PGMA reportedly ordered the instant release of P1 billion (of taxpayers’ money) to the military (even as there’s “lack of funds” for other priorities like education and health) purportedly to help stamp out the 37-year old insurgency problem.

      Apparently ignoring history (or refusing to learn from it), the government has once again waged an “all-out war” against the Communist rebels, even making unrealistic deadlines to deliver the “coup de grace”. And this even as it is too evident that ideological conflict can hardly be solved through the use of guns and bombs alone. Past leaderships, including the iron-fisted, military rule of Marcos, had failed to make this scourge become extinct. 

      Thus, by resorting again this time to massive military funding and troops buildup and waging an unrestrained war against the insurgents, let alone other elements critical of the Establishment, our government could be courting further untoward consequences. Such a move is counterproductive. 

      It’s a known fact that militarization can only inflict damage on human lives (combatants and civilians alike) and properties (dwellings and crops) or, if given time and resources, can probably “exterminate” all NPA “terrorists”. But militarization cannot possibly bomb out what is perceived to be the “lifeline” of the insurgency – the people’s sufferings, disillusionment and helplessness. These are most likely what sustain it. And these have to be seriously and successfully dealt with first before even entertaining an illusion of wiping insurgency out.

      The present leadership would do better to keep the hard yet less destructive option – “peace process” – open. And it should seriously and persistently address the country’s real challenges and woes – poverty, corruption and criminality, including its unresolved legitimacy crisis. Unless these problems are solved, insurgency, like political crooks,  isn’t likely to fade away.

MANUEL A. COLLAO,
via e-mail.