EDITORIAL – Winning hearts and minds

The man dubbed "the butcher" by left-wing militants retired from the Philippine Army yesterday with the atrocities imputed to him largely unproven. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan hung up his uniform with no visible regret for the methods he had employed to fight the New People’s Army. Instead he showed pride in his track record in counterinsurgency.

History will judge whether Palparan’s methods were effective. The Alsa Masa in Davao during the Marcos regime was highly effective because it enjoyed the support of residents who were sick of communist atrocities. Palparan, on the other hand, appears to have not just scared away NPA extortionists terrorizing businessmen, but also alienated the masses as he cast a large net for communist rebels.

Palparan’s commander-in-chief gave him special praise in her State of the Nation Address, but the Armed Forces of the Philippines appears to realize that instilling fear is not the way to win hearts and minds. And winning hearts and minds is indispensable in winning the battle against an insurgency.



Palparan has been replaced by Brig. Gen. Juanito Gomez, formerly of the military command in Metro Manila. So far Gomez has made reassuring noises about duplicating in Central Luzon the approach he used in Bohol to eliminate the insurgent threat: by securing the environment for economic activities. In the case of Bohol, the activity was ecotourism. The province is now reaping the benefits of its tourism boom, giving residents increasingly fewer reasons to join or support any underground movement. People who want to break the cycle of deadly violence in Central Luzon should give Gomez their support. Communists will not want him to succeed; insurgencies thrive on poverty, injustice and human rights violations to turn the masses against the government. Armed force is needed to fight an armed threat, but fear and the military solution can only go so far. Neutralizing an insurgency for good requires eliminating the causes that drive the masses to support the rebellion. If Gomez stays true to his avowed tack, it will be a promising start.