November 23rd is now etched in the history of the province as the day of shameless ignominy.

On that day, a convoy of women of the Mangudadatu clan accompanied by media people and their women lawyers headed for the provincial capitol in Sharif Aguak municipality was stopped by forces of the Philippine National Police.

These police forces were accompanied by hundreds of armed civilian volunteer organizations (under the command of the PNP) along the national highway in Ampatuan municipality.

The convoy was instructed to take the farm road leading to a deep hole meant to be the mass grave of the entire convoy members, including occupants of other vehicles that happened to follow the convoy.

I am beginning to piece the story of the tragic massacre.

It all began about three weeks ago with a Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution directing the transfer of the Comelec Satellite Office from Cotabato City to the Provincial Capitol in Maguindanao.

Then another resolution was issued, this time directing all candidates in the province to file their certificates of candidacy at the provincial ‘capitol.’

These resolutions looked innocent when read and seen outside the provincial’s concrete political context.

Anyone in the place knows that the said resolutions follow the logic of the local politics and the control over the Comelec on the ground.

Comelec cannot feign ignorance of these realities nor washes its hands in the ensuing massacre in Maguindanao.

The concrete experiences of 2004 and 2007 elections and the participation of Comelec in the province are too gross to ignore.

There is a reason and definitely politics in the physical shifting ‘capitol’ sites in the province. There is a need to locate the ‘capitol’ in a place to ensure total control.

For this reason, Maguindanao can qualify to put the capitol building on wheels.

It began in Cotabato City; then Datu Udtog moved it to Pagalungan; post-Datu Udtog, it was moved back to Cotabato City; then it was moved to Maganoy (Sharif Aguak); Zacaria Candao moved it back to Cotabato City; then he moved it to a new site in Sultan Kudarat.

The Ampatuan moved the ‘capitol’ back to Maganoy where it now stands.

The total control of the capitol ensures absolute control over all government machineries in the capitol site, including the Comelec, the PNP, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Months ago, the buzz in the province and in Cotabato City has been the looming political contest between the Ampatuan clan, the present unquestioned ruler of the province and the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), and the Mangudadatu clan.

Everybody in town is actually surprised by this challenge coming from the four Mangudadatu young, daring, and dazzling brothers (two mayors, one vice mayor and one assemblyman of the Regional Assembly of the ARMM).

The leader of the clan and the main challenger is the present Vice Mayor of Buluan, Datu Ismael ‘Toto’ Mangudadatu.

The challenge came as a big surprise, because the Ampatuan clan is ‘intimately’ connected to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party both in 2004 and 2007 national elections.

The convergence of the political and electoral agenda of President Arroyo and the Ampatuans is well known both in the national and local levels.

The challenge emerged when talks that the ‘senior’ Ampatuan is no longer qualified to run as governor of the province.

The name of the ‘junior’ Ampatuan has begun to surface as the clan bet for who they thought would run for the uncontested governorship in the province come May 2010.

This development sparked talks and counter-talks of contesting the governorship, which led to shifting political alliances, especially with the waning of the star of Malacañang and her official candidates.

The relations between President Arroyo and the Ampatuans hinged on a symbiosis of political and electoral interests and as demonstrated by the clan’s ‘outstanding’ delivery capacity in all electoral exercises held in the province of Maguindanao.

When we speak of captive electorate, I refer to ‘managed’ and ‘owned’ elections.

Political parties and candidates also refer to the entire ARMM as ‘captive’ electorate. This is not a simple perception but the ‘actual ballot’ counts’ attest to this ‘winner take all’ elections.

This fact is known also to the Comelec.

No doubt, if electoral anomalies happen, the people who manage and secure the elections are equally controlled.

In most instances, the teachers and officials of the Comelec, including the PNP have little or no choices at all.

Their lives and their families, as well, are in jeopardy.

The Comelec resolution transferring its satellite office in Sharif Aguak and the requirement to file the certificates of candidacy in the ‘capitol’ is NOT as innocent as it looks unless Comelec were born yesterday!

This Comelec decision has forced the Mangudadatu to go into the heartland of the Ampatuan clan.

The Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu decided to go and file his certificate of candidacy.

But he was prevailed upon by the mother to let the women do the filing.

The clan believed that Toto’s presence in Aguak may lead to actual bloodshed.

The mother and the religious leaders believed that an all-women delegation accompanied by media people and women lawyers would be respected.

Islam strongly enjoins believers to respect women and children even during times of war.

As a double insurance for the delegation, the Mangudadatu has asked for police escorts from the PNP Provincial command. It refused to do so.

Understanding the perceived partisanship of the Maguindanao PNP, the clan asked for military escort from the 601st Brigade that has an operational responsibility for area.

They were told that the AFP does not provide security escorts for politicians.

The clan appealed to the highest military command in the region for a security escort for the women.

They were assured by the highest military command that the ‘road is safe and there will be no need to worry.’

With that assurance, the all-women delegation began the trek to Sharif Aguak.

Upon crossing Salman along the national highway in broad daylight in Ampatuan municipality, the convoy was stopped, including other vehicles that happened to passing by at that time.

Their journey was halted by hundreds of armed groups believed to be CVOs [civilian volunteer organizations] that included some provincial PNP officials and a local mayor positively identified by the Mangudadatu.

The entire convoy was led to an open pit dug by provincial engineering equipment.

There the carnage began with brutality and no mercy for women, children, and the members of the media.

The last vehicle in the convoy, delayed by few minutes, saw the whole gang that stopped the convoy and made positive identification.

It turned back with speed and asked for help. But alas, the help came too late.

There were no survivors!

The first count was 21 fatalities in the afternoon of the same day. These were the bodies left on the ground and in the vehicles because of the haste.

The second day, the body count reached 46 as investigators began to dig the mass graves.

On the third day, the number has reached more than 60. They were all murdered with so much brutality that can only be compared to victims of savage animals in the wild.

The digging continues and the body counts continue to rise. The Mangudadatu can only account for 40 members of their convoy.

Beyond that number were innocent passersby who happened to be traveling the same road at that particular moment.

These innocent passersby include children!

They buried the whole vehicles with the murdered passengers.

Seemingly, the intent was to bury all the vehicles and all the victims in that big hole dug by the provincial ‘backhoe.’

But there was news that the troops were coming.

This made the perpetrators to hurriedly leave the scene without completing their evil intent.

Today, the people of Maguindanao and Cotabato City continue to be in a state of total disbelief whenever they hear news about the massacre as it continues to unfold.

They are stunned and shocked! The real word is feeling of revulsion for how things stand in the province and the community.

The Comelec has now allowed the filing of candidacy in Cotabato and in Sultan Kudarat without filing for an exception.

It has also returned the satellite office in the city.

Comelec shares the blame for this massacre.

Ignorance can never be an excuse! It is a very costly political decision!

Knowing the close ties between the President Arroyo and the Ampatuan, the Presidency and the national government are directly held accountable!

People ask, will there be immediate arrests of the identified perpetrators of the massacre?

Three days have passed by and there is not a single arrest made yet...! Will there be honest and objective investigation of the massacre?

While we debate over the massacre, the perpetrators and the hundreds of CVOs, bearing high-powered firearms, and identified leaders of the massacre roam freely and with impunity. Onli in da Pilipins!

The second week of October, Amina Rasul and I were in Washington DC to participate in an International Conference that included among others two former Prime Ministers (UK and Norway), Muftis, Ministers and people with right honorable and right reverend before their names.

We were there to bridge the imperatives of the historical document, Common Word, and actions.

It all started two years ago, when 138 Muslim scholars, prominent leaders, and learned men and women wrote a letter entitled “the Common Word between Us and You” addressed to all Christian leaders of the world.

The letter‘s title echoes a Quranic chapter with the same title.

It attempts to retrieve the prophetic exhortation in the midst of the vast gap and differences between Muslims and followers of the others books, specifically the Christians.

The love of God and the love of neighbors are the two unifying teachings of Islam and Christianity. These two great commandments should characterize the relationship between Muslims and Christians.

Yet, through the centuries, war, prejudices, discrimination, and intolerance have marred the relations between Islam and Christianity.

The letter echoes the refreshing spirit of the second Vatican Ecumenical Council that exhorts all to forget and forgive each other and become partners as we journey forward in shaping a new world.

In the Philippines, particularly in the South, the interreligious gap and misunderstanding has a long history.

It dates back from the period of colonialism when the Philippines was annexed by Spain in the 16th century and later by the US at the turn of the 1900.

The period during the American period was also characterized by war, only this time, by military victory that put an end to the once powerful Sultanates in Mindanao and their annexation to the Philippines.

This annexation paved the way for the programs of pacification and assimilation which included among others the opening of Mindanao for migration from the Luzon and the Visayas.

These historical facts have given rise to three significant realities that continue to haunt Muslim-Christian relations in the Philippines, even today. To wit:

1. The lingering suspicion and lack of trust that continue to characterize the relations between Christians and Muslims;

2. The sense of injustice on the part of the Bangsamoro and the Indigenous peoples for their lost ancestral domain. After years of migration, they have found themselves a minority in their traditional homeland. The Muslims are now majority only in five provinces out of the 24 in Mindanao; and

3. Poverty and neglect that led to, among others, the highest in mortality, illiteracy rate, lowest in access to basic services, especially health and education.

This context calls for an urgent new interface of Christianity and Islam in the Philippines.

The ‘interface’ or ‘dialogue’ would distance the face of our faith traditions from the stereotypes of rebels/terrorists, on the one hand and oppressors and the government troops as army of occupation, on the other.

In the early 70’s, Christians and Muslims of goodwill, specifically bishops, ‘ulama, priest and lay leaders stood for justice and respect for human rights even during the height of battles between the Philippine regular army and the Moro National liberation Front.

The provinces of Cotabato and Sulu, the lands of many battles, have witnessed examples of solidarity of people of goodwill from Christianity and Islam who continued to stand for justice and human rights.

The first association of Christian-Muslim Religious Leaders in Mindanao began in 1973 few months after the declaration of Martial law.

Then following the Peace Agreement in 1976, a more formal national conference involving leaders of Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims began to address the problems of the South and to bring these issues to the attention of the national government.

Again, following the 1996 Final Peace between the Philippine Government and the Moro national Liberation, the Bishop-Ulama Forum was formed to support the peace process in the Southern Philippines and the implementation of the said accord.

Interreligious dialogue has a particular and peculiar history in the Philippines both in the local and national level given the situation of the war in Southern Philippines.

In this light, the ‘Common Word’ becomes an invitation to all people of goodwill to set aside the prejudices and hostilities of the past and venture into anew relationship based on the love of God and love of neighbor.

I wish to echo the late Pope John Paul II’s message in Damascus at the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, 6 May 2001.

“It is my ardent hope that Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will present our two great religious communities as COMMUNITIES IN RESPECTFUL DIALOGUE, NEVER MORE AS COMMUNITIES IN CONFLICT.

“It is crucial for the young to be taught the ways of respect and understanding, so that they will not be led to misuse religion itself to promote or justify hatred and violence. Violence destroys the image of the Creator in his creatures, and should never be considered as the fruit of religious conviction.”

In the letter, the ‘Common Word’, the Quranic verse on tolerance is quoted: “Had God willed He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He hath given you (He hath made you as ye are). So vie one with another in good works. “Unto God ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein ye differ” (Al-Ma’idah, S. 5:48).

In time, this letter can create an opening and a greater convergence on the more delicate issues of religious freedom, the absolute value of human rights, the relationship between religions and society and the use of violence.

These are the current issues that worry all believers in our world today.