Why insist on BBL?
Even after the Mamasapano tragedy involving the death of 44 SAF commandos President Noynoy Aquino still insists that the Bangsamoro Basic Law be passed by Congress. This dogged stand of the President on a proposed legislation which Constitution experts have found to be potently unconstitutional is difficult to understand. When he took his oath of office, did he not swear to defend the Constitution? Why expose himself now to the possible charge of culpable violation of the basic law of the land?
One can surmise that perhaps the president is completely convinced that BBL can bring peace in Mindanao. That peace of course depends on the sincerity of the MILF leadership to collaborate with the government in its quest for peace. But after what happened can we still trust the MILF? After Mamasapano whatever commitment to peace the MILF has made to the government has already been blasted away. The blood of 44 young peacekeepers is a glaring testimony of the falsity of that commitment.
Yet that incident was not the only one that disclosed the unreliability of negotiating with MILF in our quest for peace. There have been a number of encounters in the past where MILF fighters figured as combatants. Yet despite these, our peace negotiators including the president himself, have closed their eyes and continued waving the banner of peace.
And now in the ongoing Senate hearing Police Director GetulioNapeñas revealed that terrorists Zulkifli Bin Hir or "Marwan" had been training bomb makers for years under the protection of the very secessionist group with which we want to sign a covenant of non-violence. No wonder Marwan was hiding in Mamasapano, a village controlled by MILF, and no wonder the SAF team met the full ire of the Muslim fighters when they attempted to serve arrest warrants for the terrorists.
And here's more, in the same Senate hearing, it was disclosed that the MILF knew the presence of the SAF as early as midmorning on January 25 when the firefight had just started but it took them more than eight hours before they agreed to stop the hostilities. By that time the 44 police commandos were already dead and mutilated.
And despite these Malacañang still wants to smoke the peace pipe with MILF? No way. We need peace but not peace sans justices for the blood of our young SAF officers and men.
The more urgent thing now is to require MILF to surrender their men who were involved in the Mamasapano massacre and to return the SAF firearms. Unless they do these, Congress' deliberation on the BBL should be deferred. This move will of course stall the peace process. But of what good is that process if good faith is uncertain on the part of the other party?
That holocaust in Zamboanga last year plus the violent adventurism of the BIFF lately are evidence that even if we are at peace with one Muslim group, there's no guarantee that it will be all smiles and roses in Mindanao.
Yet elusive as peace is, we should not give up and let things as they are. Surely, there must be a solution to the problem. But whatever it is, a military one will not work. Bloodshed incites bloodshed. There's no peace from the muzzle of a gun. For decades now the sound of gunfire has been a regular phenomenon in that land downunder. Thousands of lives have been lost in the conflict areas in that heretofore land of promise. What should be done now?
If MILF cooperates with the popular demand for justice, Congress may resume deliberation on the BBL, provided its constitutionality has been confirmed. If any of these conditions is not met there should be no further talks about the BBL.
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