For the nth time, government troops suffered casualties in the hands of enemies of the state when seven Marines were killed in a clash with alleged Abu Sayyaf bandits in Patikul, Sulu province, on Saturday.
At the rate soldiers are getting killed in ambuscades by either the New People’s Army (NPA) or Moro rebels, there will be no one left to fight foreign intruders.
Of course, that was an exaggeration.
But what I’m trying to say is that if our soldiers are trounced by home-grown enemies the more will they easily be defeated by foreign intruders like the Chinese who have invaded our territorial seas.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was not exaggerating when he said that should war take place between our country and China, “we will fight for our territory up to the last soldier.”
Gazmin is making our soldiers pambala sa kanyon (cannon fodder).
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At the height of the war in Mindanao in the 1970s, many Army soldiers were getting killed fighting Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels.
When a brigade commander, whose men suffered the biggest number of casualties, was asked if he was worried his unit could be decimated, his reply was “marami pang Ilocano sa Luzon” (There are many other Ilocanos in Luzon).
The uncalled-for comment reached then President Marcos, an Ilocano, who immediately had the brigade commander relieved.
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What’s the reason why our soldiers in the field are being butchered by the enemies of the state?
Poor intelligence or espionage work.
Troops in the field rely on intelligence reports of the enemies’ plans, their strength and their movements.
The various military intelligence units (the Army’s G-2, Navy’s N-2 and Air Force’s A-2), as well as the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) through the Military Intelligence Groups (Migs), are not doing well.
Why?
Because the money supposedly meant to buy information from so-called assets or informants is not spent on them but ends up in the pockets of military top brass.
Intelligence funds are not subject to audit; therefore, the military top brass can spend these on things completely not related to espionage, such as feathering their nests.
President Noy would do well to have the commanders of the various intelligence units account for the intelligence funds.
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An inside page story in the Inquirer story on Sunday—which was the subject of an editorial cartoon on Monday—said an inter-agency task force to boost the campaign against illegal logging was created in Western Visayas.
The task force is composed of teams from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the police, military and local government units.
Why is the report not believable?
Because the DENR, the police and the local governments tolerated illegal logging in Western Visayas, as in other places in the country, such as Davao Oriental province.
With the entry of the military, perhaps the campaign against illegal logging in Western Visayas will be minimized this time.
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The Quezon City Building Official’s office issued a cease and desist order to a homeowner in Ferndale Homes who built a firewall that abuts on his neighbor’s house.
This is in apparent violation of the National Building Code.
But the concerned homeowner allegedly did not obey the Building Official’s order, making the latter’s job virtually useless.