Love in action in the midst of war

Inquirer Northern Luzon
Love in action in the midst of war

By Maurice Malanes
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 04:27:00 10/01/2008

BAGUIO CITY – An Army officer calls it “Project I.S.L.A.M.” or I Sincerely Love All Muslims. Having seen killings and sufferings, he conceived the project amid an all-out war that then President Joseph Estrada waged against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2000.

Like the recent armed clashes ignited by controversies over a proposed government-MILF agreement on an expanded Bangsamoro homeland, the war of March-July 2000 exacted heavy collateral damage. Scores of innocent civilians, including women and children, were killed and thousands of others were left homeless, hungry and in despair.

Survivors – both Christians and Muslims – couldn’t help feeling bitter at a conflict that left widows and orphans. Their situation worried Lt. Col. Johnny Macanas, who was then assigned to help rehabilitate 100,000 Christian and Muslim evacuees in Marawi City. First-hand, he noted the “prejudice against our Muslim brethren.”

Now camp commander of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City, Macanas cites an incident when he and his troops went to give out medicines to the Muslim evacuees, but they refused.

“I asked why, and a Muslim elder told me, ‘What can we do with these medicines when we haven’t eaten for three days,’” he recalls. “This broke my heart because I learned that the government personnel in charge of relief operation gave food items only to Christian evacuees.”

Macanas, a Roman Catholic, says he prayed, “asking the Lord what I can do to serve our Muslim brothers and sisters and help bring peace.”

Reach out with love

Suddenly, he remembered Pastor Florentino de Jesus of the Christian Missionary Alliance who, before he died in September 1999, had advocated that Christians should reach out to Muslims with love.

The late pastor from Zamboanga City inspired Macanas to help establish Project Islam. At that time, many Muslim evacuees decided to return to and die in their home villages rather than remain at the cramped evacuation centers.

Among the Muslims that Project Islam first served were 30 families – the first batch of over 300 families – who sought to return to their village of Delabayan in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.

Macanas mobilized Christian leaders to explore how they could help rebuild the lives of the Delabayan villagers.

A church leader, Pastor Alex Eduave of a Pentecostal group, first approached Macanas to help in the project. The pastor and his congregation in no time collected rice and other food items, and gave these to the residents.

As they handed out two kilograms of rice for each Muslim family, Eduave and his members were apologetic for not being able to bring more. But Macanas says Delabayan leader Kamlun Moner told Eduave and his members: “It’s not the quantity of rice you gave that matters most but your big hearts.”

Macanas planted camote (sweet potato) in his family’s idle lot in Cagayan de Oro City and was able to harvest and donate several kilograms to Delabayan.

The next concern of Macanas and his supporters was how to help rebuild the houses of the returning villagers (the first batch had to stay first at a bullet-riddled school building).

The houses were razed after a military shelling and air bombardment in 2000. This was the fourth time since the 1970s, Macanas says, when Delabayan became a battlefield between the military and the Moro National Liberation Front.

From funds raised through special offerings of church members and contributions from donors, some coming from as far as Hong Kong, Macanas built 12 seven-meter by nine-meter houses, which were inaugurated in April 2001. An imam (Muslim cleric) and Eduave prayed and blessed the first batch of houses.

Having seen the success of Project Islam’s housing project, the National Housing Authority coursed P6 million through its leaders to build more. With this amount, houses for more than 300 families were put up.

Their secret: All the labor was done by volunteers and the villagers themselves so they spent only P50,000 for each house.

Macanas and his volunteers also built a water system for the community.

Despite the efforts of Macanas and his church supporters, the Delabayan villagers still had one fear – that they will be converted to Christianity.

To dispel their apprehension, Macanas proposed to his supporters that they help rebuild the community’s mosque. This would prove that they were just out to reach out with love and with no conditions.

Citing doctrinal reasons, half of the 100 pastors who helped build the houses declined to help. But Macanas and the other pastors pursued the plan, sought donations again from donors, and built a mosque bigger than the damaged one.

This finally earned the full trust of the community, prompting Moner to declare that they have become “born-again Muslims, who have renounced rebellion,” says Macanas.

Delabayan is now known as Islam Village, where more people from other places have also settled.