One billion pesos for guns?

Madame President opened her mouth twice, and twice tumbled out one billion pesos - or promises of it - to fund two major initiatives: Anti-corruption drive and anti-insurgency campaign. Let's first look at the anti-insurgency thing.

Because the President did not give a hint of how the money was to be spent, speculations are circulating that those peso windfalls would just end up as usual in the drain of military camps. Critics were saying - and they could be right - that year end and year out billions of pesos are poured into the coffers of the defense agency, borrowed money, doled out money, or our own scratch and dig money, yet the army, the navy and the air force have remained primitive war machines.

Entrusted to the military the money, or what's left of it, would certainly be used for the military solution to the problem. More guns and more bullets would be procured all for one purpose: To kill every one of those who are taking up arms against the Philippine government. But is this an effective way to gain peace in the countryside?

Like most insurgency movements, the one we have here has a social dimension. Communism may have been poised as the ideological anchorage of the movement, but this could have been done to get the funding support of international Marxist groups and to serve as a cover-up to the anti-government thrust of the CPP-NPA.

The truth is that communism no longer rings pleasantly to the ears of even radical social reformers. Russia, which used to be its most avid proponent, has discarded it. China still pretends to be communistic but with its market economy on the upswing and the consequent rise of an educated middle class, this social philosophy serves only as an anachronistic window dressing of that country's socio-economic order.

To recall, Philippine communism started circa in the 1930s under the aegis of such leaders as Balgos and Cappadocia. The birthplace was central Luzon and its original members were tenant farmers. Later, a group called Hukbalahap under Luis Tarue terrorized the countryside, and during the war became something of a guerilla force fighting the Japanese. After the war, the Huks were still an active movement, this time against the government. How was it dismantled.

The government, led by a no-nonsense defense secretary, Ramon Magsaysay, employed the so-called carrot and stick approach. While the AFP intensified its search and destroy operations, it at the same time enticed the rebels to come to the fold of the law by organizing farmers' settlement areas particularly in Mindanao. Ever heard of EDCOR? Founded for rebel returnees, it has become a model community where former communist combatants live peaceful and law-abiding lives.

Attraction and destruction - this should be the proper approach towards our insurgency problem. The fact is, many of the foot soldiers of rebel groups are not really die-hard ideologues. Some are victims of injustice, others are social misfits who cannot adjust to the demands of mainstream living. A few are be card-bearing communists who have been brainwashed toward such state. But whatever their reasons for taking to the hills, these are human beings, brother Filipinos, who if given a chance, would rather lead normal and peaceful lives.

Since our insurgency problem is spawned mainly by social irritants, our strategy to combat it should be largely social in nature. To try to rout it with blazing guns may temporarily cripple the movement, but as long as the grievances of those who have less in life are not addressed the problem will remain a festering sore in the country's national life.

He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword, the Good Book reminds us. Those in the power corregidor who get a kick out of countryside bloodshed should take heed. They themselves may not get karma-ed, but what about their children and their children's children?

current leadership speaks of a strong republic. It boasts of a healthy GNP. Yet the old scenario remains: The rich have become filthily richer while the poor have become shockingly poorer - and more in number.

How can there be peace?