Every once in a while, a bit of good news comes one's way. Although this is buried in the inside pages of our print media and hardly mentioned in social media, it still caught the attention of critical observers. And to its supportive public, the least they can do is to reecho it for the idea to gain traction. This leads to an informed action after it is ventilated before the arena of public discourse.

Mainstream media reported last weekend that Senator Sherwin Gatchalian "pushed for the inclusion of Arabic language and Islamic Values Education in the curriculum of all public and private elementary schools outside the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao." Why only in the BARMM? These subjects are already taught in homes, lectures, and madaris (plural for madrasah or Islamic school), including regular schools in Morolandia. This is an idea whose time has come.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, filed Senate Bill 382, or the Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education Act to provide Muslim learners the appropriate and relevant educational opportunities while recognizing their culture… (and) ensure the contribution of Muslim Filipinos to national goals and aspirations aimed at making them partners in nation-building." It also seeks to provide technical and financial educational assistance to DepEd-accredited or recognized madaris, which are privately -operated, community-based educational institutions whose core emphasis is Islamic studies and Arabic literacy."

Two fundamental messages are conveyed in the explanatory note of the bill. First, Muslim Filipinos are now recognized as having the desire and capacity to contribute to national goals and aspirations and second, they are partners in the task of nation-building. For long, they have been perceived by many as social misfits, bogeymen, and recalcitrant secessionists waging a war against their fatherland which caused unnecessary fratricide and social and physical damage. This provided the premise, that contrary to the jaundiced mindset of some non-Muslims and anthropologist critics, Muslims are willing partners of the government in its platforms to address national problems.

Gatchalian has a soft heart for Muslims. During the 2017 Marawi Siege, he was the first national official who visited Marawi bringing financial and other assistance to the evacuee victims. The City was still burning with the intense fighting between the rebels and the soldiers that local authorities had to transfer the ceremonial turn-over of Gatchalian's assistance to the safe ground at a nearby town of Baloi.