Looking far and wide for the spirit of Edsa

Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, an administration ally, has asked President Noy to fire Teresita Deles and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer from the government peace panel for not supposedly working for the interest of the Republic in the peace talks with the Moros.

Deles is presidential peace adviser while Ferrer is head of the government team in talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Biazon, former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine Marine commandant, has apparently seen through the two women in promoting the interest of the MILF, instead of the government’s.

“People on the streets, well-known people, everybody is saying it: Ferrer and Deles are acting as lawyers for the MILF,” Biazon said.

It’s not hard to see the truth in Biazon’s allegation: The two women seem to be defending the MILF at every turn.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was right in asking Deles and Ferrer at Tuesday’s Senate hearing: “What side are you representing in the peace panel?”

The two women seem to have been sweet-talked by their MILF counterparts into sympathizing with their cause.

Ironically, even Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., chair of the government panel in the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), seems to be siding with the MILF.

Perhaps that’s because all of them are not from Mindanao.

* * *

Reader Melchor Amado Jr. says the President and members of the peace panel “have not lived long enough or have never lived in Mindanao at all to fully understand how to effectively deal with the Moros and other tribes there.”

“That is why wrong decisions are being made by them,” says Amado, a media person who hails from Iligan City in Lanao del Norte.

* * *

P-Noy made the mistake of appointing people from Luzon, instead of from Mindanao, to talk peace with the Moros.

Non-Muslim Mindanawans, because they coexist with the Muslim population, know the ways of the Moros.

Moros will only make peace with an enemy who matches their capability.

Look how they respected the American colonizers.

Look how deathly scared the Moros were of unschooled Ilonggo farmers who formed themselves in the 1970s into a fighting group called “Ilaga” who mutilated dead bodies of Moro rebels and partook of their innards.

See how they bowed to former President Erap who declared total war on them.

The government’s desire for peace in Mindanao at all cost, even after the massacre of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano, is a sign of weakness in the eyes of the Moros.

* * *

Twenty-nine years after dictator Ferdinand Marcos fell from power because of the mammoth crowd at Edsa, the spirit of Edsa is all but gone.

Nothing has changed since the fall of Marcos; corruption in government is still prevalent.

It’s worse now because we have a weak and inefficient leader.

President Noy, whose mother Cory Aquino symbolized freedom in 1986, has wasted the sweat and tears of the multitudes that called on Marcos to step down.

There’s a common belief that the first generation gathers wealth, while the second generation fritters the wealth away.

That belief appears to be true in the case of Noynoy Aquino, who “inherited” the presidency from his mother, President Cory, after her death.

Noynoy, who was a do-nothing congressman and senator who garnered votes then by virtue of the assassination of his father, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, was elected President of the Republic, triggered largely by sympathy arising from his mother’s death. Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, an administration ally, has asked President Noy to fire Teresita Deles and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer from the government peace panel for not supposedly working for the interest of the Republic in the peace talks with the Moros.

Deles is presidential peace adviser while Ferrer is head of the government team in talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Biazon, former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine Marine commandant, has apparently seen through the two women in promoting the interest of the MILF, instead of the government’s.
“People on the streets, well-known people, everybody is saying it: Ferrer and Deles are acting as lawyers for the MILF,” Biazon said.

It’s not hard to see the truth in Biazon’s allegation: The two women seem to be defending the MILF at every turn.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was right in asking Deles and Ferrer at Tuesday’s Senate hearing: “What side are you representing in the peace panel?”

The two women seem to have been sweet-talked by their MILF counterparts into sympathizing with their cause.
Ironically, even Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., chair of the government panel in the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), seems to be siding with the MILF.

Perhaps that’s because all of them are not from Mindanao.

* * *

Reader Melchor Amado Jr. says the President and members of the peace panel “have not lived long enough or have never lived in Mindanao at all to fully understand how to effectively deal with the Moros and other tribes there.”
“That is why wrong decisions are being made by them,” says Amado, a media person who hails from Iligan City in Lanao del Norte.

* * *

P-Noy made the mistake of appointing people from Luzon, instead of from Mindanao, to talk peace with the Moros.
Non-Muslim Mindanawans, because they coexist with the Muslim population, know the ways of the Moros.
Moros will only make peace with an enemy who matches their capability.

Look how they respected the American colonizers.

Look how deathly scared the Moros were of unschooled Ilonggo farmers who formed themselves in the 1970s into a fighting group called “Ilaga” who mutilated dead bodies of Moro rebels and partook of their innards.

See how they bowed to former President Erap who declared total war on them.

The government’s desire for peace in Mindanao at all cost, even after the massacre of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano, is a sign of weakness in the eyes of the Moros.

* * *

Twenty-nine years after dictator Ferdinand Marcos fell from power because of the mammoth crowd at Edsa, the spirit of Edsa is all but gone.

Nothing has changed since the fall of Marcos; corruption in government is still prevalent.

It’s worse now because we have a weak and inefficient leader.

President Noy, whose mother Cory Aquino symbolized freedom in 1986, has wasted the sweat and tears of the multitudes that called on Marcos to step down.

There’s a common belief that the first generation gathers wealth, while the second generation fritters the wealth away.
That belief appears to be true in the case of Noynoy Aquino, who “inherited” the presidency from his mother, President Cory, after her death.

Noynoy, who was a do-nothing congressman and senator who garnered votes then by virtue of the assassination of his father, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, was elected President of the Republic, triggered largely by sympathy arising from his mother’s death.