I have been so preoccupied with the NPA Ceasefire lately that I almost neglected to mention the latest happenings from everybodys' favourite Islamo-fascists, the ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group. Of course there is no real chance of me doing that when Xmas rolls around. Just as the NPA has its cute little quirks that revolve around the calendar, so does the ASG. There are two times of year when the smart money is on the Abu Sayyaf grabbing some media attention. The first of those two times is Valentines Day, February 14th. While most Filipinos are keeping busy as they immerse themselves (and their pocketbooks) in the wonderfully stupefying stench of crass Western consumerism, those intellectually stunted fellows at ASG are deciding which community of Christians to terrorise. The second time of the year as I did mention, is Xmas Eve (Noche Buena in the Philippines) and Xmas Day (Pasko).
The obvious raison d'etre would be that the Philippines is a traditionally Catholic Nation and those two days are Catholic Holy Days (albeit days that have been twisted into plastic carticatures of themselves by greeting card companies, florists, etc. The Abu Sayyaf began life as a truly textbook example of Islamo-fascism. Abdurajak Janjalani, its main founder, was deeply committed towards an ideological end game which involved capturing all Philippine territory and the imposition of an Islamic political system. Although the scope is different, just to point out, the MILF and ASG aren't too far removed from each other in this main objective. Both Janjalani and the MILF's late founder Hashim Salamat saw politics and religion as inseparable. Put succinctly...
I) The purpose of humankind (in Islam its actually "mankind") is to honour the deity (Allah).
II) In order to properly honour the deity, humankind must congregate (the more the merrier so to speak).
III) When humans congregate they inevitably need a political system.
Another way to understand this rather simplistic proposition is to consider it thus: The purpose of political systems is to optimise humankind's ability to honour the deity. Ergo Islam is the endgame of any political system and there is absolutely no differentiation between so called "Church" and "State." "Ibada," as it is known in Arabic (ergo "in the Islamic worldview"), denotes the obesiance to Allah in all things. Proper Ibada requires an "Ummah," (a community of Muslims), and ANY community needs rules (aka "a political system"). The result is an unbroken circle of, Allah-Muslim-Allahs Law (aka "Shari'a"), THE perfect political system.
Though identical on this point, what I will call "form of governance," Janjalani and Salamat differed as to
"content of form." Both agreed that it should be based on the very basic Islamic principle of "Shura, (Arabic for "Consultative," which is identical to both mens' tribal perspectives as well. Salamat was a Maguindanowan Tribesman, Janjalani was a Yakan Tribesman though his mother was an Ilonggo, I'm sure her parents were just thrilled with how she turned out). They even agreed on the process to achieve this, the "Majlis" (Arabic word denoting an assembly of knowledgeable clerics). Where they differed was in scope. Janjalani saw no compromise and envisioned the Philippines as part of a worldwide system. His vision was devoid of etno-nationalism where as that of Salamat was not only deeply rooted in it, it absolutely revolved around the fantasy of, "Bangsamoro." The Bangsamoro is a non-existent People on par intellectually with the belief that "Palestinians" constituted an actual People prior to 1948. I use this analogy because just as with "Palestinians" one sees the manufacturing of not only an entire ethnicity but also a manufactured historical narrative that could not exist without a manufactured foil. With "Palestinians" this of course would be Zionists, and with the "Bangsamoro" this would be the... "Filipino." The parallels are very deep but I fear allowing such tangents to hijack what I hoped would be a relatively simple screed (hahaha, Shandyesque as always. Hey what good is a Blog if I can't use it to marry obscure political analogies, obscure literary references and obscure witticisms? Yay to obscurity!).
Salamat, like any capable leader, was a pragmatist to a large degree. Where Janjalani rooted himself in an extremist position out of utter conviction Salamat did so only in order to obtain and utilise an advantageous bargaining position. Once Salamt realised that Misuari's MNLF would leave Central Mindanowan Muslims (Maguindanowans, Maranaw, Iranun and Kagan Tribes) as marginalised as they had always been he used Islam as the ideological vehicle with which to differentiate his clque within the MNLF (basically the MNLF's "Kutawato Regional Committee" that Salamat had Chaired since the Committee's inception shortly after the MNLF was founded). It took a solid 5 years before the MILF was able to truly assert itself as an organisation independently of the MNLF (it left the MNLF in 1976 and formally declared itself extant in 1981). By the time the MILF was fully opetational Salamat had already, internally, abandoned the primary objective of a fully independent homeland, as well as the unilateral imposition of a universal system of Shari'a (Islamic Law). ASG could never compromise ideologically and this in turn led the organisation (actually there is no "organisation" at this point) to wallow in its current state of milquetoast mediocrity.
Enter, stage left, the actual reason why I began this long winded (hey, its a lot better than "foul winded") screed; The ASG and its propencity for violence on Valentines and Xmas. If you spent every Xmas sucking down boiled rice and cassava while your Christian neighbours got toys, candy and a luxurious meal I reckon you would have some issues as well (my chief complaint about the internet is that it is impossible to convey sarcasm, as I am so failingly attempting to do now). How else to rationalise what took place on Jolo Island early Xmas morning?
At 710AM Xmas morning, Father Bacolol was in the middle of performing Mass for roughly 100 worshipers at Evangelical
Chapel when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device, aka "Bomb") detonated, wounding 11 worshippers. The device had been planted in between panels of the corrugated tin roof 3 meters from the right corner of the altar. Authorities are quite perplexed as to how the device was set because the chapel, in Jolo City's Barangay Asturias, sits smack dab in the middle of Camp Asturias, the Provincial PNP (Philippine National Police) installation. Also worth noting is that this compound is now guarded by Marines from 3rd Brigade's Recon (Reconaissance) Company. The Marines were deployed on December 22nd after the head priest, Father Romeo Villanueva, received a tip from a parishoner that the chapel was to be targetted. 1 possibility of course is that the IED was set prior to the Marine deployment. Another is that it was not an ASG action at all but rather an attention seeking act. I tend to believe the latter because the IED had no shrapnel payload (ASG usually includes sheetrock nails to do real damage, at least they don't use shredded razor blades as is done in the Middle East). The eleven wounded people were injured by building debris as the roof came down.
Also on Xmas, at 5AM, four men escaped from the Sulu Provincial Jail by breaking through their communal cell's antiquated ceiling. Of course the two guards on duty did not hear a thing. PNP Officers (the Philippines has no real correctional system and certainly has no specially trained guards. Wardens and most officials involved in that dynamic are entirely political appointees who receive that position in quid pro quo arrangements) PO1 Renomhar Undangan and PO1 Algamar Sahiron have been suspended pending the requisite investigation (I could add, "for not sharing their considerable bribe" but am trying to run a relatively serious Blog, work with me). If you notice the surname of that second police officer, Sahiron, a light bulb MAY suddenly go on and all things will become clear. No? The Sahiron Clan is neck deep in ASG with Clansman Radullan Sahiron serving as the major factional leader in Sulu.
One of the four men who escaped, Sulaiman Muin, was incarcerated for the IED attack against Sulu's Governor, Abdusakur Tan, on May 13, 2009. The attack on Governor Tan was one of two bombings directed against him in a 15 month time period. The second attack was the bombing at Zamboanga City Airpoty, which I will briefly discuss below.
The May 13 attack took place just as the governor's motorcade left the capitol complex in Patikul, en route to Sakur's residential compound for the mid-day meal. At roughly 1215PM a parked motorcycle rigged with a powerful IED just as Tan's SUV passed it. Thanks to a stroke of luck the governor merely suffered superficial injuries when the vehicle was lifted off the ground. Mayor Hatta Berto of Pandami was among the 9 individuals who were more seriously wounded, including 2 soldiers and 1 PNP officer in different vehicles.
The attempt was committed by ASG members but had been contracted by unknown parties. Ergo, some very important and powerful people have a lot to lose if the facts ever reach the light of day. Officially, Tan's political arch nemesis, NGO Chairman Cocoy Tulawie was blamed (as he was in the 2nd attempt as well) but the real culprit could be any one of a number of people. I will save the pondering for an entry devoted to the governor that I have been planning for awhile.
The 2nd attack, on August 05, 2010 took place just a couple of meters from the exit of Zamboanga City Airport's terminal. As Governor Tan, his son and a couple of close friends left the terminal after a flight from Manila, a man identified as Reynaldo Apilado of Zamboanga City's Barangay Maasin stepped towards him and detonated his back pack . Originally it was pegged as a so called "Suicide Bombing" but upon investigation a second theory emerged, one in which Mr. Apilado was given a backpack, the contents of which were unknown to him. The widowed, unemployed carpenter was simply instructed to "give it" to a 2nd individual. Standing outside the airport terminal Mr. Apilado was none the wiser when the "consignee" walked out the sliding glass doors.
Killed along with Mr. Apilado was his companion (or according to this 2nd theory, his "minder"), Hatamil Yakob, 30, of Barangay Baluk-Baluk, Lantawan, Basilan Island. Wounded were 24 civilians though the Philippine Media being what it is, only 1 of the 24 (not including Governor Tan and son) merited special notice, an elderly British expat living in the city with his young Filipina lover. Governor Tan was only moderately wounded with mostly superficial cuts on the left side of his abdomen, from Mr. Apilado's bone fragments. Supporting the afore mentioned 2nd theory, that Apilado had no idea he was part of a bombing plot was the fact that he detonated as he was facing the governor. The bomb in the backpack was absorbed by his Apilado's own body. Had he been intent on harming the governor he would have certainly been standing with his back towards the him or else facing him with the backpack slung over an arm, held in front of him, etc. Again, for brevity's sake I am omitting a lot of information that I will include in the entry devoted to Governor Tan.
Now here the story on the "Jail Escape" takes a turn that should really make things clear for you: It only took a few hours to get a bead on 3 of the 4 escapees. The 4th, Salipalo Pulalon, had left his 3 comrades as soon as they cleared the jail compound. The PNP team hunting the escapees, led by Inspector Abdulgafur Sahiron (notice the surname again) managed to sight the 3 men who remained together late Sunday evening, December 26. The OFFICIAL version of events is that of the 3, Sulaiman Muin refused to surrender. As the team moved towards Muin to subdue him the escapee grabbed for Inspector Sahiron's weapon. Naturally he was shot to death...with every shot in his back.
The other 2 escapees on scene, Khadaffy Askalani (carthief) and Nadzmir Amirul (I will explain his case) were returned to the Provincial Jail without further incident. Nadzmir Amirul has got to be 1 of the stupidest men on Jolo. He was in jail not because of any crime but because he had been threatened and the island has no sort of effective protection. The country itself only implemented its 1st Witness Protection Programme this year and seeing as to what happened with the first witness in the Ampatuan Case ("Maguindanao Massacre") when he trusted in it I don't think many Filipinos will allow themselves to be enrolled. I will spare those sordid details and instead save them for a series of Ampatuan related entries I plan to do as well. Even more ironically though, while Amirul wasn't in jail for a crime prior to his escape, he is now. Yep, poor Amirul has been charged for breaking out of the jail where he had been incarcerated WITHOUT charges.
On December 21, 2010 the Malaysian Government finally had to eat crow. Ever since 2 Malaysian-Chinese had been kidnapped by ASG in February 08, 2010, the Malaysians have been denying what everyone (regionally) knew, that ASG had managed ONCE AGAIN to enter Malaysian territory at will. The 2 men, Lai Wong Chun, 46, and Chen Yui Chung, 48 had been grabbed from a seaweed farm off of Pulao Sebangkit Island, which is itself off of Borneo's Sabah State. I have mentioned in my last MILF entry how Sabah is a contested territory and that the same ethnicities one finds here in the Southern Philippines are also sometimes found in Sabah. Ergo, people come and go at will travelling between 4 regional nations (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and in isolated cases Brunei as well). There are little known regional agreements that allow residents to do this without even having to show a school ID, let alone a passport and visa. Of course this is exploited by terrorists and smugglers but in truth it really doesn't matter because there are literally many thousands of islands in the region and scant ability to police them. The larger number of ASG guerillas are Tausug Tribesmen whose modern origin lies on Jolo Island, in Sulu Province. However, more Tausug live in Sabah than in all islands of the Philippines combined. ASG will be in Sabah as long as ASG exists.
The 2 men, cousins from Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, were originally taken to Tawi Tawi, the southern most province in the Philippines and part of Mindanao, administratively. Due to the international nature of the offence little had been stated about this case, and despite what Malaysia may state publicly, it was no secret that they landed on Bonggao, Tawi Tawi. From there as pressure ebbed and flowed they were shuttled between islands in Sulu until finally this month, December, 2010, they returned to Bonggao. PNP SAF (Police Special Action Force, the PNP Special Force) laid an effective cordon around the sector in which the band of 10 ASG gueriilas had encamped. The official story is that the captors, under Kumander Ahmad fled knowing that they were surrounded and left their quarry in a standard diversionary tactic. In reality though, the PNP made a deal, leave the 2 victim and you are free to go. This is almost always the outcome in those rare instances when the PNP (or AFP, Armed Forces of the Philippines) manages to actually locate an encampment. Kidnappers tend to operate in the most economically depressed areas. They make big money, the biggest in a given area and as you see with the Sahiron Clan, are often the same legal authorities victims rely on to help protect them. Even when that is not the case, an AFP, or PNP Jr. Officer leading a detachment can have his career ruined if a captive is killed during a rescue attempt. Conversely, a kidnap victim rescued alive and well can make one's entire career depending upon the status (or nationality) of the victim(s). Therefore it behooves the young officer to play the game just so. The AFP oversees security in any insurgency prone area. AFP SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) requires notification to and coordination with an LGU (Local Government Unit, aka "municipality"). Even when LGU executives aren't actually related to kidnappers they are still going to be very susceptible to bribery (the "Siege of Lamitan" is a textbook example of the problems I am briefly discussing).
Indeed, the very same thing happened for a 2nd time this week in the case of young Tsinoy (Filipino-Chinese, aka "Chinoy") Kenn "Kenny" Klefford Lao. I mentioned the 21 year old college student's case in a recent KFR ( Kidnap for Ransom) entry A 1st year student at Notre Dame College in Jolo City, on Jolo Island in Sulu Province he stupidly left the safety of his campus on October 07, 2010 to meet an anonymous text mate (I explained just what that is in that entry I mentioned) but he was instead waylaid by ASG guerillas who kidnapped him. He was "freed" on December 22, 2010 when again, a PNP SAF cordon was laid down around an isolated settlement in Sitio Kabbon, Barangay Langhob, in the town of Indanan. Only guarded by 2 young men at that point, the 2 abandoned their delightful meal of boiled rice and cassava (excuse me, I have to retch) and skedaddled to wherever ASG go when they are not making the world miserable. Kenny recognised the "opportunity" and ran for dear life,... Until he collided with an ensconced PNP SAF asset in a sniper blind (camoflauged site for snipers to conceal themselves in).
The 3rd ASG kidnap victim to find freedom this week is also a person I discussed in a recent KFR entry; 60 year old widow Rosabella "Rose" Barranda was returning to her home in Barangay Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan Island aboard a jeepney (puic transportation) from a Bible study group in the town of Lamitan when ASG gunmen from the Nurhasan Jamiri Faction kidnapped her at a checkpoint. Though she owns a small general store on a rubber plantation she struggled to make ends meet and so had no wealth for her family to ransom her with. Kidnapped on November 02, 2010 her captors lowered their ransom demands from 1 Million Pesos (22,000 US) to 700,000 Pesos (15,000 US) in addition to the 2 new M16s (meaning newly manufactured M16A2s as opposed to new model M16s which would be the almost impossible to access, M16A4s, which one never sees in the Philippines), both equipped with grenade. Launchers (M203s). Finally it was 500,000 Pesos (11,000 US) and Rose was free and on Xmas day no less. At 3PM she was released in Sitio Limbo Kassah, Barangay Magkawah, al Barka on Basilan Island.
Not a moment too soon either since Rose, who suffers from both diabetes AND hypertension could barely stand unassisted when picked up by authorities.
On December 21, 2010 in the Zamboanga City Public Market at almost 3PM an AFP detachment captured ASG guerilla Abu Isaac was nabbed on a Warrant issued by Judge Leo Jay Principe of Regional Trial Court, Branch #1 on Basilan for his part in both the Sipadan Island Dive Resort near Sandakan Island, Malaysia Kidnapping in 2000 and the Dos Palmas Kidnapping in Puerto Princessa, Palawan Island in 2001. The former put ASG in the limelight and gave it its biggest pay day (20 Million US). The latter sealed its infamy as that was the 1 where 3 Americans were kidnapped and only 1 survived. The 1st, Guillermo Sobero, a dual Peruvian/American was beheaded days after the famous "Siege of Lamitan" which was subsequent to the landing on Basilsan from Palawan. The other 2, the American missionary couple Gracia and Martin Burnham spent a very trying 51 odd weeks being marched all over the mountains of Basilan, and in their las 2 weeks on the Zamboanga Peninsula. In the end, held by the infamous and very ambitious Abu Sabaya they were sighted by an AFP detachment of Scout Rangers, COY 15 (15th Company) led by 1stLt. Oliver Almonares, on its Test Mission (a very stupid AFP protocol that has combat elements undertake a very loosely defined tactical operation at the end of field training. The only way in which a detachment can pass is to make contact with the enemy. This naturally causes very reckless behavior). The 15th, along with a local CAFGU soldier as a guide (Citizens Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit, a form of Army Reserve manned by residents from a single municipal unit within which that CAFGU element is deployed. A unit may not operate outside of its official AOR, aka, "Area of Responsibility") ended up causing the deaths of both Martin Burnham and a Filipina captive, Ediborah Yap. Ms. Yap had been a nurse at the hospital occupied during the Siege of Lamitan and when the AFP connived with corrupt local officials to allow ASG to walk through a 5000 man cordon she and other hospital staff were added to the growing list of captives.
Lastly, on December 17, 2010 in a Federal Court Room in Washington D.C., in the US, 1 of ASG's 1st members finally faced justice. Madhatta "Kumander Haipe" Haipe was leading a band of 40 ASG guerillas in the backcountry around Lake Sebu, in South Cotabato Provibce when a group of vacationers had the very bad fortune to cross the band's path on December 27, 1995. The 1f tourists, all Filipinos and Filpino-Americans had been enjoying the beautiful vista offered at Trankini Falls, downstream from the lake. Kidnapping all 16, Haipe, formerly a Professor of Islamic Studies at MSU (Mindanao State University) then released a couple to arrange ransoms for the rest. By December 31 all were released and ASG had made 1.5 Million Pesos (56,000 US in 1995 but 34,000 US today).
He was extradited to the US on August 27, 2010 and arrested upon landing as is the American way in such things. Originally indicted in the US back in November, 2000 owing to the American citizenship of 4 of his 16 victims, he received 23 years in an American prison (which all things considered means 19 years of living conditions better than most Mindanowans will ever enjoy. This is America's weak spot, one of many. If a young Mindanowan who has been subsisting upon 1 meal a day for most of his life is made aware that should he somehow hold an American captive he can then expect to face 3 decent meals (relatively speaking), free medical and dental care and a warm bed IF caught, well you get the point).
No comments:
Post a Comment