DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 02 July) — Ever wonder why there are extremists? After burning civilian homes in Marawi and rendering hundreds of thousands of civilians homeless, and you refuse them to rent and buy houses in your City of Golden Friendship — this is what breeds extremism.
This bigotry is what will turn in new recruits for extremists. I can’t believe this is happening to my own hometown in Cagayan de Oro. Where do you expect these people to live now? Young girls and boys who have to continue schooling. Children and elderly who are facing slow death in the evacuation centers. How can we afford to refuse them houses to rent in the meantime?
Remember the image of that young boy from Syria? This is exactly happening now with our Maranao kin. Such extreme bigotry, such extreme hypocrisy, such highly un-Christian act that turned away Mary and Jesus and pushed them instead to a manger.
Scholars and intellectuals and security experts are cracking their heads on the psychology behind extremism. The reason is right there, it stares us in the face but we simply choose to ignore it. (MindaNews is the opinion section of MindaNews. PeaceTalk is open to anyone who wishes to share his / her thoughts on peace in Mindanao. Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado is spokesperson of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, a Cagay-anon who wants Cagayan de Oro City to account for its avowed golden friendship).
