Recently retired armed forces chief of staff Hermigenes Esperon says “this is not a declaration of war but a normal enforcement of the rule of law.”
“We are announcing these operations to stabilize the situation and put back the rightful owners of those lands.”
But Interior and local government secretary Ronaldo Puno says that if the Moro National Liberation Front does not vacate towns it has occupied by force in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in the next 24 hours, “they will forcibly be separated from the area.”
Defense Aecretary Gilberto Teodoro adds:“It behooves on the MILF to do something to act on the situation because this is a litmus test on its good faith,”
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. adds: “We cannot wait longer than a reasonable 24-hour period.”
The statements are clearly not just warnings to the secessionist rebel but a notice for government forces in Mindanao to effectively go on a war footing.
The 24-hour deadline is being announced just hours after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left for the Beijing Olympics.
Tonight as she tenders a morale-boosting dinner for our sports warriors, all 13 of them, Mrs. Arroyo’s mind will also surely be elsewhere: the battlefront in North Cotabato where 3 police battalions (about 1,800 men) are poised to go into action when the deadline given to the MILF expires at 10:00 a.m.
Now 3 days after the Supreme Court stopped the siging of the ill-crafted MoA on the establishment of a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, her cabinet cluster on peace ational security is about to become a War Cabinet.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Our government is already expecting a budget deficit of P75B for this year and that’s without a war in Mindanao. Huwag naman sana magkagera doon. I hope more people in the non-Mindanao provinces will also be concerned about this because a war will surely drain our country’s finances and this in turn, will have drastic effects in our economy. From “Ramdam ang Kaunlaran” magiging “Ramdam ang Kahirapan Dahil sa Kaguluhan”.
akala ko pa naman may on-going PEACE process kaya lumutang ang isyu ng BJE.
Then all of a sudden, may ganito na.
War will only put us in the losing end. Manalo ka man sa giyera kung mapatay naman ang mga mamamayan, talo ka pa rin.
now is the time for all the pundits here to make up their mind or just shut up. is it war or is it peace? they damn gma and the government either way. the moa is a first step towards, hopefully, a lasting peace. if it doesn’t hold because of insincerity or bad faith of either party, then the inevitable follows. that’s the hard reality. the government has to enforce the law and protect philippine sovereignty and, if that entails an all-out war, let it be.
for as long as there are individuals or groups who would want to thumb their nose on the lawful authority, and to fulfill whatever it is they want by force, there will be war with all its attendant evils. the government must be resolute and not given to those who advocate “peace at all costs” or peace without honor.
Oh puhleeze Ding.
It was revealed today that MILF depredations on North Cotabato towns began around July 1, more than 30 days before the MOA was to be signed and before the SC struck it down. So the authorities are actually 30 days or more too late in doing their duty. Whatever peace negotiators were doing during that time was their business, but even the MILF apparently thought that their duty was independent of peace negotiation and they started pushing civilians around, rustling farm animals, burning houses down and generally acting like they already run the place. Now if they are allowed to carry guns and bombs, and the Philippine Military was building up their confidence by not protecting ordinary civilians, why should the latter not defend their homes and families themselves?
All-out war my foot. It’s all Mass Media Hype. We’ve never waged all-out war on the MILF but nobody knows it because papers like the Philippine Daily Innuendo are commercial purveyors of airy fairy tales.
Those who say they want peace ought to lay down their arms and fight it out with ballots not bullets.
Why in the world would the MILF oppose the ARMM elections? Because it is those elections that continue to legitimize their mortal political and ideological enemies in the MNLF. The ARMM experiment was never given a chance to work because the armed thugs in the MILF went to war even before it could get off the ground in 1996.
So either ARMM was a bad idea to begin with or it oguht to be given a chance to work as it is. Either way, making a bigger ARMM and giving the running of it over to some other bunch of wanna be sultans and rajahs seems to me a perversion of simple logic and common sense.
GMA wants chacha, while the MILF wants Bangsamorostan. But together they over-reached and are equally culpable for any bloodshed that now occurs.
War or peace is not the real choice, because both are clearly the effects of some other choices that were made, namely between constitutional democracy and something else.
Whatever their motives or justification, let’s be clear about this: the MILF is an armed criminal insurgency that is outside the pale of the law. Even they proclaim their revolutionary nature.
Either they disarm or they don’t. Either they obey the laws and negotiate in good faith, or they don’t. They too have a choice now.
If they disarm, I doubt that the peace process would end. Quite the opposite, it would generate enough good will that you and I wouldn’t be arguing and they wouldn’t be arguing or fighting with the AFP.
There is an awful lot of injustice in this society, plenty enough that we could have several dozen armed movements going on around them.
I think the slogan “Give peace a chance” is meaningless unless we eschew violent means to a peaceful end.
I think all deals are off until the MILF agrees to disarm first.
They’ve tried it the hard way for four decades as they say, that is with guns and bombs.
So let’s give peace a chance and insist on disarmament so nobody talks with their hands in their pockets.
djb, i think it’s you who is overreaching. why would you hold anyone, including your president (assuming you have not renounced your nationality), “culpable” for any “all-out war” that would ensue should a negotiated peace not materialize simply because he/she favors a charter change? what has that got to do with the issue in question? i, along with millions of other filipinos, i think, favor an amendment of the flawed 1987 “revolutionary” constitition to correct mistakes and gross miscalculations foisted upon an emotional population giddy with newly-restored freedom from the dictator. isn’t such an amendment going to be an act of the people, done according to due process of the law? equating gms’s position on charter change with your “bangsamorostan”‘s intention to have its own separate territory by hook, by crook, or by force, is an exercise in sophistry.
among armed outlaws, there can be no voluntary disarmament without prior surrender. not even criminals can negotiate in captivity. not to justify a rebel’s need to hold on to his weapons, but that is the reality. even a swat team negotiates with a hostage-taker (sometimes giving in to the latter’s ludicrous demand) to try to save the life of the hostage or other innocents.
if war and peace are not the choices, what is? if you think you can stop the milf involuntarily on its tracks by something else irresistible, then let’s try it.
Bencard,
We all want peace.But do you want it AT ANY PRICE?
I have two kids, aged 15 and 12.
What do you think I want? Am not in some cushy law office in New York or somewhere.
As for the MILF which pretends it alone represents Bangsamoro interests, look again. And while you are at it, you can try scratching the surface a bit. You might find foreign hands pulling some strings with their own beef against the Philippines dating back to an incident in Corregidor.
ding, have i implied anywhere, anytime, that i want peace at any price. why do you ask me that? on the contrary, please refer to my previous comment @ 9:25 pm where i said “the government must be resolute and not given to those who advocate “peace at all costs” or peace without honor. i find your “foreign hands” and “incident in corregidor” intriguing. what might it be?
Atty. Ben,
Let me clarify. I know you, most passionately, also are a peace advocate.
I also know that unless my research is in error, you are among those championing the cause of retirees in the U.S.
That peace is we all want, there is no debate.
But what I am indicting is the government of the day’s attempt for the Philippines to sustain what Amando Doronila succinctly calls “self-inflicted dismemberment.”
If I improperly phrased my earlier missive, do accept my apologies. I pray for our kids’ sake (how many are yours, po?)that we cane have peace in our lifetime.
Re the foreign hands angle and Corregidor, I am gathering my thoughts and will do a post on this topic soon.
Remember the ‘Jabidah massacre’?
oh yes, ding. how can i forget the massacre that happened during the pre-martial law administration of marcos, sometime before i left the country. thanks. i’ll be looking forward to your post on the subject.
Peace & total development in Mindanao, how it will finally Come?????
The Armed groups in Mindanao that terrorized the people, lead the Mindanaons in the context of destabilization!!!!!!!!
The Government should do something particularly the “Armed Forces of The Philippines” to get rid of this insurgencies. How to get rid?????? For God Sake they are occupying already some parts of North-Cotabato, the Military should do semething to weaken the MILF troops……..” PULBUSIN SILA KUNG KINAKAILANGAN!!!!, HINDI YAN MADADA-AN SA PEACE TALKS……..
gEYERA KUNG GEYERA! kawawa ang sibilyan kung patuloy silang takot sa MILF……..
Please do semething [AFP]!!!!!!! I am from Mindanao,I know for a fact that it is really the sentiments of the christians in Mindanao to get rid of this “Bangsamoros”.
Do something, ilikas ang mga mamamayan para sa Giyera!!!!!
To the AFP:GEYERA Na, Wag na PEACE TALKS!!!!!!
RETSY
Sa tingin ninyo, aalis yang tropa ng MILF sa some parts of North-Cotabato????????
KABALIWAN, HINDI!!!!!! KAYA DAPAT ANG MGA SUNDALO NG GOBYERNO UMAKSYON NA, KAWAWA ANG MGA TAO DO-ON TALAGANG TAKOT, WALANG PWERSA NA SUBSUB SA PAGTUGIS PARA MAPULBOS ANG GRUPO NG MILF!!!!!!
retsy: I think you have a point
Alam ba ninyo na ngayon gabi nato ang mga lalake na taga Tulunan Cotabato at iba pang mga Brgy. sa North Cotabato ay gising khit ang lalim na ng gabi. Sapagkat nagbabantay sila sa mga maisan nila at mga palayan kasi gabi sumasalakay ang mga MILF sinusunog nila mga bahay, kaya yan ang dahilan kung bakit ang mga sibilyan do-on ay isang lingo na walang tulog dahil binabantayan nila ang kanilang mga pananim na sya lamang nilang kinabubuhay!!!!!!!!!
Sa Tulunan, ang mga tao do-on ay lumikas na, maliban na lamang sa mga lalake na walang tulog dahil sa pag protekta nila sa kanilang pananim dahil anumang oras ay sasalakay ang mga MILF!!!!
Toto-o yan, Akala lang siguro ng lahat na gimik lang. If you are in that vicinity then you will witness how the people suffered!!!!!! Ang pagkahabag ko sa mga tao do-on ay tlagang tagos sa buto, sila ang nkaranas ng kaapihan kasi sila ang nandon. Ang mga Militar na inaasahan nila na tutugis sa mga MILF ay tlagang nagpapaubaya parati sa Konsepto ng Usaping Pangkapayapa-an!!!!
Naiiyak ako kasi may mga kamag-anak ako do-on, Tenetext nila ako sa mga kaganapan, ang hirap dahil isa lang akong ordinaryong tao at hindi ko sila kayang tulungan para protektahan laban sa mga sumasalakay sa kanila!!!!
Kung ako ang Presidente ng Pilipinas, ipag-uutos ko sa mga sundalo ng Gobyerno to Strike for a war.
Ang Mahal nting Presidente ay nandon sa Olimpyada again at the expense of the Filipino People in Mindanao na nasa gitna ng kaguluhan!!!!!!!!!!
Kahit saang dimensyon tignan talagang kawawa ang mga tao doon!!!!! Ang Tulunan halimbawa walang katao-tao dahil nagsilikas na ang mga babae at mga bata at matatanda. Ang mga lalake nlang ang nagpapaiwan para bantayan ang kanilang mga palayan, kasi natatakot sila baka ang mga maisan nila ang lahat ng kanilang mga pananim ay susunugin ng mga MILF, Kasi tlagang walang sundalo na dapat mag protekta para hindi manakaw o masunog ang kanilang mga maisan!!!!
Nasa gitna sila ngayon ng Maisan nagbabantay sila at may mga baril sila, ginagawa nila lahat para labanan ang mga tao na walang kaluluwa!!!
Pawis at pagod puhunan nila sa kanilang mga pananim, kaya kahit ako cguro kung halimbawa ako ang nasa kalagayan nila ay handa rin ako humawak ng baril at magbantay sa aking mga pananim.
Ngunit ang tanong dito, panu kung ang mga farmer na ito mamamatay dahil sa pakikipagbak-bakan laban sa mga MILF?????? Kawawa tlaga sila, naa-awa ako kasi hindi natin alam baka magbuwis sila ng buhay anu mang oras ngayon!!!!!!!!!!
Sa mga Sundalo ng Gobyerno, With due respect inu-ulit ko po ang aking panawagan pakiusap labanan na ninyo ang mga MILF, makidigma para ma protektahan ang mga sibilyan!!!!!!
Mas mabuti pa ang mga Farmer nakipagbakbakan sila kahit wala silang Militaristic skills kasi napagtanto nila tlagang wala silang ma-a-asahan!!!!!!!!
President Arroyo, Please Command your soldiers to strike for a war!!!!!
Anu ba naman yan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kanina alas otso ng gabi [8:00 pm.]nakatangap ako ng update ………. Ang bayan nila Mga kahol ng Aso nlang parati maririnig kasi wala ng mga bata na naglalakad sa da-an, lahat nagsilikas na kaya binalot na ng pighati ang kanilang bayan dulot ng walang humpay na kaguluhan, at ang mga lalaking farmer ay nagbabantay parin……….
Ngayong, oras nato anu na kaya nangyayari sa kanila???????????? Puro nalang pagdarasal ginagawa namin para walang mapahamak sa kanila!!!!!!!
Kung ako ang inyong tatanungin tungkol sa pananaw ko sa mga sundalo ng Gobyerno??? Prangkahan lang po, nararamdaman ko po parang takot ang mga sundalo ng Gobyerno mkipagdigma-an!!!!!!!!!!!! Ang bansa natin ay isang Demokratikong bansa kaya may karapatan po ako sa aking sariling pananaw!!!!!!
Kung sila ay hindi takot, di sana nkipagdigma na sila, kaysa naman haya-an mismo na ang mga sibilyan na lamang ang gumagawa ng para-an para lamang proteksyunan ang kanilang bayan!!!!!!
Ang mga sibilyan talagang humahawak na ng baril!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ay nako, bakit ganun!!!!!!!!!
Wag magpapaniwala sa “PEACE TALKS”, Mahal na Pangulo Ng Republika ng Pilipinas, mag diklara kana ng Digma-an!!!!!! Hindi kana nahabag sa mga farmer!!!!!! Asan kaba Mahal na Pangulo??????? Ay nasa Olimpyada ka nga pala, nakikipagbiso-biso do-on at the expense of your chaotic nation!!!!!!!!
Hindi kasi farmer si Pangulong Gloria kaya hindi nya nararamdaman kung ganu kahalaga ang mga pananim na sya lamang kinabubuhay ng mga farmers……..
Ang Tulunan ay isa sa afektado na bahagi ng North-Cotabato. Sana mag deploy ng mga sundalo sa-an mang sulok do-on 24 oras!!!!!!