Op/Ed: Exorcising the demons

Op/Ed piece in the Manila Standard Today (Mar 27): Exorcising the demons

THE emaciated state of Warren Rodwell, the 54-year-old Australian held hostage for 15 months by the Abu Sayyaf bandits, mirrors the feebleness of the government’s efforts to exorcise the demons of Mindanao.

The bandits have long abandoned any pretense of fighting for some twisted ideology and have turned kidnapping into a lucrative criminal enterprise, preying on helpless civilians whose families can afford to pay a ransom for their safe release.

In the case of Rodwell, his family reportedly paid P4 million that the bandits had the temerity to call “board and lodging.” Adding insult to injury, government officials and the mediator who negotiated Rodwell’s release parroted the kidnappers’ line to skirt the official policy that no ransom should ever be paid to terrorists.

For the record, board and lodging is what travelers freely pay when they are on the road. When the payment is made at gunpoint, that is called a ransom. Calling it anything else insults our intelligence and serves only to legitimize the thriving criminal activities of the Abu Sayyaf.

Nor does the fact that the kidnappers received much less than the $2 million they first demanded alter the nature of the payment. If the P4 million were in fact board and lodging, Rodwell would have lived in comfort at the price of P266,000 for each month of his “forced vacation.” Instead, he was so weak after his release that he could hardly lift a tea cup.

In the face of such brazen lawlessness, President Aquino has said nothing substantive on the matter, choosing instead to campaign for his anointed senatorial candidates for the May elections. Like the President, none of his candidates have a clue or even a suggestion on how these despicable criminals can be finally eradicated.

The military is fond of pointing out that the Abu Sayyaf’s ranks have “dwindled” to only 200, and that the problem will soon be solved. Yet, in the three years since Mr. Aquino came to power, the kidnapping business in Mindanao has clearly not abated.

Sending 3,000 soldiers to hunt down the bandits after they scored another easy P4 million is a public relations exercise that no longer fool anybody. We have seen it all too many times before, in a cycle of crime and fruitless pursuit reminiscent of the Keystone Cops.

If this government cannot even exorcise these demons in Mindanao who make a mockery of the law, what moral right does it have to ask us to elect into office more lawmakers who can contribute nothing to the problem’s ultimate solution?

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/03/27/exorcising-the-demons/