EDITORIAL — Attacking non-combatants is all-out war

When communist guerrillas attacked Army soldiers helping in the evacuation of civilians from the wrath of Mount Mayon, not a peep of condemnation was heard from the usual communist sympathizers who otherwise would have been too quick to take to the streets in protest.

Why the silence? Because there is no what-is-good-for-the-goose-is-good-for-the-gander mindset among communists and communist sympathizers. Everything is always stacked against the government.

If communist guerrillas attack soldiers on humanitarian mission, and their sympathizers keep quiet about it, the message could not be any clearer. To them, it is perfectly all right to wage all-out war against soldiers but terribly wrong for soldiers to go all-out against them.

Yet this was not what government meant by its declaration. It was conveniently twisted to suit the communist line of government being oppressive. When the government declared all-out war, what it meant was that it was taking the war seriously. No attitude could be more precise.

For too long the military has allowed the communist rebellion to drag on. It could have buried its head in the job of protecting the state from its enemies but some of its elements got distracted by politics. It was evident the military needed to be whipped around.

If there was any mistake in the government declaration, blame the terminology used. Knowing the uncanny ability of the communist propaganda machine to whip things out of context and lie, the government should not have used the term all-out.

But then the tongue has slipped, and the communists are having a field day harping on the term all-out even if, as events would turn out, it is the communists themselves who have taken the war to its most wretched and atrocious level by attacking non-combatants.

The silence of communist sympathizers on this atrocity is deafening. Yet it is hopelessly naive of anyone to expect even a peep. No condemnation is forthcoming. Consumed by the desire to topple government, it matters not to communists who gets killed, or how.