It’s not a time for peace in our land!

While waiting for the Second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte, I was tuned on ANC TV, which had a Mukha Special entitled “Di Ka Pasisiil” done some two weeks ago. Though it was a replay, it was the first time I saw it and let me say that the narrator Chiara Zambrano did a great job few journalists are given a chance to do… cover a real shooting war. It gave you an idea of the intensity of the Battle for Marawi and the suffering of the civilians who like the Maute terrorists are their fellow Muslims. Indeed, this was not a religious war… rather it was a war to raise the black foreign ISIS flag in Philippine territory.

At the end of this TV special on Marawi, it was during the June 12th Independence Day, which was supposedly the day Marawi would have celebrated its independence from the clutches of the Maute terrorists. The TV Footage showed Filipino soldiers singing the National Anthem while explosions could be heard in the background and Chiara Zambrano said something unforgettable, “Together with the National Anthem… boom, boom, (the sound of bombs), I will never take the National Anthem or any Flag ceremony for granted, ever again!” The Mukha special ended with the last sentence of the National Anthem, “Ang mamatay nang dahil sa iyo!”

After watching the Mukha Special, I decided not to wait until the 4 p.m. SONA of Pres. Duterte and finish this column without the speech of the President which our readers can read in the headline news of The Philippine Star. But we are elated by the fact that Martial Law in Mindanao was overwhelmingly extended by a Joint Session in the Senate and House of Representatives until December 31, 2017 with 261 lawmakers voting in favor of extending Martial Law, while only a measly 18 were against this extension.

This only shows that the majority of our politicians know and trust Pres. Duterte’s declaration of Martial Law, more so that there have been no reports of abuses by the military, except those presented by the opposition who had no evidence to show.

As expected, the leftist organization Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) vowed that they will be holding a series of protests against Martial Law because they know too well that after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) clears Marawi City of the remaining Maute terrorists, the focus of the military will be the New People’s Army (NPA) who have been staging numerous attacks against the military in so many places all over the country. Bayan is the above ground supporter of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)… but the Filipino people know that Bayan and the NPA are one!

Last week, some 50 NPAs attacked a convoy of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in Arakan, Cotabato. The NPAs disguised themselves as soldiers of Task Force Davao conducting a checkpoint and peppered the Ford van that the PSG used with bullets, wounding four soldiers. If you ask me, those NPAs might as well have targeted or attacked Pres. Duterte himself. This incident incensed Pres. Duterte so much that he ordered the backchannel talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the NPA stopped.

Then a few days ago in the town of Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, the NPAs ambushed a Philippine National Police (PNP) convoy on its way to respond to reports that a Provincial Board member of Negros Oriental was under attack. That ambush resulted in the killing of six soldiers including Supt. Arnel Arpon the Police chief of the town of Guihulngan while wounding two other policemen. Clearly the CPP/NDF/NPA delegation talking peace with the Philippine government peace coordinators are not serious in their efforts to promote peace in the country.

Pres. Duterte said in the news, “Don’t be too confident because there is a strong resurgence…The NPA is coming back again. After this (Marawi siege), we will re-orient and target the NPA. They owe us huge debt. I don’t want to talk to them. They killed many of my soldiers. They killed many of my policemen.” Indeed if the Communists are not interested in peace, then by all means let’s give them a war.

The CPP has waged a terrorist campaign in our towns and cities for more than 40 years since the time of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos until the time of Pres. Duterte, who have bended back to accommodate his leftist friends. He even allowed the release of many NDF who were captured by the military in the past few years so they could participate in the Peace Talks. But unfortunately, the Communists do not want peace in this country.

Pres. Duterte added that the government had done nothing good in the eyes of the communist rebels. “So, to the enemies of the state – No. 1 is the Communist Party of the Philippines. No more talk, let us fight.” The President also said the NDF consultants who were temporarily released to participate in the peace talks would be re-arrested. It’s no time for Peace in this country!

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