Preaching a culture of peace for ten years
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
January 14, 2007
Philippine Daily Inquirer
He was the only one among 25 leaders from around the world who took part in the Eisenhower Fellowships-Multi-Nation Program of 2005 who did not have a degree to his name.
The program brings emerging leaders to meet with leaders of different fields in 10 to 12 cities in the United States, in the hope of promoting a “more prosperous and just world.”
Datu Ibrahim Pendatun Paglas III, who played basketball as much as he went to classes, dropped out of his engineering studies at the University of Mindanao in Davao City in 1983 and his Agriculture studies at the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation in Manila in 1987.
Almost all of his colleagues, on the other hand, had more than one degree, with PhDs, LLBs or MBAs attached to their names.
Meaningful accomplishment
But the 6-foot Paglas, who is more comfortable in jeans and a white T-shirt, did not win the prestigious fellowship in the United States for his academic achievements, but rather for his arguably even more meaningful accomplishment of nurturing a culture of peace and development in his hometown of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
That boosted his confidence and enabled him to take part in the discussions with his classmates and even learn how to use a laptop computer.
“I would listen to them talk about economics and governance. I listen and consolidate their best ideas. When I put them all together, I sounded like the brightest person in the class,” Paglas says in jest.
He realized then that education was continuing process and he vows to share what he learned with his fellow Muslims in Mindanao, particularly in the prospering town of Datu Paglas.
As recently as 10 years ago, only people with a death wish passed through Datu Paglas at night.
Guns and violence were part of life for the residents of the 5th class municipality, many of whom were members, sympathizers or former members of rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
But through the efforts of Paglas, former mayor of the municipality, and part of a dominant political and economic clan that has produced a senator, a general and political leaders, visions of Datu Paglas as a war zone to end all war zones have been relegated to memory.
Beehive of activity
Today, it is a beehive of economic activity as it is home to the lone foreign investment in poverty-stricken ARMM—La Frutera Inc., which exports top quality bananas to the Middle East, Iran, Japan, China, Korea under the brands Chiquita and Unifrutti.
What used to be idle property that was home to rebels is now a sprawling 1,800-hectare banana plantation that generates an annual revenue of between $10 million and $15 million, and the hands that used to hold guns and knives now pitch in to ship out five to six million boxes of bananas each year.
To say that transforming a war zone into an economic zone was difficult is an understatement, as the 45-year-old “Toto” Paglas knows only too well.
Paglas was still mayor in 1996 when a friend of his, who was with the United States Agency for International Development, informed him that a group of foreign investors was looking for land in Mindanao that could be developed into a banana plantation.
He was recommended because his family had land, and he could convince the owners of the land around his family’s property to agree to a lease contract.
Datu Paglas was just what the investors from Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United States were looking for as it had fertile land, ideal temperature, and was in a typhoon-free location. There was a lot of water and cheap electricity and labor can be easily trained.
Awaited opportunity
It was not difficult to convince him to come on board and offer his land as he has long been waiting for the opportunity to have economic development in Datu Paglas.
“I wondered at that time why our people were so poor,” Paglas tells the Inquirer, “and one answer was that we have always been talking about politics, and not enough of economics, and business is what we need to develop.”
Convincing him to join the project was one thing, but quite another to get other people, especially the residents and the landowners, to welcome the investment as they have heard similar promises of economic development before, and all went to naught.
And it did not help that most of the supervisors were Christian and the technology would be taught by Israeli experts.
Paglas says it was fortunate that he was a datu or noble leader, and still carried some credibility with the people, for he was able to convince the people, including his uncle, MILF leader Hashim Salamat to at least give the investment a chance to take root and survive.
“The most difficult part about the venture was convincing our Muslim constituents to accept the project and see it as our way to economic development,” Paglas says, “There was no trust and it took a while for them to accept the changes that they had to make.”
Leader by example
One of the first problems, for instance, was the fact that the Muslims refused to lay down their arms, insisting on bringing them to work, making the foreigners uncomfortable.
So Paglas did the unthinkable and dropped his own coterie of bodyguards, convoy and guns.
“How else could I convince them to lay down their arms when they see me with bodyguards and guns,” Paglas says, “It was difficult because leaders were always portrayed as having a lot of guns, but it was something I had to do.”
Then there was the problem of the Israelis insisting on waking the workers up at 4:30 in the morning for exercise before starting work at 5 a.m., an ungodly hour for Muslims used to waking up at 9 in the morning.
Paglas was no different, but he forced himself to wake up and was usually the first to be at the plantation at 5 in the morning. Eventually, the workers followed his example and came to work early.
Another problem that cropped up was that many of the Muslim workers resented the fact that their supervisor was either a Christian or a foreigner.
“That was when I, as a Muslim myself, told them that our problem is education,” Paglas says. “I just told them that if we wanted to be like them (foreigners and Christians), then we have to study and learn from them.”
The Muslims took to the challenge.
They learned from their supervisors and proved themselves equal to the task and responsibility of running a plantation that had to compete with among the world’s best.
La Frutera today has about 60 Muslim supervisors and one of the best is former MILF battalion commander, Kumander Spider.
It has been almost 10 years since Datu Paglas went into banana production and the rewards have been sweet, indeed.
Income for the people
Paglas proudly says that some 2,500 workers here today have income when they used to have none.
Most of them have their own television sets, comfort rooms, savings in the rural bank and an appliance center and now have the luxury of dreaming a better life for themselves and their families, and they enjoy peace that has eluded them for generations.
But the biggest benefit that does not carry a price tag is that the workers learned more about their Christian and Jewish brothers, from whom they have learned so much. And they learned from them as well.
Together, they built an enterprise that has become a living and successful showcase of how a business investment can lead to peace, brotherhood and development.
Inspired by the success in Datu Paglas, La Frutera has expanded its operations to include two plantations in Lanao del Sur with a combined area of 2,000 hectares. It is also working on a plantation that will produce palm oil, and another that will produce pickles—both for the export market.
“We are replicating the model of Christian-Muslim brotherhood in Datu Paglas in these areas,” Paglas said, “the operation that covers 3,000 hectares now benefits 5,000 workers.”
Accolades
His role in fostering this peace and development earned for him not only a comfortable living through the Paglas group of companies did not go unnoticed.
He is the only Muslim, for instance, to have won the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award for turning Datu Paglas into a peace and economic zone, he also sits as chair of the advisory committee for the business and peace program of the Philippine Business for Social Progress and was the sole nominee from the Philippines to The Outstanding People of the World in Sapporo, Japan in 2000.
He says he still cannot believe that he was able to get into the Dwight Eisenhower fellowship, being a college drop-out.
But his cofellows always tell him that he more than earned his place in the elite circle because he did something they can only dream about doing: Make a real, meaningful and tangible difference in the lives of his people and his country.