Gear up for more violence as young Moros pledge allegiance to ISIS: Duterte
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte warned of more bombings after the Sept. 2 explosion at the night market on Roxas Avenue here where 15 died and 69 were injured.
“There will be another explosion, not here but in other parts of the Philippines,” he said Monday at the Matina Enclaves during the distribution of cash assistance to the bombing victims.
He said more attacks might happen to avenge “historical injustices” against the Moro people, alluding to the Bud Dajo massacre committed by the US that caused so “much hatred in Mindanao.”
“To the Moro, it happened yesterday. So puputok ito ng putputok, kaya nagsabi ako,” he said.
Without naming any particular group, Duterte said there are young Moro people who will not talk peace with the government and have reportedly sworn allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
He said these people want US soldiers out of Mindanao.
“They would say, mayor, we can talk to you other things but we will not talk to you about peace. Until now, Americans are still directing the war against us. Nakikita nila sa camp ang American special forces. Tayo ang army pero ang nag-direct America pa rin,” he said.
“The wound is still there, very fresh,” he said. But they said this happened not only yesterday but also today. We are fighting the Spaniards and Americans until now.”
But the President vowed to reach out to these groups to bring peace in Mindanao as well as put an end to the drug problem and criminality in the country to fulfill his campaign promise.
“Drugs – it will continue. I don’t care if there are thousands of hearing everyday, I will not stop until the last pushers on the streets are fully exterminated,” he said,
Kawagib Moro Human Rights secretary-general Bay Ali Indayla said the Moro people admire Duterte’s position on US military forces in Mindanao and recognition of the historical injustices committed against them.
She said Duterte’s assertion of Philippine sovereignty was a huge step towards the attainment of peace and freedom from an imperialist power.
She also lauded Duterte who, during the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos, scrapped his prepared speech and took up the Bud Dajo massacre in Sulu in 1906.
She said the Moro people are hoping that Duterte would live up to his avowed policy of pursuing an independent foreign policy on the grounds that the country has “long ceased to be a colony of the US.”
House and lot package
On the other hand, Duterte said that the soldiers have the full backing of the national government, and their bravery would be rewarded promptly.
“Give me Valor, and I will give you something very, very good.”
Mr. Duterte was a guest at the 10th Infantry Division Camp Manuel T. Yan, Sr., in Mawab, Compostela Valley Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s true, I have no money but I will raise it. I have so many friends who are millionaires. You will immediately own a house and lot here in Davao (for those who will win the medal of valor),” he promised.
The medal of valor is the highest military honor the government can bestow on a soldier in the line of duty.
Republic Act 9049, or the Act granting monthly gratuity and privileges to an awardee of the medal of honor, guarantees benefits and rewards for the recipients of the medal.
Recipients of the honor receive P20,000 in monthly gratuity for the lifetime, aside from salaries and pensions.
Mr. Duterte also promised to provide body vests and the acquisition of Barrett sniper rifles for the troops.
“I have told all your commanders, the Chief of Staff, that you will get everything you need to fight the enemy of the state,” Mr. Duterte said.
President Duterte said that he was already impressed with the capabilities of the Philippine army’s snipers.
“The Philippine military is doing good on snipers, so you better train,” he said.
According to the president, the Philippine Army should start training to be involved in counter-terrorism operations. He said that the military should invest more in training in the profiling of bombing or terror suspects.
President Duterte said that the soldiers should expand their training capabilities, especially since the Philippine war on terror includes only a handful of suspects, who were likely not interested in bombing the hinterlands.
“You’ll have to study crime and detection, bomba, tapos iyong profiling. How to deal with them, kasi ang kalaban natin diyan hindi naman paramihan – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” he said.
Duterte's America bashing and attempts to pin the blame for terrorist violence on the presence of US soldiers in the region are disingenuous at best.
ReplyDeleteThe recent historical record of violence in the Southern Philippines does not support his view.
The 1972-74 conflict with the Moro National Liberation Front that resulted in the estimated deaths of 120,000 Filipinos was the result of the declaration of Martial Law and the Moro policies of President Ferdinand Marcos and had little to do with the US.
The rise of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the 1980s and its militancy was the result of internal dynamics within the MNLF and disagreement over peace negotiations with the Philippine government. Nothing to do with the US.
Again the rise of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the 1990s was an offshoot of renewed negotiations and the Final Peace Agreement reached between the MNLF and the Ramos administration in 1996. Little to do with the US.
The all out war launched against the MILF in 2000 was the result of policies of the Estrada administration (to include eating lechon and drinking beer to celebrate victory at MILF Camp Abubakar) and had nothing to do with America.
All out war again in 2003 against the MILF had more to do with the policies of the central government in Manila under the Arroyo administration than any grievance against the US.
The renewed violence in 2008 involving rogue base commands of the MILF was the direct result of the Philippine Supreme Court issuing a temporary restraining order to halt the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the government and the MILF and subsequently declaring the agreement unconstitutional. Once again the renewed fighting had little if anything to do with America.
Even the rise of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement and other pro-ISIS groups has more to do with the internal dynamics within the MILF and the failure to conclude a fair and meaningful peace agreement with the Philippine government. Outside observers have said as much and even the MILF has asserted that the failure of the central government to uphold its end of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) has contributed to the radicalization of some Moros in the South. Not much to do with the US.
Truth be told, the US has had a military presence in Zamboanga since 2001-2002 and this clearly was not an impediment to government negotiations with the MILF.
(Comment continued)
ReplyDeleteThe only groups that regularly demonize the US military presence in the Southern Philippines are Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-associated front organizations such as the Kawagib (Rights) Human Rights Center mentioned in the article above. The group's secretary general, Bay Ali Indayla is a long-time CPP activist. She has been involved in several other CPP-linked front groups to include the Moro-Christian People's Alliance (MCPA) and Surara Bangsamoro (Voice of the Moro People). It is these commie organizations that rail against the US "massacres" at Bud Dajo (1906) and Bud Bagsak (1913) and issue condemnatory statements on the anniversaries of these events.
In fact, Bai Ali Indayla has been directly involved in anti-US military protest actions in Mindanao as part of the US Troops Out Now! Mindanao Coalition and as spokesperson for Patriyotiko Mindanao, a CPP-affiliated umbrella front group focused on ending the US military presence in Mindanao (and the Philippines).
So if Duterte is listening to the likes of Indayla and other commie sympathizers it should come as no surprise that he attempts to blame America for the violence associated with the "Moro problem" in the southern Philippines but in reality the problem is the failure of successive Philippine government administrations to reach a fair and just peace agreement with the various Moro groups in the South. Conflict in the South will not be resolved by simply removing the American military presence in the region. It will necessitate goodwill and the political resolve of Duterte and his administration to implement the CAB and establish a genuinely autonomous Moro administrative entity in the Southern Philippines.