The government’s rhetoric on “pursuing peace” in Mindanao notwithstanding, the Arroyo administration cannot be expected to push for a real end to renewed hostilities in Mindanao which erupted in the wake of the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). With the war raging on in Mindanao, the public’s attention has been diverted from other serious issues such as the extrajudicial killings, the NBN-ZTE deal, the value-added tax (VAT), the enforced disappearances, the killings of journalists, corruption, and the pursuit of a just peace.

By FLON FAURILLO
(Bulatlat.com)