Create conditions for peace, not all-out war, Aquino told

Create conditions for peace, not all-out war, Aquino told

The GPH talks whether with the MILF or with the NDFP remain bogged down until today, mired as these are in the GPH’s efforts to “box it in its counter-insurgency program called Oplan Bayanihan.” – Satur Ocampo of Makabayan
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

Sidebar: A saga of all-out euphemisms vs peace, the Moro and the ordinary people 

MANILA – The script and the action do not match. The Aquino government flaps its wings like a dove but its actions remain even more hawkish.

These, in a nutshell, are the reactions of various progressive peoples’ groups to announcements aired by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his trusted officials regarding peace talks, and this government’s seemingly opposite instructions to its troops on the ground.

“President Aquino has categorically stated that he will not wage an all-out war against the MILF but his ‘all-out justice operations’ have all the characteristics of Estrada and Arroyo’s all-out war against the MILF and the Moro people,” said Antonio Liongson, spokesman of the Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA), in a statement.

The MCPA describes Aquino’s ‘All Out Justice’ as just “a veiled All-Out War.”

Given Aquino’s “tacit directive” clothed in a supposed all-out justice, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has begun “pursuit operations against criminal elements,” as signaled by massive air strikes in Zamboanga Sibugay in the South.

As of October 25, these “pursuit operations” have driven 2,900 families, or about 16,000 individuals, to flee to evacuation centers. The operation is a direct response to the outrage over the AFP’s bungled operations to “arrest” an MILF commander last week in Basilan. The said operation backfired– it is the military troops and not the forces of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or any of their target “criminals” who suffered more casualties.

The AFP has admitted to sustaining 19 casualties last week in their Basilan operations. Though lapses in their operations are being pointed out and studied now in an investigation at the Senate, an all-out war or military solution has also been pushed more strongly since last week, especially by the followers and loyalists of “two militarist presidents of the Philippines, Marcos and Estrada,” as the MCPA described Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Panfilo Lacson. These two, they said, are “incorrigible fascists and unrepentant human rights violators.”

Women in Mindanao crying over their relatives who are ‘murdered and harassed’ during an alleged AFP operation. (Photo by Karlos Manlupig / bulatlat.com)

As the AFP conducts air strikes against “lawless elements,” MILF officials have vehemently denied that their members are ‘lawless.’

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice-president, said yesterday that the MILF is willing to support efforts to go after “lawless” elements.” In fact, going after “lawless elements” is one of the responsibilities of the ceasefire committee of the Government of the Philippines (GPh) and the MILF, he said. He reiterated in Filipino that their forces “have complied with the ceasefire committee’s provisions.”

Jaafar urged the Philippine government to implement the provisions of their Adhoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) and the responsibilities of the ceasefire committee. He said that it should be the task of the ceasefire committee, based on their ceasefire agreement, to discuss the pursuit of those alleged ‘lawless elements.’

“The civilians are suffering. They are crowding the evacuation centers and they have been forced to abandon their livelihood,” Jaafar said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/27/create-conditions-for-peace-not-all-out-war-aquino-told/