Rebellions, the current Star Wars movie tells us, are built on hope. In this country, the opposite has always been held to be true—it is a sense of hopelessness that always aids and abets rebellion.
Because there was no politics discussed, the news about the launching of the Save Sulu movement hardly merited mention in the newspapers and other media. But the recent gathering of the country’s biggest businessmen in Malacañan Palace to start the most serious bid to bring economic progress to one of the most benighted and neglected parts of the Philippines was way more important than any of the deplorable antics of our politicians.
Ramon Ang of San Miguel and Manuel Pangilinan, arguably local industry’s two biggest titans, were there last Monday to pledge support to the project, as were the children of Henry Sy and Lucio Tan and a cast of other high-powered businesspeople and traders. Their mission: to breathe economic life into the impoverished, strife-torn island province by bringing industry and all the other necessary tools to uplift the lives of some of the most deprived citizens of this land.
If all the pledges are delivered, Sulu will soon host a new 50-megawatt diesel-fed power plant, a feed mill supply chain, cellular phone sites, poultry farms and seaweed processing plants, water and power facilities, hospitals and schools, houses and school supplies for up to 100,000 schoolchildren. The new Mindanao-centric government of President Rodrigo Duterte, which initiated the Save Sulu project, promised an initial fund of P50 million for the effort and a host of other training and support programs.
The Save Sulu project began after Duterte instructed Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol to look into ways of improving the lives of the people in the province, who have suffered for decades because of neglect by the national government and a long-running Moro insurgency, especially since it became the base of operations of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom bandit group. Poverty and war have kept Sulu in a century-old time warp, despite its vast potential as an agricultural and fisheries powerhouse.
Sulu has a debilitatingly high 67 percent incidence of poverty, compared to the 21 percent national average. And yet, for decades, the Manila government has continued to pursue a military solution to the peace and order situation, without making a serious effort to improve the economy and free the populace from the clutches of the Abu Sayyaf.
It took the ascension of the supposedly warlike Duterte to focus the government’s attention on the plight of Sulu and to enlist private businessmen to help make the first serious attempt in a long time to end the cycle of poverty and bloody rebellion for 900,000 or so Filipinos in that far-flung and mostly forgotten province. If Sulu is to be saved, this is the way to do it.
History tells us that the poverty that ravaged Central Luzon right after World War II made the provinces in that region fertile recruiting ground for the original homegrown Communist rebellion. But after the government and private business started pouring resources and developing markets in the area, the Communists were no longer able to entice farmers to join them in the fight to bring down the state.
The growth of small, agriculture-based enterprises in Central Luzon led to the rise of a prosperous middle class that has become the government’s best defense against those who have taken arms to bring it down. Up to this day, Central Luzon’s farmers continue to be held up as the models of agricultural productivity, not just in rice but also in poultry, livestock and many other products.
The experience of Central Luzon teaches a clear lesson: Extreme poverty has always led people to embrace rebellion. And uplifting the lives of the poor provides the surest, longest-lasting solution to the problem of lawlessness and revolt.
If people are are given the opportunity to lift themselves up economically by the government and private business, which will provide them with the tools to do just that, poverty will be drastically reduced. And they will, as the prophet said, beat their swords into plowshares and train for war no more.
Economic progress gives people the hope that they will no longer have to embrace poverty and war as their destiny. Let’s all hope that the Save Sulu project gives them that chance to better themselves.
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The Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter James Taylor will not be doing his much-anticipated concert here early next year. Taylor said he was canceling the Manila leg of his forthcoming Asian tour because “recent reports from the Philippines of summary executions are deeply concerning and unacceptable to anyone who loves the rule of law.”
Taylor, of course, has the right to choose where he wants to perform. But I really wish he had based his decision not to go to Manila on more than just “recent reports,” apparently referring to the tidal wave of critical reporting and commentary in the Western media.
Like his many Filipino fans, I was really looking forward to watching Taylor perform live here. I’ll still listen to his songs, but I hope he never makes politics his choice for a second career.