IN THE past two weeks, we’ve been bombarded by the trials and tribulations of heroes, especially of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

But in the very month when we are supposed to honor heroes, our very own kababayans have been annihilated from the face of this earth by a brewing war in the land of the Moros down south. Closer to home, two Ilonggo families mourn two men who died brutally in the hands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

By all means, Army Lt. Col. Angel Benitez and Marine Cpl. Angelo Abeto deserve all the honors, albeit posthumously. To think of it, they both sacrificed life itself and were patriots as having served in the armed forces.

On hindsight though, both Angel and Angelo did not really have to die. They did not have to be casualties in a war that was the own making of the very government they served. It was the making of an ex-general disguised as a peacemaker whose experimentation with pseudo appeasement was not only unconstitutional, but more so, instigated a group of Muslim fundamentalists to wage a renewed ruthless killing spree in the name of reclaiming the glory of governing an ancestral land.

Because of this, two mothers lost a son, two wives no longer have a husband, four children no longer have a father, and a blind teen no longer has a brother. No amount of posthumous awards and financial aid can bring back to life Angel and Angelo.

More frightening, the very tactic of GMA’s government has made Bangsamoro evolve into an Orwellian state. In Bangsamoro right now, “war is peace.” In Bangsamoro right now, “freedom is slavery.” In Bangsamoro right now, “ignorance is strength.”

And yet, GMA has the audacity to tell us that “there is no all-out war.” She has the audacity to tell us that her government is pursuing an “all-out peace.” What peace does she speak of when women no longer have husbands and children no longer have fathers? What peace does she speak of when 360,000 Filipinos have been displaced in fear of being the next civilian casualties? What peace does she speak of when this “splendid little war” achieved nothing except lifeless bodies here and there?

Peace in the context of war and war in the context of peace are the dual paradoxes that have existed and will continue to exist in this brewing conflict with issues that are more complicated than ancestral domains. In fact, the root of the problem stretches beyond these 7,107 islands and centuries prior to Spanish colonization. Since the 12th century, the Crusades sparked a long and endless clash between Christians and Muslims in the name of religion.

Heroes are heroes because they primarily have the wisdom and virtue to defend an ideology. Sadly, GMA’s government made a mockery of the very essence of heroism by putting men like Angel and Angelo in the frontline to fight a senseless war.

Notwithstanding the “all-out peace” mantra, GMA and her pseudo peace advisers are actually inviting us to what the poet Pablo Neruda once lamented. That is, to “come and see the blood in the streets.”

By this gruesome invitation, GMA and her pseudo peace advisers have not yet grasped the essence of the peace process and conflict resolution. They have yet to heed Sun Tzu’s teaching on how “to win without fighting is best.”

Indeed, there is no need to wait for another Angel, another Angelo, or the many nameless faces to die in vain for nothing.

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