Kinahanglan Ang Malinawon Nga Pagsabotsabot sa Mindanao

The  devastating destruction of war is all that we can see and witness in the present conflagration of hostilities in Zamboanga City. Most of the comments I’ve read favor the annihilation of Muslims identified with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari. However prior to this, we had already witnessed how the MNLF group was ignored and treated like an “unwelcome faction” when in truth and in fact it has already established its formal connection to the Philippine government with the successful signing of a peace pact with former President Fidel V. Ramos in 1996.

The army said at least 62 people have been killed, including 51 of the independence-seeking rebels and five civilians. However, conflicting number of casualty reports in other news sources already had it in a hundred. (Image credit: Atty. Lobedica’s Blog Site)

With the current talks between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government under President Benigno S. Aquino III, it was very clear that Nur Misuari was left out in the cold. All the protagonists should be included in the conference table smoking the proverbial “peace pipes” if lasting peace is to be achieved. The loss of lives, most particularly the civilian lives who are caught in the crossfire, should be avoided by resorting to the most effective peace initiatives with “cooler heads” rather than those with “utak pulbora.” The use of military force should only be resorted to as a secondary option after the peaceful process is exhausted. Nothing can be achieved successfully if what we get after the use of military might is the kind of  peace that existed only in cemeteries full of human skulls, a testament to irreparable waste of human lives.

The use of fighter planes (helicopters) striking rebel held strongholds where dozens of civilian lives are at risks is “necessary in order to finish this at the soonest possible time,” according to Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala. Army spokesman. He reasoned out, “the aircraft were part of an intensification of a ‘calibrated response.'” The army said at least 62 people have been killed, including 51 of the independence-seeking rebels and five civilians. But conflicting number of casualty reports in other news sources already had it in a hundred. The huge disparity in reporting of casualties must be part of the administration’s “damage control mechanism” in an attempt to downplay and avoid the critical outburst of war critics who wanted to have the problem solved in a peaceful manner through mediation of credible outside countries, if not, through the United Nations.

Source: Atty. James Lobedica’s Blog Site