Sleeping with the enemy

Our congressmen better think twice before signing the Bangsamoro Basic Law (or the BBL). It has not even been passed yet and the nation is already divided.

Sanamagan!

The BBL should actually be thrown out of the window. If we need to set reforms let’s do it the right way. A country should only have one central government in command of everything. There shouldn’t be another government running Mindanao. Let me tell you that once you give in to this deal, we’re doomed. The Bangsamoro will be creeping into the crevices of the Philippines not only in the South. Believe you me! If our present system doesn’t seem to work, then, let’s go for federalism where every region (or state) will follow a standard set of governing laws. What makes the Bangsamoro any different from the others anyway?

I don’t even understand why our government in the past and in the present got into this mess? Mindanao is part of the Philippines. It is one of our precious pearls. Everyone in Mindanao are Filipinos whether they are Christians or Muslims. If the Bangsamoro people are not happy in that island they can pack up and leave this country.

Clearly, the road to the BBL hasn’t been peaceful. In fact, it has been a nightmare for many Administrations including the current one. This law will curse our nation all the more.

Every congressman, senator and government official has the moral responsibility to protect this beautiful country and its people for this generation and the future generations to come. This should not be about “politics” anymore. Not even about how long it has taken this law to be approved. It is about protecting our sovereignty and our peace. Think God! Think country! By the way, even if it is called the ‘peace process’ do not be gullible to think that we will achieve peace. This law will create havoc and chaos into an already divided people.

Many critics of the BBL have voiced out the dangers this law can do to the country. In fact, not only have we been warned about it, innocent lives have not been spared in the quest of this so-called ‘peace process. How ironical isn’t it? I always think that when something is not meant to be, God has his way of telling us. Seventeen years has passed and still no law has been passed. Isn’t that a clear message from above? The Mamasapano tragedy is obviously an awakening and a warning. It ended all rational discussions on the subject, leaving the key players in limbo. And what’s more striking is that the tragedy opened a can of worms – delaying the BBL’s ever-pending approval all the more.

Too many questions pertaining to this proposed law have been asked but yet unanswered. At the end of the day, it all boils down to one thing – that peace, the very core of our discussion has remained elusive.

In my late father’s column entitled: “How easily we forget what the Abus and MILF can do: Remember Ipil?” he wrote, There is too much name-calling and finger-pointing in our too often hysterical society. What I fear is that, sooner or later, government policies and even legislation will be unduly influenced by pressure groups, or even dictated by the rantings of what have been called the “unelected and unelectable”…As expected, our government’s chief peace-monger Secretary (and retired General) Eduardo Ermita is announcing that there will be a meeting between the government peace panelists and the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to determine whether the recent clashes in Maguindanao were triggered by our government troops, or by the MILF, or by other “rebel” elements.

Shucks, what are our soldiers supposed to do? When they see armed bands of men roving about, or shooting at people and torching bulldozers or villages (as the case may be), should our troops first ask the marauders to produce identification cards or documents proving that they belong to the MILF before opening fire? Would opening fire on armed men who are on the attack, or feeling from the scene of an attack, be a violation of the “ceasefire” signed by Ermita and Presidential “negotiator” Jesus Dureza in Kuala Lumpur? Or that inane agreement in Tripoli?

Sus, how can we handcuff our boys and yet expect them to maintain peace and order? By our urong-sulong policy, we are putting our Armed Forces troops at risk. He who hesitates with his finger on the trigger is usually lost in battle. Don’t let the “enemy” get in the first shot. That is the cardinal rule.

In the treacherous swamps and forests of Mindanao, being “jumpy”, sad to say, is more healthy than being complacent. The latter usually come to a violent end. And yes, some of the MILF, whatever their protestations of innocence have, like their brethren the Abus, the quaint practice of also, when moody, beheading their soldier-captives.

I still say that we will have to brace ourselves for a major strike by the MILF, and even the MNLF, the Abus, and the New People’s Army combined. If you are inclined to dismiss the effectiveness of the Abu Sayyaf (who are being scoffed at nowadays as mere kidnappers and bandits), you have surely forgotten about the Ipil attack and massacre of April 4, 1995.

Ipil is a predominantly Catholic town (Zamboanga del Sur) in Mindanao, some 800 km. south of Manila. It was a very prosperous town, with several banks, and a center in the Zamboanga peninsula of business and transportation activity. At 12:30 p.m. that day in 1995, out of the blue, more than 200 heavily-armed men fell on the unsuspecting municipality. The orgy of murder, looting and arson did not come to a conclusion until 3 p.m. When the raiders departed, they left the town center on fire, and the corpses of 53 dead, plus another 44 wounded.

More than half a billion pesos had been looted from the different commercial banks and business establishments. Among those killed during the carnage was Major David Sabido, the commanding officer of the 10th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army. The raiders even had the leisure to collar and take away with them 13 hostages.

It turned out that the 200 marauders had been a combined contingent of Abu Sayyaf, MILF, and cadres of the so-called Moro National Liberation Front “lost command.”

Before the group surreptitiously barged into Ipil, some elements of the insurgent force had created a diversion at dawn of the same day by attacking the security guards of a gold mine 25 kilometers outside the town. In the meantime, the main force was headed towards Ipil itself on board buses and trucks. Though the local population had spotted the armed men on their way to Ipil, because most bandits were wearing fatigue uniforms (pretending to be soldiers and policemen), it had been mistakenly believed the approaching insurgents were indeed government troops and PNP.

Can the Abus, MILF, and, you bet, the MNLF pull off such a wild caper again? Of course they can. And for as long as we continue to sleep with the enemy and cower at every threat these people make, we will be at the losing end in any negotiation. Here’s hoping and praying that our solons will do the right thing.