Comment on the Baradas Paper.

The article presents comments on sociologist David Baradas' paper "Conflict in the Land of Promise," which was published in the October 1972 issue of "Philippine Sociological Review." Much has been written about the causes of the conflict in Mindanao. There are major differences between the conflict in Lanao and the conflict in Cotabato. The violence in Lanao del Norte seems to have been triggered by a bitter rivalry between two political leaders-one a Muslim and the other a Christian. It erupted suddenly and spread quickly, but now it seems to have been fairly well contained. While the conflict has resulted in great loss of lives and property, and has caused massive dislocations of the population, it seems so far to have brought only a standoff. The balance of power between Christians and Muslims in the province does not appear to be radically altered. In Cotabato, by contrast, the trouble began much earlier and spread more slowly. It started as a series of sporadic encounters in which the opposing sides were not well organized and were not part of any larger struggle or movement. The struggle was soon interpreted to be one between the Christian settlers and the Magindanao and Iranun.