he correct form
was for every newly appointed chief of staff to declare that the Armed Forces
would deal severe blows to the communist insurgency under his leadership. There
were exceptions when other security threats were edging the communists out of
the front pages as in the Abu Sayyaf rash of kidnappings and the intermittent
show of force by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
So what do we make of Gen. Hermogenes Esperon’s statement
that "blood will flow" in the coming months covered by his extension? Such a
statement would have been "de kahon" when he was named to the highest AFP
position. But 17 months later?
Does it mean he has had no significant successes all this
time, prompting him to mount a full-court press in the last three minutes of the
game?
The communist rebellion cannot be crippled, crushed or routed
in three months, the extension granted to Esperon, or in three years for that
matter, the deadline given by Gloria Arroyo to the AFP for reducing the rebels
into a noisy but enfeebled nuisance.
So what does it take then to relegate the communists to the
dust heap of history to where they belong? It is in sweeping away the bases of
the rebellion, namely, poverty and oppression. This is concededly a long-term
program. But the government can, for starters, show it cares about the lot of
the masses of our people. This requires a total government commitment to help
them, a demand that cannot be met by officials whose apparent sole focus is to
line their pockets thick.
The administration of Arroyo is not trusted by three out of four Filipinos.
