Abdul Aziz Balagaban has been a Muslim rebel for half his life.
For him, like for so many other men in this part of the country, not becoming a fighter
was never an option.
I joined the rebels because of my religion but it’s more than that.
I also saw the injustices and the oppression against my community.
That’s why I decided to join.
He and his comrades are part of an armed struggle between Muslim insurgents and the Philippine
army that has marred this part of the country for 50 years.
As in in many areas of southern Mindanao, here in the village of Tukanalipao, the majority
of the population is Muslim - in a country that otherwise is almost completely catholic.
The main reason for the conflict is oppression.
We’re defending our rights, our land.
We feel that we’re being occupied by outsiders, nothing is ours, they’re taking away what’s
ours and they’re not giving it back.
We always lose out.
This is our home and we have nothing.
Now many here have real hope that could finally change.
In a referendum the people of Muslim Mindanao are voting to ratify a law that would grant
them more autonomy.
In return, the rebels have to give up their fight.
Like these two gentlemen here, many of the rebels in this camp have been fighters all
their lives.
Often, it’s the only thing they learned how to do.
But if the autonomy law is ratified, they’ll have to take off their uniforms, lay down
their arms, and start a new life as civilians.
The deal has been in the making for ((more than two?)) decades.
But in the end it took this man to make it happen.
Internationally, President Rodrigo Duterte is notorious for his draconian war on drugs
and his verbal outbreaks.
But he has been pushing hard for enhanced autonomy for the country’s Muslims.
To many here in Mindanao he is a beacon of hope.
We take him by his word.
We trust him.
On television we see how he handles the drug problem in the Philippines.
Offenders are either killed or in prison.
That shows that he really means what he says.
But success is not only in the hands of the President.
The new law foresees that Muslim Mindanao will be governed by the rebel leadership.
But feuds between powerful family clans, rampant corruption, and islamic terrorist groups could
undermine the fragile peace deal.
A peace many of Abdul’s comrades have sacrificed their lives for.
I don’t want my children to experience what I’ve been through.
All I want is for them is to get a good education.
I want them to learn to read and write.
For fighters like me there is only violence and war.
I want my children to live in peace, I want
them
to have peaceful future.
But Abdul is also wary.
If
the agreement fails, he says, everyone here is ready to go back
to war.