After elections, still thinking...

Lanao del Sur is one of the most beautiful places in the country, what with the serene view of the great and historic Lake Lanao and the beauteous Sacred Mountain, also known as the Sleeping Lady because of the seemingly peaceful, sleeping lady formed by the magnificent mountain range’s shapes. Such beautiful scene, really. The province is also gifted with rich natural resources and is home to a people and culture unique and different from any other peoples and cultures of the country. I remember my father saying that when one outsider comes to visit Lanao del Sur, as soon as he sets foot in the area, he will surely see and feel the difference. It was as though he was transported to another planet. That’s how unique and special this place is, he would say.

Having been born and raised in the area, I’d say with confidence that I am quite aware of the things that have been taking place in the land as well as the issues concerning her people. There is just so much good to say about the whole place. But, like any other thing in the world, with all the good and beautiful things also come bad or negative things as well as truths that can only be described by the words, sad and ugly.

The Meranao (can also be spelled as Maranao or Maranaw)is called such because we are the people of the lake, ranao being the Meranao term for lake. This means that the lake is not only the people’s source of living, where the people do washing and bathing; the lake is, more importantly, our very identity. The lake defines us as a people. Thus, without the lake, we, Meranaos, will cease to exist.

Growing up, I have always been made aware of this fact. As a result, I became very active in organizations and activities whose main objective, or at least one of the main objectives, is the preservation of the lake as well as the culture of our people. During my college years, I, together with other students, under the guidance of our advisers, spearheaded activities specifically targeting the betterment of the people, the area, and the lake. We participated in talks, volunteer outreach programs, campaigns, information drives, concerts, forums among others, and, through our publication, we wrote and campaigned about our advocacy. I believe it is imperative for us, as Meranaos, to dedicate ourselves and do all we can for this endeavor. In my case, the preservation of what’s good about our culture and our lake became a personal mission. And, up until this very moment, this remains true.

Being active in our endeavor does not only make me privy to the good things about our people, I have also become aware of the problems and issues concerning our people and our communities. Well, not that one needs to be active to see what's going on, but many just look with unseeing eyes and listen with deaf ears. Many Meranaos have become so caught up in their own worlds that they have forgotten to care about the very thing that makes them who and what they are. Concern for our lake and environment, and the preservation of our culture have become things of the distant past. A lot of people just don’t care anymore. The things that make our culture great, unique and special have been forgotten, or worse have become the very thing that justifies the bad things that a lot of people do.

Take for example, the elections. Families and families cheat one another and even kill one another because of their want of power, prestige, wealth and what-have-you. They do wrong because they have to win or they have to stay in position. Lest, their family pride or maratabat be hurt. Maratabat is supposed to be a very positive thing for the Meranao, but nowadays it has become the very reason for wrong doing. It is indeed sad. I would say that our ancestors probably find what’s going on really funny and sad at the same time.

A lot of people refuse to follow rules or even laugh at rules because they say they are under nobody’s rule. They are free to do anything they want. You tell them to clean up their front yards or start caring about the lake, they sneer at you and tell you off to your face saying that you have no business telling them what to do because they are people of noble origin and they can survive without you interfering with their lives. They just don’t care if the whole place is a mess so long as they can enjoy the autonomy of living their lives the way they want to and without anyone ordering them about because that goes against the family maratabat. That’s how most people see it.

Knowing this, I personally think that the best way to deal with our problems and issues at hand is through maratabat. We should tap each one’s maratabat and innate love for our culture and place to make each person take action. After all, we all take so much pride in our place and culture. We are a people of royal ancestry, even divine if we were to take into account the tales from the Darangen. We are always so proud of our land, the land of the unconquered people. There is a need to go back to our history and bring back the real reason why we are such a proud people in the first place.

We can have such a bright future if we can change the present mentality of our people. Or maybe change is not the most appropriate word, maybe change track or re-route is better. That is, we re-route our maratabat or change where it is pointed at. The solutions to our problems actually lie in our very hands. Nobody can change our situation except ourselves. We have to take responsibility for our land and our people. We have to bring back the maratabat that we have for our land, our culture and our lake. Rather than having only one’s face to save in mind, we should all think of saving one another.

Another thing that can help us achieve such change is through education. Educating the people about the important role that they play in community-building and cultural and environmental preservation is very important. People must not only be taught about their role and what they need to do because that may not work, they should be made aware about how, as proud dwellers of the land and builders of the communities, important they are. It is only through the people that the change we want can be achieved. Not just the leaders are needed, equally so the people from the grass roots are needed. Yes, we should start from there. Each and everyone should be valued as equally important so that a common maratabat should arise in each heart. Pride for our land and pride for our role as people.

There is so much pride in doing good. It has always been considered as the primary thing to stick to. Our ancestors took pride in the fact that their names never got tainted with injustice or anything bad. Our history would tell us that. Like they always say, history repeats itself. It is high time that it should in this land. We bring back the real maratabat (pride) of the Meranao. That way, the future would look good, wouldn’t it?