By Raissa Robles – When I watched the coffins of the slain police commandos at the airport today, I felt very, very sad and pained that the Mindanao wars which started nearly half a century ago continues to this day.

I also realized by looking at the feeds on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter that those living outside Mindanao had little grasp of the violent history that has engulfed the island of Mindanao. The shocking sight of 44 dead bodies in neat rows today was probably one of the rare times that people in Manila have witnessed the deadly consequences of the Mindanao wars.