At long last, after their grueling 1,700 kilometer trek from Sumilao, Bukidnon all the way to the steps of Malacañang Palace, the 54 farmers of Sumilao were granted an audience with Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) and we saw an early report on ABS-CBN that Pres. Arroyo has recognized the farmer’s ownership of the hotly contested 144 hectare property. As of press time, these issues were still being settled, but the President has shown her sympathy to those farmers, who were victimized by promises of conversion of their land into an agro-business estate.
I’m really glad that the President has taken the side of the poor farmers, because these people have nowhere else to go. The rich owners of that property have become richer and more powerful, while the poor have remained dirt poor. This is a classic “David vs. Goliath” battle. Who would expect poor farmers to do battle with the rich and powerful? Call it timely or even Divine Intervention that Gardenia Cardinal Rosales was elevated from his church in Malayalam, Bukidnon to become the Archbishop of Manila. He was the right man at the right place. He knew this issue from day one and was able to use the power of the church to undo the injustice done to these farmers.
Meanwhile, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) the present owner of the property is trying to fight back through a one-page ad in the newspapers that they were “buyers in good faith”. We have no doubt that SMC bought the land in good faith, but it is a corporate giant and I’m sure that the stockholders would lend their heart to the poor farmers, especially those who were subjected to grave injustice for many years.
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As we’ve learned through the years that Christmas brings hope and just a week before Christmas the work of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has resulted in the resolution of three murders when the guns allegedly used by that Hitman Aristotle “Ares” Aves matched with the slugs found in the bodies of the Japanese national Hiroshi Kusaka, businessmen Wilson Yu and Roland Teves. This is what great sleuthing is all about. So congratulations are in order to Sr. Supt. Jorge Corpus of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
However, while those links were established through the single firearm used, the police know that the group that did the job were really “gun-for-hire” assassins headed by the recently departed and very deceased Ramon “Boy” Baclohan, who also killed SP01 Noriel Luage. So who hired those assassins? While Baclohan is six-feet under, the Police have Ares Aves in custody. If he sings, we can bag those people that wanted the Japanese businessman and two other Cebuano businessmen killed.
This is the hope that is now in the hands of the police, that very soon we can find out the three masterminds who hired them and for how much they were paid for doing their foul deed. We hope that this can be achieved before the end of the year. This is not impossible to achieve!
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The New People’s Army (NPA) has apparently rejected the three-year ceasefire offer that the Arroyo Government has proposed and in response to this offer, the NPAs vowed to escalate its war against the established government. This means that we can expect more ambuscades and killings in the coming year 2008, courtesy of these bloodthirsty killers who continue to wage war on behalf of their master, Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, head of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
During the Martial Law years, we had the Anti-Subversion Law that was so effective, the military got the biggest fish of all, Joma Sison. Unfortunately, when the EDSA Revolt dawned upon us, the euphoria of Tita Cory’s Presidency resulted in the release of Joma Sison and the imprisoned leaders of the CPP/NPA. Thus instead of securing a peace with the Communists, these hardcore commies were freed for nothing in return! Hence they returned to their old ways, and continued with the Communist insurgency. Thus Tita Cory’s act of clemency with Joma and his ilk resulted in more Filipino deaths.
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Erratum: We wrote in our column yesterday that the book entitled “The Rescue” was written by Robert Trent Smith, but our good friend Mr. Jimmy Escaño texted me that the book was actually written by Steven Trent Smith. Mea culpa. I got confused with the name Robert Trent, the great golfer, to Steven Trent Smith. Thanks for the correction Jimmy!