The government is right: Use the mailed fist to assure 'peace'

The capture by four Army and Marine brigades of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's second biggest redoubt, Camp Bushra in Butig, Lanao del Sur, which is the "guardian fort" next to the MILF's main headquarters, Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao, was a great victory.

The "peaceniks," including some ridiculous "church" groups like the so-called "Promotion of the Church People's Response", are making themselves ridiculous by insisting that such a move has only provoked the MILF. What nonsense. You can't talk "peace" until the enemy realize it's on the ropes.

The armed forces, by overrunning the much-vaunted 2,000-hectare rebel camp, backed by OV-10 bombers, four helicopter gunships and artillery, demonstrated once and for all that the Muslim insurgent boasts were just a bag of wind, and all that defeatist drivel spouted by politicians in Manila and Mindanao that our troops were unequal to the task of crushing the big-mouthed rebels is sheer baloney.

The assault of Camp Bushra and its capture was not a hastily-executed move. It had been planned weeks earlier, but the President and the AFP top command had kept the actual date of attack secret (almost an "impossibility", one might say, in a country where gossip runs rampant and leaks occur at every stage of a plan).

Now, unless the MILF's leaders really propose a practical "peace" deal, the next step will be to take Camp Abubakar. Admittedly, this will be more difficult, since that Moro main base is almost a "province" in itself encompassing 300,000 hectares, but the military have long been ready to smash in: They merely await, as we've said before, the signal to "GO."

The MILF's 15,000 men (only 13,000 of that number armed, incidentally), if you'll notice, have slowly and deliberately been herded by the AFP and units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) into defensive positions around their headquarters, Camp Abubakar. Their feints towards, as they loudly proclaim, "retaking" portions of the Narciso Ramos highway were acts of desperation, hopefully designed (they thought) to deflect or blunt the force of the military's anticipated major offensive.

The MILF's Ustadz Hashim Salamat and the Moro "war leader," Vice Chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad, will continue to bluster -- but for the past few weeks they've already begun to realize that the jig is up.

This doesn't mean that the Moro insurgency has lost its capacity to sting, to conduct a few punishing raids, or -- if some rebel units break out of the encircling ring of steel -- resume some form of guerrilla strike-and-run action. But the President has vowed "to finish the war" if the insurgents and troublemakers don't earnestly beg for peace -- that's what he told those in the know immediately upon arrival from China (when he summoned "his generals") -- and it's not because, as his critics growl, he's a warmonger, but because he must. That's why a President of this Republic carries the title of "Commander-in- Chief."

There will now be a chorus of condemnation from alleged "peace-loving" politicians, sectors of media, and bishops. (Why don't our churchmen pity their own Christian flock, who outnumber the Muslims in Mindanao by almost 3 to 1, yet are constantly being bullied, raided, harassed, kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered, as though Catholics were the intruders and "land-grabbers" and the Moro rebels were the "heroes" and "freedom fighters"? Susmariosep. It's enough to make a grown man cry.)

Those loudmouths ought to put their concern into action by actually going to Mindanao, to the "endangered" zones, to hug and kiss the Muslim rebels they so fulsomely extol and support. A few nights of camping out in those fringe areas, without army or police guard, and with only their goodwill and speeches proclaiming "love and harmony" to protect them, will give them a taste of how civilians, both Christian and Muslim alike, feel -- living in constant anxiety and fear on our "wild frontier."

Those of us who spent many years going back and forth, actually camping out in Mindanao, in places like the Sulu archipelago (isles like Sitangkai, Bongao, Ungus Matata, Jolo itself, and Tawi-Tawi), Zamboanga and Basilan (where my sister's and her late husband's rubber and copra plantation -- now "taken" away from them after many decades of risk and hard labor in Galayan, Maluso, where, by the way, the Abu Sayyaf was "born"), in the Maranao hinterlands of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, in Maguindanao, and South Cotabato, aren't speaking out of second-hand or textbook knowledge. But we're still "outsiders." We ultimately are from Luzon.

Our kinfolk and friends who actually live there (my son-in-law's family is third-generation) are the ones who know the score.

I wish so many people would simply stop pontificating. A just and lasting peace for the Christian majority and the Muslim minority can't be based on surrender, compromise, or the cutting out of more "territory" to be declared completely Muslim. The only meaningful settlement (no thanks to that dumb Tripoli Agreement, signed with such cynicism and lack of wisdom by the Marcos martial-law government) would be for Muslims and Christians to finally learn -- after three centuries of suspicion, hostility, betrayal and conflict -- to live with one another. But this will never happen if "Moro" enclaves and jerry-built "autonomous Muslim" provinces continue to be created to suit the desires of local Moro warlords, chieftains and politicians who have no concern, really, for their Muslim followers and virtual serfs. Yet, that's what we've been doing.

Another "peace agreement"? If it's of the same type that the former Ramos administration, and its predecessor, the Cory Aquino regime, forged with Nur Misuari and his faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an abject travesty of surrender and cash-giveaways of billions of pesos (that don't seem to have trickled down), then we're all, Muslims and Christians together, doomed to disappointment -- and renewed fighting.

Incredibly, with his portion of Mindanao in flames, where is Governor Nur Misuari? Travelling abroad, in the Middle East and Europe!

As for the MNLF, supposed to have come in "from the cold" and rejoined the Filipino nation under our Constitution, our laws, and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), who do you think are continuing to shoot, kidnap, torture, murder, and burn in Mindanao? In case you didn't notice, three of the five Abu Sayyaf "leaders" -- with whom Secretary Robert Aventajado is so frustratingly negotiating for the release of the 19 foreign and two Filipino hostages in Patikul, Sulu, -- are "former" MNLF commanders.

And if you look at the faces of many of the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF, you'll find the same MNLF visages. If we secured "peace" in General Tabako's time, my single and forlorn question is: WHERE is it?

Not in Zamboanga del Norte or del Sur. Not in Basilan. Not in the ARMM. Not in the Sulu archipelago. Not in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. Not in Maguindanao. Not in Cotabato. Then, where?

Another thing that bothers me -- might as well get it off my chest -- is WHY there is such a rush by several quarters to absolve the 26 Muslim suspects arrested by the police and military for the two mall "bombings" in Metro Manila.

So many people are ululating that they're just "fall guys." Maybe some of them, it's quite possible, could be innocent. Perhaps, eventually, many of them might be found blameless, or merely linked to the guilty by circumstances. But why are so many wiseguys, including (again!) clerics and churchmen, stampeding to "clear" them?

It was amusing, in the famous film classic, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca, to hear actor Claude Rains, portraying the humorous, worldly-wise French police commandant, instructing his men: "Arrest the usual suspects!" But we're not involved in a Hollywood movie here, or even a Pinoy-cinema flicker (even though our President and too many politicians are occasional ham actors). This is real life -- and death. Sure, we've got too many rotten cops, or stupid and abusive ones who won't hesitate to nab innocent civilians (or hulidap by planting "shabu" or other drugs on frame-up victims), but let's give this investigation a chance to prosper and our lawmen and intelligence operatives the opportunity to "sweat" those detained before exploding into skepticism.

The safety of our people is at stake, and we ought to close ranks instead of nitpicking and screaming "foul" at every stage of an inquiry.

It's true enough that General Panfilo "Ping" Lacson damaged his credibility by strangely, almost nonchalantly, announcing that he "lied" when he announced weeks earlier that it had been "rightist" plotters who had detonated the blast in SM Megamall -- his excuse was that he had wanted to deceive for strategic purposes. Now, people are asking that if Lacson could lie so blithely in that instance, how can we tell in the future whether he's lying or telling the truth?

In other ways, Ping Lacson has proven himself a tough and effective police officer. So, let's keep that aberration of his in mind, but give him the benefit of the doubt. Would we rather have some wimp in his place? I don't think that query would elicit a positive answer. This is a cruel world, with tortuous twists and turns.

As for the President's instructions that no mayor or local government, or the national government should require Muslims to carry a special I.D. identifying them as such -- he's right. What are some officials advocating, even if their sincere motive is to assure "security" for their non-Muslim constituents, that we seek to identify "Muslims" as some form of threat, or as second-class citizens? I'm one of those weird fellows, I know, who insist that we should have a national I.D. card, issued to every citizen, but it must be regardless of political color or creed.

A "Muslim" I.D. card or document? That's unjust, absurd and demeaning. A Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, a Taoist, an agnostic or a heretic, or whatever, should always be equal and invested with every right under the law -- and I mean the laws of our Republic, not (as some demented politicians and fanatical Imams want) Shariah Law.

It reminds me of one of my Ateneo classmates who went nuts while cramming for the final exams in our senior year, which required us to defend 100 theses in philosophy before a board of examiners. Somewhere along the line, heading for that final showdown, something snapped in our friend and classmate. We realized this when he started going around the book shops, looking for "a mathema-tics textbook from the Catholic viewpoint." I supposed, an overdose of philosophy can, indeed, lead to madness.

There's an interesting item I came upon last Tuesday in the May 30 issue of the Financial Times of London. It is specially pertinent at a time when the Sulu hostage crisis, with 21 in Patikul held captive by the Abu Sayyaf, remains in the headlines.

The article is subheaded, Managing Kidnap Risk, and was written by reporter Martin Stone. It says that "kidnapping -- the taking of hostages for financial or political ends -- is a significant risk to companies in many countries. Although, in purely statistical terms, the likelihood of being a kidnap victim is far lower than being a road traffic accident victim, the risk of abduction tends to shape perceptions of a country's security risk profile out of all proportion to reality."

The FT article pointed out that in 1999 "the number of reported kidnap reached its highest-ever level, and continuing economic pressures in Russia and the Far East are likely to exacerbate the situation there in the near future."

The author notes that "there are two main types of kidnaps -- those carried out by criminal gangs to raise money -- 'cash criminals' -- and those perpetrated by extremists and activists motivated by political, religious or other causes. Cash criminals are responsible for the vast majority of kidnaps, though there is much overlap between political terrorists staging kidnaps to raise money for their causes. There is a wide range of objectives of political kidnaps: to extort money or political concessions over policy or resources; to obtain publicity; to intimidate witnesses; or to undermine a country's attractiveness to foreign investors."

That explanation could have been penned, specifically, with the Abu Sayyaf abduction of those hostages from Malaysia in mind.

The newspaper reveals that "the annual incidence of kidnaps worldwide probably does not exceed 20,000 and, on average, one in ten people kidnapped is subsequently killed. Compare this with the approximately 22,000 murders that occur in the US every year. Moreover, kidnap incidents, partly because of their rarity, tend to grab the headlines, inflating the incidence and impact of the problem."

In our case, both tourism and investment have been affected. Hotels report many cancellations, for example on the part of Japanese and Americans. The US and Japanese governments have, uncharitably, issued "advisories" to their citizens warning them not to go to the Philippines unless the trip is absolute necessary! Can you imagine that?

Instead of wringing their hands about this, our officials -- including the Department of Tourism (and Malacañang) -- should exert every effort to get those adverse "notices" recalled by Tokyo and Washington, DC.

For example, President Erap is scheduled to fly to Tokyo on June 7th for the memorial rites for the late Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, and on July 25 or so, go off to Washington, DC to meet with US President Bill Clinton in the White House. (In fact, he'll see Mr. Clinton in Japan next week, as well). This should give him a chance to strive to convince both the Japanese and Americans to withdraw their damaging "circulars." That's just for starters.

The long and short of it, in the final analysis, is that we must get our act together. I congratulate our AFP Southern Command chief, Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, for the capture of MILF Camp Bushra. But why did General Villanueva make the absurd statement after the Philippine Airlines high-jacking, that he couldn't understand why the ill-fated high-jacker, Reynaldo Trance Chua, had managed to get through the "tight security" kuno in the Davao airport. What tight security? When a guy can board a plane with a gun, a grenade, and a parachute, without being detected and stopped, there's no security. If Villanueva had been a wartime Japanese general, he would have, alas, been compelled "by honor" to commit seppuku or hara-kiri.

Nowadays, there's not even shame.