The demoralization of our soldiers

Backbencher

By Rod P. Kapunan
Manila Standard Today

The demoralization in the Armed Forces is not caused by the casualties they suffered in their fight against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but in having a Commander-in-Chief reining them on what they are supposed to do after 19 of their men were killed in a waiting ambush, with 10 missing and scores seriously injured. It is not even due to lack of logistical capability, but on the unwillingness of the national leadership to show determination that for as long as the Philippines remains undivided, there would be no such thing as rebel territories that would be off-limits to our soldiers.

To accept the reasoning made by the spokesman of the MILF Von al Haq that the soldiers intruded deep into their stronghold in Al-Barka in violation of the ceasefire agreement is to accept their justification of the massacre. Yes, there is an existing ceasefire agreement, but the secessionist rebels should have known at the outset that no sensible government would accept such precondition. Our recognition of that condition is now serving as their springboard to justify their demand for a sub-state.

Given that situation, one could deduce that the government is negotiating with MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim on the basis of the framework they advanced, and not on our framework to achieve peace in Mindanao. Effectively, that automatically placed the government on the defensive before the eyes of those acting to be our peacekeepers. That precondition of extending to them a defined territory they could hold on as their bastion to train, regroup, and to rearm is now being exploited by countries brokering their rebellion to blame us for the debacle.

Moreover, observers are apprehensive at how our national sovereignty is systematically being dismembered by those stupid negotiators pretending to be all-knowing. They could not understand why the government accorded the MILF the privilege of keeping a defined zone witnessed at that in the initial talks by Malaysia, a country that openly financed the bloody secessionist war we fought in the 70’s. We have been fighting rebellions left and right since the birth of this Republic, and there has been no instance where the government accommodated them a space only to taunt us and at times denigrate our panel in the negotiating table.

Even at the height of the Hukbo ng Bayan rebellion in the 50‘s, of the secessionist rebellion of the Moro National Liberation Front in the 70’s, and the communist-led rebellion of the New People’s Army in the late 80’s, in no instance did we give them a room they could use as sanctuary or safe haven. The fighting to contain the rebellion continued to the bitter end, although the government kept open the door for reconciliation by extending to them amnesty, by initiating political and economic reforms in areas pinpointed as the cradle of the unrest, by enticing them to join the government, but never in our history was there an instance where the government gave the rebels a concession where they could regain strength and later on launch a treacherous assault on our soldiers.

If those stupid members of the Philippine panel do not know it yet, such concession comes in only after the signing of the “truce agreement,” which merely calls for the cessation of hostilities. It is purely humanitarian intended to allow the removal of the sick and the wounded, and the provision for essential food and medicines. Nonetheless, that could be agreed only if the rebels achieved that belligerency status. So, for the fact that the defending state could no longer contain the rebellion, the only concession it could extract is for both sides to observe the protocol of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, which then would give them rights as prisoners of war.

In the case of the MILF, it has yet to achieve that status of belligerency. This explains why the capitulationist concession we extended now stands as an insult to our soldiers whose lives are put in line by a government out to appease the so-called “brokers for peace,” but in truth are working for the balkanization of this country. In fact, that capitulationist concession was initiated by that notoriously corrupt government, and by elements of the Church identified with the Jesuit Order. The only reason the daydreamers failed in their demand for an “ancestral domain” was because the Supreme Court rejected it and that the top honcho, Mrs. Arroyo, had to vacate to give in to the incoming President.

Unfortunately, while the predecessor’s usurping government was wily and cocky, the present leadership is so dumb to talk peace with the rebels who already advanced the idea of establishing a sub-state. Thus, as we go about in talking peace with them under the auspices of Malaysia and the US, the government cannot now keep on reminding our soldiers of their duty to uphold our sovereignty of which its tangible application is to keep intact our territory where we could implement our internal laws. This has caused them deep demoralization wondering whether they could still go after those armed rebels much that the government appears more desperate in wanting to save the peace talks amplified by their being scolded for the incident, and in reining them not to retaliate.

Aggravating that is the appointment of conspicuously incompetent negotiators. Those glaring instances of irreparable blunders could make that plagiarist law dean liable for treason. Marvic Leonen’s statement describing the “clash as a mistaken encounter” and claiming certainty it was an isolated incident was uncalled for. Even if we take it as true, Leonen is not supposed to make that statement because he is not a member of the MILF panel, and the implication is that he is justifying the killings and the disembowelment of our dead soldiers by the enemy.

In the case of Teresita Deles, maybe she wanted to shortcut the talks by giving the opposite panel their monetary equivalent. Some believe the amount was peanuts much that the MILF is heavily funded all be looking at their armaments. Leonen, as a lawyer, should have advised Deles that they cannot give that donation of P5 million to a group determined to cut a big swath of the nation’s territory. Whether it was upon the instigation of the government to bribe the rebels, as lawyer he should know that what they would do could make them liable for treason.

The danger now is that the demoralization is leaving an imprint on the minds of our soldiers that their enemies are not those they face on the field. The enemy is rather the wishy-washy attitude of their leader. Indeed, we are treading into dangerous waters for instead of us fighting against the secessionist rebels, we could end up slitting each other’s throat for the simple reason that the leadership is not really out to help our soldiers, but out to appease the wishes of that criminal state styling itself as the international guardian of democracy and freedom.

rodkap@yahoo.com.ph