They are the unsung heroes because it’s really their job to defend the country from external and internal forces. Nowhere is this role more evident than in Marawi where our soldiers are still battling the Maute who , strengthened by internal terrorist ISIS, are holding out.
Aside from the military offensive, our fighting men find time to take part in the rescue, relief and evacuation of the Marawi residents displaced by the siege now entering its fourth month. From all indication some of the government troops will remain in Marawi to provide security and make sure terrorists cannot come back to sow death and destruction. The soldiers, we are told, will also assist in the restoration work of the badly damaged city.
I will not mention the names of the high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who are calling the shots in Marawi. It is the men on the ground who follow orders without question and risk their lives who should be accorded admiration and praise for their courage. These soldiers have families waiting for their safe return. A wife, children and parents praying for their safety. They too deserve our prayers; they suffer in silence and the agony of waiting for word on their husbands, fathers and sons after every military operation.
It’s a hazardous profession. But many of our young men choose a military career and go to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio. Usually from poor families, these men in the prime of their lives opted for a military career because the job market is already full of lawyers, doctors and engineers.
Hence, we have heroes as exemplified by the 44 members of the PNP Special Action Force who were massacred in Mamasapano by combined forces of the MILF, BIFF and Abu Sayyaf. The SAF team were on a mission to serve an arrest warrant to international terrorist and bomb maker Marwan. They were able to kill Marwan but were waylaid as they withdrew from the operation site.
Compare the hard choice and path taken by these gallant men of the AFP to the senseless need to belong by some of our students in expensive colleges and universities. Unlike the soldiers’ esprit d’corps, these students are misguided to think they need to belong to fraternities .
We sympathize with the parents of hazing victims. It’s about time hazing is totally outlawed. Colleges and universities bear the responsibility of making sure hazing is not done by fraternities. Expulsion of those found guilty of hazing should be these educational institutions’ priority measure.
While most of these horrific hazing is done outside the school premises, college and university officials should still be held accountable for not monitoring student activity. It’s not just about raising tuition, really. The well-being of their students should also be of paramount concern.
Why would anyone want to belong to a fraternity group whose leaders enjoy inflicting pain and humiliation to new members? Sado-masochism seems to have found its place in these fraternities. During my time as university student I was asked to join a fraternity. I declined the invitation and was treated like an outcast and some kind of a lone wolf which I was then. I’m sure I’m going to draw flak from the fraternity crowd. But someone has to speak out against the practice of hazing lest we have more victims like Horacio Castillo III, the UST student who died from serious injuries caused by hazing.
Instead of joining fraternities or sororities, students should join civic groups that help in time of natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes. Community service is a more worthy cause. I may sound like I’m preaching but I am a parent too and I can empathize with those who lost a child because of senseless initiation rites that can turn violent.
The perpetrators in the Castillo case have fled the country. Because they belong to wealthy and well-off families they were able to buy plane tickets to the US where they think can hide . The parents of Castillo have asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel the fugitives’ passports and have them extradited back to the Philippines.
So, was one night of inflicting pain on another person worth it?