Good morning Ipil! Scene Of Carnage In 1995 Now Peaceful Community

It’s a new day today in the capital tow of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay where I spent the last two nights while campaigning with Presidential Candidate Panfilo Lacson and Vice Presidential Candidate Vicente Sotto III.
Ipil is now a progressive town, a far cry from the burnt and ravaged town 27 years ago when a band of Abu Sayyaf bandits attacked this coastal community.
Here is an account of that massacre published by wikipedia:
“The 1995 Ipil massacre occurred on the morning of April 4, 1995, in the municipality of Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay province when approximately 200 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf militants[1] fired upon residents, strafed civilian homes, plundered banks, took up to 30 hostages and then burned the center of the town to the ground.[2][3]
“The militants allegedly arrived in the town by boat and bus, and a number of them had been dressed in military fatigues.
“The town’s Chief of Police was reportedly killed in the attack and close to a billion pesos were looted from eight commercial banks.[4] Army commandos pursued some rebel gunmen in nearby mountains while officials said that the rebels were looting farms and seizing civilians as “human shields” as they fled the town of[5] About 40 rebels, who may have taken hostages, were cornered in a school compound west of Ipil on April 6 when an elite army unit attacked. In the fighting that followed, the television station GMA reported, 11 civilians were killed.[5]”
Four days from now, the town of Ipil will remember that tragic day and certainly sad memories will come back to cause pain among families who lost their loved ones.
There is nothing much that the people could do now except to learn lessons from that tragedy – we cannot and should not go back to the days of conflict in Mindanao.
We have to pursue the gains of peace achieved by President Rodrigo Duterte when he finally brought the Moro islamic Liberation Front to the peace table to sign the historic agreement ending the conflict.
Peace in Mindanao is President Duterte’s greatest legacy to the Filipinos, especially to us people of Mindanao.
Ito lang ang sagot ko sa mga nagtatanong kung bakit nananatili akong kaibigan at kasangga ng Pangulong Duterte.
Totoo, may mga issues laban sa kanya pero kung titiingnan natin ang malaking larawan, it is very clear that in spite of the many issues and controversies which markied his Presidency, it was only Rodrigo Duterte who had the guts and the courage to look at the MILF leadership straight in the eye and tell them that the Filipino people are crying for peace and the conflict must end.
#PeaceGreatestDuterteLegacy!

Source: Manny Piñol FB Page