As I noted in my previous entry ("Abu Sayyaf Interdiction, First Quarter 2011") the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) would appear to some as if it has finally been making much needed headway against ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group). It has roped in several high profile arrests in the most notorious incidents ("Sipadan Island," "Dos Palmas," Siege of Lamitan" and "Golden Harvest Plantation") and has finally moved forward in the assasination of Congressman Wahab Akbar in the 2007 bombing of the Congressional Complex that killed Rep.Akbar and 4 others.
As the AFP readied itself to go mano a mano with ASG on Basilan LGUs (Local Govt. Units, barangay, town, city and provincial govts.) in the Visayas (Central Philippines) began getting very nervous about the possibility of ASG heading north to their shores. Though historically in the early Spanish Era Muslims would indeed push north, raping, pillaging and enslaving as they moved through the islands, in the present its not likely to happen. ASG goes no further north than the Zamboanga Peninsula (excepting its infamous and singular foray into Palawan in 2001) and even then it does so only out of absolute necessity, the Sulu archipelago being their preferred destination. As if unsteady nerves weren't bad enough, AFP Intelligence warned of an impending attack in Negros, Bohol and/or Siquijor Islands. On January 03, 2011 Intelligence had warned of a large detachment of ASG leaving Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte Province and heading to Negros Oriental Province on the island of Negros. A week later, after the first warning amounted to nothing, ASG was said to be departing Zamboanga City in Zamboanga del Norte Province en route to Dumaguete on Negros Island. On January 14 the attack was said to be impending on Bohol Island. The Alert ended February 01.
January 07 five members of ASG were charged in the "Camp Asturias Chapel" bombing that took place during Xmas Mass in 2010, wounding 11 people including 2 Roman Catholic priests. The 5 charged are;
1) Alhabsy Misaya
2) Dodong Tarik
3) Sali Sa'id
4) Arola (epnonymously named)
5) Gafur (epononymously named)
Number 3, Sali Sa'id, was nabbed on February 01,as I discussed in my previous entry. He was on Chinese Wharf in Jolo City shortly after disembarking from am inter-island ferry.
On January 09,2011 a group of ASG under sub-Kumander Patti Kabulot of the Jamiri Faction ambushed the AFP in Barangay Baguindan, Tipo Tipo on Basilan Island. 2 guerillas were killed in the 45 minute fire fight, one of which was Kabulot himself. A third was captured alive along with two M16s and one RPG, along with two RPG shells.
January 14, in Sitio Fuente, Barangay Sapa Bulag, Sumisip on Basilan Island, Cpl.Haber Akil of the 32IB (32nd Infantry Battalion) was en route to Tumahubong from Isabela City on a motorcycle while on duty. A sniper took his life with a shot to the chest.
January 19, in Sitio Kurellem, Barangay Silangkum, Tipo Tipo on Basilan Island, ASG Factional Leader Nurhusin Jamiri was with at least 50 gunmen when the 4th Scout Rangers Battalion, COY (Company) 13 accidentally found him while scouring the sector. In the ensuing fire fight 1 Scout Ranger was critically wounded and died after being helicoptered out to Zamboanga City for treatment.
January 21 in Barangay Macalang, al Barka, the 4th Scout Rangers Battalion entered a recently abandoned ASG Camp where they discovered 2 IEDs (though not primed as booby traps, merely being stored after manufacture), 50 grammes of ammonium nitrate (an ingredient in IED payloads) and 14 rounds of M60 (large crew fired weapon) ammunition. The camp wad comprised of 4 "nipas" (single roomed bamboo framed palm thatched huts, the average home in the Philippines) that could have held 20 men. The camp was discovered by accident during a scour (meter by meter search within established co-ordinates).
Barangay Maclang is 1 of several al Barka barangays whose residents have fled en masse during the afore mentioned tactical push against ASG. Roughly 6,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons, aka"Refugees") from Barangays Macalang, Danapa and Ka'ilih took refuge in and around Danapa Elementary School in the barangay of the same name. As Febuary began the AFP and LGU (Local Government Unit tried their best to persuade the terrified villagers to go back to their homes and farms but to no avail. Almost all refused to move back home or even tend their farms for as long as the AFP continued its tactical operations in the town.
On February 12 in Barangay Baiwas in Sumisip, Basilan, the 4th Scout Rangers Battalion launched a direct assault on the camp of ASG sub-Kumander Juhaiber"Abu Kiks"Alamsirul of the Janatul Faction. The operation, which began at daybreak was difficult as the camp clings to a very steep mountainside but was deemed high priority after receiving intelligence that the factional leader, Kumander Radzmil Janatul had stayed there overnight with 30 of his best men. A single platoon under Captain Daet was all that Task Force Headquarters could muster on such short notice though all things considered, a platoon of Scout Rangers are worth at least 2 companies of regular AFP Infantrymen (a platoon averages 30 men while a company nets 100 to 120 men). The attack lasted until 3 hours, until 730AM and left 2 soldiers dead, 5 wounded. Upon ASG withdrawing the Scout Rangers entered the camp and secured it, discovering 7 earthen bunkers.
On March 06 in Barangay Santa Barbara, Isabela City, Basilan, PNP PO1 (PNP officers are ranked by a 1,2 or 3 depending upon their seniority, with "1" being the lowest rank equivalent to a "Private" in the Army,with "PO" signifying "Police Officer") Dennis Aquino, Barangay Captain Noel Mirasol and 3 Barangay Kagawads (Barangay Councillors) were walking through the barangay when they were ambushed by snipers. Mirasol and Aquino were critically wounded as the 3 Barangay Kagawads returned fire and killed 2 of the gunmen, epononymously named Baljubir and Nadjar.Though the officials were Cebuanos and Chavacanos (non-Muslim) and the gunmen were Muslim there are rumours that this didn't involve ASG per se and wasn't even political in nature. Aquino and Mirasol are said to be neck deep in the drug trade and since this is the Southern Philippines "drugs" are synonymous with "Shabu," highly pure smokable methamphetamine.
March 09, an IED placed inside a triksiad (ubiqitous form of Philippine public transport constructed out of a motorcycle dirt bike with an aluminum body constructed around it, inside of which there are 2 bench seats hold passengers) detonated as a group of triksiads idled in front of the Sulu Peovincial Board of Education building in Jolo City, on Jolo Island. The blast, timed for afternoon rush hour killed 5 drivers and wounded 11, including passerby. The blast seems to have been aimed for a PNP transport carrying a detachment of SAF (Special Action Force, the PNP's Special Operations element) which had just passed by when detonation occurred. The group of drivers were parked against the fence around Salih Ututalum Elementary School where 2 men were immediately killed. The other 3 deaths occurred during treatment at a nearby hospital. The initial 2 fatalities are unidentifiable because of the damage to their bodies from the powerful blast. The 3 men who died during treatment are:
1) Habir Sabri
2) Abdulmajid Ibrahim
3) Aleson Ma'ing
On that same day, March 09 the AFP threw all progress they had made thus far in 2011 out the proverbial window when they played the "Keystone Cops, Philippine Style" in an episode we will call, "Sacol Island: Whose on First?" In a Top Secret Operation so hush hush that Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin had no idea it was even planned, never mind dumbfounded LGUs who have been railing against this breech of protocol.
Acting upon intelligence that ASG-Basilan Factional Leader Khair Mundos was ensconced on an isolated tract on Sacol Island, possibly wit the other major factional leader on Basilan, Nurhusin Jamiri, the AFP's TF Basilan launched a massive air/amphibious operation. Using Hueys (helicopters) to insert Airborne soldiers from 3rd Special Forces Battalion, covered by 2 MG-529s (helicopter gunships) on the far side of the very small islet. On the tract where ASG was supposed to be dug in, those Gun Ships softened the ground with 8 missiles launched as the soldiers were scouring from the other coast. The problem however is that that ASG "camp"? The one containing Khair Mundos and Nurhusin Jamiri? It was an empty mangrove. If ASG had ever been there they weren't now. Sadly it took the AFP NINE HOURS to discover they were killing...a...MANGROVE. I need to also add that the missile strikes were supposed to be kilometers away from the nearest civilians but residents of Barangay Landang Laum note that the strikes hit mere meters from their village which abuts that mangrove. Perhaps the AFP should be happy people are laughing at them as opposed to calling them "mass murderers."
March 17 the AFP seems to have caught with its pants down AGAIN. Scout Rangers set a cross fire ambush along a main road to try and interdict ASG. It ended up instead critically wounding a PNP (Pgilippine National Police) officer who was operating a motorcycle and his civilian passenger. In its own defence the Scout Ranger Team in question claimed it had thought the motorcycle was carrying Barangay Captain Nat Haddalam, a member of ASG. In other words, the AFP's elite units see the need to lay a cross fire ambush rather than to try and LAWFULLY stop and arrest the subject they were after. Even more disgustingly, both men on the motorcycle were shot in the back!
On Saturday, March 19 off of Menes Island, part of the island municipality of Hadji Panglima Tahil, formerly known as "Marunggas," yet another case of "Ambak Pare" took place. The phrase is Cebuano and idiomatically is akin to, "You better jump dude!" It denotes piracy, almost always by ASG, where if you aren't kidnapped you are told, "Ambak Pare!" It is prevalent on Mindanao's southwestern coast and Zamboanga Peninsula. Less often it happens like Saturday's case, in the Sulu archipelago and Tawi Tawi, the Philippines' southern most island. This last case revolved around the typical ASG extortion aimed at small to medium sized fishing companies. The vessel "M/V Mega VIII" was manned by 3 men, who are missing:
1) Captain Renato Panisales
2) Wennie Ferrer
3) Jonald Ocsimar
The 3 men were initially believed to have been killed but 2 days after their disappearance the Jamiri Jawari Faction of ASG made contact with the fishing company and demanded 10 Million Pesos in Ransom. From then until March 31 nothing else was known though the AFP concentrated its search in and around the factional territory near the municipality of Patikul on Jolo Island. On the day in question, March 31, the military entered an outlying barangay within Patikul and came under fire from Abu Sayyaf. During intence fighting the AFP killed 3 guerillas but failed to sight the 3 captives. When ASG withdrew from the village 50 minutes later the soldiers found the Seaman Book (a work permit issued to maritime workers) issued to the fishing boat captain, Renato Panisales. As for the island municipality where this incident initially took place, took place, Hadji Panglima Tahil, the town is spread out over several tiny islets and is an MNLF-Misuari Faction stronghold now mainly populated by MNLF guerillas who sought land after the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. Led by Kumander Elol Salim, the 417 guerillas now put their energy into an abalome co-operative and a seaweed farming operation funded by ELAP (Emergency Livlihood Assistance Program) and its evolved form, LEAP (Livlihood Enhancement and Peace Pogrsmme). LEAP is funded by USAID's GEM (Growth with Equity in Mindanao), a programme meant to help de-programme MNLF guerillas.
On Monday, March 21 ASG's Jamiri Faction kidnapped yet another person on Basilan Island. At 130 AM Rolando de la Cruz, caretaker for "Cawley Resturant" on Aguinaldo Street, Barangay Matibay, Lamitan City, was checking for intruders after his dogs began barking excitedly. As the 44 year old man stepped into the compound he was confronyed by ASG guerillas under sub-Kumander Ustadz Salim Tado. The kidnapper's forced de la Cruz into his own vehicle and sped off in the direction of that city's Barangay Bulanting. It was in that barangay's Sitio Libi that the SUV was found on fire. However, by early that evening the 32IB had brought that band of guerillas to heel and rather than be caught themselves the kidnappers simply release Mr.de la Cruz. It is a standard ASG diversionary tactic and for better or for worse there is an unwritten but well understood rule between the AFP and ASG. IF ASG releases a kidnapping victim without having harmed him or her the AFP allows a route for escape and does not attack. After being released by ASG in Barangay Sinulatan, Tuburan at 520PM the 32IB gave the kidnappers an hour to fully withdraw and so they recovered the victim alive and well at 620PM.
Ironically the kidnapping coincides with US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr's visit to the region. Arriving in Zamboanga City on the March 21 he will next head across the strait to Basilan and then to Jolo City where he will take part in a ceremony marking the US grant of more than 1 million US Dollars (23,000 Pesos) to local NGO, "LPDR" (Literacy for Peace and Development).
March 28, 2011 saw the closure of a case that had been vexing Philippine authorities for almost a decade. Javanese bomb expert Umar"Mike"Patek of the Indonesian terrorist organisation Jemaya'a Islamiyya ("JI"). Having been arrested by Pakistan's "Inter-Services Intelligence Agency" on information provided by the CIA (American Intelligence, isn't THAT an oxymoron?).For nearly a decade JI and ASG have been nearly synonymous with one another, ever since the aftermath of JI's "Bali Bombing." Patek, and by extension JI's first involvement with ASG first took place in 1995 when he arrived in Mindanao to relieve Nasir bin Abas as the CO (Commanding Officer" of JI's "Mantiki III," the label applied to the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Brunei. In 1999 he returned to Jakarta and assumed a leadership role as the group began laying the ground work needed for the "Bali Bombing." The attack, which eventually transpired in 2002. The act killed 202 people, nearly half of them Australian, and thereby turned JI into the posterboy of SE Asian Terrorism. An international manhunt began with several relatively high ranking members choosing to capitalise on a long standing relationship with Mindanao and the Muslims living here. It was a natural thing to do given the common Malay ancestry, common physical appearance and of course, a common faith.
JI members like Patek, and his brother-in-law Joko"Dulmatin"Pitoyo originally came to teach at an MILF "academy" in a now defunct jungle stronghold, "Camp Hudaibiyah." Located in Pawas, Maguindanao, it trained MILF, ASG AND JI members. It was in Hudaibiyah that the 2 JI leaders would cultivate relationships and teach both ASG AND MILF members how to manufacture technically proficient IEDs.
After the bombing in Bali, in 2002, the Indonesian authorities, aided by Australian law enforcement began a relentless manhunt for not only the bombers but all Islamo-fascists in general. Patek decided to travel with Dulmatin north to Mindanao. With authorities all over the region on the look out this latest trip would have to take place off the grid; The Southern Philippines (Mindanao and its outlying island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi) have regional agreements concerning unfettered travel between ialands, regardless of international borders. One can take a ferry, freighter or fishing boat between Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. There is no need for Immigration OR Customs, one simply disembarks and isn't questioned or impeded. Still, it takes a bit of knowhow in choosing which craft from whatever port and so the duo had an acquaintance from the Islamo-fascist organisation "Darul Islam" to guide them on their journey north. The man chosen, Arham (a.k.a."Arnoldl) was a . Arriving in mid-2003 the duo immediately returned to Maguindanao Province and Camp Hudaibiyah.
Though their old protector, the MILF's Kumamder Abu Badrin Badruddin welcomed the 2 men back to Central Mindanao things had changed drastically. Since the Indonesians had left in 1999 the MILF had been badly beaten, almost to the point of destruction, during then President Estrada's "All Out War on the MILF." The war, in 2000, had been precipitated by an attack by an MILF unit on the town of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte Province. Occupying the Christian town in a show of strength the MILF hadn't been aware that that AFP AOR (Area of Responsibility) had received a Brigade strength deployment of Marines just 4 hours prior. Without even unpacking their kitbags the Marines rushed to Kauswagan from their new base in Cagayan del Oro City in the adjacent province of Misamis Oriental and freed the town by midnite. From that quick victory Estrada, capitalising on its momentum added 2 entire Infantry Divisions and in a pincer move began advancing up Narciso Ramos National Hiway from both its terminuses, clearing all MILF positions as they went. Within 3 months the government forces reached Camp Abubakar, the MILF nerve center, and leveled it. So total was the victory that Estrada himself hurried south by private jet and then helicoptered into Camp Abubakar in order to personally host a pigroast and beerbash. Edtrada's choice of refreshments being highly symbolic in what was here to fore a bastion of Islamic Power on the island. The President swilling beer and chewing pork cracklings in the MILF Central Mosque had its intended effect, the MILF almost collapsed.
In the nearly 3 years since, MILF Kumanders like Badruddin had reorganised their forces into highly mobile formationd known as "Base Commands" and operated without much of a power structure above them. This essentially meant that Patek and Dulmatin were incredibly vulnerable despite Camp Hudaibiyah having managed to survive largely unscathed within the impenetrable Ligusan Marsh. Within months of the pair's arrival the MILF came under intense political pressure from the Philippine Government.
In the Philippines it is the military that runs the country. Though Estrada's guidance had led to a massive victory for the AFP in the 2000 War, his corruption had reached epic proportions. This became the impetus for a strong faction within the Army to forment a coup to install then Vice President Gloria M.Arroyo in the Presidential Palace. Almost immediately after seizing power President Arroyo sought to solidify her position by reaching a Peace Agreement with at least 1 of the several insurgencies plagueing the nation. She decided that the MILF presented the strongest chance for a successful outcome. After enlisting the aid of Malaysia to Facilitate these Talks she and the MILF began aggressively negotiating. Just after the Indonesian's arrival in Mindanao the Philippine Government turned its attentions towards Camp Hudaibaya after Australian Intelligence ascertained that members of Indonesian terror groups (JI, Darul Islam, KOMPAK) and leaned on the MILF to shutter the encampment.
It was in mid-2004 then that Patel and Dulmatin took refuge with the Khadaffi Janjalani Faction of ASG on Basilan. On Basilan the conditions were deplorable, trekking deep in the isolated bush, always being pursued by the AFP and so by 2005 they had sailed south with part of the Janjalani Faction, taking refuge on Jolo Island with the Sadhiron Faction of ASG. From that point there are highly conflicting reports on his whereabouts. Readers might recall that in my ASG entry for the last quarter of 2010 that pundits were getting hot and bothered as they challenged each others' view concerning Patek's latest whereabouts. Some thought he was still in Sulu Province, others in Tawi Tawi Province (supported by a video of him there though not dated in any way), while others had him in Pakistan. Lo and behold, Pakistan was correct. No word on who gets to collect a 10 Million US Bounty.
Finally this quarter, just after New Year, skeletal remains of a decapitated male waa found in a cave in the hills above Tipo Tipo, in that municipality's Barangay Kabug Pababag. Forensics are being formed with American assistance to try and determine the identity of the deceased.
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