One school for Muslims, Christians

PIKIT, North Cotabato—The divide was once palpable between residents of two villages here, separated by a 2.5-kilometer walk never taken, where conversations were never had and laughs were never shared.

But Muslims in Barangay (village) Bualan and Christians in New Valencia have torn down the invisible wall, driven by a singular goal: educating their young.

Children of the two barangays now sit and learn together at the rebuilt Bualan Elementary School, a seven-classroom building that opened in 2009 through funding from the Japanese government.

Initiated by the Japanese-led Mindanao Children’s Library Foundation (MCL), the new building replaced the school’s run-down facilities further damaged amid gunfight and shelling in 2008, during the upheaval of rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) due to the failed signing of an ancestral domain pact with the government.

“Before, the Christians were uneasy coming here even if they needed something from us… But now, the relationship is better between Muslims and Christians. Their children now play together,” said Mohidin Samplidan, a longtime teacher at the the Bualan school.

“They used to send their children to schools in other villages but due to this initiative, they are now here. They (Japanese donors) built a road there so they now have easy access here,” the teacher said, pointing to the road behind the school that leads to New Valencia.

Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe formally inaugurated the school in March, impressed at how education had helped bring together the two communities.

“I’m told that here in Bualan, people work together with the Christian community in New Valencia, up there. Through such a collaboration, there’s now better understanding between two communities. We’re now giving children in these communities a chance to enjoy a peaceful life. We’re making a building block for peace,” Urabe said.

“Peace cannot be achieved by violence. This can be achieved only through understanding,” said the envoy, addressing students, teachers and members of the Bualan and New Valencia communities.

From 1960 to 2011, Japan provided $20 billion (P800 trillion) in aid to the Philippines, making the country the third-largest recipient of aid next only to Indonesia, with $35 billion in disbursements, and China, with $30.3 billion.

“Education gives children new powers. They will have a chance for a better life. The whole community will benefit. That is why Japan is a partner in building schools,” he said, pointing to the lessons of his country that rose from the ashes of World War II by educating its people.

The project is one of 58 that Japan had undertaken in Mindanao as part of the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD).

The P5.3-billion program was initiated in 2006 to support the Mindanao peace process through development initiatives in conflict-stricken communities.

J-BIRD has extended grants for the construction of 10 leadership and livelihood training centers, five water supply systems, five agricultural facilities and 42 school buildings, including the Bualan school.

Initiatives for peace

The new school building is the first complete school facility for Bualan, where the elementary school was first established in 1964. Due to a shortage in facilities, classes used to be held in makeshift classrooms, said Samplidan.

The situation got worse in 2008, when fighting forced the school to shut down.

“When we reopened in 2009, on our first day, there were no pupils. But later, when they noticed the teachers coming back, we conducted a house-to-house campaign to encourage parents to send their pupils to school again,” he said.

The school sought the help of the International Monitoring Team, which oversees the ceasefire agreement between the two sides, to ask the MILF to spare the school from the fighting.

“From that time until now, there has been no fighting again,” Samplidan said.

The school now has a student population of 305, around 10 percent of whom are from New Valencia, the teacher said.

For 14-year-old Jocelyn Pableo, the school gave her a second chance at education. She had stopped due to poverty but was able to return to the sixth grade with free education and even meals at Bualan Elementary School.

“Now I’m happy because I can go to school again,” said Pableo, who dreams of becoming a flight attendant.

As MCL executive director Tomo Matsui puts it, students and parents from both Bualan and Valencia now can “enjoy-enjoy.”

“You made this school. You will make peace in Mindanao,” said a beaming Matsui, visibly endearing himself to the Bualan children.

Japan’s J-BIRD program has also provided alternative livelihood in other conflict areas in Mindanao.

In Sitio (settlement) Tuker, Sultan Kudarat, women receive free vocational training through expanded facilities at the Skills Training Center for Bangsamoro women.

From as young as 14-year-old Rasmia Yusop to 53-year-old widow Anisa Ando, women hoping to earn a living for their families receive free training under a local nongovernment organization, Ittihadun-Nisa Foundation Inc., at the Japan-funded facility.

“I stopped schooling after elementary school because we had no money. I want to learn how to sew so I can help my sister,” said Yusop, the last among seven sisters who is looking to work with her sibling in a small sewing business.

Ando recently started training at the center in hopes of starting a dressmaking business to help raise her five grandchildren.

Such sense of optimism is what the Japanese government hopes to nurture in Mindanao following last year’s signing of a Framework Agreement for the creation of a Bangsamoro juridical entity.

“I think on the ground, they are really hoping. I mean they don’t know the complications of these administrative things, you know, the diplomatic needs. But now, they have big hopes that maybe this time, it’s true,” Urabe said in a separate interview.

“In that sense, I think there’s really hope on the ground. And that’s why I don’t want people to miss this opportunity,” he added.