With yesterday's attack against Sulu Governor Abdursakur Tan still ringing in our collective ears it is important to rember that what appears to be a Suicide Bombing is just the latest in a long history of political violence in the Southern Province.Unbeknownst to most outside of Mindanao,the Sulu Islands are collectively a province of Mindanao, as well as apart of the ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao).Dominated by the Tausug Tribe,the islands are a hotbed of insurgency and Kidnap For Ransom (KFR).That said,this year's election on May 10th proved to be Sulu's least violent in history,or at least that is what the Government is proudly claiming.Governor Tan not only managed to hold onto his seat,he trounced both rivals with the MNLF's Chairman Nur Misuari coming in a very dismal third, with a ratio 0f 6:1 in terms of votes cast between him and Tan.Sulu of course is not only Misuari's home turf,it is the heartland of the MNLF.The fact that Misuari couldn't even garner 12,000 votes there says a whole lot about the relevancy of the MNLF in today's Mindanao,almost as much as it says about Misuari himself,a man who until 1999 could do no wrong in the eyes of Sulu.
On March 1st,2010 in Barangay Karungdung in the town of Kalingalan Caluang in Sulu Province former Barangay Captain/Chairman Abdullah Caluang and his supporters battled a former vice mayor and his men.2 of Caluang's men were shot to death in the firefight.The shooting ended the next afternoon with 1 man from the ex-vice mayor's group being critically wounded.
On April 20th,2010 in Siasi,Sulu,Leon Ajid a supporter of mayoral candidate Wilson Anni was shot by a rival candidate and severely wounded.
That same day in Pata,also in Sulu,well known cleric Imam Bula was killed in the cross fire between supporters of incumbent mayoral candidate Nurmina Burahan and opposing candidate Hadji Zaldi Haddari after Haddari and his gunmen occupied Barangay Luuk Tulay,an outlying neighborhood.The Barangay Captain/Chairman notified the mayor who then had his paramilitary shell that barangay with 60MM mortars.
Fighting lasted until April 22nd when a detachment of AFP Marines were finally deployed.Occupations of barangays by politicians take place not so much as a show of power but to control voting,this is why the mayor felt the need to come out so strongly against the occupying force.Unfortunately though,the deployment of Marines caused COMELEC (Election authority) to cluster barangays into a single polling site.With barangays divided so strongly amongst opposing candidates,40% of the opposing candidate's voters were unable to vote.
On April 26th,2010 in Sitio Buta Buta in Barangay Parian Dakula in the municipality of Pandami in Sulu Province, Barangay Captain/Chairman Hadji Isa Sitin and his son were hanging campaign posters in the barangay,which adjoins their own barangay,Lahi,when Dakula's Barangay Captain/Chairman,30 year old Kitoh Aidani opened fire on them.Father and son both fired back and shot Aidani to death.Aidani as well as his son was badly wounded as was an onlooker,Sali Darul.AFP Task Force Comet then deployed a detachment of Marines to the barangays to try and stem the violence.
On Election Day, Monday, May 10th,2010 in the municipality of Tongkil in Sulu Province a candidate's supporters were beaten by an opposing candidate's security detail,consisting of PNP (Philippine National Police) officers.
That same day,Election Day,in Barangay Kulasi in the town of Maimbung on Jolo Island in Sulu Province a journalist was interviewing a Bajao Tribesmen to see if he had been unwittingly made to vote for an unintended candidate when supporters of the incumbent mayor prevented the journalist's crew from filiming or photographing the interview.The interview uncovered area Bajaos being paid up to P1000 (20 Euros) for their votes as well as a large number of juvenile Bajaos voting.In addition almost all of the Bajao on site lacked IDs.As the journalists argued with the group a small riot broke out injuring several people present.
The Bajao are commonly known to Westerners as"Sea Gypsies"due to their nomadic lifestyle and though nominally Muslim,they live on the fringes of settled communities,almost never attend schools and are abused and manipulated in many of these communities.
Also on Election Day,May 10th,2010 in Barangay Bunot in the town of Indanan on Jolo Island in Sulu Province the brother of mayoral candidate Hussin Ahajin destroyed PCOs (Precinct Optical Scanners,machines used to verifiy ballots in computerised voting) while 2 other clustered precincts in the town never opened due to threats of violence.Altogether these caused COMELEC to declare a Failed Election in the town.
That same day,in the town of Panglima Estino in Sulu Province voting had to cease after 81MM mortar shelling by a rival of incumbent Mayor Munib Estino.No reports of wounded,though often times these are kept under wraps for obvious reasons.81MMs can do ALOT of damage.
Election Day,May 10th,2010 in the municipality of Pandami in Sulu Province supporters of rival gubneratorial candidates Arbison and incumbent Governor Tan began beating each other up and the outbreak soon developed into a full scale riot.
That same day in the town of Luuk on Jolo Island in Sulu Province in what was a curious case of bad timing, candidate Hadja Amina was served with an arrest warrant for an incident that took place during the last Barangay Election.Rivals sit atop warrants only to deploy them like weapons at opportune times.
Also that day,in Barangay Gandasuli in the town of Patikul on Jolo Island in Sulu Province incumbent mayoral candidate Hayudini,a supporter from the Julkarnain Clan who is coincidentally related to Hayudini's rival candidate Datu Bahjin,attacked Bahjin's sons with 3 of them requiring hospitalisation with severe wounds about the head from bolos (machetes).
Also Election Day,in the town of Lugus in Sulu Province BEIs (Board of Elections Inspectors) at the town's clustered precincts were slapped by mayoral candidate Aradais when they refused to obey his demand to cheat.BEIs then fled en masse to Barangay Poblacion and sought protection with a detachment of AFP Marines who then deployed to the precints and seized PCOSs (Precinct Optical Scanners) and Election materiels.
That same day in Barangay Bangkilay in the town of Panguturan,which sits atop of islets sharing that same name in Sulu Province,the son of the Barangay Captain/Chairman and a supporter of mayoral candidate Police[sic-that is his name] Sali battled with supporters of rival candidate,incumbent mayor Ahmad Nano.The Captain/Chairman's son, eponymously named Ibnu,ended up shooting and critically wounding 3 men.
Late that same day,at 525PM,in Barangay Kulasi in the town of Maimbung on Jolo Island in Sulu Province,Governor Tan's son Samir was in a firefight with members of the Maldisa Clan with whom the Tans have been in Rido (Clan Feud) for quite some time.Shortly after that firefight cooled down a shot from an unknown source sniped the location where the governor's wife was resting though she wasn't wounded by the gunfire.
Samir Tan himself is running for Mayor of the town,his Clan's hometown,against incumbent Mayor Najib Maldisa.The Maldisa Clan blames Governor Tan for the death of Najib's brother who was Vice Govenor when killed.
Finally,rounding out that long and bloody Election Day,Tupay Loong,candidate for Congress in Sulu's 1st District, which includes Jolo Island,slapped his elder brother Hussin and bloodied his nose and mouth.Hussin himself ran for Mayor of Parang (Parang on Jolo Island in Sulu Province as opposed to Parang in Maguindanao Province).
The Loongs are Sulu's most formidable political dynasty and I will be talking about them in an upcoming entry about Sulu's Governor Tan.
So, while it was a less violent Election Day than usually takes place in Sulu Province,"violent"is a relative term in this part of the world.
I am including Tawi Tawi,though a separate province,it is part of the Sulu archipelago and a province of Mindanao to bootThe leading ethnic group are the Sama (Samal)nd the Jamamapun,2 Muslim tribes with populations in Indonesia and Malaysia as well as in the Sulu and Tawi Tawi islands.In fact there is a small population on Mainland Mindanao as well but that is neither here nor there.
The Turtle Islands are a group of 7 islands laying due south of Tawi Tawi and forming the last islands in the Philippines,a nation of 7,107 islands.Lying 45 minutes to 1 hour north of Borneo by boat the islands are home to an absolutely fantastic abundance of marine wildlife.
On October 26,2009 at 545AM in Barangay Poblacion on Great Bakkungan Island,in the Turtle Islands,Jabbar Sahibil a caretaker for incumbent Governor Sadikul A. Sahali's family properties on that island led members of the Governor's CVO (Civlian Volunteer Organisation,one of the 4 entities collectively known as the"CAA,"or"Civilian Active Auxiliaries"that serve as the lynchpin in the AFP's Counterinsurgency Programme on Mindanao) in a 5 hour attack on villagers.The next day,October 27th,75 more CVO soldiers arrived on 2 cigarette boats (racing boats with dual engines,primarily used for smuggling but also to show wealth),1 of which was definitely owned by the Governor since its name remained uncovered,"Thunder Bull."
The 75 CVO soldiers joined the small force stationed in the Turtle Islands and proceeded to burn out more than 100 families living in Barangay Poblacion.Most of the families fled to relatives on nearby islands but some fled to Sabah,a Malaysian state on Borneo which is less than 45 minutes away from that island,by regular motorised boat travel.At least 11 families came north to Mainland Mindanao,decamping in Zamboanga City where they promptly lodged an official complaint with the CHR (Commission on Human Rights).
Then on October 28th Mayor Omarkhan A.Aripin got into a gun battle with a retired PNP ( Philippine National Police) officer who is reportedly on the payroll of Govenor Sahali,over the issue of"Flying Voters."The usual scenario involves bussing people in,at times with false ID (though usually not even neccessary due to connivance of COMELEC officials),and registering them as residents in a particular municipality.These people are paid to vote for a particular candidate thus throwing an election.In the case of the Turtle Islands,a very remote location and easy to verify in terms of who lives there and who does not,these"new residents"were brought in by boat and got the added benefit of a new home courtesy of the locals who had fled over the previous couple of days due to the CVO.
On Janurary 29th,2010,CHR subpoened the Governor but as of this posting,in mid-August of 2010,he hasnt replied in any way,shape or form.On May 10th,2010,the election,he received 71.29% of the vote in the Turtle Islands despite only winning the entire province by a measly 3,304 votes.Also worth noting is the victory of his daughter,Rubi Sahali Tan who won re-election as Vice Governor for the province.
Indeed,it was an inlaw of Vice Govenor Sahali Tan who originally sold the entire island of Great Bakkungan to the Sahali family by way of a sale registered at P1.5 Million (US28,000 for the entire island),deeded to 3 Sahali children,courtesy of Rolando Tan and this is where Mayor Aripin segues back into the story;The Mayor filed an official complaint,as did the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources),seperately,trying to void that sale on the grounds that the land in question is both Public Land as well as Protected Land.That case is still unresolved but alot of money remains at stake.With Eco-Tourism being the next great thing on the horizon and not neccessitating alot of capitol outlay,the island holds ALOT of potential.For his part,to quell some of the controversy Governor Sahali says his family is no longer really interested in developing the island.
On April 13th,2010 at 1150PM in Barangay Ungus Matata on Tandu Bas Island off of Tawi Tawi a political ralley for Governor Sahali turned violent when Hadji Asdala Salih,the son of mayoral and vice mayoral candidates of Tandu Bas, Pendatun Hula Salih and Rahiema Asdala Salih respectively,took out his 45 caliber pistol after a heated argument and shot Muhammed Bakrin and king Abbas.The 2 badly wounded men were rushed by speed boat to the capital,Bongao,on Bongao Island,for medical treatment.
Abbas is the 1st cousin of rival vice mayoral candidate Fahmy Jainal Alonso whose running mate for mayor happens to be Alano Hula Salih,brother of mayoral candidate Pendatun Hula Salih,father of the shooter.Ergo,the shooter tried to murder his own 1st cousin because both their fathers,who happen to be brothers,are running for the same mayoral position.Complicated I know,but that is par for the course here in Mindanao.
On Election Day,Monday,May 10th,2010 in the town of Panglima Sugala in Tawi Tawi Province journalists were threatend with death while trying to record election cheating.Aaaaaah...The Mindanao"experience"...Don't you just love the smell of Napalm on the morning breeze?
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