AFP should focus on fighting insurgency

There was a shooting incident some three years ago in broad daylight between two Korean groups right in front of the Peace Convent in AS Fortuna, Mandaue City and while the news of this incident made the local headlines, however as soon as this report disappeared from the news headlines, people simply forgot it. What it was about anyway only involved Korean nationals. We were playing golf at the Cebu Country Club that afternoon and we could hear the gunshots from the golf course.

So the speculation of many people is that this is the handiwork of Korean gangs vs. Korean gangs or call them the Korean Mafia. I also asked our Korean friends if they knew something about that incident… most of them simply shrugged their shoulders saying they don’t know anything about it. So when Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte came up with the news that a Korean Mafia was involved in illegal drugs and prostitution in Cebu, this is not an entirely far-fetched scenario. However, I’m sure those Korean gangs could have done it without the help or support of rogue cops.

However there is a strange Korean trait… they only take care of the needs of their fellow Koreans… whether it is monetary, housing, tourism needs like tour guides or illegal drugs or prostitutes. The key to stopping their business is to ask the help of the South Korean Intelligence groups as a way of identifying who are these people because I’m sure that our police intelligence had no idea as to who these people are and after that incident we didn’t hear of anymore reports on this.

Indeed we have a million Koreans who travel to this country and settle in key cities throughout the archipelago… for sure the majority of them are law-abiding people…but I have no doubt that the bad eggs of South Korea are also operating in this country. So seeking the cooperation of South Korean Police Intelligence is a step in the right direction.

This brings us to the headline of the Philippine STAR yesterday, which blared, “Foreign Businessmen Fear for their Safety.” Call it a perception but nonetheless it is a serious one. I’m sure that these foreign businessmen are certainly not into illegal drugs, so they have nothing to fear. But when they read reports that rogue cops are into the kidnap-for-ransom business, it strikes fear on these foreigners simply because the police are supposedly the protectors of our people… they are not supposed to be the criminals!  If you ask me the Duterte administration must seriously look into the concerns of these foreign businessmen and assure them of their safety.

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President Duterte has asked the Peace Panel “To fold up their tents and return home.” It is his way of saying that peace between the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Philippine government cannot be achieved for as long as their armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) cancelled the unilateral ceasefire they earlier agreed to hold. When initially Pres. Duterte gave concession to the CPP/NDF/NPA, people were skeptical because we were not getting anything in return.

But now no less than Pres. Duterte has ran out of patience with his friends in the underground movement, simply because of a serious lack of sincerity on the part of the CPP leadership. Indeed, even Pres. Duterte admits that he has bent backward so much with nothing in return. So now it’s back to the shooting war that have permeated the countryside for 40 years.

At this point, I exhort Pres. Duterte that he ought to reconsider using the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the fight against rogue cops. I fully concur with the comments of Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who said that this is quite a dangerous scenario. He doesn’t want two armed government groups fighting it out against each other. Indeed, let the AFP instead focus on the fight against the communist rebels while the rogue cops can be handled by another agency. There is no sense for the AFP to fight a battle on two fronts: one against rogue cops, while fighting the NPAs.

There is no question that achieving peace is no easy task that I dare say that it is only under the Duterte Presidency that there was hope that finally we could come up with a lasting peace. But since the CPP believes that they are in a position of strength, they scoffed at the peace process opting to fight with their armed regulars. So they blew up the chance for peace!

Ask yourself…how many Presidents have we had in the last 40 years and how many times have the CPP changed its leadership? From the time of then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos the CPP was headed by Jose Maria “Joma” Sison and the NDF headed by Fr. Luis Jalandoni. No one elected them into power and the NPAs roam the countryside brandishing high-powered firearms with impunity… giving the world the impression that the Philippines is not a nation of laws…but of men… in arms.

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