Six of my fraternity brothers in APO were killed in the Mamasapano encounter. Emotions are high among my brethren. Many cannot see the bigger picture. That is understandable. But also, the old cultural baggages, prejudice and discrimination, and the real lack of knowledge and deep understanding of the history of the conflict of Mindanao, have all surfaced. They are as Filipino as everyone else. What Zaide and Agoncillo have drilled into their hearts and minds are the same as the rest of us. No amount of lecture and seminar on the 300 year history of conflict in Mindanao will ever eradicate the prejudice and hatred and woundedness of 100 milllion people of this country. Public opinion has never required discerning intellect. Public opinion has always been fueled by subjective sentiment. Same old story. Even the people in the Office of the Vice President for Media Affairs have called for caution, and a peace process within the bounds of the Constitution, clearly showing ignorance of the details and nuances of the Mindanao Peace Process. I doubt if it was VP Binay who wrote that himself. The point is, they are implying something. The VP should fire whoever wrote that statement. It was foolish, it was bigoted, it was ignorant. These people for all their education never knew about the reason why the MILF agreed to the peace talks from the very start. Perhaps they never cared. That it was the backdoor diplomacy step now called Gentlemans Agreement between Gadzali Jaffar and Ruben Torres in 1996 that started the ball rolling. The government will not negotiate from the standpoint of the framework of the constitution as long as the MILF will not negotiation from the standpoint of independence, and vice versa. Anyone who is working for peace who does not know this fact of history does not deserve to be a peace worker. But the questions should be: 1. Why was the PNP-SAF, a never before deployed unit of the security sector in that area, deployed there instead of the military to serve a warrant of arrest? Why foolishly apply law enforcement protocols in a clearly anti-insurgency or anti-terrorist operation? Wala sanang namatay kung walang nagpabaya. 2. Why did the SAF not coordinate with the AFP, who is more capable and more experienced in operating in these areas? There is talk that there was competition between AFP and PNP-SAF on who gets to get the reward. $5Million is $5Million. Some high ranking officials are willing to sell their souls to the devil for such amounts. There is also talk the the SAF did not trust the AFP because its hand is tied with the Peace Agreement, so they utilized the SAF whose leadership did not recognize the Peace Agreement, May ganun? Wala sanang namatay kung nagcoordinate at walang nagswapang swapangan. 3. Why did the PNP-SAF ignore the peace agreement and the general agreement of the cessation of hostilities? Are they more powerful that the Office of the President that they have the temerity to ignore these documents? Or does the government have double standards? Wala sanang namatay kung kinilala ang batas nung mga nagpapatupad ng batas. 4. Who controls the SAF? Who in turn controls the PNP? Who is the head of the DILG? What are his plans for 2016? Wala sanang namatay kung walang politikang bahid sa nangyari.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 07:44:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015