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Friday, July 07, 2006
Wenceslao: Keeping the police and military busy
By Bong O. Wenceslao
I read somewhere former president Fidel Ramos scoffing at the all out war the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared against communist rebels. “Tabako,” as we all know, was the top Philippine Constabulary official under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and was Armed Forces chief under then president Cory Aquino.
Ramos’ reaction was like this. The number of government troops has not grown since the 1960s, and it is therefore difficult to go after the rebels in the many regions of the country at the same time and demolish the enemy in a few months. And even if you deploy all those troops in Panay, he said, they will be swallowed by the vast countryside.
I agree. I once strayed into that forested portion of Bohol bounded by the towns of Sevilla, Batuan and Bilar and saw that in the game of cat-and-mouse, which is what guerilla war is really about, the terrain favored the mouse. How can a battalion of troops effectively scour the dense foliage to flush out even just a platoon or a squad of rebels?
Okay, let us not go far. The mid-north mountains of Cebu are bald, but it is also because of this that they are difficult to manipulate. The slopes are steep and the ridges high. And because the place is bare, movement of patrolling troops is visible from afar during the day. Night movement, meanwhile, favors guerillas knowledgeable of the area.
The question: for how many years have government troops been chasing the rebels in Cebu’s mid-north areas with only limited success? Two decades already. And many approaches have been used. Cafgus? Been there, done that. Scout Rangers? The same thing. So will things change with the elite police unit being trained now? I doubt.
In the end, though, a war is not won or lost by terrain alone. The key there is the hearts and minds of the people---or the masses that the rebels, more often than not, have successfully transformed into “iron forts” for their cause. And how can government win over the people in the countryside to its side? The answer, I would say, is a no-brainer.
Back to the all-out war and the deadline President Arroyo set to annihilate the rebellion. My theory is that this government knows that the deadline can’t be met, but it still wants both the police and the military to be preoccupied with this war.
Because if they are not busy fighting, they are vulnerable to the maneuverings of coup plotters.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651/my blog: cebuano. wordpress.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 7, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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