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On the Valentine’s Day bombings

We join the rest of the Filipino people in utter condemnation of the Valentine’s Day bombings in Makati, Davao and General Santos cities that killed at least 10 people and wounded 136 plus others.

It is clear that whoever is behind these bombings, they do not serve the cause of the Moro people nor of the wider Filipino people. The bombings will only be used to justify more repression and foreign intervention in the name of the US-led “war against terror.”

While the government and police authorities should pursue and punish the real perpetrators of this heinous crime against ordinary people, they should not resort to the usual dubious methods of using Moro groups or Muslim communities as convenient scapegoats for media consumption.

It would be the height of hypocrisy and irony if the government now uses the Valentine’s Day bombings to justify a renewed all-out war against the Moro people – who are dying daily by the dozen from government bombs and bullets – or worse, an anti-terrorism law or martial-law measure that will expand the war to victimize the entire Filipino people. #

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