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Thursday, November 26, 2009

THEIR DOG, THEIR FAULT


CTALK By Cito Beltran (The Philippine Star)
Updated November 25, 2009 12:00 AM


This government is guilty.

The Arroyo administration must be held responsible for the Maguindanao massacre just as much as the actual killers of an estimated 40 men and women, many of whom were working members of different media organizations.

The Arroyo administration as represented by cabinet members, party members, political allies, officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police and local officials are collectively guilty by omission and collusion.

They collectively allowed conditions wherein their political allies became an overwhelming political force that sought to control the lives and liberty of people in Maguindanao through violence and terrorism. The administration turned a blind eye to the political monopoly of one family. No strategic balance was ever sought; no equitable distribution of governance was attempted.

My friend could not have said it any simpler: "Aso nila, kasalanan nila" ("Their dog, their fault").

No one in the government really cared. As long as the trade or exchange of local political power for national political power continued, they were happy.

In many parts of Mindanao, what happened in Maguindanao is part of tradition. To stop your political opponent, you simply use an overwhelming force with arms and blockade all roads to the local Comelec office. Instead of the candidates filing their COC personally and risk getting killed in the process, they send lawyers.

When lawyers started getting killed or terrorized, they sent women, their wives or mothers. It seems that even women are now fair game for the killing. In the Maguindanao slaughter, the killers were not just interested in stopping their political competition. They decided to annihilate them.

* * *

Law enforcement and military officials failed by omission or by consent to enforce the laws of the Philippines and allowed warlords to walk the land with weapons and killers, unchallenged. The only requirement was that these armed killers were "on their side" or did not shoot at government forces.

Unfortunately the law enforcers did not stipulate that the war lords and their private armies were not allowed to massacre their political rivals. They simply avoided taking sides.

In the very words of widows and colleagues of the slaughtered members of media, their requests for escorts or protection were denied by military and law enforcement officials.

The AFP and PNP want to call it "staying neutral". Well, neutrality has now caused the death of so many innocent civilians. Neutrality in this case now qualifies as dereliction of duty. By not providing protection to civilians, the officers concerned sent the innocent civilians to death. What do we now label those officers: accessory to murder or plain and simple cowards who did not want to get in between a fight?

Can we at least charge them with reckless imprudence resulting in mass murder and international shame?

Who will the AFP and the PNP add to the 40 or so martyrs as their sacrificial lamb?

Will it be an official of the PNP who is now suspected to have been involved after witnesses reported his presence in the area during the massacre? But what about those who failed to implement the full force of the law?

What about senior officials who publicize their "amnesty program on illegal or unregistered firearms" yet did nothing about decades long complaint about war lords and private armies in Mindanao?

I guess that would be too much to ask of naïve officials who think they can now enforce a total gun ban in Maguindanao when they can't even make their policemen wear safety helmets or place official license plates when driving scooters or make members of a SWAT team follow orders and not wear their black uniforms.

I suppose the only way we will ever get any justice for those slaughtered is if we beg the US government to dole out thousands of dollars for the capture of these savages. While I support the men and women of the AFP who fight and die in combat zones, I must also deplore the fact that only terrorists with prize money on their head seem to be caught.

Shall we now match the private armies with an army of bounty hunters?

While kidnappings, rapes, and slaughter of human beings take place in Mindanao, cabinet members assigned to Mindanao or in-charge of local politicians sit comfortably inside Malacañang Palace sipping coffee. Monday, they were making plans for their "farewell" pow-wow at the island paradise of Boracay.

For the longest time, we have allowed the same old faces to play the same old roles as peacemakers or Presidential assistants. Yet each year we have the annual rebel attack on defenseless villages, we add names to the list of kidnapped foreigners, abducted teachers, beheaded public servants and ordinary farmers.

How can these Malacañang appointees ever make any sensible or useful contributions or advise when they spend more time kissing ass in Malacañang than sowing peace in Mindanao. Once again, cabinet members were caught unawares of the simmering feud and once again they had to rush back to Mindanao...but only to count the bodies!

If you think about it, when President Joseph Estrada reclaimed camp Abubakar he did what the government and the AFP were suppose to do. He established the authority and the territory of the Republic of the Philippines.

Under the Arroyo administration, territory and authority has been decided on political expediency, deceit and firepower. Under this administration you can die or be killed for being suspected as an enemy of the state or as a member of media performing your duty, a citizen exercising your right to run for an elective position or as a professional performing a service to your client.

In Maguindanao they were killed like animals and dumped like garbage. And while their families were in mourning, this administration was in Paradise.

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