Casualties of war
I was stricken with the report published in the paper last Sunday, April 5, 2015 about the Army blamed in Misamis Oriental village shooting. When I first read the article, I couldn’t help but gasp as it seemed like I did not understand what was written and so I read it over and over again. My heart bleeds knowing that there were four people who were killed and there were others who were wounded. But my heart was squeezed and it hurt so much that the Army was pinpointed as assailants to those who died and wounded. What makes the story worse is that, apparently, the Army just entered the village and began shooting at the houses, as if they do not care who will be hurt.
I admit, I am hurt. I am a citizen of this country and I am from a family whose allegiance to the state is solid since most of my family members are in the AFP. Never could I imagine that the Army, whose purpose is to protect the people would be the criminals or would be the assailants who take innocent lives without considerations. I can never imagine them, in their sane mind, shooting at houses knowing that it is a community and knowing they could kill innocents. Maybe there are more stories behind what the witnesses were saying. Maybe, there is truth to the denied statement of the resident that there were NPAs in their village. We really do not know.
Definitely, I will stick to what my heart and conscience dictates me. I abhor violence and lies. I pity those who were killed whether or not they are members of the NPA. I acknowledge the duties and responsibilities of our soldiers to protect the state and people at all times. It is but only right to give the benefit of the doubt not just to those being alleged but also those who were alleging. I am sure the people would want to know the truth and nothing but the truth. We would want to know the truth of the early reported clashes of Army and armed men in the area believed to be NPAs and we would want to know if the witnesses who stands for the victims has no affiliations whatsoever with the NPAs.
With this, I would like to encourage all readers to be more conscientious to the information read in the papers and heard in the news. We will never know if these people bring false allegations and worse, are false witnesses. To those soldiers whose only vision is to serve the country and the people, continue what you are doing for I believe, sometime in your lifetime or even after it, you will be rewarded.
Thank you. Respectfully, Glenn Ciero