a fresh look at the people of barangay ladia

many people in the town centre of sultan kudarat have not been to barangay ladia yet. it's just a 30-minute trip through the dirt road. many townspeople think it's dangerous to go there.

there are about three thousand people in this village. the average daily household income is one hundred and fifty pesos ($3.75 canadian). a household may consist of a husband, a wife or two (polygamy is accepted in a rural muslim village like this), four to five children--sometimes the married children and their children live with the parents. living together usually makes it possible to increase the household income up to $5.00 a day. most able-bodied men and women work very hard as farmers or as laborers in nearby cotabato city. the children walk under the sun for 45 minutes to go to school. their playground is simple--an empty lot. their toys are creatively simple--coconut shells. there is no electricity. no doctors. no clinics. the people here have to hike for 30 minutes to get water.

my neighbors in sultan kudarat say "highway robbers live in ladia." in the past three months that i've been living in this town, there were nine instances when heavily armed men held up passenger vehicles, taking every cash and other valuable items from the travelers. in one case, a 15-year old female student was shot in the head by one of the criminals. most of these incidents happened a few kilometers from barangay ladia. hence, it's deemed dangerous to go to ladia. the buses avoid traveling through ladia after 6 pm.

since then, datu tocao mastura, our mayor, has deployed heavily armed police officers "to track down those hold-uppers." captain saudi nur, a philippine army officer who's a maguindanao native, has deployed his special task force to patrol the highways and dirt roads within our town--24 hours a day, seven days a week. at the time of this writing, no arrests have been made yet. we haven't heard of highway robberies in the past few weeks.

i visit barangay ladia every week. not without fear. i always have to deal with my own fear. my friends in the municipal hall have designed an elaborate security and tracking system for my team using cell phone communications. i gladly submit to them not just because they are the authorities here, but because they know this geographical and socio-political terrain more than i do. i respect them a lot and i always thank god for their concern for my safety. but these external systems do not deal with my fear.

how do i deal with my fear? i try to maintain an attitude i call "intentional naiveté." intentional because i have to be determined--through the power of the spirit of god--to transcend my fears and prejudice. my fears paralyze me; my prejudice makes me numb. a people's bad reputation must not hinder the advancement of the good news of salam-shalom. naiveté because i have to see them through the eyes of isa al-masih--a perspective that declares every human being as innocent as a fetus, ready to be born in god's kingdom! my naive experience of the people of ladia helps me see them primarily as human beings. they are created in the image of god. they are fallen but redeemable--just like any other human being in every part of the world. (yes! the reputed violent people of ladia are as sinful and redeemable as the reputed peaceful people of canada, eh.)

i invite you to see the people of ladia through the eyes of isa al-masih.