When will P-Noy get rid of private armies?

The killing of Italian priest Fr. Fausto “Father Pops” Tentorio in a church compound in the town of Arakan by a lone assassin using a silenced weapon early morning last Monday is another embarrassing episode for the Philippines. It is visible proof that even under the Aquino administration, despite all its promises of fighting corruption and the evils it brings to our country, he has barely made a dent in this noble struggle. In short, this is proof that nothing much has changed since President Aquino took over power.

We in the media have known about Fr. Pops because of an earlier threat against his life and of course we cannot forget the news reports of the killings of the previous Italian priests who were all killed in Mindanao. Most of those killers were never brought to justice. Strangely, these priests were not killed by Muslim terrorists, rather they were shot dead by armed militia or rightist groups or the New People’s Army (NPA).

The Italian priests belonging to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) who were brutally murdered in the past were Fr. Tulio Favali who was killed by the Manero brothers and their armed gang way back in April 1985 and Fr. Salvatorre Carcedda who was killed in Zamboanga in 1992. Now whether under the Aquino administration they can pursue the killers of Fr. Pops and bring them to justice remains to be seen.

At least the Manero brothers (Edilberto shot Fr. Favali in the head, while Norberto, Jr. picked up brains of the priest to show it to horrified spectators) were arrested and tried and imprisoned. But their sentences were commuted under President Ramos, while President Erap granted conditional pardon to Norberto Manero Jr., and the rest were released in 2003.

While I was writing this piece The Philippine STAR headlined a report that 19 AFP soldiers were killed while 12 others were wounded in an attack by suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Al-Barka, Basilan supposedly led by Dan Laksaw Asnawi, a deputy commander of the MILF who is wanted for the beheading of 14 Marines also in Al-Barka four years ago. As of press time, two soldiers are still being held captive. How could a company of soldiers get themselves killed, unless they were lured into a trap and massacred? Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesman Lt. Col. Randolf Cabangbang told reporters that the firefight lasted for nine hours.    No doubt the problems in Mindanao have remained and our soldiers continue to die leaving behind grieving families. Now another Italian priest is dead and once more we are getting a bad press from the International community. Meanwhile another media personality, Datu Roy Bagtikan Gallego, a Manobo Tribe chieftain was shot and killed in Agusan del Sur which just tells you that in Mindanao, men with guns rule the land, whether they belong to the PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), NPA, MNLF or the MILF, or the political warlords like the Ampatuan family who we know are still armed to the teeth, though their teeth have been badly broken when then Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. went out to disarm them. But they are still a potent force to reckon with.

Speaking of Gibo Teodoro, one of the trickiest questions thrown at him during the 2010 Presidential campaign was, “Why could he not disarm the private armies roaming around the countryside.” Of course the answer to that question is due to the presence of political warlords, who are powerful politicians with connections to Malacañang. Like the Ampatuans whom Gibo disarmed, they were Governors, Mayors, Congressmen of their respective fiefdoms and disarming them was no easy task… after all, they have been the ruling elite in their localities since time immemorial.

So now allow me to throw this same question now to Pres. PNoy, whether after more than a year and a half in power, he has already disarmed or neutralized those private armies roaming freely in Mindanao who disguise themselves as Muslim Separatist or Freedom fighters? I’ll bet that his Rasputin’s inside Malacañang would ignore this question because they know too well that they haven’t done that under their watch. I’m not a warmonger advocating revenge against the killers of those 19 soldiers or the Italian priest. In fact three Italian priests have already been killed in Mindanao.

But it was Pres. PNoy who coined his Presidential campaign slogan “Walang mahirap kung walang korrupt”. Yet those armed gangs whether it is MILF or MNLF or their politically correct name private armies freely roam around parts of Philippine territory that even the Police or the Army cannot control anymore. This is why since Martial Law this country had a double standard for Justice. Justice for us who obey the laws of the land and Justice of the gun. If Pres. PNoy’s “Daang Matuwid” is to succeed, it must disarm those armed group otherwise, all this talk of Daang Matuwid is nothing but a political but meaningless slogan.  

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