President credits military for decline in rebel attacks

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday congratulated the Armed Forces for carrying out a civil relations program that he said had reduced the attacks by Moro and communist rebels by 50 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Attacks by the Moro Islamic Liberation front went down by more than 50 percent from January to November as a result of the administration’s Bayanihan program, Mr. Aquino said.

The same program, aimed at winning back the people’s trust, resulted in a 10-percent decline in the attacks by the New People’s Army, he said.

In a speech at the 76th anniversary of the Armed Forces in Camp Aguinaldo, the President also highlighted the increased tactical engagements against the Abu Sayyaf, to 103 this year from 42 last year, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 members of the bandit group.

He repeated his orders to the troops to pursue “all-out-justice” and not all-out-war as he again repeated his commitment to provide the soldiers with new military hardware in 2012.

“We are not surrendering our patience and calm: we just want to pave the way for a peace resolution to the plight of our fellowmen who were forced to join the bloody insurgency in their search for reforms,” Mr. Aquino said.

“Violence is not the way to freedom from poverty. A closed mind and hatred are not solutions to decades of war.”

The President thanked the Armed Forces for cutting costs and saving an estimated P3 million by canceling its fireworks display and scrapping the military ball to channel more resources to the victims of tropical storm Sendong, which has devastated Northern Mindanao.

But an administration ally in the House questioned a Defense Department plan to merge several major commands, describing it as counter-productive and saying it would hurt the Bayanihan program.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexi Nograles, a member of the House defense committee, said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin’s proposal to reorganize the Armed Forces, for example, would deactivate the National Development Support Command, which had been instrumental in bringing development to remote villages

Under the Defense Department’s plan, the Northern Luzon Command would be merged with the Southern Luzon Command, while the Eastern Mindanao and Western Mindanao commands would become the Southern Command.

“The reorganization at this point may contradict national interest,” Nograles said. Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today