Sultan Kudarat Province is one of the 2 provinces placed under Martial Law on December 5th,2009,in response to the "Maguindanao Massacre"in the neighbouring province of Maguindanao.Unlike Maguindanao,Sultan Kudarat has a significant majority of non-Muslims,mainly northerners from Luzon who were resettled here in a counter-insuregency programme of the mid-1950s under Magsaysay.Towns like President Quirino owe their entire existince to this very successful effort (successful with regard to stopping,or rather stalling the Huk Communist Insurgency on Luzon).
Unfortunately this resettlement would create even bigger problems down the road but that is perhaps a problem of less concern since it significantly weakened what was then a very real threat to the nation's capitol,Manila. Mindanao after all might as well be another nation as far as most of Manila is concerned,save the royalties and profits that come from raking in the islands extremely rich natural resources.
I have mentioned,in a previous post,the trouble on the Maguindanao/Sultan Kudarat provincial border between the MNLF-MMSC (Moro National Liberation Front-Mainland Mindanao State Committee) and the MILF/BIAF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,the latter being the armed wing of the organisation) 104 Base Command ("Base Commands"being unconventional military structure aking to the conventional"brigade") has broken out once again but lest you imagine that Sultan Kudarat Province might have somehow been immune to the Election Related Violence,I offer the following...
On Monday,April 26th,2010 at the Narciso Farm in Sitio Crossing Salaam,Barangay Katiki in the municipality of President Quirino a recon patrol made up of a composite force of different Infantry elements (38 Infantry Battalion, CAFGU 9CAA and the 65th Explosive Ordnance Detachment) discovered 2 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices,as in"bombs") under a Bajar tree slightly off the main road.One of the devices was made from an 81MM mortar shell and the other from an RPG MEUG APERS (Rocket Propelled Grenade),both wrapped in cellophane and primed to detonate.The 65th EOD detonated both on site given the danger presented in the transporting either one.
On Election Day,Monday,May 10th,2010 in Sitio Kolomno,Barangay Villamonte in the town of Lebak in Sultan Kudarat Province,the Ampatuan Paramilitary,now a rogue force since going into the bush after committing the"Maguindano Massacre"as I have discussed in other recent"Political Developments,Second Quarter of 2010"entries,deployed 100 gunmen under Kumander Tammy Maliga and raided the sitio for supplies,kidnapping a Bisayan (non-Muslim) family (30 year old Francisco Javier,his 26 year old wife Joy,their 2 year old son and 4 year old daughter) to use as Human Shields upon withdrawal.They also took the entire family fortune in the form of 2 cows and 8 goats as they moved back into Maguindano Province where they now have a static camp in Barangay San Jose's Sitio Kasam.No word on the fate of the family.
On Wednesday,May 13th,2010,Provincial Board (aka Sangguniang Panlalawigan) candidate for the NPC (Nationalist People's Coallition) Peter Peralta was in his car,allowing his teenaged son Feljavar Peralta to drive and just pulling up to the Capitol Complex in Isulan when 3 men on a single motorcycle pulled up next to them and began shooting.Feljavar was hit first and then Peter,who was killed instantly.
Feljavar was able to drive his car towards the PNP (Philippine National Police) PMG in neighbouring Tacurong City (Police Mobile Group,a PNP detachment sublimated to the PPO,or Provincial Police Office,designed as a re-inforcing unit) but died before crossing the city limit, his car rolling to a standstill.His father's race had not been declared one way or another.
The sub-conflict I have been talking about,between the MNLF and MILF/BIAF on the provincial borders of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao has flared up again on Friday,July 2nd, 2010.The MILF/BIAF is calling foul saying that Datu Faisal"Randy"Karon's MNLF faction (Mainland Mindanao State Committe, 1 of 5 MNLF factions currently and the newest one) has employed the AFP to do battle.
The AFP's 6IB (Infantry Battalion) which had been deployed on the provincial line as a sort of Observer Force has entered the fray,as the MILF/BIAF has told the world and has in fact attacked BIAF positions in the town of Datu Blah Sinsuat's Barangays Laguitan and Meti.The 6IB had managed to effect a Ceasefire on June 13th as I mentioned in an earlier entry,with both sides withdrawing from Barangay Tran in Lebak in the adjacent province of Sultan Kudarat ("Lebak"is the same town that I spoke about earlier in thie entry,that the Ampatuan Paramilitary had attacked in late April).
The MNLF has NOT been involved in the latest flare up,it has been the 6IB using mortars and 105MM howitzers in trying to dislodge BIAF 104 Kumander Jud Caludtiag's faction of the 104 Base Command.Most of the population in both towns have become IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons,i.e."Refugees") once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment