Republic of the Philippines

House of Representatives
Quezon City

HON. SHERWIN N. TUGNA

Representative, CIBAC Party List

CIBAC DECLARES SUPPORT TO P-NOYS ALL-OUT JUSTICE Seeks for Calm Midst Calls for All-out War Oct. 25, 2011- Citizens Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) Party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna expressed support to Malacanangs position regarding government response to the spate of attacks on government soldiers attributed to rouge elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Earlier yesterday, President Aquino vowed to go after the perpetrators of the attacks and bring justice to the victims but stopped short of declaring an all-out war as advocated by some quarters. According to Tugna, he agrees with the Presidents position that an all-out war would only further jeopardize the peace process and will not address the root causes of the decades-long Moro insurgency. Citing experience from a past administrations all out war policy, he cautioned hawkish proponents to stand down and review the probable consequences of what they are advocating - thousands of displaced families and plenty of lives lost from both armed combatants and civilians. Tugna says that an all-out-war policy against the Moro rebels may have resulted to the military regaining Moro territory but did nothing to impact on the multifaceted causes of rebellion. Honestly, an all-out war is not a panacea in the battle against insurgency. Instead of weakening the rebels, it strengthened their moral resolve and provided them experience for a protracted struggle. Moreover, its human and environmental costs were staggering, producing hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees and leveling forests with air bombings, artillery fire, and extensive ground operations, offered Tugna. Tugna agrees that the government needs to provide immediate justice to the victims. The government should pursue the lawless elements responsible for the attacks and apply to them the full force of the law. The CIBAC representative said that speculations of an international dimension should not deter actions in improving the peace and socio-economic conditions of the troubled region. Whats important is that we should be firm in our position against a state within a state. This should be non-negotiable and the MILF should accept this. Peace negotiations need to be conducted within this framework to prevent those with warlike and insidious agendas in hindering the peace process, concluded Tugna. ###