The Sad Realization From History

I have been reading the news intensely trying to find out from the reported dead on the part of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces, “162 MNLF forces have been captured and 138 killed.” But nowhere in the report which says there are civilian hostages killed in the crossfire as it was earlier reported that the rebels held civilian hostages. Could it be possible that the civilian hostages killed in the Navy shelling were just simply added with the headcount made for MNLF rebels killed so as to avoid scathing comments and howls of protests from war critics? But we cannot prevent those with “utak pulbora” to far outweigh in coming up with a decision to engage our government into a “firefight” instead of attaining a peaceful solution.

Even the Dictator Marcos had to enlist the help of Libya’s Khadafi to make a truce in what is known as the Tripoli agreement in 1976. Time and again, we have heard the saying that history repeats itself. Is it too late for our government rulers to ponder over this case to avoid the grim lesson of history? (Image credit: Atty. Lobedica’s Blog Site)

When a question was earlier asked about the danger of using fighter planes against the MNLF rebels inasmuch as it would endanger the lives of civilian hostages placed under the custody of the rebels the answer of the military spokesman was that it was a “calibrated move” and “they are in a hurry to finish the ‘job'” as soon as possible. It appeared the deciding factor was too much in the reliance of having a superior government force against the rebels and they were in a hurry to have peace perhaps in a matter of weeks and probably the kind of peace you can only find in a cemetery. In the 1900s, a picture of American fighters shown “grinning” over the dead remains of the Muslims was displayed in a news dispatch. But the Muslims who were historically known as a group of freedom-loving people who knew no fear even in the face of bayonets have remained a persistent problem for the Americans that even with their high-powered firearms against the spears and “kampilans” (bolos) were not enough to scare and stop them from fighting the intruders. Even the Dictator Marcos had to enlist the help of Libya’s Khadafi to make a truce in what is known as the Tripoli agreement in 1976. Time and again, we have heard the saying that history repeats itself. Is it too late for our government rulers to ponder over this case to avoid the grim lesson of history?

Source: Atty. James Lobedica’s Blog Site