Why You Should Read This Blog Every Tuesday

Every Tuesday since the Marawi siege began in May 2017 I have written an article about terrorism and the insurgency in the Philippines. What began as a way to keep up-to-date on the Marawi siege gradually became a catch-all for the wider problems facing the Philippines of Islamic terrorism and the communist insurgency. Along with my weekly Friday series on corruption in the Philippine government I consider it to be the most important article I write because covering those two subjects in depth reveals just how inept the Philippine government is and does justice to the name of this blog Philippinefails.

Being that I am well-versed in how the government is handling the insurgency it was no surprise to me that President Marcos recently announced an amnesty for NPA members and other terrorists. In fact it was quite expected as he stated he would do this during his SONA in July. 

https://peace.gov.ph/2023/07/sona-2023-pbbm-development-of-barmm-amnesty-for-former-rebels/

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., has vowed to continue to support the progress of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and to help former rebels to regain their legal rights through an amnesty program as part of the administration’s effort to push forward the country’s comprehensive peace process during the President’s second State of the Nation Address on Monday.

To ensure the holistic transformation of former combatants, the President emphasized the need of granting amnesty.

“For almost half a century, some of our fellow Filipinos have taken to arms to make their views known and felt. We are now at a point in our history when their armed struggle has evolved. We have now progressed together towards peace and development,” he said.

“We have incorporated capacity-building and social protection into our reintegration programs to guarantee full decommissioning of former combatants. Through community development and livelihood programs, the Barangay Development and Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Programs have been effective in addressing the root cause of conflict in the countryside,” he said

“To complete this reintegration process, I will issue a Proclamation granting amnesty to rebel returnees, and I ask Congress to support me in this endeavor,” the President vowed.

A new proclamation is needed to extend the application process of the Amnesty program, which lapsed in January this year. The previous proclamations were issued during the time of Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

President Marcos is determined to continue the amnesty process. He earlier appointed the commissioners of the National Amnesty Commission (NAC), namely: Chairperson Atty. Leah Tanodra-Armamento, Comm. Atty. Jamar Kulayan, and Comm. Nasser Marahomsalic.

If you had been reading my weekly article on the insurgency this declaration it would have come as no surprise. But those who have not read my articles are angry and baffled at this granting of amnesty. They seem shocked and scared. They say Marcos is now colluding with the communists and he might as well abolish the NTF-ELCAC.

https://twitter.com/ArmanFacundo/status/1727908684968423645

NTF-ELCAC fully neutered. What's next? Term sharing with the terrorists?

 

https://twitter.com/AlexBNFC/status/1727847594972610834

Given Marcos Jr.'s decision to grant amnesty to leaders of the CPP-NPA-NDF, it wouldn't be shocking if he decides to abolish NTF-ELAC next.

God save the Philippines!

https://twitter.com/cocostarmaximus/status/1727851208180973681

If you are already in bed with enemies of the state then just go all the way then. 

So what’s next after this? Abolish the NTF-ELCAC? 

I bet the Americans are very happy with how their pet dog is performing.

https://twitter.com/maltiq/status/1727836602716783050

Seriously?!

https://twitter.com/Targrod/status/1727849531642114273

Might as well dissolve NTF-ELCAC ano.

How can all these people be so wrong? One need not even read my articles to know that the NTF-ELCAC has said amnesty is "key to ending the insurgency."

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1207037

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said the government's amnesty program is the key to beating the country's long-standing insurgency threat.

"This is a golden opportunity for us to finally put an end to (the) insurgency in our country. We are confident that sooner rather than later, we will be ending the scourge of insurgency in our country," NTF-ELCAC Secretariat executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a post of the body's Facebook page on Thursday.

He also expressed belief that these "communist terrorist groups" (CTGs) will go for the amnesty program due to the "leadership vacuum" currently being experienced by the insurgents following the death and neutralization of their ranking leaders.

"These CTGs will embrace the amnesty because of the 'leadership vacuum' with the death of (Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair) Jose Maria Sison or Joma and other top cadres, some of whom were already either perished or arrested in military and police encounters," Torres said.

The NTF-ELCAC was formed in 2019 by Duterte who himself issued an offer of amnesty. The NTF-ELCAC and ECLIP is all about amnesty. Rebels surrender and receive thousand of pesos, job training, and housing all in an effort to reintegrate them back into society. Amnesty and surrender has been the call of the AFP and the rest of the nation's security agencies for several years now.

These people would know all this if they read my weekly article about the insurgency. They would know how the NTF-ELCAC operates and how the AFP thinks they will defeat the insurgency through amnesty. There is nothing secret in my articles which all come from the mainstream news.  

Now, if you want to stay up to date about the insurgency in the Philippines you have two options. You can either read the news and try to keep all the stories together or you can read my weekly article about the insurgency where I distill all those news stories into one easy to digest article. Choose. But choose wisely.