What is ABB or MILF giving us in return, huh?

It first began with rumors that after Malacañang handed over a P5 million check to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the next thing we heard were denials from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) Sec. Teresita Deles that there was no P31 million payoff to the dreaded Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB). I would have thought that under the administration of Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III, we would finally see some kind of transparency inside Malacañang. But that doesn’t seem to be happening under Pres. PNoy’s watch.

Now the cat is out of the bag… as reported in the headlines of The Philippine Star yesterday that after all, the Aquino administration is indeed pursuing an agreement with the ABB, which held a reign of terror many years ago in a killing rampage where no one has been brought to justice. So in the end, we caught Sec. Deles lying through her teeth!

In trying to diffuse this hot issue, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte apparently revealed to the press that the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas (RPA-ABB) apparently signed an agreement with the Estrada administration last Dec. 6, 2000. Come now, this is something that the Philippine media never knew, so we will refrain from commenting on this until we get a confirmation on the veracity of this report.

Meanwhile, it is crystal clear that under the Aquino administration, leftist advisers are having a heyday, taking advantage of the good nature of Pres. PNoy or his weakness, to the point of even getting tax money from the government for whatever purpose or excuse they could give. Hence I don’t blame a lot of pundits who are angry at this, after all the ABB isn’t a Rotary or Lions Club that has come up with livelihood projects to help the poor in this country… rather they went on killing innocent people.

Now is the right time to ask Malacañang, what are we getting back in return for giving that money to these terrorist groups? I guess you already know the answer to that question as far as the MILF is concerned. Their armed groups went on a rampage a couple of weeks ago, killing 19 soldiers. Is this the kind of peace that Pres. Aquino wants to project? If you ask me, he is headed in the wrong direction and before he plunges this nation into the brink of turmoil… someone ought to stop him.

A couple of weeks ago, as we arrived in Paris, the headline news in the French newspapers was that the Basque militant separatist group called ETA, that has waged a terror campaign in Spain, suddenly decided to call it “quits” and unilaterally put an end to its campaign of bombings and assassinations that they have been doing for many decades and decided to embrace a democratic resolution to their differences.

So back to the question, what are we getting in return from the ABB or the MILF? So far, nothing! Not even a renunciation of their terroristic activities, not even a call to lay down their arms. I wouldn’t mind giving these groups some of our tax money for as long as we can see proof that they truly want a genuine peace and have changed their objective in overthrowing our established form of governance.

Perhaps the best example can be found in Ireland, where the Irish Republican Army (IRA) have waged a terror campaign for many decades. But the two main groups, the Irish Nationalists of Northern Ireland, John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein talked with the Irish Government and the British Government and on December 15, 1993 a Joint Declaration of Peace a.k.a. the Downing Street Declaration was issued by then British Prime Minister John Major and Albert Reynolds of the Republic of Ireland and on April 6,1994 a temporary ceasefire was declared.

During that ceasefire period, the IRA sequestered all their arms and ammunition and allowed neutral observers to check their veracity. Then by August 31, 1994, the IRA announced a cessation of hostilities. This is why Ireland has grown economically because there is now genuine peace. Sure, there is still some hostility between the Protestant side vs the Catholic side, but some things have started to change for the better.

Under the Aquino administration, he is already giving the enemy rewards for a lasting peace without any agreement. This is why the MILF soldiers ambushed and killed 19 soldiers. Now it’s the ABB’s turn to be given our tax money and yet we are still so far away from achieving any peace settlement with any of the armed groups roaming the countryside. Sure, talks with MILF have started in Kuala Lumpur, but if you ask me, Malaysia isn’t really neutral in this conflict with the MILF. So we’re still at a disadvantage.

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