have called Zubiri a cheat. He was not the cheater. Others cheated for the administration. He is simply the lucky / unlucky guy who would benefit most from the cheating.

================

"I now know that wars do not end wars," said Henry Ford. For the Moros, wars are simply followed by more wars. Wars usually correspond to turning points in our lives. During the American-Moro wars, one very important event for our family was the Battle of Bayang, known to the locals as the Battle of Padang Karbala. It was the first encounter between the Americans and the lake dwellers (Maranaos). May 3, 2000 was the 98^th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Moro warriors at Padang Karbala.

 
In April 1902, some 1,200 American soldiers attacked the Sultanate of Bayang in Lanao. The Ibayangen’s (people of Bayang) were protected by a strong cotta (fort) but after fierce fighting, and the failure of the neighboring datuships to bring in reinforcement, the superior arms of the Americans finally prevailed. About 400 Moros were slain including the Sultan.

 
American newspapers at the time described the fight as "the fiercest battle of the entire Philippine insurrection." The Americans were quite shocked when on-rushing kris-bearing Moros refused to fall even after being shot at several times. The Americans realized that they needed a more powerful gun than their Army-issued .38 caliber. That day is forever etched in the minds of Ibayangen’s.

 
According to stories by the elders, when the Americans finally entered Bayang, the town was empty. Then they saw an Arab sweeping the grounds of the mosque. The Americans immediately fired several rounds at him, but the bullets simply went past him.

 
That Arab was my great-grandfather, Sheikh Yahya ibn Hadi of the Sultanate of Lahej in Yemen, and he was not amused. As the religious leader, he must have felt responsible for the deaths of so many Ibayangen warriors. It was time for him to go home. He told his three sons that he would soon send for them.

                                 FLAG OF SULTANATE OF LAHEJ

Sheikh Yahya had another family waiting for him in Yemen. He had 2 sons and several daughters there. In 1913, he asked his son, Sheikh A’ish to go to Mindanao to fetch his brothers. Sheikh A’ish was a fakir (jurist) like his father. And so Sheikh A’ish sailed from Arabia to Mindanao.

 
But, he stopped over in Brunei. He was smitten by a Brunei lass and soon forgot Mindanao and Yemen. He got married and settled down in the Sultanate of Brunei.

 
Meanwhile, in Mindanao, the eldest, Sheikh Ismail had an American education, gallivanted all over Mindanao until he married Bai Rosa, Laga sa Nuling and settled in Malita, Davao del Sur. The other, Sheikh Arabia, went on a marrying binge in Bayang. The youngest died of natural causes. Sheikh Ismail was my grandfather.

 
In 1922, my grandfather received a message that his father was going to Mecca for his last pilgrimage; so he immediately left for Arabia. But his ship arrived late. The hajj season was over and his father had returned to Lahej. A slave was left in Mecca to tell Sheikh Ismail to proceed to Yemen. My grandfather was in a dilemma. If he would proceed to Yemen, he would miss the next ship to Java, which would pass by Mindanao. He might be stranded in Arabia for quite some time. He was afraid of leaving his wife for long periods because she had a nasty habit of giving away her properties to her relatives. He told the slave to give his regards and regrets to his father and sailed home. And his fears were not unfounded. His wife, my grandmother, gave away a huge tract of land with 500 heads of cattle.

 
On the other hand, Sheikh A’ish left Brunei for Yemen in 1922 but returned to Brunei the following year. The brothers had not yet seen each other.

 
In January 1931, Sheikh A’ish with his son Yahya arrived in Mindanao. Sheikh A’ish finally met his brothers Sheikh Ismael and Sheikh Arabia. Yahya ibn A’ish met his Moro cousins, including my mother Sitti Rahma and her brother Abdul Qadir.

 
According to my mother, the arrival of his Arab uncle was quite an occasion in their town. But she could not forget when the two brothers showed off their magical powers. She said that Sheikh A’ish removed his turban and struck a huge boulder with it. The boulder broke into little rocks. Sheikh Ismael, on the other hand, removed his turban, spread it on the water, stepped on it and crossed the river floating on the turban.

 
Both A’ish and Ismael passed away before the outbreak of World War II. That was the first and last time the Brunei and Mindanao branches of the Yahya ibn Hadi family met — until last year.

 
Although we knew the existence of our cousins in Yemen and Brunei, nobody took the trouble of locating them in spite of the fact that most of us had been to Arabia and Brunei on several occasions. I even studied in Saudi Arabia.

 
When Sheikh Aish’s son, Yahya, died a couple of years ago, his sons opened his private cabinet. And there they saw the documents about their grandfather, including the travel documents of their father and grandfather to Mindanao. They immediately contacted us.

 
A cousin, Ustadz Jamil Yahya, grandson of Sheikh Arabia, was sent to Brunei to meet them. He then invited them to the Philippines. Two sons ( Khalid and Abdul Qadir) and a grandson (Muhammad) of Yahya ibn A’ish arrived in Manila last year to meet us, their long-lost cousins.

 OUR BRUNEIAN COUSINS OUTSIDE MY BROTHER’S HOUSE IN MARAWI CITY

Our Brunei cousins were quite surprised to find out that they have several hundreds of cousins here. Sheikh Arabia alone had more than 20 children. They went to Lanao and were shown the lakeside mosque where their grandfather was supposed to have thrown their father several times in order to teach him how to swim. They were also quite touched when my aging mother told them stories about the young Yahya. My mother told them that she was fascinated at the young Yahya’s queue (à la Chinese) and so she used to pull it which sent her cousin crying "Sitti Rahma, tidak bule!" (Sitti Rahma, no good!)

 
While accompanying them at the Fort Santiago, one of them had a call from Brunei. When asked about their Mindanao cousins, he said, "Fantastic! We have the same names and even same faces!"

 
Almost 70 years after the brothers A’ish, Ismael and Arabia came together, their descendants met for the first time. We hope that this time, we would be meeting more often.

 
The Battle of Bayang caused the hasty departure of Sheikh Yahya from Mindanao, which in turn caused the Sheikh to send his son A’ish to fetch his brothers, which caused A’ish to come to Brunei and finally settle there. And so in a way, our Bruneian cousins owe their existence to a battle fought almost 100 years ago.

 
Muhammad Hussein, the great-grandson of A’ish, is studying in Saudi Arabia. He sent me an e-mail saying that he was able to contact our cousins in Yemen. Perhaps we will have a grand re-union of the Yahya ibn Hadi family in Yemen We could do it in 2002 to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the Batlle of Bayang. (end)

===========================

Published in The Philippine Post July 21, 2000

Found this review I did of a thesis titled MOROS-MARCOS REGIME OF CONFLICT: Its Impact on Philippine Sovereignty and International Relations with Muslim Countries by Wang Jong Yoo , Institute of Islamic Studies, University of the Philippines  Sept 1990  :

 ======

The very title of the thesis is quite misleading. It gives the impression that the Moros’ conflict was only with the Marcos government. In fact, the writer himself wrote, “The ‘Moro Problem’ had always been persistent throughout different regimes.” (p.3) If it merely wanted to focus on the period of the Marco regime, then it should have stated instead: “The Moro Conflict during the Marcos regime.”

Mr. Wang’s study “seeks to find out (how) such conflict affected the Philippine vis-à-vis the political stability and relations with other Muslim countries.” (p.3) He used the following hypotheses to guide his study:

1. There are significant relationships between ethnicity of the Muslims and the conflict with the Marcos government;

2. The Islamic world significantly influenced the conflict between the Moros and the Marcos government;

3. The Moros-Marcos conflict has no bearing in Philippine sovereignty and relations with Islamic countries;

4. Secessionist goals of the Muslims were in the way of the peaceful resolution of the Moros-Marcos conflict.

In physical / chemical scientific researches, one usually has hypotheses and then one tests the validity of these hypotheses. But in humanities / social sciences, one usually has problem statements and with the help of theoretical frameworks, answers these statements through research.

Having hypotheses as guides to a social science research seems quite incongruent. The hypotheses color the whole research such that all data gathered are seen through these hypothetical prisms. Naturally, the results would tend to validate these hypotheses.

Mr. Wang stated, “As a result of the colonization of Mindanao, the socio-demographic status of the Moros changed from majority to minority.” (p.19) Again, this statement is misleading because it is incomplete. When did the change occur? If the Moros became minority in Mindanao in the 1600’s or 1700’s or even 1800’s, then maybe the Christian government’s assertion that the Christian settlers have all the rights in Mindanao may be granted. But the fact of the matter is that the Christian settlers came in great numbers only during the Philippine Commonwealth and that they did not become majority in Mindanao until the 1950’s/60s.

Mr. Wang wrote, “The distrust and hostility which for four centuries had characterized relations between Muslim Filipinos on the one hand and Christian Filipinos, intensified in the latter part of the 1960’s.” (p.27) Again this gives the impression that for four centuries, the Moros and the Indios (now called Christian Filipinos), were living in one nation-state and never came into conflict in the level of the Marcos regime experience. This is utterly erroneous and panders to the Philippine Christian assertion that the Moros and Filipinos (who refuse to be called Indios now) have always lived under one “country” even during the Spanish era.

In Chapter III, the Discussion of Results and Findings, Wang wrote, “Most historical documents show that the primary factors accounting for the conflict between the Moros and the Marcos government have historical roots.” (p.33) Has there ever been a secessionist movement in the world, and even in history, that does not have “historical roots”? If the roots were merely economic, then these groups would not demand separate states but would rather control those states, as in communist movements.

In his survey, he concluded “Ethnicity has not been featured in their (the respondents’) understanding probably due to its abstract nature” (p.46).  But in his Questionnaire, there were subsections for Economic, Political/Military, Socio-Cultural, Religious (Ulamas), Foreign Relations but NO statements about ethnicity. If Wang has been more discerning, he would have deduced ethnic issues from statements about socio-cultural, religious as well as in the other categories. Perhaps the concept of ethnicity is too abstract for Mr. Wang to truly comprehend.

Mr. Wang reported, “In June 1973, a delegation from Rabitat al- alam al-Islami (Muslim World League) came to the Philippines. Omar Saggaf, an Arab Singaporean, said “it was better that they (the Moros) remain a strong religious community with the Philippine nation.” (p.48) He wrote further that Indonesian, Malaysian, Moroccan and the Pakistani Inamullah Khan of the Mu’tamar al-Alam al-Islami (Muslim World Congress) “took a stand similar to that of as-Saggaf of the Rabitah.” (p.83) This certainly gives the impression that the Moros did not get international moral support.

The events that followed this visit showed that the OIC supported the Moro struggle. My family hosted several meetings and dinners for the Muslim foreign delegations in the 1970s, and even as a high school kid, I remember being moved by the fighting speeches of the delegates, especially the Moroccan and Senegalese, all supporting the Moro Islamic cause. In 1977, after the Haj, I met Rabitah people including Omar Naseef. I also met Inamullah Khan of Pakistan and Mohammad Natsir of Indonesia during a solidarity meeting of Moro leaders in Jeddah attended by, among others, Congressman Lucman, Gen. Pendatun, Senator Alonto, Gov. Tarhata Alonto-Lucman, Hashem Salamat, my brother Jun Abbas and my sister, Hadja Potri Zorayda Abbas-Tamano. Misuari, who was in Jeddah at that time, refused to attend, although some MNLF officers were there. The foreign Muslims were all supportive of the Moro struggle. (I was still in college at that time. It was a semestral break.)

Wang also wrote that in Aug. 1973, the Committee of Four (Libya, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Somalia) arrived in the Philippines and that “in the words of the Philippine government through the DFA, the members of the mission ‘were gratified to note the efforts being exerted by the national and local leadership to preserve the social, cultural and religious traditions of the Muslim communities in the Philippines.” And that the committee “left the country fully convinced that no persecution or genocide was being committed against the Muslims.” (p.52)

Couldn’t Mr. Wang notice a propaganda statement? Was he doing an academic thesis or an anti-Moro propaganda? At any rate, the OIC meeting the following year called for peace talks between the MNLF and the government. If the foreign Muslim governments did not believe in the Moro struggle, how then could it have survived and even caused Mr. Marcos so much money and effort. As Mr. Wang noted: “From 1972 to 1975, the Philippine Army was reportedly spending P 1 million pesos a day to support the war in Mindanao and Sulu. Annual military expenditures rose from P 518 million to P 3.5 Billion in the same period.” (p.88) He went on to note that “Hundreds of thousands were killed and properties amounting to millions of pesos were destroyed.”

If there were no persecution and genocide, who were the people killed and whose properties were lost and why did the Philippine government spend so much money?

It must also be noted, which Wang also mentioned, Saudi Arabia and Iran cut off oil supplies to the Philippines in the 1970s.

Mr. Wang’s documents came from government sources. That was during Martial Law and freedom of the press was absent during that time. Anything that came out in the press was pure propaganda.

Mr. Wang summed up his study thus: “cultural consideration and political aspirations of the Moro people were incongruent with the minimum concessions Marcos government can give. Hence, resolution of the conflict remains a myth until the present.” (p.94) How did Wang conclude that cultural consideration as important when his respondent could not even comprehend “ethnicity”? Is ethnicity different from culture?

What does he mean by the sentence “resolution of the conflicts remains a myth”? Did anybody say that the conflict was solved, but in reality it was not, and therefore it was just a myth? Was his title “Moros- Marcos regime of Conflict” such because he thought that the conflict was resolved during that period – perhaps by the Tripoli Agreement?

And finally, Wang concluded: “By and large, the Moros-Marcos conflict has shakened (sic) the stability of the Philippine government, especially in view of the role of the militant MNLF. The martial law and the military policies of the Marcos regime are indications of the impact of the Moro problem.”

His conclusion is ambiguous. How strong did it shake the government’s stability? Was it true that as one Philippine general said, “We almost lost Mindanao”? Did it shake the government militarily, economically, or politically? Were Martial Law and the military policies the only indications of the Moro problems’ impact? What about the internationalization of the Moro problem?

The study is not well researched. Wang relied mostly on press clippings. He should have interviewed the players themselves as most of them were still alive in 1990.

Theses are supposed to show something new to the world. This thesis paper really has nothing new to show – perhaps new to the writer (Wang) but certainly nothing new to the world. Worse, it even perpetuates misconceptions.

Looking over my computer files, I saw these notes from my graduate course in Islamic Political Thought.  The article is THE NEW RENAISSANCE by HASSAN AL-BANNA From Political and Social Thought in the Contemporary Middle East Kemal H. Karpat (1968), ed., : New York: Praeger, pp. 118-122

(Note: Hassan al-Banna is considered by  Bush, Blair, the CIA, FBI , MI-6 or whatever as one  of the  dangerous fanatical Muslim political thinkers of the 20th century.)

Hassan al Banna (1906-1949) founded Al Ikhwan Muslimin (The Muslim Brotherhood) in 1928, the largest and well-organized group in Egypt at that time. He was assassinated in 1949.

In this article, al-Banna expressed gladness at the new thrust of interest on Islam by Islamic writers, who previously had only praises for Western civilization. He noted that “voices are raised proclaiming the necessity for a return to the principles, teachings and ways of Islam, and taking into account the situation, for initiating the reconciliation of modern life with these principles, as a prelude to ‘Islamization.”

This development, Banna wrote, naturally “worried a good number of governments and Arab powers.” And these people blame “extremist organizations and fanatical groups.” This sounds familiar to today’s readers even if more than 50 years separate this article from today’s events.

Banna argued that the causes of this Islamic renaissance are: 1) failure of the West, 2) perfection of Islam and 3) “the development of social conditions between the two murderous world wars.

The failure of the West is due to its very materialistic viewpoint. The west has forgotten that “man does not live by bread alone.” According to Banna, “Man’s hunger grows from day to day: he wants to free his spirit , to destroy this materialistic prison and find space to breathe the air of faith and consolation.”

The second cause is the re-discovery of Islamic thinkers of Islam’s perfect principles.

And third, the development of Nazism and Fascism after WWI and their fall, which ended WWII, as well as the victory of Communism and Soviet Russia made Muslim thinkers go back to Islamic teachings and re-discover the validity of Islam and assert their right to freedom from colonial rule.

Al-Banna gave a very interesting “parable” where he wrote that the greatness of the three kinds of government – communist, dictatorial and democratic – is embodied the simple act a Muslim going to prayer. The communist “notion of equality and condemnation of class distinction and the struggle against the claim to property” are present when a Muslim enters a mosque. Bannas wrote that “the moment he enters, he realizes that the mosque belongs to God and not to anyone of his creatures…And when the muezzin calls ‘Now is the hour of prayer’, they form an equal mass, a compact block behind the imam.” There is a footnote which noted that “the imam referred to is a leader of prayer, and not be confused with the Shi’ite Imam, who is the supreme head of the community.[1]

As to its dictatorial flavor, the congregation bows only when the imam bows and moves only when the imam moves. On the other hand, when the imam “makes a mistake in his reading or in his actions, all those behind him – young boys, old men or women at prayer – have the imperative duty to tell him of his error in order to put him back on the right road during the prayer, and the imam himself is bound absolutely to accept the good advice, and forsaking his error, return to reason and truth. This is what is most appealing in democracy.”

Banna’s description above is exactly how I feel about Islam. Every time I see a church closed to parishioners, I wonder why they do that. Does their God entertain prayers only at certain times, such as when their priests are present? On the other hand, mosques are open 24 hours a day. As a child, I used to enjoy the feeling of being one with the community in praying, especially when saying ‘Amen’ aloud. Unlike in Christian churches where the front pews are reserved for VIP’s, the mosque has no such places for anyone.

And what really struck me about praying was when an imam commits a mistake. I have seen them in Saudi Arabia and in Mindanao. The members of the congregation immediately corrected the imam. In fact, in Mindanao, especially during the tarawi’, the members of the congregation even tell the imam to “speed it up.” This is the essence of democracy. I doubt very much if Christian parishioners would dare correct the mistakes of their priests.

Al-Banna was correct in saying that all the good things in communism, democracy and dictatorship can be found in the simple practice of Muslims praying in mosques.

The article went on to demonstrate the “excellence of Islamic principles.” Banna concludes by emphasizing that “Muslims must move toward a return to their religion” and assuring everyone that “far from receiving impetus from blind fanaticism, this movement will be inspired by a strong regard for the values of Islam which correspond fully to what modern thought has discovered as most noble, sound and tested in society.”

The article is well written, not too polemical and certainly not extremist.

 
The results of this year’s elections should give President GMA a reason to pause and ponder upon her next moves. Her spokesmen can shout to the high heavens that the results were favorable to her, but the people can see otherwise.

Only two of her candidates so far made it to the winning senatorial slate, with one of them (Joker) known for being independent-minded. The people voted 9 candidates opposed to her including one of the presidential candidates in 2004 (Lacson), one VP candidate (Legarda-Leviste), two people she had put in jail (Honasan and Trillanes), a son of former President Cory Aquino (Noynoy), and two young men (Cayetano and Escudero) now famous for spearheading the two impeachment attempts with one of them (Cayetano) perceived as victim of a demolition campaign by GMA’s husband, Mr. Mike Arroyo. These people are known as steadfastly anti-GMA. Only Senate President Villar is seen as quite neutral. Senator Pangilinan is with the Liberal Party who asked for GMA’s resignation before.

The other GMA candidate who won was former Senate President Angara. But he used to be with the Opposition. He was President Estrada’s adviser and was the head honcho in Fernando Poe Jr.’s campaign in 2004. The only reason he was not in the opposition slate was presumably because Lacson would not want to be his running mate. There was a lot of bad blood between Lacson and Angara in 2004.

If Pimentel would win over Zubiri, GMA would not have any real ally among this batch of 12 senators. It would be a complete shut-out against GMA.

If the senatorial election is to be gauged as a referendum on GMA, then the verdict is loud and clear. The President should take heed.

TWO IMPORTANT LOCAL ELECTIONS

There are two other local elections that could be seen as a referendum on GMA – the Pampanga gubernatorial race and the Manila mayoral race.

Pampanga is the President’s home province. Two of the three gubernatorial candidates were her known political allies. The other was a priest who decided to challenge the goliaths of his province. The people of Pampanga had spoken – in favor of their priest and against their once favorite daughter.

Manila is the country’s capital. The mayoral candidate is the son of the incumbent mayor who was one of the staunchest allies of the President. Mayor Atienza even tried to destroy the Liberal Party by claiming to be its legitimate president. But the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Drilon wing of the Liberal Party. And the young Atienza was beaten by former Manila Mayor Lim, who was the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in 1998.

Gauging by these two contests – Manila and Pampanga –, it looks like the President truly had lost the people’s mandate.

It appears that the only province that delivered for the President was Maguindanao. Unfortunately, her subalterns there overdid it. The votes for the senatorial candidates in that province may not even be counted. But counted or not, the Maguindanao vote has already given the President a big black eye in people’s perception.

DEMOCRATIC – NOT STRONG – REPUBLIC

The President should stop trying to be the strong(wo)man of the Strong Republic. Rather, she should act as the President of a working democratic republic. Even her idols George W. Bush and Tony Blair have learned their lessons. Blair was forced to retire early and Bush is now a lame duck president.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo still has time to remedy the situation and leave a legacy that her descendants would be proud of. But first, she should get advisers with a vision and not those interested only in petty politics.

I’m afraid I had to remove the chatbox. First, it’s hardly used. Second, a supposed relative left a cockamamie message. At first I answered the message. But then I realized that if I have to defend myself from every cockamamie message, then it defeats the purpose of this blog.

This blog is first and foremost, for myself. I upload some of the articles I wrote in magazines or newspapers, speeches I delivered or researches I did. I also put out my opinions on various issues.

This blog is also for those interested in Moro / Muslim issues. I hope that this blog will add to the knowledge of these issues.

And this blog is for posterity. Future generations can read what this Moro gentleman thought of in the early part of the 21^st century.  

And for those who will come across this blog, like the one who left the said message, and will learn that I am their relative, they should not be surprised why they had not met me yet in person. First, I am not a politician so I don’t need to meet so many relatives. But I did campaign for my relatives before.

Second, I have so many relatives all over the country. I hardly even see my brothers and sisters, let alone my first, second and third cousins in Lanao, Davao, Sulu, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato, Gen. Santos City, etc. And for the children and grandchildren of my cousins, I simply have no idea how many they are. I have some 40 nephews and nieces, many of them have children whose names I couldn’t even remember.

And I am not even counting my Bruneian cousins, most of whom I haven’t even met; or our Yemeni cousins. I even have a niece in Tunisia and in the US and a nephew in Germany. The world may be getting smaller, but it still needs money to take a plane or even a cab or to buy gasoline.

To all my long lost relatives, I still have a fairly good idea of who you are. If I don’t know you personally, I’m sure I know or would have heard about your parents or grandparents. Just send me an email when you happen to drop by this blog.

In the olden days, families or clans gather together by the fire and tell stories. In today’s global village, everyone is just an email or a computer click away. When I was a child, I wanted my father to tell me again and again the stories of Rajah Indarapatra and Sohrab and Rustum. And I listened to my mother’s endless tales about her forebears. Today’s children prefer the TV and video games. And today’s storytellers are the bloggers.

Today, I delivered a lecture titled The Muslim Filipinos: part of a Filipino Nation? at St. Paul’s University -QC. It was part of the Cultural Awareness Lecture Series of the university. The objective of the series was “to help the faculty of SPUQC raise their cultural awareness to new heights and to enhance their social research skills. Dr. Consuelo Paz, former Dean of College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) of the University of the Philippines was the Consultant of the Lecture Series.

Dr. Paz said that my lecture was “an eye opener” for the audience. The audience expressed their appreciation of the lecture. I must say, it was quite successful. I might upload at least part of the lecture sometime in the future.

Last January, I delivered a lecture on the Bangsa Moro Culture at San Beda College Alabang for Sociology and History students. That also went well.

The nice thing about speaking at private institutions is that the speaker gets paid, although only minimally. Public institutions do not pay at all.

But of course, my motivation for public speaking is the same as for writing, i.e., to impart the correct knowledge of Moro history, culture and aspirations to various audiences. Sadly, there is a great need for that.