Over the weekend, some forty Filipino peacekeepers bravely fought and kept at bay those heavily armed extremist rebels who have been fighting the Assad regime in their nearly three-year old civil war that has destroyed most of Syria. Somehow, those Syrian rebels tried to overrun the United Nations peacekeepers stationed at the Golan Heights where the 40 Filipino peacekeepers were encamped.
This was obviously a naked attempt to secure a foothold of the Golan Heights in the hope that those Syrian extremists would bring the fight to Israel. History tells us that the Israelis overtook the Golan Heights from the Syrians after the Six-Day War in 1967 and kept it for their strategic and military purposes and value. The 40 Filipino peacekeepers that defended Area Position 68 and 69 of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force on the Golan Heights belonged to the Philippine Army's elite Scout Rangers and Special Forces.
That the Filipino soldiers standing their ground in a heavy firefight versus the fanatical Syrian rebels is very highly commendable and CNN and BBC who covered this intrusion by the Syrian rebels gave the Filipino soldier big thumbs up for holding their ground. Indeed, it was a far cry from what happened in Aug. 23, 2010 at the height of the Hong Kong tourist hostage incident which CNN and BBC also covered that ended in a disaster with eight Hong Kong tourists killed by a solitary retired police officer. That incident brought shame upon the Filipino people.
But this new incident in the Golan Heights gave the world watching over CNN and BBC a new respect for the Filipino soldier. However, to say that the Filipino soldiers "escaped" in the cover of darkness gives the wrong impression of our brave soldiers. First of all, their mandate from the US was to provide a buffer zone between the Syrians and the Israelis. So in keeping their ground, those Syrian rebels could not control or at least not cause trouble in the Golan Heights.
So those Filipino peacekeepers did their job very well and we should all praise them for their heroism. But yes, it was time for those Filipino peacekeepers to go because it was not their mandate to join the on-going civil war between the Syrians. Mind you, those Syrian rebels are fanatical killers, killing their fellow Muslims and yes, they also massacred Syrian Christians, many of whom were crucified, hanged or decapitated. They would have been the right force to be sent by the UN to protect the Syrian Christians. Alas, the UN has been inutile in putting a buffer zone between the Assad regime and the Syrian rebels. So those Pinoy peacekeepers were no longer needed there.
As AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala told reporters last Friday "The Filipino peacekeepers are contributing to the United Nations for a more peaceful world. But when we are challenged, the warrior spirit in us will not make us surrender." With this report, allow me once more to push for the return of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, which is the best recruitment program for the AFP. Somehow, because of corruption issues (rich kids merely paid their top officers to get away from ROTC) the ROTC is no longer compulsory, which is why the numbers of ROTC officers have dwindled severely and why the ROTC compulsory program should be revived!
Today the Philippine government is still fighting a decade's old insurgency and a new foreign threat from China which could get nasty. Hence it is incumbent for the Aquino regime to bring back the ROTC and fix whatever was wrong with it. If you ask me, when the ROTC was no longer compulsory, only the leftist groups and the New People's Army (NPA) applauded the Philippine government because it meant a huge reduction of people who can defend towns or villages because of their ROTC training.
While Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin commended the 40 Filipino peacekeepers for holding their ground and that their morale was high. Back at home however the Filipino soldier is a confused individual because of the way that the Aquino regime has treated former Brig. General Jovito Palparan, whom the CPP/NDF/NPA tagged as a "butcher." But in truth, Gen. Palparan was soldier who did his job well.
Come on! Whether we like it or not, the Philippine countryside is dotted by terrorists of all kinds - from the NPA's to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to the Moro National Liberation Front to the Abu Sayyaf. I dare say that it is high time to eliminate those internal threats to our national security. We have the Filipino soldiers who are willing to fight and die for our democracy. But we must never succumb to Communist propaganda the way they destroyed the image of Gen. Palparan.