Deception in Mindanao:
Malaca�ang cooks up schemes for Arroyo's visit

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Malaca�ang has cooked up various kinds of deception to cover up the real developments in Mindanao and give the media something pleasant to report with respect to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's week-long visit there this June.

The most glaring item was Malaca�ang's release of a fabricated letter supposedly from Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Hashim Salamat, stating that the MILF would voluntarily inhibit itself from operating in two towns of Maguindanao (Pagalungan and SK Pendatun) and one town in North Cotabato (Pikit) to convert these areas into "zones of peace." The letter was read during Arroyo's visit to Pagalungan.

In a radio interview, however, MILF chief information officer Mohagher Iqbal

The declaration of "zones of peace" is an old tactic of the reactionary government that wrongly portrays the revolutionary forces like the NPA and the MILF as the only source of violence in any area. It is a big hypocrisy because while revolutionaries are forbidden from entering such "zones of peace," the AFP is allowed to come in, sow terror and violate the people's human rights.

In his interview, Iqbal declared that the MILF will, in fact, intensify its offensives because the Arroyo regime has responded to the MILF's deference to requests of peace advocates for a ceasefire declaration (from June 2 to 12, and extended to June 22) with intensified military operations.

Before Arroyo's arrival, internal refugees were also forcibly sent away from the various evacuation centers even as AFP attacks on the areas they vacated have not subsided. Those that remained were given additional food in an utter gesture of hypocrisy. The added rations immediately stopped when Arroyo left.

The DSWD itself has reported that up to 215 civilians have died from relentless AFP operations against the MILF and the Moro people. Of these casualties, 43 or 20% are children 10 years old or younger who have died from measles, pneumonia, diarrhea and dehydration, mostly in the evacuation centers.

21 June 2003
English Edition

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