Honasan wants to see Teodoro "in action" in strife-torn Mindanao
Enough of band-aid solutions to gaping wound in South, says Senator

Sen. Gregorio Honasan expects to see more of the new Secretary of National Defense, former Tarlac Rep. Gilbert Teodoro, "in action" in Mindanao as armed hostilities continue to escalate in that part of the country.

Honasan said he finds "new hope for a good start" in Teodoro.

"We look forward to seeing him in action in Mindanao. He is young, competent and determined, but he has a long road to tread, eventually having to deal with armed services steeped in the old -- but not necessarily right -- ways. He has my support," Honasan said.

The senator said Teodoro, an honorary member of Philippine Military Academy Class '76, could relate more easily with younger officers and political leaders who may help advance bold reforms toward genuine peace and development in the South.

"Muslim Mindanao is not and has never been the problem. The problem lies in national policy-makers -- from economic development planners to politicians -- who have done little to uplift the whole of Mindanao," Honasan stressed.

"Band aid solutions cannot stop the gaping wound in Mindanao. Piece-meal and half-baked approaches are simply no longer applicable there," he added.

The senator likened the crisis in the provinces of Basilan and Sulu to an emergency room patient who instantly needs surgery and a massive blood transfusion, but who is getting only first aid.

"Mindanao does not need a few billion pesos here and there over several years. It needs several billions of pesos in development funds in quick order," said Honasan, who has been pushing for a Marshall Plan-type Mindanao recovery and reconstruction fund.

Muslim and other Filipinos in Mindanao are entitled to their share of access to good-paying jobs, productive lands, decent housing as well as adequate education and health care, he pointed out.

"The crisis there cannot be resolved by simply overrunning insurgents in the battlefield," said the senator, a former Army colonel who knows first-hand the suffering of war, having been wounded as a young soldier in several battles in Mindanao.

Since he was first elected senator in 1995, Honasan has been pushing three pieces of proposed new legislation -- the National Peace Policy Act, National Security Policy and Planning Act and the National Land Use Policy Act.

Together, these bills provide a comprehensive peace and development strategy that would promptly and deliberately address widespread injustice and poverty in Mindanao and other strife-torn parts of the country.

The Armed Forces has launched a fresh offensive in the islands of Jolo and Basilan following the recent killing of 27 Army soldiers and 14 Marines, 10 of them beheaded, after clashing with Muslim insurgents.