The root issue in the on-going trouble down under in Mindanao is the way the Philippine government has traditionally cozied up to even the meanest and baddest terrorist and rebel groups “for the sake of peace”. Currently, it is the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that is being painted as the bad guy, and rightly so because of the atrocities it is reportedly perpetrating against the innocent civilians of Zamboanga City. The ironic good guys of the moment is led by that 1970s MNLF spin-off, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) — just another terrorist group as well but this time lent credibility by its being allowed to sit as a peer to negotiators representing the Philippine and Malaysian governments.
Pathetic.
You know you are asking for trouble when you presume to grant legitimacy to terrorists. The Malaysian government, for their part, have allegedly been providing logistical and training support to armed Islamic rebels in Mindanao since the 1970s. Filipinos are being screwed at all fronts — its own national government, as well as some “friends” within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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The origins of the MILF as a militant breakaway group from what was once considered a more “moderate” MNLF was over disagreements with the direction being taken by the MNLF leadership back in 1977 towards renouncing its own separatist agenda in favour of a more “conciliatory” deal with Manila then, a direction which bore fruit ten years later for the MNLF…
In January 1987, the MNLF signed an agreement relinquishing its goal of independence for Muslim regions and accepting the government’s offer of autonomy. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the next largest faction, refused to accept the accord and initiated a brief offensive that ended in a truce later that month. By one estimate the Mindanao-based Moro Islamic Liberation Front fielded around 3,000 troops.
Back then and in the subsequent few years, a rah-rah spirit of “reconciliation” and a whole lot of other positive new-age vibes characterised government management of the “Muslim situation” in its southern island colony. A 1996 peace agreement with the MNLF cobbled together under the presidency of Fidel Ramos, for example, features this quaint blurb…
The government recognizes the skills, capabilities and achievements of the MNLF and its capacity to develop its members for the highest echelons of military and civilian leadership. The ranks and grades of MNLF forces joining AFP shall be subject to the decision of the President in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the AFP along the principles of universality, nondiscrimination, equity and preferential treatment for the poor and underprivileged.
How times have changed. Small wonder that the MILF and Malaysian government have so far kept silent (or issued half-assed words) on the Zamboanga crisis. The only loud voices we hear surrounding this imbroglio are coming from the pompous mouths of grandstanding politicians. The MNLF head Nur Misuari, supposedly being a former classmate of Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay at the University of the Philippines, presented itself as a great opporunity for the VP to get a bit of media exposure. Some folks say that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III for his part, not wanting to be outdone, flew to the battlezone to get a bit of sunshine and assure everyone that he — and not his VP — was on top of the situation. Then there is presidential sidekick Mar Roxas, Secretary of Interior and Local Government, also pitching in as the proverbial third wheel.
Too many cooks are spoiling the bloody broth. And the blood broth, indeed, is spilling all over the kitchen. It is a military operation being commanded by a motley crew of vote-starved bozos. Where is the military leadership in all this? Well, considering that soldiers are being left to beg for food scraps even as they lay their life on the line to control the situation, suffice to say they are not having a very nice week.
If I were a civilian politician, I wouldn’t piss off the Army. The Philippine military, after all, has always been a major player in extraconstitutional leadership changes. Images of soldiers being killed and eating scraps of rice off banana leaves spread on the ground ain’t exactly good motivational collateral in a time of war.
Consider too the families of soldiers who died gallantly fighting the MNLF, the MILF, and the New People’s Army (NPA) over much of the country’s recent history. What would they be thinking of successive governments who rewarded violence with sovereign-sanctioned legitimacy. The MNLF was given their Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the MILF is on the verge of being rewared with a Bangsamoro “nation”, and the NPA’s bosses have all but infested Philippine Congress.
Where is the justice?
Despite assurances that “justice” is “just around the corner” coming from what is little more than routine campaign rhetoric spanning decades of 1980s-style Pinoy feudal “democracy”, there is none.
Nur Misuari is the Janet Lim Napoles of the Mindanao crisis. While Misuari may be guilty, he is not the only guilty party in this astounding mess, and is being held up by spin doctors and their accomplices in the Philippine Media as the poster bogeyman to distract Filipinos from what is really a systemic problem that plagues Mindanao — one that festered on account of the borderline-criminal political antics of the Philippine and Malaysian Governments as well as the leaders of the MNLF, MILF and the Communist Party of the Philippines.
[Original photo courtesy Inquirer Global Nation.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
“You know you are asking for trouble when you presume to grant legitimacy to terrorists.”
I really can’t believe our policy-makers. Why do they have to appease these rebels? Because they’re Muslims–a cultural minority, so that you should go soft on them? It seems to me that Misuari is just another KSP squatter Ilda’s been describing, only that he resorts to “revolutionary” means–big guns–in order to acquire what he thinks is rightfully his.
Drawing parallels between Misuari and Napoles does shed some light on the entire fiasco. But I wonder: who are the other guilty parties?
The MNLF is just the tip of the iceberg. Their declaration of independence is nothing more than an intention to create a secessionist state. I still believe in the 9/11 policy statement of the free world… Never compromise with terrorism. For far too long has this government been dealing from a position of weakness when it comes to talking peace with terrorists. In the case of the MILF, all the benefits and advantages were given to it without regard to the sinister consequences. The MILF is a bigger problem waiting to happen. Wait until they declare total independence(a.k.a. secession) in Mindanao.
If you were part of a community that does not identify with a “Pinoy” culture that is trying to rule you from afar, would you not want to secede? The worst thing about Pinoys is that they force other people to be “Pinoys”.
If they want to rebel, I don’t blame them. Will they turn into a basket case state if given independence? Well, think about it this way: Can you do worse than the Pinoys?
I agree. Noynoy must be decisive and strike at the terrorists as soon as possible.
We must seek a UN Security Council Resolution against the MILF. If we don’t get it, we can still launch cruise missiles and put boots on the ground as this is a matter of “national security”.
What a mess. and what an “EYE-OPENING”(NOT!) statement by TJ about the MNLF’s Declaration of Independence! UH, NO SHIT? REALLY?
Jack-asses aside, the problem is that pacification of terrorists only leads to more terrorist acts whenever one of the bunch of criminals feels as though they have been dealt a ‘raw deal’/AKA ‘taken one in the butt’,and been left out of the “DEAL”. AWWW, and so now the RP gov’t. has a problem it can not control, will need to pacify the leaders of its own Armed Forces in order to avoid a coup de’tat’ and all at a time when the image the country wants to present internationally is one of ‘political stability’. Best of luck with that. Well any organism above paramecium level would agree that the best course to take in dealing with the RP is limited to Luzon (Pronounced ‘LOOZE-ON’) and no further, it is clear that the mess that has destabilized much of the southern part of the country is not going to be squared away any time soon.
A HOPELESS NIGHTMARE of a situation and a failed state of a country, the best that can be proffered to anyone in the country? Leave as soon as possible and never go back. Even in the desperate times Europa and the West are facing, outside of most countries in the Middle-East/Africa, The Philippines is probably the least desirable place to be. Up there with the famously dismal Bangladesh(PUKE!). It is so very sad as it was once a tropical paradise. Anyone who has been to Camiguin Island lately knows that the garbage has arrived and will be staying. Farewell to paradise….
@Bjorn
You are obviously an ignoramus on the true intentions of Misuari. The secessionist movement is alive and well in this country. They want to restore their former economic and political power in the archipelago. Your negative rants are so noted. When President Joseph Estrada declared total war against the MILF… they lost all their base camps including Camp Abu Bakr. Casualty count was pegged at more than 500 tangos KIA.
@T.J., LMAO at you, the delusional TJ himself,WOW.
My comments were clear, to the point, and accurate. What Misauri is doing does not matter(unless your getting shot at).
What Estrada did is history now and matters even less. The big picture and what is really going on on Mindanao Island is so much more. BUT,
It’s apparent that you have not put the pipe down, so go back in the bathroom, hit it a few times and have a conversation with your Nephew, I mean, the mirror. You will NEVER see the forrest because….DU-U-U-U-UHH! A tree is in your way.
Honestly, I am sick of you and your jack-assery! You clue-less idiot.
@Bjorn
Your resort to falsehoods and fallacy
is so noted. If anybody is a nutcase here it is you. You are an ugly american! You are also nothing but a troll. For the nth time… I am the uncle of BS Aquino! If you cannot see the truth then you are the one who is delusional! Butt hurt hijo?
OK, Unlce Tom,iF YOU ARE THE UNCLE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES,WELL THEN…….. PROVE IT!
go ahead, you are soooooo smart….so,PROVE IT!
Anyone who has read this and seen it in print knows you won’t be able to PROVE IT, and if you do not prove it, well what then? Gonna go off and try to Bull-Shit your way out of it? Face it PSYCHO, your BUSTED…and you ain’t shit! You got NOTHING!!! and if you have a nephew he sure isn’t the President of The Philippines, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!WOWOWOWOWOWOWWO!!!
—-RING,RING>>>>
“What?” “Oh, OK”, “Yo Uncle Tom, the bathroom called , the pipe’s ready!!!”. Talk to the mirror! Go ahead…off you go now!
Your the one with the false-hoods, delusions. Your the Uncle of the President, BLAH BLAH BLAH, silly pansy, accuse me of EXACTLY WHAT YOU DO,like a flip-tard!
Thomas,
What’s wrong about wanting to separate from Pinoy dysfunction? Let them rule themselves. How bad can it get for them when you have been taking crap from Pinoys all your life. When you are at the bottom there is only one way but UP.
MNLF rebels…terrorists? Wow. I didn’t know American idiocy spread out this far. Very Pinoy of you to latch onto their ideas. Secession from this rotten nation and rotten government isn’t an act of terrorism; it’s an act of making sense.