A 400-STRONG “Muslim separatists” against a team of 100 soldiers, most like a team of Army Special Forces (ASF), a news report went, and augmented by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), backed by bomber planes and artillery fire. GMA News reported that the debacle resulted from “a military operation against a few fugitive MILF rebels and Abu Sayyaf bandits in Al-Barka town.” And when the firefight broke, the fugitives managed to increase their strength to 400 men, while the pursuing operatives failed to get theirs. And this resulted to the death of 19 soldiers, including four officers, and seven enemies after more than 10 hours of fighting. But amid the calls of an all-out war against all separatists, including the MILF, there are a few lessons that the Philippine armed forces needs to learn in order to prevent deaths like these—a full-alert state of mind. Laxity on the part of military intelligence apparently has led into this unnecessary deaths, consid
Keeping Issues to Its Core