TWO of the recent military casualties in the conflict in Mindanao were from Iloilo City. Marine Cpl. Angelo Abeto who died in Basilan in an encounter with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), comes from a remote portion of barangay Airport in Mandurriao District, a grandson of a barangay captain in Iloilo City.

I met his bride of four months who is a schoolteacher from Palawan, and also his mother who expressed pride that her son fell in battle, doing his job in defense of the citizens of our motherland. The wife informed me that she has not yet received any assistance from the military, except for two checks worth P80,000 representing the contributions of his comrades-in-arms in the Marine Corps. I discussed the matter with Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on August 18 and he assured me the late corporal’s family will soon receive the needed assistance and benefits from the AFP. As an Ilonggo, I grieve for the untimely death of a fine soldier, but am proud of his heroism.

Another fallen hero of the Mindanao conflict is Lt. Col. Angel Benitez, who was also from Iloilo and was married to the granddaughter of former Iloilo City Mayor Luis Herrera, an employee of the Iloilo City government. The untimely death of Lieutenant Colonel Benitez was a result of the perfidious attack and cruelty of the MILF’s so-called “Renegade Command,” under renegade Commander Bravo. Like Abeto, Benitez died a hero’s death, fighting to the last bullet when his group was ambushed somewhere in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte. I mourn the tragedy that befell the Abeto and Benitez families and I condole with them. We are proud of these Ilonggo warriors, our heroes in war, and may God bless them.

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So many innocent civilians, young and old, were murdered by bandits and terrorists under MILF Commander Bravo when they attacked the town of Kolambugan. These terrorists must pay for their crimes. Government forces should not give any breathing space for these criminals; they should be relentlessly pursued and brought before the bar of justice. Perhaps Chairman Leila de Lima of the Commission on Human Rights should now have the reason and courage to denounce and investigate the inhuman acts of these rebels rather than concentrate her efforts on hazy accusations against our own military and police.

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On August 18, the nation celebrated the martyrdom of a great Filipino. It is only fitting that the Filipino people should pause to reflect on the heroism of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., whose martyrdom reawakened and rekindled a nation’s courage against a reigning dictatorship. I can still remember the days at the height of the dictatorship when one could count with his fingers the people who, like our forefathers, did not sleep during those dark days but dared to light a candle rather than curse the darkness. It was Ninoy’s assassination that sparked a nationwide resentment and, suddenly, people mustered enough courage to march on the streets and shout boldly their long-held sentiments against the dictatorship. Before Ninoy’s murder, many of these people were timid and scared out of their pants, and, for good reason, intimidated by the ASSO and the prospect of a PDA from Camp Crame. They were voiceless for so many years only to come out under such names as JAJA, Atom, Bonifacio and other acronyms spelling out the latent valorous spirit of the Filipino.

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I am proud to say that in those uncertain days, I continued to fight the dictatorship all the way to the Supreme Court and also through my writings in the We Forum. Records will show that there were very few of us who openly questioned the arbitrary actions of the dictatorship from Day One when martial law was declared, up to the fall of the ignominious regime. Who, for example, visited Ninoy almost every week in the isolation of his cell in Fort Bonifacio? Who fought for and defended Ninoy before the Military Commission No. 2? In the Fernando Commission? In the Tolentino Commission? In the Agrava Board? Who went to the Supreme Court to question Ninoy’s death sentence by musketry handed down by Military Commission No. 2 in that celebrated case of Aurora Aquino vs Military Commission No. 2? I am proud to say that it was Raul M. Gonzalez.

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Winners in the recently held ARMM elections were proclaimed less than 48 hours after the close of the precincts. It is quite clear that the automation project can work. But will it also work on an expanded basis, say for a national election? The speed with which the votes were counted, classified and summarized, was simply impressive. Whatever opposition there was before the ARMM election was dwarfed by the impressive performance of the machines. We endorse the automation of our polls to bring our electoral process into the 21st century and to drastically cut down counting time and eliminate many of the attendant problems of an outmoded tabulation that invariably creates doubts and protests that have stigmatized Philippine elections for decades. I hope the project gets approved as fast as it performed last week.

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