Cover up?

IT SEEMS like we had just celebrated New Year and now we bid goodbye to January 2013. See, time flies swiftly, especially when we are busy. Most often, we cannot see the big picture. What we see are only the details of the great reality.

Time in Negros Occidental seemed to stop last Sunday. The news of the La Castellana ambush broke out early in the morning. Many people were preparing for the Ati-atihan fiestas in many parts of the island and nearby islands. Some in the crowd were not even on the island for the revelries of the Sto. Niño Fiesta. Some were not even affected by the event as they surveyed the area of SM and other malls in the city. This is the passivity bug that has infected us all. We have become indifferent to the events that are within our realm but are relatively far from us.

Infected by the same passivity virus, the ambush news did not hit me until Monday evening. It was like an isolated case. A lot of people in school were talking about it. Many news dailies carried it on their headlines. All heads and brains were focused on the issue of ambush. The New Peoples' Army was blamed for the incident. A witness heard one of the ambushers shouting "Mabuhay ang NPA!" The peace forces immediately concluded that the NPAs did it.

I sympathize with the families of the victims. I pray for the repose of the souls of the dead. My sympathies, prayers and condolences go to the families of those who were poor victims of a grand plan. I pity those whom they left behind. No matter what they say, these are people whom they had killed.

Now, it is already the talk of the town. The fences of the right and the left wings are once again built up and now the alleged "peacemakers" are blaming the "troublemakers." Debates on radio programs and opinion pages of dailies aired different sides, each giving their own arguments.

My mind was a little tilted yesterday. It is telling me to venture on this awkward and outlandish idea. What if the NPAs will not claim the ambush? What if the NPAs will tell the nation that they are busy with something else and would not kill civilians like that? What if the NPAs will tell us that this ambush is not of their making for it is so isolated?

Who then could have plotted this sad incident? Whom will the Aquino administration and the military get as their fall guys? Again this is simply a hypothesis. If the NPAs claim the atrocities, then well and good. At least the signal is clear that they are still there and they are not joking. The army has to review their intelligence report again.

However, I wonder if my comical mind's opinions would be true. I would try to write here some hypothetical arguments. My mind keeps telling me since Monday to go deeper into the issue. As a little reflection, now I could see how my mind could come out with these hypotheses.

First, the whole thing might be a cover up. Negros Churches had been very aggressive in its campaign against the Malacañang-authored RH Law. The Dobermans of the administration are up against the wall, answering and going out of the mess of the RH Law. It is fast affecting the approval rating of their Alpha-male, the President. They have been into a battle that they think they had won.

The Chihuahuas, some of whom are remnants of GMA, have to devise once more the tactics of their queen bee. They have to unleash the bees, in order to distract the bears. They were and are successful in this. Now, all attentions were diverted from the issue of the RH Law and the DEATH bills. Everyone is now on the ambush. The Church would even step-in in a little while in the ambush issue. Today, the focus had been shattered and the attention is no longer geared on the issue of the RH Law. The talks on the protest and mass movements will now be affected. Congratulations to the Chihuahuas.

I am sorry; my mind would no longer allow me to continue with the second and the third hypotheses. See, the administration is so successful in diverting our attention. So, the ambush is one good issue that will divide farther the Church and the cause-oriented groups. It is now placing the Church in a very compromising situation. It is now telling the Church, here is murder in front of you! What will you do? Be silent for you fear of losing support from mass base? The planners of the administration, including the military, are very cunning at this point. My mind keeps telling me that this is still part of the fight against the RH law.

Condolences and my sympathies once more to the victims of the ambush. Their deaths will prove one reality-we are being utilized to promote an ideology and a big business. Let us pray for one another. I rest here.

Belated Birthday greetings to Rev. Fr. Louie Gabinete, OAR, UNO-R VP Student Welfare.

St. Ezekiel Moreno, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, St. Pedro Calungsod, Blessed John Paul II and Sir Faraon Lopez, pray for us.