Now that P-Noy and his Cabinet seem to be easing up on China with that presidential admonition to Ambassador Sonia Brady to find ways to resolve the current stand off with the Chinese and bring justice to our claims over the disputed areas in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), it is time for the administration to find ways to give rightful justice to our soldiers who have borne the brunt of standing up for our rights and territorial integrity.
I refer in particular to the 19 members of the AFP Special Forces Regiment, including a young captain who were massacred, some even beheaded, by members of the MILF 114th Base Command led by a certain commander Dan Aswani.  
It is very sad that eight months after the slaughter of our soldiers, Aswani and his group remain scot-free and probably preparing for another assault. Nobody has ever been arrested or summoned to court despite the filing of murder charges against the leaders of the assault. Worse, what we have been hearing of late is that the GRP Peace Panel negotiating with the MILF is even now considering letting this matter pass so the “peace talks” can move on. What utter nonsense.
This was not the first time and probably will not be the last that our soldiers will suffer that kind of violent death in Al-Barka. We seem to have never learned and at the most opportune times lost our nerve in the process.
Some years back at the height of the “all-out war” against the Abu Sayyaf and other lawless elements in Basilan, another group of 12 soldiers was also waylaid by the same group using the same barbaric methods. The country was so outraged then that battalions of soldiers poured into the island province and were about to get the Aswani group until international pressure got in the way using the interim “ceasefire agreement” then in place.
This time around when almost the entire nation was raring to go all out and get the massacre perpetrators and bring them to justice, P-Noy asked and was given the opportunity to resolve the issue in his best lights. We protested but eventually relented when he said instead of “all-out war” we should now adopt “all-out justice.” We had hoped that indeed he would be able to keep to his promise. We even kept our peace when he lectured the AFP top brass for poor intelligence work as if doing their job and going after the troublemakers were being fool hardy. We continued being patient with the administration and the AFP when then Chief of Staff Ed Oban ordered the court martial of the very commanders who have been doing such a yeoman’s job keeping the troublemakers out of our territories, Regimental Commander Colonel Undog and his deputy, Colonel Edralin, plus two other  senior officers.
This was really the most bitter of the pill which our very own soldiers have endured out of this incident, especially since it was clear the administration took the word of the MILF that it has punished and restricted to their territories (imagine that) hook, line and sinker without even demanding proof that indeed such penalty was actually imposed. Not only that. With this act the administration virtually confirmed that Al-Barka is truly MILF territory which no Philippine government personnel can enter into without MILF permission.
What made matters even worse, as former PAF Commanding General and Customs Commissioner Ramon Farolan noted in two columns he wrote for another paper, was the fact that not a whimper was heard from the likes of Senators Gringo Honasan, Antonio Trillanes IV and Rep. Pong Biazon — three soldiers whose electoral victories were hitched on the wings of their being “defenders of the force,” so to speak, and the ultimate fighters for our national well-being and territorial integrity. They had expected more from them than just a nod and a wink to the courage and virtues of our soldiers. They had expected them to fight for the force and the justice they deserve. They have allowed their own kind to be so humiliated before our people and the world.
What a pity. Now, will we count months, many even years before the perpetrators of the Al-Barka massacres get to answer for their misdeeds? Let’s hope not.