PNOY, A Shakespeare Tragedy!

There is a war going on in Mindanao, but President Simeon Benigno Aquino wants to talk about peace; as if peace is a noun that can be processed by these violent Muslims who styled themselves as members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).  Adding comic to this scenario was UP Law Dean Marvic Leonen, who likewise believes that the MILF, whose members are often interviewed and photographed with bandoleer of ammunitions suspended on their shoulders and holding AK-47s really wanted peace; and that makes me wonder what kind of outfit they would adorn themselves if they talk about  war. 

While I can understand the attitude of the guileless President, he not being as smart as his deceased father,  I found it disturbing that a dean of a premier college of the University of the Philippines could be this simpleton  to believe that the MILF wants peace instead of a “piece of that and a piece of those” and their going to the peace table was only a tactical move to give them  time to recruit more adherents, use the negotiation for mileage, and move freely around Mindano because of safe passage conduct courtesy of the government.

But the final objective once cash, converts,  and political climate have been achieved, is to declare a Mindanao Republic, fly their own flag, coin their own money and act as glorified warlords of Mindanao oppressing the very people they pretend to speak for and uproot the christians in the territory.   Am I the only one getting the bigger picture here or our officials have gone nuts and clueless of the true color of the MILF?

I am ashamed to admit that during the last presidential elections, I have twice remitted very small amount of money, and I have Paypal receipts to prove it, to the Yellow Movement, Inc.,  as my symbolic participation in the election and wanted PNOY to win as president out of fear that Manny Villar or Joseph Estrada could win.  Mr. Villar is the quintessential rent-seeker — he pursues politics for economic gain. As a politician, he lobbied before the DPWH  to build roads and other infrastructure across  the Alabang-Paranaque-Cavite area where  his subdivision complexes  were; while  you cannot put Estrada back to Malacanang because he thought of the Malacanang Palace not as a symbol of dignity and authority but an elegant watering hole for  gamblers,  influence peddlers or plain criminals and midnight cabinet personalities partying until early morning, not to mention the fact that he enriched himself with P500 million jueteng payolas in two years, built palaces to his mistresses and lobbied against the SEC investigation of the BW Resources to protect friends that made money for him.

I would have preferred Dick Gordon or Bayani Fernando, but these two candidates did not have the organization and the money to mount a very credible nationwide campaign.  So I got stuck with PNOY.  

But PNOY happened to be another bozo of the worst kind.  Hours after receiving a report that 19 AFP soldiers were ambushed by the MILF soldiers in Basilan, he told the press that he would not pursue these Muslims in their lair, rather he would offer them  the olive leaf of peace so they can go back to the peace table and his naive peace negotiator, Mr. Leonen, with alacrity and fanfare, blurted out that the killing of the soldiers was an isolated incident.  Mindanao is where kidnappings, beheadings and ambushes were being undertaken by the MILF or its proxy, the Abu Sayyaf, almost on daily basis, and here is our government negotiator justifying the recent bloodshed as an isolated incident and the President pursuing peace with the bandits!

This man in Malacanang is a disgrace to the memory of his illustrious father, Ninoy  Aquino.  He cannot understand the pain of the soldiers; the wailings of their loved ones left behind because these  Army recruits belong to the lower class of the society and not from the class origin of his maternal progeny, the “ilustrado” and the elite of the Philippine society, the Cojuangcos.  His discernment is totally lacking of the greater symbolism of this tragedy: that the authority of the Republic is being diminished and its government, hostage by the bandits that perpetrated this horrendous carnage.  He can only sue for peace!  What a wimp!

Somehow, the suspicion that another Cojuangco plotted the death of Ninoy at tarmac in 1983 was gaining currency. Ninoy’s death or his martyrdom would bring both financial and political bonanza to the Cojuangcos.  Corazon Cojuangco became President in 1986 by capitalizing on the sympathy of Filipinos and now, Simeon Cojuangco sits in Malacanang, and  Kris Cojuangco could be next in line.  This  Shakespearean tragedy is too real!