As bombings perpetrated by the extortion group Al Khobar which is allied with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) terrorize civilians in the Southern Philippines, people are now asking whether the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed recently by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) could really bring about the promised true and lasting peace in the troubled south.
The anxiety among civilians is turning into rage in the face of the deafening silence from both the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III and the MILF even as innocent civilians die in the endless spate of bombings which authorities said were authored by members of the BIFF.
Over the last 45 days alone, three successive bombings killed 15 civilians, mostly young students, and seriously injured about 60 others.
On November 23, two improvised explosive devices (IED) exploded near the town plaza of M’lang as the town was preparing to celebrate its annual Kawayanan Festival killing three young boys who were in a billiards hall and wounding over 20 others.
After less than two weeks, a bomb exploded inside a Rural Transit bus near the Central Mindanao University in Musuan, Bukidnon killing 10, mostly students, and wounding at least 30 more.
On Dec. 31, as residents of M’lang made a last minute rush to the market to buy things they needed to welcome the New Year, another bomb exploded killing two women, one of them a mother of three including an infant, and wounding 34 others.
In all of these incidents, the Palace hardly made any effort to show their genuine concern for the victims leaving local government units to take care of the wounded and the dead.
Worse, there was not even a perfunctory statement from both the government and the MILF condemning those responsible for the acts of terrorism.
Perhaps, both government and the MILF do not want to stir the hornets’ nest by issuing strongly worded statements condemning the BIFF, fearful that it would force the MILF splinter group to undertake more violent activities prior to the approval by Congress of the CAB.
What the government and the MILF failed to appreciate, however, is the fact that groups who had earlier questioned previous agreements but who had chosen to keep silent hoping that the CAB will finally provide a solution to the conflict in the South are now getting restless.
“Of what use is the CAB, if the MILF could not even stop its splinter groups from undermining the peace agreement by continuing a campaign of terror?” is the common question now being raised by local residents in the area affected by the bombings.
As Congress tackles the CAB when it resumes its sessions this year, it is almost inevitable that the question of whether the MILF could really control other armed groups within the Bangsamoro area will certainly be raised.
Should the CAB go through rough sailing in Congress, or its constitutionality raised before the High Court once again, there is nobody else to blame but the BIFF and other Bangsamoro groups who have refused to be covered by the agreement which the MILF forged with the Philippine government.
The ball is now in the court of both the government and the MILF.
They have to prove to doubters that the sacrifices of limbs and lives by the long suffering civilians would bring about true and lasting peace in the South.
(Credits: Photo of Bukidnon youth lighting candles for the victims of the bus bombing downloaded from rappler.com; image of Justice for M’lang downloaded from Facebook page Taga M’lang Takon.)
Original entry posted HERE.
