Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Editorial: The ideology of good governance
DAVAO del Sur Governor Douglas Ra. Cagas hit the nail right on the head when he said the military cannot wipe out the insurgency movement by 2010 by simply using guns.
"You cannot fight an ideology with armed force, you have to fight it with another ideology, the ideology of good governance," Cagas said. And we say, the military has known that for a long time, but between knowing and doing is a world of difference.
Thus, even after almost 50 years of the communist rebellion, we still hear the likes of Major General Armando Cunanan, commanding general of the Eastern Mindanao Command, saying: "I challenge them to fight our soldiers in open ground, and we shall see who is stronger."
By this time, almost half a century hence, the military should have understood that this is not a battle of armed might. This is a battle for the hearts of the people; this is the "War of the flea," as the 1965 classic book on guerilla warfare by Robert Taber is entitled.
"The guerrilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog's disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with," Taber wrote at the start of his book, which has become a must-read among military tacticians.
Challenging rebels to fight "on open ground" is nothing but braggadocio. The military knows that, the rebels know that, even the people know that.
For as long as the armed forces do not have the heart of the people in the hinterland, and corruption is still the name of the game in the posh offices of both the military and the civilian government, then there will be insurgents sneaking up on them and winning a protracted war, be it in terms of military maneuvers or the people's psyche.
We're glad that Governor Cagas, as chair of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), knows this and has discussed this in the open. We just hope that he also knows what to do with that knowledge in order to bring peace to the region that has become the battleground of communist rebels of late.
