One wonders what the families of the soldiers and civilians killed by the “fighters” of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) now that the Philippine Government is reportedly doling out enormous reward packages to their “retirees” are thinking.
Each retired fighter will receive a million pesos’ worth of cash, scholarships, health insurance, and training to become productive civilians.
It seems not just crime but terrorism pays well in the Philippines. One couldn’t be blamed in thinking that the 2015 deaths of 44 Special Action Force officers at Mamasapano, all coldly massacred by these “fighters”, were all in vain.
We’d like to think the deaths of the 44 SAF troopers meant something — that their deaths will not have all been in vain. Sadly, we will have to face the truth that their deaths were utterly senseless. Nowadays, the MILF leadership happens to be in bed with the Philippine government. Baffling indeed!
For that matter, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Filipino soldiers and police officers who fought these Islamic terrorists could be said to have all been in vain. The enemy was not beaten. Though they died serving their country as heroically as Jose Rizal did, they did not really change anything.
Webmaster of Get Real Philippines