At the End of the Day

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

THE MORO ISLAMIC Liberation Front (MILF) boldly declared that Muslims be allowed to run their government even "if they go to hell by their own making, so be it." I go for a lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao; but I have serious doubts on real peace when these armed Muslim leaders cannot accept the fact of life that Mindanao is no longer a Muslim territory after Muslim settlers took the land from the Lumads in the prehistoric Philippines. I came from Zamboanga, and grew there. Despite MILF's claim of representing the dream of Muslims in Mindanao, I have serious doubts if the leaders are merely using this separatist slogan for their own aggrandizement. Look at ARMM under MNLF's Nur Misuari who had nothing to show for the tax shares it received from the government. And reports had it Misuari kept a huge sum from this money for his own accounts. So I have so much reservations on the lasting peace settlement with the MILF can bring. First, how much really of our Muslim si