I previously wrote on the topic of Angelo de la Cruz, currently hostage and weapon of mass deception used by his terrorist captors, and how the Philippine government’s usual response to crises such as these is to sit down and “consider,” — without actually considering anything, and only as lip service, basically.

Slowly but surely, the Philippines is learning that this age-old tactic can no longer work: the art of nuanced deception has failed it in this situation, and it will continue to fail in the future. The intent of jihadic terrorists is simple: dhimmitude or death, and no amount of intentional ambiguity, as Dean Jorge Bocobo calls it (without apoligism, which Rob Tagorda attaches to the users of the term) can weasel a government out of that narrow space between that rock and hard place.

Dean Bocobo gives much, much more faith in the general Philippine populace than I do. These days I can no longer be as forgiving: despite the desire to move to the USA by droves of people and their patronage of most things American, the Leftward shift against any and all war, and the flood of nihilistic, post-modern intellectualism — against which Filipino youth are much, much more vulnerable when the premium on a tertiary-level education and their collegiate experiences are considered — can no longer be ignored. The intelligentsia of the University Of The Philippines graduates proseletyze from positions gained either through merit or not, and their words carry gravitas that is hard to match. There has always been a European streak in the intellectuals of the Philippines: most conventional wisdom is grounded in common sense and American simplisme; the only way to stand out as a thinker in the country — scholar or author or what-have-you — is to embrace that which has not gained vulgarity through popularity. And that is their choice.

At one point or another, their blatherings were my own.

The fluid posturing of the Philippines, at a better time in history, would make Sun Tzu proud. Here we face an enemy that is not as easily baffled, and whose goals are clear as day. My only wish is that Pres. Arroyo would apply the lessons we all know she knows. No media victory, nor the life of this single citizen is worth the consequences of empowering this enemy.