Ignorance vs. Ignorance

I was going thru my pile of unread newspapers in my room when I ran across an article by Pat Evangelista. She was talking about the statements by an escaped detainee who shared that he had seen Sherlyn and Karen, two UP students who disappeared 2 years ago. There are strong suspicions that the military, or some element in it, has been responsible for their disappearance.

There's an awful big chance the suspicions are true. My granddad, a retired PC officer, abhors the AFP. He called them brutal dogs of war. And from what I've read and seen so far, I completely agree with him.

I've read lessons on how to combat insurgency. If fighting a guerrilla force, you conduct unconventional tactics of your own. You win the hearts and minds of the people who provide shelter to the enemy. You do not give them ammunition, material for propaganda, to use against you.

But that is what's happening right now. Army Intelligence seem to be in the habit of terrorizing students in campuses, as well as the citizens of far-flung, isolated villages. The way I see it, bullies get to wear uniforms and bear arms in order to do what they do best. Push people around and basically get what they want. I'm not talking about just bullying. We're talking about stealing, raping, and murder.

Modernization calls for a small, mobile, well-armed force that is well-trained in warfare. But what we have is a rabble of a mob that has no idea how to engage an elusive enemy and instead panics and does what it does best: mess things up. Modernization fund? Good luck if it manages to reach the people who deserve them most.

Forget about the achievements in the Pacific and Korean Wars as well as the Huk and MNLF insurgencies. Those days are over it seems. We once had nationalists who fought for ideals. But now? We got bullyboys who managed to get sanction for their crimes.

I'm not saying the AFP is evil or corrupt. I'm talking about the minority who are in cahoots with officers who have grubby fingers stuck in to many pies. Officers who have political patrons and seem to make corruption just worse in this country...
It's a tough challenge. Rooting out corruption and ignorance will take monumental effort. But too many people have gone apathetic...