The Philippine Online Chronicles

Mindanao has been plagued by a global negative perception for who knows how long, and this is due in large part to how mainstream media report on Mindanao issues. The big media operators – all based in Metro Manila – did admit at one point that they have been remiss, to put it lightly. A respected media personality, Jessica Soho, remarked to me once, “Good news from Mindanao is not sexy.” She was not being malicious, she was simply stating the real deal within the national media industry.

This is a rather knotty state of affairs, so allow me to simply give you an idea of how mainstream media outfits treat Mindanao (in extremely limited airtime/column space). In a news article on the Maguindanao massacre by one of the Philippines’ biggest print and online news providers, the reporter used this outrageously reckless phrase: “the lawless Mindanao island.”

Mindanao’s problem with national media is exacerbated by the inability of many Filipinos to distinguish between the island’s different regions, cities and towns. There is an apparent lack of geographical comprehension among many who are not from Mindanao, so that what happens in a small town is seen as a not uncommon occurrence in the whole of Mindanao.

This situation is one of the main reasons why a group of bloggers decided to form the Mindanao Bloggers Community (MB) in 2007. The Community’s main objective is to balance out news reports about Mindanao with man-on-the-street accounts, with ground-level and straightforward commentary that are published on the members’ blogs. The bloggers of Mindanao do not intend to sugar-coat anything or to hide what’s bad about the island (which is, by the way, bigger than many countries, including Portugal, The Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and a few others). It is the Community’s purpose to bring out what’s honest and true about Mindanao and let the world know of it via their blogs and available social networking services.

For three years, the MB Community has had many successes, especially after organizing and participating in various events nationwide. For one, search-engine results for the “mindanao” keyword do not anymore yield solely links to news stories (which are articles that invariably deal with the negative side of Mindanao issues). Today, when you Google the “Mindanao” keyword, most of the search results are links to blog posts. After three years, Mindanao’s image – at least in the eyes of Internet users – had begun to take on a more honest shape, a more positive outlook.

And then Monday, 23 November 2009 happened. While everyone is in shock over the inhumanity of the crime and the perceived impunity of its perpetrators, Mindanao as a whole is suffering again from the old dilemma. Once again, Mindanao is mired in a public perception that is unfair and detrimental to all concerned. Once again, mainstream media is falling into that bad habit of shortcut reportage.

Mindanao, unlike Luzon and the Visayas, possesses an island-wide consciousness borne by her inhabitants. While Dabawenyos, Kagay-anons, Zamboangueños, etc. acknowledge, and are proud of, their individual heritage, they do identify themselves as Mindanaoans. This unique predisposition helps the Philippine South project an image of unity in diversity. But, on the other hand, glib generalizations over negative issues concerning the second largest island in the archipelago are harmful to Mindanao as a whole.

What the active members of the Mindanao Bloggers Community have accomplished in three years for the improvement of the island’s global image are in peril of going down the proverbial drain, all because of one evil day.

There is a growing number of bloggers and new media practitioners in Mindanao who have aligned themselves with the goals of the MB Community – they are conscientious Mindanaoans who know the true beauty of the Philippine South and are committed to communicating this knowledge to the world. But, alas, there are also those who would maliciously tear down their triumphs.

Let me be clear about one thing. As Mindanaoans know, it is not a conflict of religion that’s the root of the problems in Mindanao; Christians and Muslims have always lived in harmony. The real problem is power, or more accurately, the corruption that it wreaks on the weak and cowardly.

The criminals who murdered an appalling number of innocent victims last 23 November in Maguindanao, and their masterminds, are power-hungry nepotistic warlords who have been let loose on local communities by devil-may-care government leaders in the nation’s capital. If Malacañang only had a tad more concern for the betterment of Mindanao, it would not have allowed the rise to power and impunity of political clans such as the Ampatuans. But all indications point to the fact that what this administration is concerned with is political gain. It has blatantly allowed the creation of private armies (euphemistically called “civilian volunteer organizations”), in exchange of political favors. It has turned a blind eye towards blatant corruption – corruption that is unconcealed and excessive.

It should be mentioned that, while Maguindanao is one of the country’s poorest provinces, the Ampatuans – in whose family belong the provincial governor, town mayor and a number of other government officials – possess gargantuan mansions, expensive luxury cars. Take a look at the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak: it is a collection of stately buildings worthy of a first-world nation, amid an expanse of shanties.

We, bloggers, citizen journalists, the media, should remain vigilant and carry on the important mission on which we have embarked. Whether or not the Ampatuans are charged for and convicted of the Maguindanao massacre, we should espouse the call for the stripping of their unwarranted hold on political power. They have sown enough fear among their constituents, and painted enough discordant images into the tapestry of Mindanao.

Mindanao Image from Wikipedia and the second image with permission from Mindanao Bloggers Community. Some Rights Reserved

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Blogie Robillo, who is based in Davao City, is the founder of the Mindanao Bloggers Community, organizer of WordCamp Philippines, and blogs at AngDabawenyo.com and WP-Evangelist.com.

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