Mindanao: A Safe Place, or Not?

Just a few days ago, I came across a post on a blog by an American expat who is now living in Davao City. His article talked about how people are, as I suspected, mislead to think that living here in Mindanao was a pretty stupid thing to do and that we're as good as dead while standing on this island. At first, I wasn't surprised by this notion because from time to time I do hear about instances on a number of people thinking otherwise about the safety in Mindanao. But as I continued reading his story, and after a couple of skim through some of the comments, I found it very ridiculous of a thought that there are still a number of people who gets so paranoid even by just hearing the name Mindanao. On his article, I read that one of his close friends even got to the extent of bad-mouthing him on an online forum after knowing that Bob (the author of the article) decided to live permanently in Davao City, which I think, by the way, is one of the best places to live here in Mindanao (and the whole Philippines for that matter). I was quite surprised by those kinds of reactions. This was worse than I expected. People have been trying to discourage people from coming here. When somebody says, "Hey, there was this thing that I was blabber blabber blabber and I was thinking that yada yada. . . blah blah . . Mindanao and . ." And then all of a sudden, "Huh?! What?! Are you out of your mind?? There's this friggin this and friggin that and . . you're a crazy ass stupid . ." Now this, all the more, hyped me up to continue writing on this blog. So the question, is Mindanao a safe place?


*Photo in courtesy of illinoisreview.typepad.com.

There are couple of points to take note for those people who react like the air here in Mindanao is poison. First, and Bob pointed out on this very significant fact, those people who were so concerned about their loved ones coming to Mindanao have never ever set foot on Mindanao's soil in the first place. Well, of course, they hear a lot of things about Mindanao through the media and other people; but the media most of the time only announce those things which are quite intruiging for them to be able to sell their story. Those people should have a good ground for telling their loved ones or other people all the negative misconceptions about Mindanao, otherwise, they're just giving the place a bad name and depriving their loved ones of a really wonderful experience. Why have I said that? Well, let me just give you a few list of what those people would be missing if they don't try out Mindanao: Firstly, Camiguin is in Mindanao, a must visit paradise. I can't even start writing down about what makes Camiguin such an amazing place because that would span a number of pages. Second, are you looking for incredible surfing spots? Then you'll miss Siargao if you cross-out Mindanao from your list, not to mention their becharming beaches. Of course, Davao City would be left out if you wouldn't be considering Mindanao; and that would be a pity because not only are you smothering youself from an air full of unforgettable experiences (you can take a look of what I mean by checking out the list under Blogroll beside this column), but also you would be missing the thousand reasons why you would be tempted to live in Davao permanently. In Malaybalay, they have this well known Kaamulan festival where many ethnic groups from all over the Bukidnon province parade on the streets of Malaybalay and showcase their beautiful and colorful culture. In my Cagayan de Oro, well, both foreigners and locals alike flock our raging rivers almost everyday (if not everyday) for that irreplacable thrill packed along the adventures of white water rafting. And of course, there are still a lot of spectacular things I failed to mention here. These are just some of the things that I'm familiar with. If you know other things besides this, I recommend you to list them down as comments below and come back to this line afterwards.

Okay, some of the people might have grounds for fearing to come here in Mindanao: there are a couple of bombings, kidnappings, and military crossfires between the rebel groups reported on the news. But it doesn't mean that these things happen all over Mindanao. In fact, as Bob also pointed out, these usually happen on marginal areas here in Mindanao. Remember, Mindanao is such a large place. And a huge part of it is completely safe. It's a no-brainer to realize this. Okay, yes, we heard about a bombing incident in Sasa, Davao some time ago. But that was just a one time event. After that incident, the security level in Davao was heightened. Until now, you can still see these diligent military personnel scattered around the city. In fact, I think Davao may even be one of the safest places to live nowadays here in the Philippines. Should I give credit to the Davao Death Squad for that, or no? Okay, I don't want to spark up a controversy now, so I guess I'll leave that out for another post.

Another incident would be the recent bombing in Bukidnon. In my opinion, that incident most likely happened on an area far enough from the city for people not to be alarmed about it because none of my friends living there even made a big deal about it.

These things happened, yes, and so did the infamous 9/11 incident with the World Trade Center in New York City and the one at the Pentagon in Washington. My point is, it would be unfair to brand Mindanao a dangerous place or a warzone when in fact these things happen all over the world also.

For the full details about Bob's article, check out this page: http://mindanao.com/blog/2009/01/hard-to-change-attitudes/#comments

So, is Mindanao a safe place to live? Yes, definitely. I think some of the people who object to this are just over-reacting or perhaps they are just too ignorant to be able to say those things about Mindanao. And would I rather live anywhere else than Mindanao? Definitely, no. Well, I could travel once in a while, but nothing would replace this paradise which I have here that is Mindanao.