Mindanao's Bad Press

The United States and Australia have come out with a Travel Advisory, discouraging tourists from coming to the Philippines, particularly Mindanao, due to its declining political peace and order situation. Yet, there at the 16th Mindanao Business Conference, held in General Santos City last September 21-22, 2007, we were introduced to Americans and Australians who put up grants for the development of Central and Western Mindanao, the areas where all this strife is coming from.

Whenever a bomb blows up in Zamboanga City or a Chinese businessman is kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, the media splashes the news all over the world. Unfortunately, they neglect to segregate which part of Mindanao is being quarantined. Instead, they generalize the area and just mention "Mindanao".

For those of us who are trying to make a living in Northern, Eastern and Southern Mindanao, that is bad luck. I experienced this firsthand in 1999, when the war between the MNLF and the MILF broke out. Our Queen pineapple for pasalubong was booming at the time but when the tourists stopped coming to Cagayan de Oro, our business lost its strength and thus began our downhill slide. We never regained our previous success. All because reporters failed to say "Western" Mindanao.

And these troubled times do not happen all the time. Look at what happened to us on our trip to General Santos. We got lost and ended up travelling through the most 'dangerous' (delikado) areas in Central Mindanao. Did anything happen that brought us closer to our deaths? No! That means, if you are not a public figure or having to do with the military or rich or a foreigner, or in layman's terms, a member of 5% of the Philippine population, then you will live a long and fruitful life in Mindanao.

So why can't reporters say, "The bombing occured in Marawi City, Central Mindanao" or "The ambush took place in Basilan, Western Mindanao"? Maybe Malacañang does not want to admit that their best-kept secret is actually a prosperous, thriving and very modern source of products and industry? And that, if only given the chance to come out and spread its wings, Mindanao will show the world the country it could be.