The Last Frontier: Disabled but Full of Promise

“I have seen everything, everything the Devil did to Bunawan”

The girl with disability, who cannot walk and weaves at the bottom of the forest and field, she is Mindanao- helpless but fighting silently on her disability to walk, always patient and calm amid pervasive wars, humble despite ethnic conflicts, bountiful and rich but struggles in economic starvation, united even if challenged by political instability and lack of opportunity. Walking and waiting for a long time under the glaring sun in the field of uncertainty and doubt. She is Mindanao, the Philippines’ last frontier, disabled but full of promise and hope.

This girl who happened to be the bestfriend of Qiyamah’s main character, is a perfect representation of war-torn Mindanao- having a life-long battle of her disease, paralyzed and disabled, dreaming to become a majorette someday, spinning her own sceptre, showcasing her exotic beauty, proudly and freely.

Young and born from reality, she has told me the synthesis of life in the land of overpowering forces of man and nature, showing the metamorphosis of its people and its quest for freedom and unity, unique to this place. People living in complete harmony and diversity, found elsewhere in the country.

This picturesque scene really captured my heart for how I compare the current situations between economically-prosperous Luzon and deeply-ignored and conflictual Mindanao- one, resting on top, one lying on the ground, left-in through decades of mismanagement and cruelty.

The scene where the protagonist and this little girl were walking in a long rice paddy, leading their way to a resting place, commonly known as pahingahan in rural folklore, in the sea of green meadow. The boy walked fast, overtaking the girl- running, smiling, climbing at the top of the kubo while her pitiful friend was just on the middle of her walk, trying hard to catch up, paddling her saklay spontaneously, moving as fast as she could to join her friend. Left out and tired, the girl hugged one of the bamboo poles constituting the very foundation of the edifice, still managed to smile while looking up her friend on top, both seeing the magnificence of the lush, evergreen expanse. Perhaps, the most dramatic moment I have ever seen in this genre. A timeless portrait, not everybody would be able to interpret the same.

Qiyamah is a story of struggle and faith, revolving around Muslim’s belief on what we know as Doomsday, and the kernel of Mindanao’s situation as a suffering land showcasing the uncertainties of their society. It leaves the audience a lucid glimpse of this place as a feared and devastated state by bread-and-butter issues that when given prior attention and opportunity, may become a land of hope and promise for its people- miles away from how it is projected by most of us.

It’s not appropriate to judge our brothers and sisters in this part of the archipelago. The fact that we are one as a country must also be felt by them. Unity and diversity as proposed by some of our ASEAN neighbors. No matter what, we are all Filipinos, Muslims and Christians, poor and rich- always involved and will always be, in the agenda-setting, and we share common goals, hope that someday, we’ll live in complete equality and prosperity- opportunity to be heard, and time to live harmoniously, regardless of differences and religion, as a nation. Hope that will never be threatened by the issue of the “end of life”.

Mindanao is a girl who walks using one foot, born in scarcity and poverty, shaped by her Islamic views- a witness of crime and reality, dreaming to become somebody someday, trying her very best to walk under the glaring sun amidst hindrances from her disability. Her journey is much longer than her life, but her hope will save her- wish that someday she and her people will also walk freely in “Daang Matuwid”.