The MILF is gearing up for the Peace Process once again, set to resume after Ramadan, i.e. in mid-September to early October, though of course we will be lucky if it happens anytime close to late October. While the MILF has yet to announce its new Peace Panel, GRP (Govt.) has, and I will get to that in this entry. In the interim the killing continues though of course without official MILF sanctioning (cough).
June 5th, 2010 saw Norway joining the MILF-GRP Peace Process. Norway has agreed to join the IMT (International Monitoring Team, an entity I have explained in detail a bit further on in this post) via a letter from Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines, Kmot Solem to GHP Peace Panel Chairman Rafael Seguis with a corresponding copy to MILF Peace Panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal.
July 4th, 2010 in Barangay Buluan, Sultan Kudarat (town, not province), in Maguindanao Province, an IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") fashioned from a 60MM mortar shell detonated and critically wounded one man. As the 54IB (Infantry Battalion) responded and set up a security perimeter and the 6ID (Infantry Division) EOD (Ordnance Team) Detachment set about scouring the immediate area for clues an alert soldier discovered a well concealed, second IED fasioned from an 81MM mortar shell. This 2nd device, much more powerful than the first was primed to detonate just as 1st Responders (medical, police and soldiers) reached critical mass on scene. Luckily this was averted and the device was decommisioned by Phased Water Cannon.
Predictably, and tiredly, the AFP tried to spin it as an MILF-SOG (MILF Special Operations Group, an almost apocryphal element of the MILF blamed for any type of bombing not thoroughly linked to any of the Kidnap for Ransom cum Extortion Gangs in the MILF AOR). The MILF though tried to outdo the AFP in implausability as it actually issued a release 9as opposed to unoffical comment or innuendo) blaming the AFP for a "False Flag Operation." For those unaware, a False Flag Operation is an act of war , or sabotage/terrorism undertaken by one side but served up as to appear as if it is from a second group. A good historical example might be the "Lavon Affair" that Israel undertook in Egypt in the very early 1950s.
The MILF is claiming, amazingly, that soldiers belonging to Datu Piang's Mayor Samer Uy's CVO had personally witnessed men in MILF fatigues walking from the town of Datu Piang across the border into the municipality of Sultan Kudarat and setting the 60MM IED. They then allegedly witnessed this group of men walking back into Datu Piang and entering the 29IB post, from which they were not observed leaving. In other words, 29IB soldiers wearing MILF camoflauge uniforms walked right past MILF supporters, crossed a municipal border, and in full view primed and buried a large IED. They then supposedly walked back across the border and down the street, back past MILF supporters, and then casually sauntered into an AFP post...in MILF uniforms. Riiiight.
In reality it was the work of BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (armed wing of the MILF) Kumander Tata Uy, the nephew of the Mayor of Datu Piang, Samer Uy. The 2 kinsmen are battling each other over the younger man, Tata, not bowing to his older and more powerful kinsman, Mayor Samer Uy.
At 805PM on July 12th, 2010 in Datu Piang's Barangay Poblacion, a young man carrying an ADIDDAS gymbag hurriedly walked towards the towns MPO, or Municipal Police Office and set the bag down on the ground. Next door the town plaza was full of young students from Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School who were having a school celebration in the cool evening air. Then the powerful IED inside the bag detonated and rained debris for a radius of at least a half a kilometer. 8 year old student Moktar Ma was vapourised, a principal of a school in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, a neighbouring community and two 12 year old High School students were also critically wounded.
Young Moktar Ma had attended the school function in the town plaza and after it ended had gone across the road for a take away meal with his dad. Getting into a Triskiad (i.e. "Trike," i.e. "Tuk Tuk,"the most popular form of public transport in most Philippine communities. Fashioned from a dirt bike or off road motorcycle with a small cubic centimeter engine, inserted into an aluminum or iron carriage with bench seats front and back for passengers, unlike the similar contraptions one sees in Mainland SE Asia). As the triskiad began the ride to the Ma home, several streets away, the IED detonated and left little of the small boy. Amazingly, his father sitting next to him as well as the driver were left entirely unscathed.
The "School Principal" was on his own motorcycle and passing by the plaza as the detonation took place. He was able to survive with just a slight flesh wound in his leg. The two high schoolers were walking along the shoulder of the main road, en route to their homes after witnessing the event in the plaza. Both suffered moderate shrapnel wounds. All victims were residents of Datu Piang's Barangay Poblacion.
The BIAF itself is not known for laying IEDs though its members are often times involved in profitable sidelines, feuds and even stated political objectives that are, quite interestingly, 100% in synch with MILF/BIAF Objectives. IS-AFP (AFP Intelligence) often talks about the MILF-SOG (MILF Special Operations Group) as if it is an actual MILF entity, which it is not. What IS factual though is that particular BIAF Kumanders (Base Command brass) sanction these operations either for profit (as in Lanao del Sur and Norte transformers and Globe Telecom cell towers being blown to bits) or for political ends, as in the 105, 101 and 102 Base Commands, the so called "MILF Lost Commands" (another bit of fantasy) which use these bombings to manipulate both the GPH, or Government of the Philippines and the MILF political echelon.
The Datu Piang bombing, the 2nd in 2 months to hit the town, is the work of the 105 Base Command, in a matter of speaking since it is the work of its sub-Kumander Tata Uy, and though the MILF has made quite a show of giving its Kumander Ustadz Kato a lateral transfer into the political echelon, he is sanctioning the attacks for Kumander Tata Uy and his long running sub-conflict in Barangay Reina Regente. The fact of the matter is that the entire town has been terrorised since 2008 (actually since 1968 but you get the idea) and so, at present, the reasons why these bombings take place no longer really matters.
That same day, July 12, at 10PM, in Barangay Barurao, Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao Province the 105 Base Command's sub-Kumander Maestro Felmin led 400 of his well armed guerillas into town and surrounded roughly 100 homes belonging to clansmen and supporters of ex-Vice Mayor Oca Badal. The MILF then proceeded to burn almost the entire barangay to the ground. Badal is a Kumander in the ILLEGAL (as opposed to the re-formed and legal) Ampatuan CVO, the entity behind the Maguindanao Massacre. The CVO and the MILF have been at each other's throats for nearly 3 decades due to the Ampatuan's loyalty to the MNLF and their having exerted considerable power within the MILF AOR (Area of Operations).
As if Datu Piang, Maguindanao Province didnt have enough problems with its Mayor, Samer Uy battling his nephew and MILF sub-Kumander, Tata Uy, it also must contend with 2 other MILF groups battling EACH OTHER. Kumander Abunawas of the 104 Base Command is at odds with Kumander Adzmi of the 106 Base Command in one of those rice harvest blood baths that strike all over the island during the twice yearly harvest. It began when small detachments of uerillas from both groups came into the town to assist (i.e. "guard" i.e. "EXTORT") villagers with their rice harvests.
Tempers being what they are, especially when it comes to one fo the more lucrative forms of income for these guerillas, a fire fight borke out, lasting approximayely 45 minutes before both sides withdrew back into the bush. This initial exchange caused 500 IDPs to flee Barangays Liong and Balanaken, most taking shelter in Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School in Barangay Poblacion.
At that point it was only a matter of time before violence re-erupted and at 1130AM on August 07 it took place once again. By then the 29IB had set up a small lean-to outside the main gate to the school housing the IDPs from the earlier exchange. Open 9AM to 5PM, 7 days a week, and again from 730PM to 11PM on week nights it has managed to ensure the safety of all IDPs taking refuge inside the school compound. An additional 1200 people sought shelter at the school and at 2 other locations (Fish Landing Shelter on the Pulangi/rio Grande de Mindanao River in Barangay Buayan, at GLAC13, a.k.a. Gani L.Abpi College, a local private school also serving as an IDP centre).
On August 08 the 29IB, only tallying those IDPs at Datu Gumbay recorded, in number of families not individuals, 89 families from Barangay Alonganen, 63 from Barangay Balanaken and 194 from Barangay Liong. To the 29IB's credit it has taken it upon itself to show films on the school's stage, almost every evening to try and entertain the IDPs, a measure not usually taken by other Infantry Battalions. Outside the school that evening, 2 of Kumander Abunawas' guerillas were shot to death.
July 14, at 7PM in Barangay Labu Labu, Datu Hofer, Maguindanao Province, Labu Labu Elementary School was struck with a pre-mature IED detonation whose only casulaty was its courier.24 year old Sabtula Kad Unte was arrested at Cotabato Regional Medical Center as he was being treated for shrapnel wounds. He was then transferred to the 6th Infantry Division Hospital at Camp Siongco outside the city.
On July 19, 2010, the MILF formally announced the 4 month suspension of BDA (Bangsamoro Development Agency) BOD (Board of Directors) Chairman, Dr.Safrullah Dipatuan.The suspension formally began on July 15 and will run until November 15. He has been suspended for not having gotten his superiors' permission prior to a trip abroad. He had left on June 09 for Kuala Lampur, Malaysia to attend an Islamic conference where he harshly criticised Israel's Blockade of Gaza. This of courswe would probbally earn him kudos for a job well done with the MILF except that hidden in the Suspension Order is an interesting mention of his having gone there to "meet a friend."
Dr.Dipatuan had become chairman in 2009 when his predecessor Dr.Parido Pigkaulan was demoted to Member of the Board (on BOD)in what the MILF has claimed was a regular rotation of staff in that all appointees to the BDA are there for a 2 year rotation unless extended. Of course that doesnt explain just why Dr.Pigkaulan became a Member after serving as the Board's Chairman.
From July 19 to July 21, 2010 in Sitio Risingan, Barangay Dunguan, aleosan, North Cotabato Province, just over the river from Datu Piang, the municipality discussed in my last paragraph(s), Kumander Hadju Sajid of the 105 Base Command was warring with his arch nemesis Norodin Ungkay, a Town Councilotr in Aleosan and local CVO Kumander.
On the 19th Sajid attacked a CAFGU post loyal to Ungkay in Sitio Manggahan, Barangay Dunguan and caused an unknown (but large) number of IDPs to flee into the adjoining towns of Pikit, North Cotabato.
July 25 to August 01, 2010 in Barangay Matabong, Ampatuan, Maguindanao Province saw the LEGAL Ampatuan CVO under Kumander Marcos battling the MILF's 105 Base Command. The "Legal Ampatuan CVO" is the newly organised and trained, government sanctioned CVO operating out of Shariff Aguak, the provincial capitol of Maguindano but with branches in the towns once dominated by the ILLEGAL Ampatuan CVO (towns like Datu Saudi, etc,etc). A CVO, or "Civilain Volunteer Organisation" is an official government paramilitary that operates as a very localised military reserve. Manned by citizens of and only operating in specific municipalities and sublimated to the LGU at hand (Local Governmental Unit, i.e. "municipality or barangay), and usually operating under supervision of an infantry Battalion though the Ampatuan CVO did not have much to do with the AFP. The illegal Ampatuan CVO was the group responsible for the so called "Maguindanao Massacre" in late November of 2009. Almost all Filipinos and ex-pats reading this will know pretty much whom and what I am talking about, owning to the entire brouhaha's domination of the media for the first 6 months of 2010. However, imagining that others may not know these things, I will briefly offer up some context.
The Ampatuan Clan is, or perhaps was (actually still is) Maguindanao's most powerful clan. Led by patriarch Andal Sr, who at the time of the Massacre was the provincial governor, with his son and heir apparent Anadal Jr, the mayor of a town created just for him (1 of a few created by andal Sr, who also created an entire province, Shariff Aguak before the Supreme Court dissolved it). the Clan held a tite reign over the province but one time aly, Mayor Eshmael"Toto"Mangudadatu" sought to chalenge this monopoly of power with a run for the governor's seat in the last election, in 2010. Making known his intent, he sought to negate any chance for violence by deploying his wife at the head of a large convoy of SUVs filled with female clan members, allied attorneys and a horde of media representatives.
Driving down National Hiway towards to provincial capitol of Shariff Aguak (town, not the afore mentioned failed province), they were held at a PNP checkpoint in the town of Ampatuan. Andal jr., leading about 100 well armed members of the Ampatuan CVO appeared out of the jungle by the side of the road, and after some physical assaults had the CVO soldiers drive the vehicles in the Mangudadatu convoy to a hill about 2 kms away but over looking the checkpoint. At that site all 57 people (including a few who had only been sandwiched in by the convoy and weren't attached toit at all) were murdered by chain-fed M16 (1 journalist, hogtied and in the front seat of an SUV had been shot in the head with a double barrled shotgun).
The dead and their vehicles were being interred in 3 hastily excavated pits, with provincially owned construction machinery when CVO scouts alerted the group to an approaching detachment of AFP soldies not allied with the Ampatuan Clan. the soldiers had been deployed after a flurry of communications between the media and the AFP, by the companies employing the murdered journalists. the gruseome scene was recorded for all posterity instead of simply becoming yet another one of the many Philippine "Killing Fields" and the Ampatuans themselves were pretty much under the microscope, but not out of power, and not separated from their vast ill gotten fortune.
198 people have been charged in the incident, of which more than 100 remain at large. Many of those wanted men are CVO soldiers. interestingly, the CVO which had roughly 2500 men, has pretty much gone rogue with an estimated 2000 gunmen operating in Maguindanao and N.Cotabato Provinces, battling both the AFP as well as their perennial enemy , the MILF.
The whole sordid affair deserves its own series of entires and I will be producing them soon.
After the Massacre a State of Emergency, then a State of Martial Law which soon reverted back to a State of Emergency was declared for Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat Provinces (the latter being the base of the Mangudadatu Clan, themselves fairly powerful), as well as Cotabato City. Cotabato City was added because it is the capitol of the ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao). Besides Maguindanao being 1 of 5 ARMM provinces, the Governor of the ARMM (at the time) was another Ampatuan son, Zaldi Ampatuan. The region remains under a State of Emergency and the Ampatuan CVO (illegal) is spilling alot of blood up until the present.
On the day in question, the MILF 105 Base Command battled the legal Ampatuan CVO and around nightfall the moratars began pounding both sides without let up. At that point the AFP's 46IB came in and reinforced the CVO. The bloodshed stopped on August 01 when the IMT (International Monitoring Team, an entity composed of Brunei, Japan, Norway and the EU and led by Malaysia, created to monitor and support the Cease Fire between the MILF and the AFP/GRP), and the CCCH-MILF and the CCCH-GRP (explained in an earlier portion of this post) set up shoppe in Barangay Matabong and the adjoining Barangay Kapimpilan. This enabled both sides to save face due to international pressure and attention.
During this same period, July 25 through August 01, 2010 in Barangay Salat, President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat Province, 400 MILF guerillas under sub-Kumander Daud Macaalay entered the barangay and burned more than 100 homes to the ground. Most of the burned homes and buildings belonged to MNLF Kumander Magalona Ampatuan, a barangay councilor in Barangay Salat. Ampatuan's brother, Manny, also an MNLF Kumander was killed in an earlier exchange of gunfire. IDPs in the town have set up temporary shacks around the city hall compound.
July 26 through July 30, 2010 in Malabalay City, Bukidnon Province, the PMA (Pangadapu Mindanao Association) under Supreme Datu Migketay Victorino Saway, a Lumad (Hill Tribes) umbrella organisation held an important meeting of tribal chiefs in which they produced a Resolution demanding that Lumads (of course via the PMA) be given a seat at the next MILF-GRP Talks in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia after Ramadan. They demand that their rights with regard to Ancestral Domain be respected.
Datu Saway is a nemesis of the MILF's alternate Peace Panel member, Datu Antonio P.Ki , a B'laan tribal Historian who takes the opposite tact, i.e. the MILF party line. The MILF of course tries to sell a defected bill of goods claiming that while the MILF would hold political sovereignity of the Lumad Ancestral Domains, it would not actually "control" them. Instead it says, the Lumad themselves would handle the tracts. Naturally this has failed to satisfy anyone but the few Lumad puppets on the MILF payroll.
Again, a subject deserving of its own entry, Ancestral Domain is a concept akin to the US' Native American "Reservation" system with limited autonomy to indigenous groups over patches of land, not neccessarily contigious with which specific indigenous groups have a recorded historical conenction. These Domains involve alot of money because of timber, minerals, metals, and agricultral land. The Talks so far have hardly even mentioned the Lumad, and when mentioning them have sublimated their concerns to that of the Moros, the collective term for Muslims. in other words, the MILF wants to have ultimate control over Lumad lands within lands awarded to the Moros. Naturally this doesnt sit well with Lumads themselves.
On July 29, 2010, the Chairman of the MDA (Mindanao Development Authority). Jesus Dureza who concurrently has served in successive Peace Panels in MILF Talks, most recently as Chairman of the last Panel under the Arroyo Government in the 2003 Talks (which took place after the 2003 MILF-GRP War), has resigned his position at MDA. He was in the middle of a 6 year term but left his position because of his heavy identification with the former Administration.
Some may recall that as Chairman of the 2003 GRP-MILF Talks he became embroiled in some controversy when he was accused of "annotating" the proceedings minutes (the transcript of what is said during negotations), specifically 1 very important parlez in Kaula Lampur, Malaysia on February 28 that year. interestingly, and not known to very many, in 1999 long before the government utilised his services or gave him a position in any office he had contacted the MILF on his own and had offered to serve on THEIR Panel.
There is alot that can be said about this, and some may even argue that as a lifelong resident of Mindanao and a well known attorney not connected to either side that there was nothing wrong in what he did but it does show a certain level of ambitiousness that has caused some to call his abilities into question. when a person is attracted to the limelight, and more specifically to the hallowed halls of pwoer they will do anything within their reach to stay there, no matter the cause, the ends will justify the means. With that said, since his appointment to the GRP, both on the Panel as well as in his position at the MDA, he has done nothing to prove his critics right.
That same day, July 29, Sultan Muhammad Fuad Abdullah Kiram I of Suluofficially asked the GRP to disqualify Malaysia from its role as mediator of the GRP-MILF PEace PRocess Talks owing to his long time claim on Sabah. As I briefly discussed in my "Whole Lot of Ugly cum Operation Merdeka" series of entries, although Malaysia has flown its flag over Sabah State on Borneo since Malaysian Independance the state historically belongs to the Sulu Sultanate.
The remarks first surfaced at the CMD (Christian Muslim Democrats, as in Lakas-KAMPI-CMD) joint SultanteAward Presentation at Quezon City's Sulo Hotel. The Sultan (actually 1 of several claimants for the title of Sultan) clarified that he does not advocate seccession of Mindanao but does advocate a form of autonomy akin to Finalnd's entity created for its Sami ("Lapp") minority. The MILF which is heavily biased towards Malaysia came out swining and warned the Sultan to "be careful" with his words and made sure to describe him as a "claimant" to the throne.
In a related development, on Monday, August 30 GRP re-certified Malaysian participation and rationalised this by pointing out Malaysia's lengthly and deeply immersed service to the process. Malaysia which joined the Process as Mediator in March of 2001 also heads the IMT (International Monitoring Team), an entity devoted to preserving the Cease Fire. Malaysia reciprocated on Wednesday, September 01 by officially re-commmitting itself. If the government had not re-certified Malaysia it would have not only grreatly delayed the Talks, but could have very well jeapourdised the Process owing to MILF's afore mentioned bias towards the country. To reject the nation would have taken a bi-lateral agreement by both the GRP AND the MILF, and the latter would have never come.
July 30 to August 01, 2010 in Barangay Makasendeg, Pikit, North Cotabato saw the 29IB ensconed and shelling the MILF under Kumander Tata Uy who were dug in across the provincial border in Barangays Reina Regente and Dasawao in Datu Piang, Maguindanao. The AFP was lobbing 81MM mortar shells for 2 days stright and one of the last shells, at 3PM on August 01 managed to critically wound 4th grader Datu Mama Samiling (the child's first name is "Datu," he was not actually a "Datu" which means "Most Esteemed Man" and idiomatically means "Tribal Chief").
On August 07, 2010 in Sitio Kimudal, Barangay Balanakan, Datu Piang, Maguindanao Province, a detachment from the 29IB (Infantry Battalion), under Lt.Orcullo has ensconced itself in a village mosque as it sets up shoppe trying to pacify a local Rido (Clan Warfare) between 2 MILF factions from 2 different Base Commands ("Base Command" is a designation akin to conventional Brigade, a format the MILF adopted after the 2000 GRP-MILF War when the MILF destroyed almost all the MILF's static camps.
The fighting, which I had discussed earlier in this entry, reached its apex on August 10, but has ebbed and flowed continuously since then with very hot flare ups. I do know that 4 guerillas from the 106 Base Command died on the 10th but other than that it is exceedingly difficult to keep a tally since according to Shar'ia Law (Islamic Law), the dead must be buried before the following nightfall (though alternatively, "martyrs" in the undertaking of Jihad can be left as is but that is a Maranaw and Yakan custom not universally adhered to y all Moro ethnicities and certainly not at all held by the Islamic World in general).
The villagers are angry at the AFP for living in the mosque, especially since most in the AFP are non-Muslim and drink beer, eat pork, etc. As of posting, today is August 28, they are still biouvaced in that mosque. Some may recall that in 2009 the 54IB came under criticism for doing this same thing in Barangay Sambulawan, in Datu Salibo in that same province. This has also happened in Datu Piang's Barangays Magaslong and Balanakan in the past. In fairness to the AFP, there just arent that many semi-modern buildings large enough, and safe enough to house at least a platoon, and usually a company of soldiers. As long as the soldiers do not desecrate the building and make allowances for worshippers it shouldnt be a problem, irrespective of the Muslim belief that non-muslims shouldnt be living there.
The MILF has filed an official complaint for a Cease Fire Violation, by the AFP (i.e. "GRP") via the CCCH (an entity consisting of a panel from each side that is designed to mediate so called Violations so as to prolong the Cease Fire). The comaplaint is against an alleged bombing run by 2 AFP OV-10s ("Broncos," jets) that the MILF maintains bombed an entire barangay, Algunganan in Datu Piang, Maguindanao in fighting related to the 104 and 106 Base Commands. On August 07 those 2 jets dropped WP (White Phosphorus) in a rice paddy where the 2 groups were battling as a distinct warning. WP, as some may very well know, is the munition which turned the world's angry attention (once again) to Israel during the IDF's (Israeli Defense Forces) December 2008/Janurary 2009 operation in Gaza. Amazing how THAT can get the world on the edge of its collective seat while the very same munition can land on heads in umpteenth other conflicts that the West could not care the least about.
In truth, WP is completely legal and is NOT an AP (Anti-Personnel) Munition, meaning that it is not used to cause death or injury. Rather, when used correctly, it is designed to denude brush (clear foilage), Mark terrain (for subsequent bombing runs) , for Illumination (to provide light in dark conditions, or as an Obscurant (to give "Smoke" so that Ground Forces, i.e. infantry can operate in a much improved environment, safety wise).
On the day in question, the AFP dropped it a a Marker, so as to send a loud and clear message to the 2 MILF Base Commands to knock off the nonsense or take some 500 pounders on the head (stop fighting or you will be bombed into submission). The MILF, ignoring the fact that the entire sub-conflict is an MILF on MILF affair, and ignoring the bloodshed and misery not only amongst its own guerillas but the civlians amongst whom the operate instead chooses to spin the 2 WP shells as a propaganda exercise that noone even pays attention to. That day in question, 6000 new villagers (in total) became IDPs (Refugees).
August 09, 2010, Camp Darapanan, in Barangay Darapnan, Sultan Kudarat (town, not province), in Maguindanao Province, the camp holding the MILF's main political apparattus was home to the MILF-FOCAP (Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines), "Forum of the Peace Process." al Haj Ebrahim Murad, the Chairman of the MILF gave the Opening Speech.
In his speech chairman Murad claimed that there is merely 1 "Substantiative Agenda Item" holding the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the MILF apart. Om Janurary 27, 2010 both sides attempted to solve the impasse via the "Comprehensive Compact" Draft Agreement. The exchange of Drafts failed to bbring the 2 sides together. Murad claims that the MILF merely reiterated its last position, the so caled, "Assymetrical State and Sub-State Arrangement of Governance" where as the GRP recycled an untenable position it had held from 2000 to 2003.
The circa 2003 position, "Enhanced Autonomy" is merely a slight riff on the current programme, "ARMM" (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao). He continued, relating that at the last tet a tet in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia on June 03, 2010 left the GRP merely repeating its stated lack of direction. Murad sees no difference twith the new Administration, thus far but is taking a wait and see approach.
August 12, 2010 saw the IS-AFP (AFP Intelligence) distribute a Report on the MILF's "State of Readiness" over the preceeding 7 months. Camp Palestine, in butig, Lanao del Sur Province was home to 8 Training cycles. Of these 8, 2 were 90 day Basic Training courses, one 30 day Intelligence course and 6 courses of 3 day Reivews (Brush Ups) on Infantry technique. The 3 day Reviews of course entailed hundreds of trainnes per cycle. there was also 1 cycle in Tawi Tawi under the 117 Base Command, in Jungle Warfare, something that the MILF hasnt really concentrated on given the terrain under which it usually operates (Maranaw and Maguindanaowan area are marsh or river basins, or otherwise very denunded farmland that would not look entirely out of place in say, Essex in England or Wisconsin in the US). 2 Base Commands, the 114 and afore mentioned 117 do primarily operate in the jungle but then the 117th, whose AOR is Sulu and Tawi Tawi but basically only exists on Tawi Tawi, is ineffectual and basically concentrates its efforts at "fundraising," while the 114, whose AOR (Area of Operations) is on Basilan Island, is for all intensive purposes folded into the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group).
On august 18, 2010, MILF Peace Panel Chairman (or I should say former since the Panel was officially deactivated almost 2 months ago though it is an open secret that he will once again be made Chairman when the re-constituted Panel is announced within the week) Jun Mantawil responded to media reports that Congressman Rodolfo Biazon has remarked that "Cha Cha" (Charter change, i.e. Constituional Ammending) is a pre-requisite for any realisation of the MoA (Memorandum of Agreement) on Ad (Ancestral Domain), per the current MILF position on the issue. Mantawil pointed out that under the current MILF position (this "position" being "Assymetrical State and Sub-State Arrangement") there are no demands for anything not currently allowed by the 1987 Constitution.
Mantawil stresses that the MILF is not demanding ultimate control over Currency/Monetary Arrangements or Foreign Relations and that indeed the MILF conceeds these to the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) along with Postal Powers (maybe this last aspect was given as a joke given the absolutely deplorable state of the Philippine Postal System, with most Mindanowan towns taking 6 months or more to receive DOMESTIC mail if they even ever receive it at all).
It is also worth noting that Mantawil also flogged the latest joint venture of the MILF and the Asia Foundation, a nicely bound (and rather expencive) compendium of all signed GRP-MILG Agreements post 1996 's Jakarta Accord. for those keeping count, there are 87 including the non-sensical blather like the last Agreement signed in Kuala Lampur in early june this year.
On August 21, 2010 on the eastside of Zamboanga City, 2 MILF guerillas were taken into custody re the AFP's Order of Battle. They were wanted though for their involvement with a local extortion gang along the likes of al Khobar and the Pentagon Gang, groups who I will discuss, as well as their dynamic, in an upcoming entry. The 2 men are charged with having strafed alocal bus with M16s as it sped by with passengers in an extortion plot against the bus company. The first attack in this spate took place on Janurary 17, 2010 in Licomo, Zamboanga del Sur Province when 12 people were wounded by an M16 strafing. 2 of those 12 people were plainclothes PNP Marshalls working with the bus company, Rural Transit.
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