Why deploy more troops in Central Mindanao?

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front should not feel jittery over the presence of additional troops in Central Mindanao. With the perceptible increase of kidnapping incidents in the area which has caused fear and anxiety among the residents and stakeholders particularly in Cotabato City, the government has no other recourse but to augment the peace keeping force in the area. With the visibility of marines in the area, it is expected that attempts of kidnap-for-ransom syndicates to snatch their would-be victims will be curbed.

Kidnappers had been victimizing businessmen, their children and their next of kin demanding ransoms in exchange for their freedom. In case the MILF leadership has not been aware, not a few businessmen who had long endured the crises in and around Cotabato City have started to transfer their investment capital in other growth centers in Mindanao where they feel secured. While this should be the least of the worries of the MILF leadership, this actually does not augur well for the young generation of both Muslim and Christian communities who look forward into the future when they will be raising their own families, businesses and looking for viable employment. In a situation where capital flee because of threats from kidnapping syndicates and clans war, insecurity and unending strife over futile secessionist struggles then the youth will be facing uncertainties and unnecessary loss of opportunities.

That the upcoming generation will be more radical as the MILF had warned is not actually farfetched. But the youths, be they Christians, Muslims or Lumads, can only be radicalized if the leaders of today continue to quibble over independence when freedom is almost suffocating, free-wheeling and unabatedly abused; for lands when lands have become too small for the warring clans’ leaders to subdivide to establish their respective fiefdoms, and, for opportunities when opportunities are denied them because of the insanity of conflict.

Why deploy more troops in Central Mindanao? The response of the military is quite unsavory but it is a necessity: “to balance the presence of forces”. Meaning, the MILF has increased their combatants and maybe their firepower. The Front claims that Central Mindanao is their biggest territory as if to say that government forces must secure passes from them to gain entry. But this is plainly nebulous for in the context of sovereignty, security is still the prime concern of the Philippine Republic and the government.