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Watching the news about the soldiers who were recently killed in Basilan, I merely shook my head and sighed. When will they ever learn? I wanted to cry out. When will we grow tired of throwing away the lives of soldiers who have fought and lost life and limb in Basilan? When will the government realize that the only solution for this problem is an all out war?

The gruesome fate of these soldiers recently has again fueled the debate on how the problem in the south should be addressed. Some are pushing for an all out war in Mindanao and some are pushing for peace talks. Now, I have nothing against peace talks but as someone who has once been personally affected by these monstrosities, I say, kill them all.

I am not a violent person, in fact I abhor unnecessary violence, but I have also lived in close proximity to the so called war zone to know that some violence is necessary. A one time war, I believe would be much more economical in terms of assets and lives than a prolonged, recurring problem. The number of lives lost these past several years would have been averted had the government been more steadfast and consistent in their drive to eradicate this insurgent problem. This has been festering for a long time. Nothing has really changed, after several years, the problem with the Abu Sayyaf, MILF and MNLF, are how they were all those years ago.  The problem should be dealt with once and for all.

I always say, you have to experience living in Basilan to understand the problem. Learning about it in books, reports, and studies will never give you an accurate view. The notion of the oppressed Muslim fighting for equal rights is passé. In Basilan, almost all officials in government are Muslims, what else is there to fight for? They are basically in power now. This is not a problem of oppression or anything. It is pure terrorism and banditry.  The government should see that by now.

I am affected by these since my family hails from Basilan. I graduated from the Basilan National High School and I still have relatives in the province. I was in Basilan in the early nineties, when the Abu Sayyaf first gained fame. Back then, while people my age in other parts of the country were worried about mundane things like crushes; my classmates and I were worried about bombs and drive by shootings. Helicopters hovering by are as normal as an Army Armored Personnel Carriers parked near the church. I knew people who were kidnapped and killed, families torn apart by the violence, and children orphaned by the group.

To the rest of the country, the problem of the Abu Sayyaf was merely a spectacle in the news, something that happened far away. For those of us in Basilan, we lived through that nightmare. I graduated from high school without ever going to the movies with my friends for fear that there might be a bomb. We learned to be cautious. We prayed for it to end.

During high school, and even until now, I don’t see the logic on what those groups are fighting for.  From where I’m standing, I don’t really see the urgency in their demands. Wasn’t the province already run by Muslims? The governor was a Muslim, the Congressman was a Muslim, and almost all local officials are Muslims. Even the officials in schools and other government institutions were Muslims. What oppression were they talking about?

It is so easy for people in Manila to talk about achieving peace through negotiations when they are not personally affected by the violence. One of my friends in Facebook said that one of the reason that she was against an all out war is that no matter how far the war is from her, it will eventually reach her and what kind of country would her children grow up in. It angered me since she never thought for one moment that there are children who are already living in the war zone and whose only hope of freedom is the eradication of these armed rebel forces.

Furthermore, this problem should not be seen as ideologically or even religiously motivated. The war against these groups is a war against terrorism and banditry. Their being Muslim is merely incidental and putting their religion in the forefront is an insult to the rest of the Muslim community in Mindanao who are living in peace.

I may have left Basilan when I went away for college but I still have family there and I would go home every time I have the chance. Whenever I talk to them about this problem, all they tell me is they hope that the government will get it over with. A cousin posted in frustration that the term peace talks is indeed appropriate for in this solution, “hanggang salita na lang ang kapayapaan, at  ‘di sa totoong buhay.” The people of Basilan are sick and tired of the charade. After the so called peace talks, nothing really changes, except the rest of the country is merely kept in the dark.

To be able to find a solution to this problem, the government should ask the people who are directly affected by this insurgency. What do people in Basilan want? The voice of those who are in the hot zone should be given more weight and not the so-called experts who have been away from Basilan for so long or have never been there in the first place. Those academics must realize that this is not an intellectual exercise, and while the debate goes on, people are getting killed or maimed. The government should listen to them.

As for me, I have always believed that these groups are not ideologically or religiously motivated and should be treated as mere bandits and terrorists. An all out war should be declared for they are no different from hold uppers and other criminal elements in the metro and we don’t initiate peace talks with them, do we?

Miel Feria is a Manila-based freelance writer and former student activist. She also writes for the POC LGBT channel . You can email her at mielferia@gmail.com.

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