Why Gen. Catapang’s all-out war will fail
For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we bring you a discussion on the seaweed industry. Few people realize that the by-product of seaweed affects almost every aspect of our lives. While to us in the Visayas it is merely “Guso” which we can eat with our seafood, but when carrageenan is processed, you can find it everywhere from catsup to hamburgers.
So watch this talk about the seaweed industry with Maximo Ricohermoso, president of the Seaweed Industry of the Philippines and Mr. Tiburcio Donaire of BFAR on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00PM with replays on Wednesday and Saturday. We also have replays on MyTV channel 30 at 9:00 tonight and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday.
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It’s been more than a month since the Jan. 25th massacre at Mamasapano, Maguindanao. Yet despite the Senate or Congressional investigations, including the Board of Inquiry we have not come close to the reason why this tragedy happened. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is also conducting its own investigation…but then since they are the perpetrators of this heinous crime, we can already conclude that the MILF will certainly exonerate the men who brutalized the fallen 44 SAF men.
We all saw those videos of how the MILF killed the SAF troopers who only had superficial wounds… yet they were shot in the head at close range. We do not need any further proof of this as it is already out in Facebook!
Then a month later, the MILF is selling us a new story, saying that the Filipino people should not immediately conclude that the brutality was done by MILF fighters. That the videos we all saw do not point to MILF fighters, but other armed groups or even the Bangsamoro Freedom Fighters. I dare say to the MILF… please tell this yarn to the Marines! When those videos were uploaded and many of us who saw it concluded that this was uploaded by MILF fighters… there was no denial by the MILF leadership for a whole month… Until they found a way to confuse the people.
Meanwhile Pres. Benigno Aquino III is still pushing for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law by as early as June this year. I say to him… if Congress rubber-stamps this law, this country will be in for more trouble. In my book, the MILF is a terror organization, which during the time of Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada, he threw the might of the Armed Forces of the Philippines against them and captured Camp Abubakar.
These people have thumbed their noses at Philippine laws, especially the carrying of high-powered weapons in plain sight, while ordinary law-abiding citizens get arrested for carrying weapons outside their home. Therefore if the MILF wants a share of P70 billion from taxpayers… they should have laid down their arms when they signed that peace deal in Malacañang.
In the meantime, the MILF in an obvious act of defiance have refused to be interviewed by the Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry that is investigating the Mamasapano debacle. They tried to interview 105th Base Commander Zacaria Goma, but he refused to be interviewed. MILF 118th Base Commander Wahid Tundok who met with BOI Chair Director Benjamin Magalong also refused to be interviewed. If indeed it was a misencounter… why is the MILF refusing to sit down and talk about it?
I don’t know why the GMA News reporters still insist in using the terminology “misencounter” in their reporting, which the MILF and even our government negotiating peace panel have been using. If the BOI says that it was a misencounter, then the people will say that the BOI report has been whitewashed! It was not and it will never be a misencounter as what we saw in the MILF videos. One has to be completely stupid to buy the yarn that the MILF is using. The MILF should stop fooling the Filipino people!
Meanwhile AFP Chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang, Jr. ordered the Western Mindanao Command (WESTMINCOM) to launch “all-out offensive operations against the BIFF.” He ordered this because of the news that some 20,000 people have been displaced by attacks supposedly done by the BIFF. If you ask me, Gen. Catapang should have conducted hot pursuit operations against armed elements in Maguindanao, regardless of their titles or names… whether they are MILF, BIFF, NPA, or Abu Sayyaf. But it’s too late in the hour for him to do this a full month after the Mamasapano encounter that killed 44 SAF troopers.
But let me tell this to Gen. Catapang. Your all-out war vs. the BIFF will fail for the simple reason that terrorists use the same tactics, when they are cornered… they will show their MILF patch. This has been happening in many areas already because of some kind of modus vivendi between the MILF and the BIFF. In this country… failure is always an option!
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