A SHAMELESS shakedown and a wimpy leadership.

We don’t know how else to describe the “condition-less cash transfers” by the Aquino administration to Muslim and communist rebel groups.    

We have said it before, and we say it again: You cannot solve a bad problem by throwing good money at it.

Doles have never worked as a socio-economic lifeline for the marginalized sector.

They have even been serially proven to be  counter-productive as they foster a culture of mendicancy.

Which prompts us to ask: How can a right-thinking government expect them to work for insurgent groups?

Feeding the hand that bites you is just plain stupidity.

The church and some non-government organizations have a better record at mobilizing resources with a maximum impact on improving living conditions of depressed communities.  

And so we have to agree with a Mindanao Catholic bishop in assailing the Aquino administration’s doles to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Alex Boncayao Brigade, saying it was “caving in to extortion”.

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Collin Bagaforo told the Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas that the deal also lacked transparency, hinting that public funds given away to rebels might be lost to fraud and corruption.

“[The cash handout] creates a bad impression because the administration yielded to groups considered enemies of the state. It’s akin to giving in to bribes and at the same time surrendering to extortion,” Bagaforo was quoted by a broadsheet as saying.

Iligan Bishop Elenito Galido echoed the call, saying the doles granted to rebels would not expedite the peace process, contrary to Malacañang’s position.

In this sense, some analysts might even call the handout an act of treason.

The cash disbursements were confirmed by both rebel groups.

In fact, P267 million of the agreed P500-million worth of high-impact livelihood projects had been released to the “expelled members” of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa Pilipinas-Revolutionary Proletarian Army-ABB as of May 2010, but not a single centavo went to the bigger faction led by Nilo dela Cruz.

Dela Cruz, RPMP-RPA-ABB president, claimed the Aquino government was dealing with “scoundrels and scalawags” that were co-opted by the Arroyo administration.