As I continue my wrap up of the 2010 Election Season one might ask just why I even bother since thus far,all areas mentioned have managed to live up to their nefarious reputations.I suppose that it might be a fair question but apart from simply noting the causes of unrest,i.e."insurgency,"people familiar with Mindanao are well aware of how such events go woefully under reported.People who have never been here or alternatively may have only been here in passing would usually have to rely strictly upon media reportage in trying to gain a clear picture of what took place this past Election Season.Obviously that would be problematic.Before a problem can be solved it has to be first identified and then discussed.
The government has its reasons for claiming that this was one of the safest Election Seasons in memory,but their rationale is self serving and will not do anything for the people of Mindanao or those trying to help them.The National figures for Election Related Violence,or"EVR,"and more to the point the figures relating to EVR Deaths does not even exceed the number of deaths from a single Mindanowan Region (Region IX, Zamoboanga Peninsula for example) so there definitely needs to be a record made of what happened this year,and what happens here day in and day out. Pretending it does not happen is not going to help a single person on this island,save a precious few deeply tied into the national government either politically or economically (which in the Philippines,like most nations,happens to be one and the same).
All things considered,Cotabato's 2 provinces (North and South,with North's infamous city, Cotabato City) are the historical epicenter of the Mindanowan insurgency.Originally the capital of the Maguindanowan Sultante,and the seat of Spanish administration of the island until Zamoboanga"s"La Caldera"was developed,the city has seen it share of hard times.A metropolis with a strong Christian population (mostly Ilonggons and to a lesser degree Cebuanos) it sits in the middle of a mostly Islamic region.
The night before Election Day,Sunday,May 9th at 7PM,just as the Islamic 4th Prayer finished,a man tossed a hand grenade into the entrance of a village mosque in Sitio Tinibtikan,Barangay Batulawan,in the town of Pikit,North Cotabato Province killing 1 man,Manuel Tautin and wounding 9 others.Although the town is the historical epicenter of the Ilaga-Barakuda paramilitary war (Christian versus Muslim) of the late 1960s/early 1970s (with the Ilaga re-emerging there in the early mid-1980s) this killing is not believed to be sectarian related and is instead believed to be Election related.
On Election Day itself,Monday,May 10th, 2010 at 105AM in Kidipawan City,South Cotabato Province,supporters of local cable television magnate Nancy Catamco were out plastering campaign posters near Catamco's home when they ran across supporters of Cotabato Christian (as in the ethnic sense) icon Congressman Bernardo"Bernie"Pinol,of the Pinol political dyansty.As these things usually do,it quickly devolved into gunfire causing the death of Pinol supporter Johnny Magbanua,aged 28.Interestingly,instead of simply denying any level of culpability,Ms.Catamco blamed the killing on another Pinol supporter,Efren Albaera Rivera.A 2nd man,Leo Laquinadanum,was badly wounded.
After the dust had cleared,and Ms.Catamco won a stunning upset against Pinol in the election that day,the soon to be ex-Governor Pinol went to the media with his version of events,which do not seem that removed from reality considering all reports thus far.Pinol claims that Catamco's armed supporters were at one of her cable stations,just meters away from the shooting site and that as Magbanua turned to leave,seeing that he was greatly outnumbered,these men shot him in the back (also supported by autopsy reports).It has to be noted that the CIDG (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group of the PNP) has failed to connect any Catamco supporters but then again they have failed to solidly connect anyone to the shooting).Indeed,the CIDG Report seems to actually point a finger at the aforementioned Pinol supporter,Efren Albaera Rivera,showing the PNP to truly epitomise political whoredom.After buttering their bread off of the Pinol Clan's collective backside the local PNP stooges took all of 9 hours to completely burn a decades long bridge.
Congresswoman Elect Catamco's version has the campaign workers out plastering posters when they notice a group of 4 men on 4 motorcycles trailing them.This almost always signals deadly trouble in Mindanao,all the more so when the men,like these men are wearing skimasks,or as they are called locally,"bonnets."Seeing they were had,the men on motorcycles allegedly took some pistol shots at the Catamco campaign workers,who were themselves then able to speed away towards Catamco's residence and flagship cable station (the 2 buildings are adjacent to one another).Reaching the front of that station,the groups collided and 1 man died in the subsequent firefight.The Catamco group IDd the shooters as Magbanua,Laquindanum,Rivera and a man named Syl Aranas Aninon.
Rivera is listed as a suspect because 18 people from both sides,said to have been present,were parrafin tested for gunshot residue and only Rivera tested positive.A big problem with that type of claim is that when one wears gloves, as most people do when riding motorcycles...or shooting people, they will test negative for gunshot residue.Basing culpability upon residue is a bit ridiculous in a place where the majority of men handle weapons.
That same morning,Election Day,May 10th,a cousin of former Congressman Pinol was shot to death while riding his motorcycle,also in Kidapawan City,South Cotabato Province.His passenger,another man,was seriously wounded.The gunman using a 45 pistol,the weapon of choice for motorcycle borne assassins here,has not been IDd but the conventional wisdom is that it is a supporter of Emmylou Talino Mendoza,a candidate for Vice Governor of North Cotabato Province. Aside from being the cousin of ex-Congressman Pinol,the unidentified dead cousin was also the cousin of incumbent Vice Governor Emmanuel"Manny"Pinol.
On Thursday,May 13th,2010,Abdulrakman Mero,a principal at Litain Elemntary School on Bongo Island,an offshore part of the municipality of Parang in Manguindanao Province was driving down Cotabato City's Bonifacio Avenue with his wife and 2 young children having arrived the evening before.Sitting next to him in his white VW were the results of the Parang Municipal Elections being delivered to the regional COMELEC (Electoral Authority) office in Cotabato City.
As the car crawled along in traffic,reaching the corner of Jose Lim Avenue,2 men riding tandem on a single motorcycle got off of their bike and casually walked over to the diver's side of the Mero auto.Looking over Mero's wife,they then walked around the back of the car and as they approached the driver's side window one of them pulled a 45 caliber pistol from his waistband and shot Mero in the head, killing him instantly.Then they slowly walked back to their motorcycle,calmly started it and rode off towards People's Plaza,the city hall of Cotabato City.
In a very suprising turn of events,on Wednesday,June 6th,2010,the 2 hired guns were arrested, a rare occurrence indeed.30 year old Malik Alano of Cotabato City's Barangay Campo Muslim and 31 year old Mandi Karublian of Bongo Island in the aforementioned town of Paranag in Maguindanao Province (the same locale as Mero) were taken without incident as they ate their lunch in a cafe near the Cotabato City town market.Alano had a loaded 45 in his waistband.
There is no word as to whether or not the Ballots had even been taken during the killing,let alone whether or not they had been recovered.
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