STANDARD: NPA, MILF COLLUDING?
MANILA, OCTOBER 29, 2011 (STANDARD) By JOJO ROBLES - First, it was Surigao del Norte; then it was Basilan. Coincidence?
In the first week of this month, Communist New People's Army rebels attacked a mining camp in Claver, Surigao del Norte, destroying and torching billions of pesos worth of expensive equipment. Just last week, it was the turn of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front to go on the offensive, killing 19 Army soldiers in Al-Barka, Basilan.
Some sources in the military intelligence community think the two incidents are not unrelated. In fact, the attacks may actually have been coordinated, they said.
These informants point to the existence of a liaison office within the communist movement that has been for many years coordinating with Mindanao-based Muslim secessionist movements since the time when Nur Misuari's Moro National Liberation Front was on the ascendant. The same agency under the so-called "CNN" umbrella of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People's Army has been working with the MILF, the MNLF's successor, to achieve the common goal of overthrowing the central government in Manila.
The agency is simply called the Moro Commission. And while it operates under the banner of the underground Communist movement, the commission also has as members leaders of the Bangsamoro secessionist organization.
Intelligence operatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are currently looking into reports that the NPA and the MILF coordinated their recent attacks in a bid to destabilize the administration of President Noynoy Aquino. So, yes, there could actually be a destabilization plot hatched against Malacañang—only it's the armed anti-government forces, instead of leaders of the political opposition, that is behind it.
The military sources said a former member of the Moro Commission is now currently being groomed by the administration for a top position in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao. And yes, the military is alarmed that a Moro leader who was once the NPA's liaison with the MILF may soon be appointed to the ARMM, thus virtually annexing the autonomous region to the areas controlled by the MILF and making it "friendly" territory for Communist rebels, as well.
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The informants wondered if Aquino is aware that the NPA and the MILF have long been coordinating their attacks. And that both groups now seem hell-bent on testing the ability of Aquino (who is widely perceived as a weak leader by both the military and the rebels) to go after armed threat groups.
To be sure, the military establishment has long been grumbling about the preponderance of left-leaning officials in the current Aquino administration— the same complaint they made during the time of Cory Aquino. The same left-leaning officials, they believe, have been strongly advising Aquino not to take any retaliatory measures against the MILF in Basilan and elsewhere, lending credence to the possibility of coordinated attacks by the rebels and ignorance on the part of Aquino of what is really going on.
And if the way Noynoy Aquino has been handling the situation in Basilan is any measure of this government's resolve to stamp out armed rebel groups, then the men in uniform can hardly be blamed if they believe that the current administration is "soft" on Muslim secessionists, as well. And the military's perception that Cory Aquino treated Misuari, Jose Ma. Sison and other rebel leaders with kid gloves, after all, made the armed forces a fertile recruiting ground for various adventurist leaders a quarter of a century ago.
Even if there is no real coordination between the NPA and the MILF, both groups are apparently trying to outdo each other in a contest of who can get the Manila government to cry "Uncle." And the way Aquino has been bungling the official response to the latest challenges of both groups, it should come as no surprise if they become emboldened and escalate their attacks in the near future.
In the meantime, the military continues to seethe, hamstrung by a civilian leadership that seems to value peace with the rebels more than the lives of its soldiers. Caught in the middle of it all are we, the civilians, who will at the very least suffer because of the climate of uncertainty and violence that is fast becoming the new hallmark of an administration once believed to be characterized merely by benign indolence.
All in all, it's a recipe for disaster in the days to come. Only time will tell if this administration will be up to what now appears to be its biggest challenge, that of reining in rebel groups opportunistically attacking a leadership that they feel cannot fight back—or even stare them down.
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The administration has shifted its strategy to force former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo out of the country, where it feels Noynoy Aquino's hated predecessor-in-office will no longer get into mischief. After Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced that Arroyo will have to go through the usual process of seeking permission to go abroad for treatment, administration diehard Senator Franklin Drilon took the opposing view, saying that De Lima's move to put the former President on a watch-list was illegal.
De Lima in effect issued a hold departure order "in the guise of a watch-list order," something the senator said only courts can issue. De Lima invoked a department order governing the issuance of hold departure orders, watch-list orders, and allow-departure orders issued by her predecessor, Alberto Agra, last May 2010 in the case of Arroyo, her husband and other officials of the previous government.
But some believe that the good cop-bad-cop routine being performed by De Lima and Drilon is just a smokescreen for the true administration agenda, which is to "convince" Arroyo to leave the country. The Arroyo administration itself employed the same scheme when it wanted former President Joseph Estrada to go abroad after Arroyo's assumption, so that her predecessor may no longer foment dissent and hatch destabilization plots.
Whether or not Arroyo is actually engaged in efforts to bring down the Aquino administration is the subject of much conjecture. But some analysts believe that the charges of electoral sabotage that are being prepared against Arroyo are a good enough reason to allow her to leave the country because officials of the current government may not escape unscathed if what really happened in the 2004 and 2007 elections comes to light.
According to these people, many current top government officials, both in the Executive and in Congress, were actually involved in stealing both elections. If Arroyo decides to tell all she knows about the election fraud that took place, the fallout could hurt many of her former officials and allies who are now working for Aquino. And that would be politically catastrophic, to say the least.
Thus, it would be best if Arroyo left the country instead of actually facing the charges lodged against her. Assuming she agrees to leave, of course.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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