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Monday, July 31, 2006
Editorial: Dirty war
THE death of a Bayan Muna member at the hands of am unidentified gunman is tragic and is merely part of the larger picture regarding the ongoing war for the hearts and minds of the Filipinos.
According to the reports the victim, Ernesto Ladica was supposed to be meeting with suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebels when he was eventually shot by the gunman riding a motorcycle.
While the gunman's identity had yet to be confirmed, already the family and members of the militant leftist group blamed the military for the victim's death and demanded that justice be done for his murder.
It's interesting to note that this is the first murder of a militant leftist group member-perhaps the first in Misamis Oriental -- in quite sometime though this had been happening elsewhere especially in areas where the alleged "berdugo" (executioner) of militant members, General Victor Palparan, is stationed.
For their part the military had disavowed any knowledge or involvement in the murder and as expected the militant leftist groups would disprove such claims, accusing them of waging a crackdown on their ranks for their alleged ties to the NPA and its legal and political fronts, the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
At least in this instance the NPA has one propaganda angle with which to exploit in order to counter the recent spate of debacles they sustained, namely the discovery of remains of NPA executed victims and the shootings and deaths of civilians who accompany the military in order to get to their respective destination.
It is interesting to note that the family had also denied being linked to the NPA rebels during a press conference held here in the city.
Anyway it is these alleged links to the communist rebels that had given these groups impetus to accuse the military of murdering their ranks.
In any case it obviously won't help the military any if killings of this sort continue to hound them incessantly.
An investigation into murders like these are warranted though the militant leftists would always question the authenticity of government sponsored inquiries-they're anti-government, remember? -- and would prefer one conducted by their own or affiliated with their own to further buttress their cause.
This is after all, a war of hearts and minds, where every death on both sides, however tragic, are being used as propaganda to advance their political cause. And this war would always get dirtier and dirtier.
(July 31, 2006 issue)
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