What exactly does the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) seek to provide
Filipino Muslims that the current system of government and the way the
Philippines is organised into political units does not provide? This, is
the question that seems to have gone unanswered over the course of this
national crisis. Perhaps, as most Filipinos now suspect, it is because
the BBL initiative was hatched on the basis of people’s personal agendas
rather than on a true evaluation of the real issues.
LIAR
Indeed,
if that question had been asked at the start of these so-called “peace”
initiatives, the onus will have been on the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front to first prove that their goals as a community (or at least the
community they presume to “represent”) could not be achieved under the
current system provided by the national framework already in place and
enshrined in the Constitution. Under the current secular common-law
system, imperfect as that may be, any community bowing to whatever
reasonable ethically-sound religious faith can, in principle, prosper
under Philippine law and the governance system in place.
The failure of the Philippine government under President Benigno
Simeon ‘BS’ Aquiuno III in this regard was to apply an approach to
dealing with these crooks in a manner that did not put the primacy of
the current system (under which the vast majority of Filipinos live by) first and the grievances of the minorities they represent a distant second.
The framework agreement should have been around clear points describing reasons why Filipino Muslims cannot achieve their goals under the current system in place.
With that underlying context, the question as to why all these
Islamic terrorists — including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front — are
armed and running all around Mindanao killing people comes front and
center. Because the then-hypothetical solution will have involved some
change and legislation to implement a new governance approach, the
reasons required would have to be systemic in nature (i.e. systemic
reasons why Muslims cannot work with the current system as it stands)
rather than political/historical reasons supposedly leading to their
armed movement and justifying its continued existence.
Framed this way, the debate would likely have been more straightforward — that whatever the historical reasons, the existence of armed bandits cannot be tolerated even as any “peace” deal was discussed.
As we can see now, the unnecessary complications of this issue and
the accompanying waste in time and resources that result from it are all
rooted in the flawed notion that there are three different groups to
deal with thanks to this misguided focus on “historical context” rather
than on the present situation. The fact is, there really is only
just one enemy. If the Army (or, for that matter, any entity or agency —
civilian or military — that wants to dabble in Mindanao solutioneering)
were given instructions to regard their mission as one dealing with
just one enemy, then they will likely have been more effective in ending
Islamic terrorism in Mindanao.
At present, President BS Aquino being the single common denominator
transcending the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Philippine military,
and the police is and always has been in the single best position to tell the truth. But he did not step up to that role when it counted. Instead he shrunk behind a web of lies and bullshittery that other people are now busy untangling.
Instead of stepping up to the statesmanship he is called for he is
biding time waiting for other people to tease out that “truth” which he
likely already has stuck somewhere between his brain and his mouth.
For the past month and a half, President BS Aquino has turned a deaf ear to his bosses’ demands that he tell the truth.
Thus, the only argument against President BS Aquino’s critics that
his apologists have retreated back to is that the guy is “not a bad or
evil guy”. That phrase encapsulates Filipino-style mediocre thinking.
Rather than aspire for excellence, Filipinos aspire for “not bad”. The
fatal consequences of that culture of pwede-na-yan are on exhibit today.
The style of selective history story-telling involving ignoring
certain inconvenient facts and focusing on certain “positive” aspects
has turned the Mindanao situation into a monstrously convoluted
“debate”. Because a president who couldn’t — no, wouldn’t — come
up and tell the truth currently rules the land, chaos reigns. Any aspect
of an issue can be made to look like a shining light when you blot out
context. In this case, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, taken out of
its criminal context and placed against a backdrop of “historical” tales
is made out to be a “special” sort of “peace” partner. That’s kind of
like regarding a drunk bum lying on the sidewalk and saying, “ignore for
a moment that the guy is a drunk bum, he’s still a human being in God’s
eyes”.
Filipinos routinely fall for that sort of bullshit.
I’m sure most people here are quite familiar with that awful feeling
of being lied to. Questions don’t get straight answers, lots of
stammering gets sputtered out, delays, delays, and more delays,
etc. You know a liar when you are faced with one and this one — no less
than the President of the Philippines — is hiding behind drawn out
“procedures”.
Rather than tell the truth straightaway (and the president had lots
of opportunity to face the public in a timely manner and do just that),
BS Aquino relied on the Senate and his media henchmen to do the job for
him. So he deserves to cop the buckets of criticism and derision thrown
his way today. Perhaps the truth may eventually come out but it will not
come from BS Aquino’s BS mouth. It will come from people who had to go
out and find it the HARD way.
Are you gonna believe such a man next time? Nobody will. Only fools get lied to by the same liar a SECOND time.
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