NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter, Part V: Attack on Medina Police Station

In my last NPA entry, "NPA Armed Attacks for the Second Quarter of 2011, Part VII" I discussed the supposed "Pacification" of Misamis Oriental Province and the resurgence of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee, or NCMRC of the NPA. Central to that entry was the municipality of Balingasag in the Balitucan Mountains, home to the NPA's Front 4B. This particular Front has a storied past, one which I touched upon in that aforementioned recent Second Quarter entry.

The ressurection of Front 4B is now undeniable with its spearheading of a major tactical operation on Thursday, August 25th, 2011. Early in the morning on the day in question a female guerilla from Front 16A of the NEMRC, or Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee chartered a van in Surigao City, in the province of Surigao del Norte. The young lady said that she and her siblings would be travelling for a family get together to take place that afternoon in the municipality of Medina, two provinces away in Misamis Oriental. Leaving Surigao City at 930AM the van carrying 10 NPA guerillas began the long drive along Mindanao's northern coast.

Arriving on the outskirts of Medina at 3PM the young female guerilla directed the unsuspecting driver to her "cousin's" home, actually an empty lot where two other rented vans awaited them. Pulling up to the other two vans the driver looked quizicaly at his fare only to be told that he had been commandeered by the NPA and that if he complied without resistance he would live to tell about his exciting day. The other two vans had been chartered that very afternoon, there in Medina, by members of the NPA's Front 4B of the NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee. Removing assault rifles from boxes and rice sacks that had been transported aboard the three vans, the guerillas then waited until 430PM before ordering the three drivers to proceed into the town centre, Barangay Poblacion, after first co-ordinating positions with a small Blocking Force at two key positions on the only routes in and out of the town centre:

1) A checkpoint on National Hiway

2) In between the Public Market and the entrance into the town's main drag

Driving slowly through the small municipality the three vans, travelling together, mangaged to avoid arousing suspicion as they made their way to the municipal compound. At 515PM the vans stopped several meters from the compound entrance. Instructing the drivers to quickly walk away, 2 well armed guerillas were left to guard the idling vans while the other 28 put their plan into motion. As guerillas poured out of the vans horrified townspeople quickly began running for cover knowing all too well what was about to transpire. Firing rifles as they flooded the compound, SPO1 Edito Bayhon was immediately shot in the head and killed. The 25 year veteran of the Medina MPO, or Municipal Police Office and a resident of the town's Barangay Tupop, had been manning the station's desk, situated just inside the building's doorway. A detachment of 10 guerillas then attempted to infiltrate the town hall situated next to the MPO building.

Sitting inside his office in the town hall Mayor Pacifico Pupos was deep in conversation with two barangay captains and a town councilor when the staccato blasts from rifles, punctuated by detonations of rifle grenades immediately caught his attention. Proceeding to an inner office that was far more secure he and his three guests did their best to ride out the attack.

Alerted to the attack and knowing he had only 7 officers inside the MPO, the Chief of Police rushed past the Public Market only to run headlong into the second Blocking Force position. The result was a quick but intense firefight that prevented the Chief from aiding his men. The first Blocking Force position, the checkpoint on National Hiway, quickly closed up shoppe upon learning from a Spotter that a massive amount of re-inforcements were en route to Medina from neighbouring Gingoog City.

Outside the town hall the 10 man detachment met unexpected resistance in the front foyer and quickly backpedaled into the compound to join in on the assault's main target, the MPO and its modest stock of weaponry. At the 45 minute mark, having failed to infiltrate either objective the guerillas withdrew in orderly fashion and climbed aboard the idling vans before speeding out of Barangay Poblacion and into Barangay San Isidro where they abandoned all three vans before dispersing on foot in different directions, later rendevouzing over the border in the adjacent province of Bukidnon. From there the combined forces of Front 16A and 4B made their way overland to the mountainous border of Bukidnon and Agusan del Norte Provinces in a hard push that ended very late Friday night, August 26th.

The NPA had lost one guerilla, from Front 4B, whose identity remains unknown despite early information that he might have been a Team Leader (detachment commanding officer) known by the nom de guerre "Ka Hakim." The Government casualties, aside from the deceased SPO1, Edito Bayhon, were two critically wounded officers:

1) SPO2 Renie Galera Rombo

2) SPO1 Diosdado Salas Sendiong

The next day while scouring Medina the 8IB (Infantry Battalion) discovered all three vans in Barangay San Isidro, the only progress made by the AFP during its "hot pursuit" of the guerillas. The incident is note worthy in and above it being yet another NPA attack. It followed the blueprint used in the SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee's attack on the Panabo City CPO (City Police Office), in Davao del Norte Province back on March 19th of 2011. Employing a non-threatening female guerilla to charter vans for a "family gathering," and then retaining the vans for stage one of their withdrawal...Likewise, one should pay attention to the high degree of co-operation not only between Fronts (not unusual) but between Regional Committees as well (very unusual). In the end the NPA lost a guerilla but did capture an additional M16 off of one of the wounded police officers. Still, the operation, one of an astounding 64 tactical operations by the NPA, in 4ID (Infantry Division) AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "Area of Operation") in just the Third Quarter, put Front 4B firmly back into play, even if they did need Front 19A in order to do it.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2011, Part VII: Pacification of Misamis Oriental Province and the Attack on Lantad CAFGU

Misamis Oriental Province on Mindanao's northern coast is one of two Mindanaowan provinces declared "Pacified" by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines in the fourth quarter of 2010. Pacification simply requires the signature of the ID CO, or Infantry Division Commanding Officer, under whose AOR, or Area of Responsibility the province lies, in this case the 4ID. There is no quantified process requiring a minimum of armed contacts, etc. Once the ID CO makes what is purely judgement call, the armed response to the insurgency within that province is officialy turned over to the PPOC, or Provincial Peace and Order Committee for management and is perceived to then be a Law and Order issue, or in Philippine speak, a Peace and Order issue, to be dealt with by the PNP, or Philippine National Police on the ground.

Misamis Oriental had come a long way in a very short time to even be considered for a security downgrade. Indeed one of its municipalities, the town of Balingasag had just 4 years before been under virtual control of the NPA. Sitio Lantad, a Higaon-on Tribal settlement in the municipality's Barangay Kibanban was declared "Liberated Territory" by the NPA which had implemented a full parallel government there in 1987. While parallel NPA Governments are in no way unique, then OR now, the "Government" in Sitio Lantad exerted 100% control even to the point of issuing land deeds and recording births and deaths.

The standard narrative is that the big turn around is single handedly due to Misamis Oriental's Governor, Oscar Moreno. Elected in 2004 he turned his attention to the sitio, believing in the standard COIN, or Counterinsurgency mantra that "Insurgencies begin where good roads end." That adage sums up the orthadox take on the main impetus behind insurgency; namely, that organisations like the NPA flourish in places where governments fail to provide basic services. Of course there is truth in that but like most anything else, it involves a whole lot more.

If a lack of attention and services is the root cause of the NPA's strength in Sitio Lantad, Governor Moreno sought to effectively deal with that in a common sensical manner. The first step, from that orthadox perspective, is to have the AFP clear the sitio of NPA regulars, or full time guerillas. To that end the 8IB (Infantry Battalion) saturated the sitio and cleared it. Upon clearing the second step is to "hold" the community, to prevent re-infiltration by the insurgency. Therefore the 8IB established a garrison on a hill overlooking the 200 house sitio, manned by the battalions Company C. Finally, the 8IB supervised the recruitment of a CAFGU platoon from the sitio. CAFGU, or Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit is the cornerstone of the CAA, or Civilian Active Auxiliary programme, itself the cornerstone of the AFP's COIN blueprint. Since I have discussed the CAA in more than a couple of my recent NPA entries, for the sake of brevity I will merely offer that the CAFGU are a geographically specific armed reserve of the AFP (via J5, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations). Its personnel are residents of the community in which they serve and they may not operate outside of their parent municipality.

After the "holding" stage is reached, it is time to re-establish, or in most cases establish for the first time ever a visible and meaningful Governmental presence. Sitio Lantad sits in a valley in the Balatucan Mountains. Located 18km upland from the more populated sections of its parent barangay, Kibanban, the only way to reach Lantad was by a footpath that was usually impassable along an 11km stretch. The valley's rather high elevation means that it isn't subject to the two Monsoons that drive most of Mindanao's weather systems. Instead it receives a short but torrential rainfall on most every afternoon of the year, relegating that one footpath to almost marsh-like consistency. The impassability of the trail narrowed down travel options to either horse or buffalo (carabao), and kept the people of Lantad in dire povery and perpetual isolation. Governor Moreno then embarked upon the construction of a gravel track that when completed in July of 2006 allowed habal-habal (motorcycle taxi) travel on a permanent basis.

Next, Governor Moreno constructed a solar dryer, basically a concrete patio with concave furrows that allow easier sun drying of the dry rice grown in the valley. The Governor then secured the assistance of various NGOs to help provide solar panels that allowed electrification of most sitio homes along with health and educational initiatives. By 2007 Sitio Lantad itself was declared Pacified and the Governor vowed to use the experience gained there as a template for pacification for the rest of the province.

Of course the Government's re-taking of Sitio Lantad, if indeed that is what it really was, had little to do with the improvements given to the villagers. In the late 1980s to early 1990s Lantad became a logistical hub for the NPA's Northern Mindanao Region, or NMR as well as the CMR, or Central Mindanao Region and the NMR, or Northern Mindanao Region, the Region to which Lantad was attached. With NPA founder and leader Jose Maria Sison's release from prison in 1986 the NPA underwent an ideological shakeup that precipitated a major organisational crisis. With Sison locked away in prison since 1977 the group's Maoist foundation began to support other ideological lines. The shift began in the organisation's Manila-Rizal Committee on Luzon, under its Secretary, Felimon "Ka Popoy" Lagman. Maoism is built upon the premise that the rural masses, the peasantry, are the backbone of the nation and therefore must drive any far reaching social and/or political change. More to the point, the armed struggle must remain a rural-based campaign until the insurgency's final stages. NPA members living in Metro Manila naturally felt that the urban masses forming the bulk of their membership and 100% of their mass base of support also had alot to offer the armed struggle and under Lagman's custodianship the Manila-Rizal Committee further entrenched itself in this divergent position. There were a host of hard ideological issues and other underlying organisationally based issues dividing Lagman and the CPP, or Communist Party of the Philippines (the NPA is but an armed wing of the CPP) dating back to the 1978 Congressional and Senatorial Elections when Lagman eschewed the standard CPP/NPA boycott of elections and agitated for participation. Still, the crux of the divide centered upon the perspective that Maoism was tailored for the China of the 1930s and 40s, not the Philippines of the mid-1980s. That last point was especially popular in strong Regional Committees in all three of the major Philippine Regions, the entire top tier of leadership in KOMVIS, or Visayas Committee (Komiteng Visayas) the Visayas Region and in Central Mindanao, Far South Mindanao, and Western Mindanao in the Southern Philippines as well.

With Sison's re-emergence and the huge ideological misstep taken with the same CPP/NPA adherance to boycotting of all state elections...even when THE "election" happens to be the first post-Marcos Presidential Election, set the stage for a major showdown precipitated by the NPA over-reacted to these ideological variations. Ka Popoy and Manila-Rizal were at the forefront of the brewing storm. With Sison's re-entry came the need, as he and his organisational allies saw it, to separate the chaff and let it fall where it would. All the more pressing were a host of external forces driving this dynamic. While Sison almost gleefully pointed to the collapse of the Soviet Union as proof positive of Maoism's advantages Lagman, et al correctly pointed out that China was no longer the land of Mao caps and cookie cutter bicycles. It was quickly backsliding into capitalism. Lagman then made it a personal issue with thre widely distributed manifestos collectively known within the CPP/NPA as "Counter-Thesis I."

Lagman then upped it a notch, spurred on by high ranking allies in KOMVIS, he withdrew Manila-Rizal from the CPP/NPA and publicly distributed the resignation letter. Meanwhile, here on Mindanao, the Central Mindanao Region, or CMR, only in existence for less than 4 years (created from a merging of Moro Region, MR, and North Western Region, NWR) had begun chafing under Sison's "my way or the hiway" heavy handedness. The concern on Mindanao could never be "urbanist insurrectionism" as it had been with Lagman and his supporters. Instead, the issues at play were of a totally different sort, albeit just as divisive - if not more- than Lagman's disillusionment with Chairman Mao.

Mindanao had started later than most other regions as far as the Communist struggle is concerned. Its first cadres didn't arrive until 1973 and it wasn't until 1977 that the movement could support a tactical strike on the island. Then, in 1978 the movement suddenly caught on like wildfire and spread throughout Mindanao, even making headway into Muslim-dominated areas like Maguindanao Province by the dawn of the 1980s. The rest of the 1980s saw increasing momentum that had the NPA snowballing in all corners of the island. However all was not well. The CPP had never been well developed on Mindanao and now that the armed wing, the NPA, was expanding exponentially it was impossible to close the gap between the military and political wings. People were recruited directly into the NPA without an ounce of political underpinning and so at critical mass, in 1985, the organisation on Mindanao was set to implode.

The Kampanyang Aho, or "Garlic Campaign" began with a terrified but well intentioned investigation into the AFP and PC, or Philippine Constulbary (now defunct) DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents. Dating back to the Philippine's immediate post WWII Communist Insurgency in Central Luzon, the so called "Huk Rebellion," the Philippine Military establishment had run deeply buried sleepers in all Leftist slash subversive organisations. The concern on Mindanao was entirely mis-placed. What few DPAs were in play were entirely under deployment on Luzon. Undoubtedly recently trained local youth may have been deployed but were in no way serving as DPAs whose modus operandi had been to climb the ranks of Leftist organisations in order to provide worthwhile intel worth of the substantial investment their deploment represented.

Centered in what was then NMR, or Northern Mindanao Region, in and around the municipality of Opol in Misamis Oriental Province, Aho ended up killing nearly 900 NPA guerillas, or 20% of all NPA regulars on Mindanao during the campaign's duration, 1985 to 1986. Then, largely because of the missteps taken during the purge, there was a total restructuring of the NPA on the island. To say that the situation was precarious even before Sison was released from prison and began trying to realign the CPP/NPA would be absolutely correct. The most power Front in NMR, Front 12, was also the entity spearheading the purge and so out with the old, in with the new. CMR was born as a direct reaction to Aho, in 1987.

eadership of CMR along with a portion of the leadership in FSR (Far South) and WMR (Western) felt that Sison's "one size fits all" approach was a piss poor fit for Mindanao's unique cultural and social landscape. Together the leadership of the three Regions, together comprising 60% of the NPA leadership on Mindanao signed a manifesto in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the CPP's lack of tendency and the increasingly despotic decision making process. They asked that the CPP allow for a Congress in which to sort out these divergent perspectives.

When, at the CPP's 10th Party Plenum in 1993, FSR and WMR stepped away from the aforementioned critique of Sison, CMR remained steadfast and by the end of 1993 found itself unceremoniously expelled from the CPP/NPA, joining Manila-Rizal and virtually the entire Central Visayas structure along with its parent structure, VISKOM, in trying to forge a new path independently of the Sison organisation. The three elements then parlezed and by the second organisational meeting in September of 1995 had formed the PCP, or Peoples Communist Party and its armed wing, the RPA, or Revolutionary Proletariat Army. This loosely structured organisation was militarily speaking, fairly active. Politically though there was no unified direction unless "away from Maoism" counts as a "direction." In mid-1998 the three separate strands within the PCP:

1) Manila-Rizal

2) KOMVIS

3) Central Mindanao Region

formed a much more cohesive and much better politically grounded organisation, the RPM-P, or Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa -Pilipinas. Usually referred to by its English translation, Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines, with the military component remaining the RPA. There was a second military organisation as well, ABB or the Alex Boncayo Brigade. Formed out of Manila-Rizal's SPARU, or Special Partisan Armed Revolutionary Unit. SPARU were and of course remain the NPA's assassination squads. The love affair wouldn't last though, when the RMP-P/RPA/ABB entered into a Peace Process with the Estrada Government the following year. As RMP-P etc reached a Final Peace Agreement in 2001 the Mindanowan branch broke away and formed the RPM-M/RPA. The "M" standing for Mindanao of course and the "P" in RPA changed to "Peoples," as in "Revolutionary Peoples Army."

So, not only was the NPA in Misamis Oriental Province, like all other areas, suffering from infighting but its logistics were decimated. Sitio Lantad had served as a logistical hub for two Regional NPA formations, besides the formation that would eventually come to be labelled, NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee :

1) NEMRC or Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee

2) WMRC or Western Mindanao Regional Committee

All this led to the NPA losing its unquestioned hold upon Sitio Lantad in 1992. The truth of the matter is, pacification was assured even without Governor Moreno's intervention. The people MOST responsible for the dislodgement of the NPA in Sitio Lantad was the NPA itself.


By 2010 the NPA was re-establishing a foothold in Sitio Lantad's parent municipality, Balingasag, with a show of force at that town's Barangay Napaliran. On the day in question, at the barangay's fiesta, a yearly celebration devoted to the patron saint held near and dear by every Christian community in the Philippines, the NPA deployed a SPARU team for a public assassination. With the depleted resources of the Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee not being able to support its own SPARU element, the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, or SMRC graciously "lent" the services of its more than capable Eking Balacuit Command. The SPARU team chose to make a point by blowing off the face of Staff Seargent Elmo G.Penar of the AFP's 8IB. Unfortunately they chose to do so as he stood next to his friend, Alexander Pabualan of that town's Barangay Uno. Both men died immediately. SSgt.Penar was targetted for two specific actions he had taken part in:

1) Capture of Front 4-B's main camp in December of 2003

2) Capture of two NPA guerillas on Janurary 14th, 2006

of course both incidents had nothing to do with the targetting of SSgt.Penar. If the NPA were to kill every member of the AFP who takes part in a Tactical Operation against it there would be bodies all over Mindanao...WAIT! There ARE bodies all over Mindanao! Anyway, I am sure that most readers will get the point. The killing merely served as a wake up call that the NPA was not out of the picture in the town of Balingasag. Front 4-B was utilised in the rationale because it is the Front that was supposedly destroyed in the clearing of Sitio Lantad.

Since the SPARU action Front 4-B has been steadily re-couping ground and support. It is ironic that the Pacification of Misamis Oriental Province took place just 80-odd days after that assassination. All the more so when Pacification entails a re-deployment of IBs (Infantry Battalions) out of cleared communities. 8IB's garrisons have remained as is. Maybe their CO, Lieutenant Colonel Pascua os psychic because on April 15th, 2011 Front 4-B attempted to overrun the CAFGU post in none other than Sitio Lantad. At just before midnite 20 guerillas launched an attack and though they failed to capture the post did end up critically wounding three CAAs from the 223rd CAA Company with shrapnel from a couple of rifle grenades:

1) Jimmy Lindahay

2) Nino Luga

3) Apolinario Luga

The recent ratcheting up of hostilities inspired William Castillio, a resident of Lantad and General Manager of the LMPC, or Lantad Multi-Purpose Co-operative to author a proclamation being billed as the "Lantad Manifesto" by some dimwitted local pseudo-journalists who seem to think the sitio's past as an NPA showpiece relegates everything in and about it to Communist cliches. Most notably perhaps was the proclamation's primary author being William Castillo. Castillo's father Conrado was a mid-level NPA guerilla who was "elected" as the NPA Mayor of Lantad during its NPA heyday. In the mid-90s Conrado Castillo became a Surrenderee to the Government only to receive his come uppance from the NPA in 1999 when he was killed by his ex-"Comrades."

The proclamation was handed to Father Albert "Paring Bert" Alejo, a Jeruit priest. Serving on the GPH portion of the RCW-SER, or Reciprocal Working Committee on the Socio-Economic Component of the GPH-NDFP (Government of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the latter representing the NPA) Peace Process as well as to the joint PPOC of Agusan del Norte and Misamis Oriental Provinces where it was recited in session in late May of 2011.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part IV: Davao Region, Quiet but NOT Sleeping

Up until the Spring of 2011 the Davao Region, or the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee was the most active of the NPA's five Regional Committees on Mindanao. Towards the end of spring, midway through the year's second quarter, Davao Region switched up its furious pace as NEMRC, or Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee and NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee both grabbed the baton and quickly picked up the pace. Building their own momentum both Regional Committtees re-established themselves in pacified areas. For NEMRC they have once again firmly established themselves in Surigao del Norte Province. NCMRC has done the same in Misamis Oriental Province.

Still, Davao Region isn't exactly sitting on the bench.

On August 14th, 2011 a blue compact automobile slowed down as it approached Task Force Davao's Sitio Mahayahay Checkpoint in Davao City's Barangay Mawab. Located in that city's Paquibato District the checkpoint is ground zero for the NPA Insurgency in that municipality. As I have well noted time and again Davao City's local warlord, Vice Mayor Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte had long ago formed a mutually beneficial arrangement with local NPA leader Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao. In exchange for Parago's agreeing to keep the rest of Davao City insurgency free Duterte has graciously offered the NPA carte blanche in four of the city's poorest, outlying districts:

1) Calinan

2) Toril

3) Marilog

and of course

4) Paquibato

Duterte has honored the gentleman's agreement to a tee and with a couple of very notable exceptions (usually confined to adjacent Baguio District), so has Ka Parago. Task Force Davao was created in the Spring of 2004 after a pair of high profile bombings by ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group and its closely allied but now defunct RSM, or Rajah Solaiman Movement. The two bombings:

1) Davao International Airport, where the Arrivals Kiosk, a crude cinder block structure across the service road from the actual terminal where friends and family of arriving passengers congregate to wait was targetted by a very powerful IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") that killed 21 people and wounded an astounding 145 more. The powerful device was concealed inside a common black backpack that was placed under a row of cheap aluminum framed seats for added shrapnel.

2) Sasa Wharf, Davao City's ferry wharf which like most ports in the Philippines is almost a city unto itself. Two young men ordered some barbecue chicken from a take away stall. As the stall workers were preoccupied with filling their order the youngmen deposited another black backpack under the stall's front counter and left with their chicken. The explosion killed 17 people and wounded 56.

In the aftermath Duterte, then serving as Mayor and fearing that the island's Islamic Insurgencies had brought their violence into Davao City had the AFP create a dedicated force to serve as the city's first line of defence against the envisioned threat by Islamic insurgents. The nascent Task Force, or TF as they are most commonly referred to, began life with some very notable Human Rights abuses against Davao City's Muslim minority. Initially Mayor Duterte blamed the two bombings on al Qaeda. The PNP, or Philippine National Police maintained that they were committed by JI, or Jemmah Islammiyah. After all, the Indonesian Islamo-fascist organisation had recently undertaken the equaly vile Bali bombing of a discoteque frequented by Australians. The group was the flavour de jour and so, JI it was. The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines however were non plussed with all the grand theorising about Bin Laden and Indonesians swimming from Bali to Mindanao. They were absolutely sure that none other than Mindanao's very own MILF was responsible. For all his al Qaeda fantasies Mayor Duterte must have put stock in the AFP's version of events because he authorised raids amounting to little more than low intensity warfare against known functionaries of the MILF and BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the MILF military arm, who were unlucky enough to be residing in Davao City.

By the summer more rational thinking had returned, at least locally, since Manila was pushing through with the Department of Justice charging of MILF Founder slash Chairman Hashim Salamat and a number of his underlings for the two bombings. Though the charges wouldn't last long, just like the certainty of MILF involvement, TF Davao remained a part of the local landscape ever after.

The round fired by an occupant of the aforementioned blue automobile very narrowly missed striking the head of the AFP Corporal commanding the checkpoint and sending nearby food stalls and their customers into a state of pandemonium as the auto burned rubber speeding out of the city and into the adjacent municipality of Santa Cruz.

In the adjoining district of Paquibato's Barangay Paradise Embac is once again becoming the focus of the AFP's 69IB (Infantry Battalion) in its drive against the NPA. In early July of 2011 the 69th ensconced a detachment in one the barangay's two elementary schools, Paradise Embac Annex, under Second Lieutenant Tamayo with Seargent Garcia as his second in command. The barangay, like three fourths of its parent district Paquibato is under a parallel NPA Government so that an AFP garrison isn't well liked even if it wasn't living in an elementary school.

23 year old Redan Sumaria from the adjoining barangay, Paquibato Poblacion, claims that 2LT.Tamayo himself personally beat him when he was stopped at a 69IB checkpoint, after being told he "looked like NPA materiel." Likewise, 26 year old Dodong de Jesus of Barangay Paradise Embac's Sitio Upper Pandaitan claims it was Tamayo who pummeled his chest for no apparent reason at a checkpoint at that barangay's Crossing Guinobatan (Guinobatan Bridge in the sitio bearing that same name). On August 6th Tamayao and Sgt.Garcia allegedly beat Arim Maygon into unconsciousness for no apparent reason at the checkpoint immediately outside the school garrison. Others, like brothers Rudy and Cerilo Corbito complain that soldiers from the garrison have forbade them from working their own farms based upon allegations of support for the NPA.

In most NPA influenced areas these are run of the mill occurrences. On one hand the AFP and to a lesser extent the PNP harrasses and even tortures people it suspects of collusion with the NPA (those absolutely known to be in bed with the Maoists face a much worse fate). Yet the same holds true for those refusing to aid the NPA. Said to be agents of the state the NPA treats them even worse, usually expelling them from their own communities at the very least. The result being that one is damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Vis a vis the school garrison in Paquibato District, the Davao City Council has come out on the side of the villagers though one may also posit that they have come out on the side of the NPA, in which case, to be frank, it would be par for the course. Councillors Jimmy Dureza and Leah Librado Yap have co-authored a Resolution to bar the AFP from ensconcing itself within civilian institutions with a proviso expelling them from their garrison in Paradise Embac Annex. On August 25th Vice Mayor Duterte, on his television show "Ato ni Bay," (one of two weekly TV shows) urged the pair to follow through with their fight to neutralise the 69IB. Of course there is no suprise there, friend of the NPA that he is with nearly 35 years of scratching Ka Parago's back.

Duterte said that despite the Resolution passing unopposed on its first of three City Council Readings just that week, that they should still appeal directly to the Mayor, who of course is none other than Sarah "Inday" Duterte Carpio, his daughter. Duterte however tempered his support for the Resolution by noting that IF the underlying motive is to protect the well being of the students in the school slash garrison, the NPA would never attack a school even if full of AFP so that even in trying to appear fair and balanced Duterte ended up coming off like the NPA cheerleader he is, amazing, absolutely amazing.

Meanwhile, numerous residents of Barangay Paradise Embac's Puroks #6, 7, and 8 have filed yet another complaint with the City Council alleging that the 69IB's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Patarata personally went door to door and menacingly pressured them into signing newly formulated "waivers" allowing his battalion to ensconce themselves in schools and other public buildings. Anyone who wavered or dared to resist was then told that they would be considered to be in support of the NPA. Considering the gasoline enema administered to a suspected ASG member in Basilan Province just weeks prior, and well publicised on Mindanao because of the unusual prosecution of the soldiers responsible, I am sure that LTC.Patarata got exactly what he wanted.

Panabo City, in Davao del Norte Province sits immediately adjacent to Davao City and lies within the city's SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "Area of Operations"). The NPA's SMRC last targetted Panabo this past spring with the ballsy tactical strike on the municipality's CPO, or City Police Office. On Friday, August 26th, 2011 in the city's Barangay Tibungol, a powerful IED detonated at the rear of Sibubon Elementary School. The powerful blast took place before daybreak, just 10 meters from a stage spanning the rear of the school. The blast is a bit mysterious since nothing was scheduled to take place on the stage, let alone anything having to do with the AFP or PNP, the usual targets of NPA Tactical Operations. However, 50 meters of detonation cord was found near the blast site leaving little question as to whether or not the NPA was involved.

Despite AFP propaganda claims the NPA does NOT utilise landmines. A typical NPA ambush DOES utilise IEDs but ALWAYS command controlled. In other words, the IED is directly detonated by an NPA guerilla via an electrical cable extending from the IED. This allows a carefully controlled detonation and prevents inadvertant detonation by other, non-legal targets. In fact, the NPA is the only organisation in Mindanao utilising command controlled detonation. The MILF/BIAF swears it no longer employs IEDs but when it did they were detonated by cordless remote, and prior to 2002 had utilised VDIEDs, Victim Detonated IEDs, a fancy acronym for what essentially amounts to a self-manufactured landmine, pressure detonated devices of varying strengths. So, this was an NPA detonation, but why there and why then remain a mystery.

Two men were sighted running from the blast site and into a rice paddy before disappearing into the jungle. Upon responding the 10ID (Infantry Division) EOD, or Explosives Ordanance Detachment discovered four other primed IEDs in the general vicinity. If I wanted to play armchair theorist I would reckon that the two men seen exiting the scene after the blast were members of an NPA IED detachment in the vicinity to secrete a number of IEDs for three ambushes, present and future. With a novice member of the detachment aboard the detachment leader took the opportunity to teach the novice how to to prime an IED for detonation. The site, behind the school was out of the way and shielded from the road upon which the IED probably would have been placed. An inadvertant detonation spooked them and they quickly escaped without retrieving their four other primed IEDs. Anyway, just a theory.

Kidnap for Ransom for Third Quarter of 2011, Part IX: Allison Bondoc, Release of Ambon Ahamad Blas and Perlita Bagay

On Sunday morning, August 21st, 2011, 21 year old live in maid Marycris Candalesa was asleep in her room in the servant quarters of the Bondoc Family home in Cagayan del Oro City's Barangay Kauswagan. At 515AM that morning her repose was broken by the loud ringing of her cellphone on the table next to her bed. Tiredly reaching for the phone, her coworker and room mate saw Marycris' expression change in an instant from exhausted to livid. Hearing the young lady dare a male voice to do it but leave her out of it.

Moments later Marycris left their room and stepped out into the cool morning air. Seeing shadows on the inner wall of the compound she quickly screamed to warn her boss Allison Bondoc of the imminent danger. As Marycris was looking at Ms.Bondoc one of four young men who had just scaled the 3 meter high wall separating the palatial home on the city's Dandelion Street from the hustle and bustle of city life, raised a 45 caliber pistol and squeezed off a single round. Marycris dropped, the bullet entering through the back of her skull and exiting through her forehead having pierced her brain, killing her instantly. She had spent less than 4 weeks at her position and would be returning to her hometown of Jasaan in that same province of Misamis Oriental in a wooden coffin.

Needless to say, having saved her new employer Allison Bondoc from a certain kidnapping her short time working there will always be respectfully remembered by the entire Bondoc family. Still, the question remains, the phone call was timed exactly to co-incide with the infiltration of the Bondoc compound. And what of the spat Marycris had had after answering her cellphone? The obvious assumption is that the maid, as is so often the case on Mindanao, was a plant, tasked with casing the Bondoc family and its home for a KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom group. Did she change her mind about helping the kidnappers, albeit a tad bit too late, or is it just a strane co-incidence? We will never know at this point.

Post Script: On Wednesday, August 31st Cagayan del Oro City's City Councilor Juan Sia put forth a Motion that Marycris be officially recognised for her "good deed" and that her family be given financial assistance to tide them over through this difficult time.

On a much more cheerful note, two victims recently kidnapped on Jolo Island in Sulu Province have just been released, Sunday, August 28th, 2011. 60 year old Ambon Ahamad Blas and 25 year old Perlita Bagay had been waylaid on August 21st, 2011 while riding tandem on a single motorcycle after a day spent selling used clothing in the municipality of Patikul. As the motorcycle was traversing Barangay Latih a local streetgang calling itself the "Virgin Boys" blocked their path and captured them. The game plan had been to sell the pair to ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group via local factional leader sub-Kumander Basaram Arok.

Arok, wanted for the KFR and eventual decapitation of public school principal Roger Canizares in late 2009 is still a power to reckon with in Patikul's upland barangays. Arok however thought the pickings not worth the time and effort, after all, used clothing sellers do not bring lucrative ransoms. With Arok taking a pass on the pair of victims the Virgin Boys leaders were then forced to handle the ransoming and ended up scoring a quick P100,000 ($1,850) for just a couple of days sweat. Of course the downside is that having scored 4 months wages for a week's work will only serve to inspire the group to take a more active role in the KFR Industry.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part V: Open Season on Mining Companies

In terms of exploitable natural resources, no Philippine island even comes close to Mindanao. Indeed, the island holds the world's second richest gold deposit and it may in fact be deemed THE richest before all is said and done. It goes without saying then that such an abundance of natural resources goes hand in hand with some of life's most troubling aspects; organised crime, rank corruption, degradation of entire communities as greedy carpetbaggers, domestic and foreign, run roughshod over the island's lansdcape - physically as well as culturally.

With astronomical amounts of revenue at stake mining on Mindanao also attracts insurgent organisations who prey upon all involved in the dynamic. Both small scale, so called artisnal miners AND huge foreign based multi-national corporate outfits are sucked into the vortex, forced into financing bloody political struggles they barely understand and care about even less about. Representatives from the various armed groups make the rounds, collecting steep fees which are then used to fund the continuous bloodletting. While all politically organised armed groups extort in this manner, the NPA has turned its strong armed robbery into a fine art, a template used not only all over the island of Mindanao of course but throughout the Philippines as a whole. Known by a much more Politically Correct euphanism, "Revolutionary Taxes," even participants in the service economies springing up around the smallest scale artisinal operations are targetted. A habal-habal driver, as off road motorcyclists for hire who serve as the only form of public transportation in some far flung mining communities are known, are "taxed" at P500 ($11) per month, roughly 10% of gross monthly earnings. If a driver is unable to pay he must be able to offer three small bags of unmilled rice or one small bag milled. Noone is exempt and noone is overlooked.

Of course the NPA's rationale is that all "governments" tax their constituents. However, the NPA's constituents, willing or otherwise, are still bound by the Philippine Government's rules of taxation so that the NPA, to its constituency, is having them shoulder an extremely unfair burden by essentially double dipping, at least from the taxpayers' perspective. What does a taxpayer to the NPA receive in return? The payor is entitled to understand that they PROBABLY won't be troubled by the NPA for another 4 weeks. Essentially the payor is no different from a victim in a mafia extortion scheme. While it is very true that the Government provides precious little to the dirt poor peasantry composing the bulk of Mindanao's, neigh, the Philippine's overall population, does the same hold true for the multi-national corporations who are paying up to 20% of their gross revenue each month?

Multi-national corporations already pay the Government a fair share of taxes, although there are exemptions in the pre-production phase of mining agreements. Once revenue trickles in though, the Philippine Government rarely misses a centavo. This by the way is on top of the already tendered bribes that secured and expedited such agreements in the first place. Unlike the nation's vast underclass that receives practically no services for its tax burden corporations, foreign or otherwise receive the best the nation offers (granted, that isn't saying much): security, expedited bureaucratic processes in a nation where, for example, it can take literally 6 months for the post office to send a letter from Manila to Mindanao, and are provided with at least one "Fixer" to serve at said company's beck and call. Again, it really isn't saying much but at least it is a whole lot more than the average Filipino ever enjoys.

What if a corporation simply said no to paying its "Revolutionary Taxes?" Unlike the nation's poor who cannot even imagine that option, corporations doing business on Mindanao are always well armed. Those operating outside of the island's two largest population centres, Davao City in Davao del Sur Province and Cagayan del Oro City in Misamis Oriental Province, tend to organise and employ their own paramilitaries, albeit via the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines SCAA programme. SCAA, or Special Citizens Active Auxiliary is a component within the AFP's CAA module. Aaaaah, the Filipino penchant for acronyms, this acronym, CAA, stands for Citizen Active Auxiliary, though most laypeople simply refer to it as CAFGU, or Citizens Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit, the CAA's most visible component. The CAA is the cornerstone of the AFP's Counterinsurgency apparatus, despite the song and dance about the touchy-feely Hearts and Minds ideation at the root of the military's OPlan Bayanihan. Bayanihan, by its simplest definition is an 80:20 Programme, with the 20% being devoted towards Tac Ops (Tactical Operations, as in "Combat") and the other 80% dedicated to a non-violent strategy rooted in community based intervention at the grass roots level. That sounds grand, doesn't it? The problem though is that EVEN IF the AFP is sincere in this shift of policy, and for the most part it isn't, you cannot unveil your new Counterinsurgency strategy at a press conference in Manila and expect linemen on Mindanao to shift gears 39 years into the game. Re-training is absolutely necessary and yet even when brigades are re-trained, as they periodically are, they aren't getting more than a single afternoon of lectures to try and re-orient them.

With that understood, the SCAAs are given very little training and absolutely none of it is of a non-tactical nature. SCAAs are not groomed to smile at children and paint the bamboo hovel serving as the village schoolhouse. They are very simply tasked with protecting their employer's business (and all too often "business interests" as well) by any means necessary. They kill and are killed and though they are obstensibly under the command structure, if not the actual command of an AFP cadre battalion, they generally are given carte blanche to do as they please. Their employer recruits them and they then become employees of a given corporation upon enlistment, ergo their loyalty isn't to the state but to that particular corporation. With between a single platoon (27 to 35 men) and a single COY, or company (100 to 120 soldiers) all armed with M4s, M14s or M16s (as opposed to the 30 caliber Garands typically distributed to CAFGU CAAs) corporations naturally begin to feel that they are immune to threats given by the NPA. What happens when corporations turn off the Peso spigot?


The Third Quarter of 2011 began with the consequences of such a decision having led to a marked reaction by the Maoists. Twenty guerillas from Front 14 (NEMRC,or Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee) in a detachment led by Renato "Ka Friday" Saysay stormed Quarry #9 in the municipality of Rosario's Barangay Bayugan #3, in Agusan del Sur Province. Their goal was oh so simple, to instruct Rosario resident Roger Sawe on the need to pay one's share of "Revolutionary Taxes." Mr.Sawe is the owne of DBEC, or Datu Bulawanon Exploration Company. This past April, 2011, DBEC entered into a rather lucrative partnership with multi-national Belvedere Asset Inc. According to Philippine Law a foreign owned corporation is limited to a 40% share in mining concessions. Known as a "60:40," a foreign owned company wishing to set out a shingle anywhere in the Philippies must first enter into a minority share partnership with a Philippine based company OR else buy into such a company as long as that buy in doesn't surpass a 40% share.

Belvedere is a shell corporation for the Mali-based TTEC, or Think Environmental Company Limited. Datu Bulawanon on the other hand already holds the rights to a 846 hectare gold operation via a Special Extraction Permit issued in November of 2009. A Philippine version of a match made in heaven.

Upon entering Quarry #9 the NPA burned one excavator and three dump trucks after divesting a caretaker of a 45 caliber pistol for good measure. Afterwards the guerillas withdrew to the Surigao del Sur Provincial border on the other side of the Diwata Mountain Range. The incident was the first NPA action in the barangay since Janurary past (2011) when Front 14 overran AY 76 Security Agency, a firm employing private guards for small scale mines and low volume goldmills. Owned by retired AFP, or Armed Forces of the Phillipines Brigadier General Alexander "Alex" Yapching, in an incident I covered in an "NPA Armed Contacts for the First Quarter of 2011" entry.


On Saturday afternoon, August 6th, 2011, the employees of Nano Mines Trading were milling about the company compound in the municipality of Impasug-ong's Barangay Kapitan Bayong, having finished with yet another long week's worth of drudgerry preparing chromite for shipping. Nano is one of two foreign-owned corporations in Impasug-ong serving as middlemen to the four chromite mining operations in that town. Bukidnon Province isn't particularly keen on foreign-owned corporations raping the environment but the two firms fill a niche that supports the aforementioned mining operations, all Lumad owned. Lumad, or Animist Hill Tribesmen, are the most marginalised of Mindanowan demographics. Bukidnon's Provincial Government sees the four chromite mines as a way in which Lumads can achieve self sufficiency. More than 500 nuclear families are supported by the 4 mines, each 20 hectares in size and adjacent to one another. Hiring mining companies, usually multi-national corporations to engage in the actual minieral extraction so that for simply allowing the mining to proceed the particular Lumad band collects 60% of the profit without investing a centavo.

Chromite is a bulk ore, with tonnage as the basic increment. In addition the ore must be processed before shipping and so there is a vital niche. Nano Mines Trading fills part of that niche, handling the output from two of the four mining operations. Centered in Barangay Bayong's Purok #5, Nano's controlling owner, Kumar Jainini, is known as a man who is serious about his business. An Indian national, Mr.Jainini spends most of his nights in the company compound despite his leasing a condominium in Cagayan del Oro City, in the adjoining province of Misamis Oriental. The afternoon of August 6th found him hard at work at his office within the compound. As Mr.Jainani sat and examined his shipping records he was distracted by screaming coming from the compound yard.

At just after 2PM 40 NPA guerillas from Front 4A (NCMRC or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee) quickly approached the compound on foot. Encountering a group of four company labourers just leaving the yard the employees quickly recognised that the NPA was in the midst of an assault on their workplace. The four labourers turned heel and attemped to warn their co-workers. Before any of them could do so however the NPA guerillas nearest them opened fire hitting all four:

1) Raymond Castro, 19 years old, killed immediately

2) Jose Castro, his brother, aged 21 and crtically wounded

3) Victor Aparellas, aged 23 and also critically wounded

4) The fourth man, identity not released, was also critically wounded but was quickly pulled out of the line of fire by a pair of NPA gunmen.


During the next couple of minutes seven other employees were wounded as well in varying degees. After grabbing two cell phones and a chainsaw the NPA withdrew, having failed to captured the primary owner of the company, Mr.Jainani who was able to make his way safely out of a hole in the compound wall as the initial assault took place and the commotion caught his attention. The NPA force fractured into smaller detachments who peeled off in separate directions before rendevouzing on the border of the nearby municipalities of Quezon and Kisolon. Meanwhile, some of the wounded employees were rushed to Kisolon Emergency Hospital in the nearby town of Sumilao. There both Jose Castro and Victor Aparellas were both declared Dead on Arrival. The fourth man who had been pulled out of the line of fire was found to have also have died during the attack. The rest of the wounded personnel were taken to other area hospitals without any further tragedies taking place.

Much later that same day, August 6th, PRO-10, or Police Regional Office for Region 10, via its RSOG, or Regional Special Operations Group, was able to nab prison escapee Rustic Brandia of Malaybalay City in that same province, Bukidnon, whom they accuse of being both an NPA guerilla as well as having served as a "Spotter" on that particular tactical operation. When NPA launch an assault on a static target like a CAA garrison or a mining company base camp there will be three elements:

1) Strike Force, attacks the target

2) Blocking Force, blocks any re-inforcements, as well as in some cases the withdrawal of an opposition force

3) Spotting Force, scouts certain positions both as an advance force for the Striking Force as well as to warn the Blocking Force of any movement along routes of re-inforcement

Bradia's elder brother Moises Bradia was a mid-ranking guerilla in the NPA's NCMRC, or North Central Mindanao Regional Committee. During a heated firefight in late August, 2007 Moises threw a hand grenade at a detachment of PNP, or Philippine National Police from the Malaybalay City MPO, or Municipal Police Office, killing PO2 Roy Francisco and wounding four of his fellow police officers in the process. The attack took place in the Brandia family home in Malaybalay City's Barangay #9, Purok #5 when five MPO officers came to serve a warrant for Rape, having had no idea that Moises Brandia was a moderately high ranking guerilla. Mid-Level and High Level NPA members always carry a hand grenade when out of the bush to be used in such situations. Brandia was then able to escape though he had also critically wounded his own mother inadvertantly in the blast. In the end she recovered.


It is worth noting that August 6th, 2011 was also the day upon which the Mayor of Lingig, Henry Santos Dano was captured by the NPA Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Command, SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee) along with his two military bodyguards from the 75IB (Infantry Battalion). All three remain in captivity as of this posting, August 28th, 2011.

Kidnap for Ransom, Third Quarter of 2011, Part VIII: Alexander "Alex" Lim, Boyet "Henry" Alumbra, and Edgar Gomez

25 year old Alexander "Alex" Lim was spending June 8th much as he always did, supervising construction projects undertaken by the family firm, D L Construction. Based in Misamis Occidental Province's municipality of Ozamiz City, the company concentrates on Government projects such as the rehabilitation of Narciso Ramos National Hiway. In fact, it was that particular job that occupied Alex's mind that morning as he left the company compound. Driving the company's Toyota Fortuner was Alex's driver, Edgar Gomez. Along for the ride was Engineer Boyet "Henry" Alumbra, a private consultant contracted by the Government who was travelling with the pair in order to inspect D L's latest work on the road project. The trio planned to spend the morning inspecting work across the provincial line, in Lanao del Norte Province's town of Linamon. The company had just finished paving a stretch from that municipality's Barangay Samboron leading into the outskirts of Iligan City. Then, afterward, they planned to drop Mr.Alumbra off in the next province of Misamis Oriental, so that he could sign off on the work at the Regional DPWH, or Department of Public Works and Highways Office in Cagayan del Oro City.

By 925AM the group had entered Linamon and were just about to reach their destination in Barangay Samboron when they fell into line at a joint LTO/PNP (Land Transportation Office/Philippine National Police) checkpoint. As the SUV inched forward the three men hadn't noticed five men, all pointing M16s and in uniform surrounding their vehicle. Ordered to exit their vehicle the three were shunted towards a black Toyota Tamaraw FX and ordered to climb in. As two of the gunmen got into the D L Construction SUV the two vehicles left Linamon heading south.

Crossing the border into Lanao del Sur Province the two vehicles entered the municipality of Balo-i. Suddenly the vehicles pulled over in front of Balo-i Elementary School and after divesting him of his personal identification ordered Mr.Alumbra out and ordered him not to report the kidnapping to anyone lest they have to re-visit him under less amicble circumstances. Driving through Balo-i the vehicles again pulled over after entering Barangay Sarip Alawi. This time it was Mr.Gomez who was ordered out of the Tamaraw after being given that same threatening warning. Now only holding Mr.Lim the 2 vehicles proceeded on into Marawi City. On the edge of town the two vehicles pulled over once again. After setting the D L Construction SUV on fire the two gunmen who had occupied it got into the Tamaraw and drove with Mr.Lim into captivity.

From the typically ridiculous first demand of P20 Million ($475,000) negotiations for Mr. Lim's ransom ended up progressing very smoothly until, on July 9th, 2011 a representative of Lim's father handed over 1.5 Million Pesos ($33,000). On July 11th Alexander "Alex" Lim was released in the municipality of Saguiaran in Lanao del Sur Province.

Co-incidentally, this is the specific KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom that the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines' Colonel Daniel Lucero, Commanding Officer of the 103rd Brigade, has used as his rationale in pinning all recent KFRs within his AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "Area of Operation") on the Kuratong Baleng. As I noted in at least one recent KFR entry the Kuratong were a paramilitary, from Ozamiz City, who were co-opted by the AFP in the early-1980s in its COIN, or Counterinsurgency struggle against the NPA. After the group's de-activation at the end of the 1980s they fissured into roving criminal bands, almost all of whom operated on Luzon and to a lesser extent in the Visayas Region. Even if they were still in existence, and they are not, they could never operate in Muslim-dominated Lanao del Sur Province. They were Bisaya.

History of Mindanao, Part IV: Maguindanao Sultanate in the Late 17th Century, Part 4

This is a continuation of William Dampier's "A New Voyage Around the World," continuing to excerpt from Chapter 12.

"A Sort of Leprosy There, and other Distempers"

The Mindanao people are much troubled with a sort of leprosy, the same as we observed at Guam. This distemper runs with a dry scurf all over their bodies and causes great itching in those that have it, making them frequently scratch and scrub themselves, which raises the outer skin in small whitish flakes like the scales of a fish when they are raised on end with a knife. This makes their skin extraordinarily rough, and in some you shall see broad white spots in several parts of the body. I judge such have had it but were cured, for their skins were smooth and I did not perceive them to scrub themselves. Yet I have learnt from their mouths that these spots were from this distemper. Whether they use any means to cure themselves or whether it goes away of itself, I know not: but I did not perceive that they made any great matter of it, for they did never refrain any company for it; none of our people caught it of them for we were afraid of it and kept off. They are sometimes troubled with the Smallpox but their ordinary distempers are fevers, agues, fluxes with great pains and gripings in their guts. The country affords a great many drugs and medicines and herbs whose virtues are not unknown to some of them that pretend to cure the sick.

"Their Marriages"

The Minadanao men have many wives: but what ceremonies are used when they marry I know not. There is commonly a great feast made by the bridegroom to entertain his friends and the most part of the night is spent in mirth.

"The Sultan of Mindanao, His Poverty, Power, Family, etc."

The Sultan is absolute in his power over all of his subjects. He is but a poor prince; for, as I mentioned before they have but little trade and therefore cannot be rich. If the Sultan understands that any man has money, if it be but 20 Dollars, which is a great matter among them, he will send to borrow so much money, pretending urgent occasions for it; and they dare not deny him. Sometimes he will send to sell one thing or answer that he has to dispose of to whom he knows to give him his price; and if afterwards he has occasion for the same thing he must have it, he sends for it. He is but a little man, between 50 and 60 years old, and by relation very good natured but overruled by those about him. He has a queen and keeps about 29 women, or wives, more in whose company he spends most of his time. He has one daughter by his Sultaness, or queen, and a great many sons and daughters by the rest. They walk about the streets and would always be begging things of us, but it is reported that the young princess is kept in a room and never stirs out; and that she never did see any man but her father and Raja Laut her uncle, being then about 14 years old.

When the Sultan visits his friends he is carried in a small couch on four men's shoulders with eight to ten armed men to guard him; but he never goes far this way for the country is very woody and they have but little paths, which renders it the less commodius.

"The Proas or Boats Here"

When he takes his pleasure by water he carries some of his wives along with him. The proas that are built for this purpose are large enough to entertain fifty or sixty persons or more. The hull is neatly built, with a round head and stern and over the hull is a small slight house built with bamboos; the sides are made up with split bamboos about four feet high, with little windows in them of the same to open and shut at their pleasure. The roof is almost flat, neatly thatched with palmetto leaves. This house is divided into two or three small partitions or chambers, one particularly for himself. This is neatly matted underneath and round the sides and there is a carpet and pillows for him to sleep on. The second room is for his women; much like the former. The third is for the servants, who tend them with tobacco and betel nut; for they are always chewing or smoking. The fore and after parts of the vessel are for the mariners to sit and row. Besides this they have outlayers, such as those I described at Guam; only the boats are more round like a half moon almost; and the bamboos or outlayers that reach from the boat are also crooked. Besides, the boat is not flat on one side here, as at Guam; but has a belly and outlayers on each side: and whereas at Guam there is a little boat fastened to the outlayers that lies in the water like boats, but one, three, or four feet above the water and serve for the bargemen to sit and row and paddle on; the inside of the vessel and except only just afore and abaft, being taken up by the apartments for the passengers. There run across the outlayers two tier beams for the paddlers to sit on, on each side of the vessel. The lower tier of these beams is not above a foot from the water: so that upon any the least reeling of the vessel, the beams are dipped in the water, and the men that sit are wet up to their waist, their feet seldom escaping the water. And thus, as all our vessels are rowed from within, these are paddled from without.

"Raja Laut the General, Brother to the Sultan, His Family"

The Sultan has a brother called Raja Laut, a brave man. He is second in the kingdom. All the strangers that come hither to trade must make their address to him, for all sea-affairs belong to him. He liscences strangers to import or export any commodity and it is by his permission that the natives themselves are suffered to trade: nay, the very fisherman must take a permit from him, so that there is no man can come in the river or go out but by his leave. He is two or three years younger than the Sultan and a little man like him. He has eight women by some of whom he has issue. He has only one son, about 12 to 14 years old, who was circumcised while we were there. His eldest son died a little before we came hither, for whom he was still in great heaviness. If he had lived a little longer he should have married the young princess; but whether this second son must have her I know not, for I never did hear any discourse about it. Raja Laut is a very dharp man; he speaks and writes Spanish, which he learned in his youth. He has by conversing with strangers got a great sight into the customs of other nations, and by Spanish books has some knowledge of Europe. He is General of the Mindanayans, and is accounted an expert soldier, and a very stout man; and the women in their dances sing many songs in his praise.

"Their Way of Fighting"

The Sultan of Mindanao sometimes makes war with his neighbours, the Mountaineers or Alfoores. Their weapons are swords, lances, and some hand cressets. The cresset is a small thing like a baggonet, which they always wear in war or peace, at work or play, from the greatest of them to the poorest, or the meanest persons. They do never meet each other so as to have a pitched battle but they build small works or forts of timber where they plant little guns and lie in sight of each other for two or three months, skirmishing every day in small parties and sometimes suprising a breastwork; and what ever side is to be worsted, if they have no probability to escape by flight, they sell their lives as dear as they can; for there is seldom any quarter given, but the conqueror cuts and hacks his enemies to pieces.

"Their Religion"

The religion of these people is Mohammedanism; Friday is their sabbath; but I did never see any difference that they make between this day and any other day; only the Sultan himself goes then to the mosque twice.

"Raja Laut's Devotion"

Raja Laut never goes to the mosque but prays at certain hours, eight or ten times in a day wherever he is, he is very punctual to his canonical hours, and if he be aboard will go ashore on purpose to pray. For no business nor company hinders him from this duty. Whether he is home or abroad, in a house or in a field, he leaves all his companny and goes about 100 yards off, there kneels down to his devotion. He first kisses the ground and does the same when he leaves off. His servants and wives and children talk and sing, or play how they please all the time, but himself is very serious. The meaner sort of people have little devotion; I did never see any of them at their prayers or go into a mosque.

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History of Mindanao Part IV: The Maguindanao Sultanate in the Late 17th Century, Part 3

Before I begin on my third excerpt from William Dampier's "A New Voyage Around the World" in a following entry, I thought it only prudent to offer a bit of commentary. After all, 17th Century Maguindanao through the eyes of an Englishman shouldn't be misconstrued as a picture perfect encapsulation, culturally NOR historically. Dampier was an upper-class British gentleman of the late 17th Century. Like many young men he sought to make his mark on the world. While some in his position may have opted to read Law at Oxford Dampier decided to travel to the New World and become a Privateer, or liscenced pirate. In the course of this adventure Dampier circumnavigated the globe. One of several Europeans who visited Australia long before it was "discovered" by James Cook, one of the first Europeans to explore New Guinea, Dampier certainly led a fascinating life.

After leaving the Americas Dampier's ship stopped in Guam to take on provisions and to contemplate its next destination. While in port the crew met a Catholic monk who recommended Mindanao. The island was a good choice for a number of reasons. First and foremost it is a very large island and the Western Monsoon was about to arrive. Nobody in their right mind stayed out at sea during the Monsoon. Then, though it had been in close relations with Spain who in fact claimed the island by virtue of the colonial government in Manila, the friar maintained that the island was now at war with Spain. This was corroborated by other sailors who had recently sailed from or transited the Philippines. Spain was Britain's foremost enemy at the moment (a long moment indeed) and was the richest nation in Europe, if not the world. To a privateer that combination is irresistible.

Mindanao it was and in the early days of June, 168 Dampier et al departed Guam bound for the promising island of Mindanao. Sailing in from the east the first Philippine island they encountered was Siargo Island, a small island off of Mindanao's northeast coast and in today's world, attached to the province of Surigao del Norte. Due to a cartographic era however Dampier mis-identified the landmass as "Saint John's Island." In fact the location of THAT island remains a mystery until the present with some reckoning it as far afield as the Northern Marianas and therefore not in the Philippines at all. It was at Siargo that Dampier would first interact with Filipinos when he and his crewmates sighted a canoe off its northern side. Lowering a skiff Dampier's crewmates meant to parlez with the canoe's inhabitants but instead merely served to terrify them. The canoe made a beeline for Siargao, beached upon it with its occupants running hysterical into the jungle.

At the time the richest tribe on the island was the Maguindanowans. Islamicised for less than a hundred years they were still developing their own unique identity. Inhabiting the Cotabato Basin, they were known as "The People of the Flood," or in their language, "Mindanowans," or in Dampier's corruption of the word, "Mindanayans." Later this would become, "Maguindanaowans," (Maguindanaon), or "People of the Flood Plain," a more specific label given the tribe's location in the Cotabato Basin. The Islamisation of the tribe nearly a century before had brought with it a more sophisticated form of governance, the "Sultanate." This form of governmnt wasn't alien to Europeans who by then had more than a thousand year acquaintance with it and so of all the tribes on the island, the Mindanowans were the most attractive. It was this fact that allowed the Spanish, the Dutch and now the English to christen the entire island, "Mindanao."

Dampier spent nearly 6 months with the tribe and had very little interaction with any other group. He describes only three tribes besides the Maguindanowans:

1) Hilanoones

2) Alfoores

3) Sologues

The three labels remain a subject of debate. Hilanoones, from his own words are synonymous with "Mountaineers." Who could they be then but the "Higaon-on," whose very name means, "People of the Mountains." Still, I haven't found anyone making that same conclusion though most who debate Dampier have never been within a hemisphere of Mindanao.

The Alfoores? Dampier describes them as an Ilamicsised Tribe that had been a vassal to the Maguindanowan before gaining independence. During Dampier's stay the Maguindanowans were attempting once again to bring them to heel. The natural bet would be the Maranaw (Maranaon), or "People of the Lake." The label "Maranaw" is of recent vintage with the tribe only settling around Lake Lanao, in todays Lanao del Sur Province in the 17th Century (the lake was only created shortly before that by volcanic eruption) so that what they were called before that point is anybody's guess. A note worthy alternative might be Buayan, as they were periodically at war with them and did intermarry as Dampier's clues specify but their adoption of Islam came more than 100 years in the future.

I have seen people theorise that "Alfoores" is corrupted Portugese used to label any "wild" tribe. However, would the Maguindanowans view another Islamicised Tribe in such a fashion? More than 95% of Mainland Mindanao was animist at that point. A tribe of Muslims living in very close proximity would tend to be viewed a bit more sympathetically irregardless of the political relationship between them. A possibility that had occurred to me is that as Muslims, the label had a more direct lineage to Arabic. I say "more direct" because the Portugese label is rooted in Arabic as well with Iberia having been under Arab domination for almost 800 years. The Arabic words "al Fajuah," or "The Honeycomb" could conceivably be applied to a tribe whose main line of export is beeswax. We know from Dampier and others that inland tribes, including the Higaon-on primarily traded beeswax and honey on the coast. Worth consideration anyway.

The third tribe? Sologues? That is a bit more difficult to pin down. Dampier gives their territory as Northwest Mindanao. In an earlier Dampier entry I reckoned that would be where Misamis Oriental and Occidental Provinces are today. Others have placed it on the Zamboanga Peninsula and more than one has gone so far as to place it squarely in Dapitan City. From Dampier's location, where Cotabato City sits today, Zamboanga could certainly fit the bill. However the predominant tribe there, then as now was the Subanen. Even in a corrupted English rendition it just doesn't feel like a good fit. Of course, often times such labels are applied by outsiders. "Subanen" is the label used by the tribe itself. Who can say what other tribes might have called them? Though I have a working knowledge of Maguindanowan I don't recognise any word coming close to "Sologue," or "Sologues."

Dampier's 6 months with the Maguindanowans during the reign of their ninth Sultan, Barahaman, however did allow great insight into that small corner of the island. He describes a proud but impovershed tribe whose royal house, more often than not, begged even on its own streets. Closed off from most outside influences, a stunted economy, the Sultanate of Maguindanao seemed to be in a very precarious position. The standard Bangsamoro narrative today tells us that the Sultanate of Maguindanao was at its apex during this period. If so, there isn't very much to be proud of. Enslaving even fellow Muslims, failing to capitalise on trading and political opportunities, they were content to go hungry rather than working to build a stronger territory.

I thought it also prudent to properly define some terms that might be confusing to modern readers; What follows is a short glossary:

Bark: A small ship, equivalent to a "skiff" or "proa'l

Factory: A hybrid of military fort and trading post

East India Company: A quasi-governmental consortium of British businessmen concentrating on trade with what was then referred to as the "East Indies," which of course included the Philippines

Libby Tree: Sago Palm, which provided the basic food for most natives of Mindanao at that time

Ramdam: The Islamic Holiday of Ramadan, a month of fasting and contemplation during daylight hours

Pagallie: Platonic female friend in a systematic form of begging where in exchange for a meal and a place to sometimes nap sailors were compelled to offer extravagant gifts of gold and silver

Comrade: The male equivalent of a "Pagallie."

Delilah: A romantic or sexual partner from the native population

Whither: Where

Thither: There

Kidnap for Ransom for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part VII: KFR Scorecard

In one of my early KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom entries I labelled KFR as the National Sport of the Philippines. I recommended that readers approach it like a game, something along the lines of, "Good Day, Not So Good Day," or some such silly contrived turn of phrase. In addition, there are a certain number of publicised (most KFRs are never even reported to authorities much less publicised) tend to fall through the cracks and fade into obscurity, usually because the victim has died in captivity. Therefore, this entry will focus on four victims of publicised cases who have melted into the ether. As some sharp tool once intoned, "Any publicity is good publicity." While in normal circumstances I would never recommend reporting and/or publicising a KFR in the case of victims held for 6 or more months such publicising can only help. Sadly, in most such cases the victim is dead and buried.

I) Hilarion "Larry" Tam de los Santos is a Tsinoy, or Filipino of Chinese descent entrepreneur from Basilan Island. Owner of Isabela City's popular Fonts Resturant and a farm slash family resort known as "Farmland Mountain Resort" in that municipality's Barangay Lanote. In mid-December of 2010 a group of young men arrived in a non-descript brown van and took a couple of rooms. On Saturday, December 9th the "guests" stormed Mr.de los Santos' home with M16s and M14a and ordered the frightened man outside and into the idling van. Quickly rejoined by the other gunmen the van then sped uphill into Barangay Upper Lanote before crossing into the Abu Sayyaf-dominated municipality of Sumisip.

By February 13th, 2011 ransom negotiations with de los Santos' eldest son Michael were so non-productive that none other than Kumander Puruji Indama, overall commander of the ASG, or Abu Sayyaf Group faction holding de los Santos personally telephoned Basilan's Vice Governor al Rashaeed Sakkahalul and brought him into the negotiations. Indama had Vice Governor Sakkahalul relay a message to Michael de los Santos, namely that on the next day, February 14th a 72 hour window would commence. In addition the heretofore ridiculous demand of P20 Million ($475,000) was re-configured. To a more reasonable, but still overvalued P5 Million ($105,000). The victim's son Michael however asserted that the family couldn't even raise P1 Million ($21,500), a claim noone believed for a second given the fact that his father's farm and resturant were owned outright without a mortgage. Therefore he could mortgage one or both to raise sufficient capital. When February 17th came and went without even an attempt on the part of the son, Michael de los Santos, his ASG captors murdered him.

II) Many, if not most of the foreigners moving to the Philippines are bringing with them incredibly heavy emotional baggage. Be it a series of failed businesses or more often a series of failed marriages, they wash up on Philippine shores like bright eyed kids in a candy store. All of a sudden they are admired. All of a sudden they are respected. All of a sudden they are irresistible to most women. However true that is some end up serving as posterboys for that oft quoted adage, "You can run but you cannot hide." Take the case of Toshio Ito of Hiroshima, Japan. Arriving in Manila just after the new milleium the then 54 year old Ito soon moved south, to the Philippine frontier, Mindanao after a quick look see in Dumaguete on Negros Island.

Starting a sand and gravel business in Misamis Occidental Province he soon went belly up, not knowing enough about the local mores with regard to such businesses (as in bribe, bribe and more bribe). Quickly eating through the very meagre financial resources and so his money problems soon adversely effected his lovelife as well. A Japanese man approaching 60 and without a centavo just doesn't cut it among Filipina teens. Obsessed with his paramour Mr.Ito broke into the home she was sharing with her new sugar daddy in the municipality of Plaridel in that same Misamis Occidental Province.

Unfortunately for Mr.Ito the couple's live in maid spotted him as he began breaking in and had enough presence of mind to very quickly call the next door neighbour who held Mr. Ito at gunpoint until the Plaridel MPO, or Municipal Police Office responded and arrested the despondent. Charged with Tresspassing in a Dwelling in Plaridel Municipal Court he was remanded to the city jail. His few remaining friends took pity on Mr.Ito and banding together they bailed him out, hoping the sordid incident would serve as a wake up call.

Free once more Mr.Ito considered his options carefully. Broke, his passport about to expire, 4.5 years after his Tourist Visa had expired, no money to pay the Immigration tarrif even if he somehow managed to find a way to cadge the steep airfare home to Japan, what to do? Mr. Ito decided to go for broke, financially, emotionally, and personaly. He borrowed a week's worth of living expenses and made his way by jeepney to Zamboanga City in Zamboanga del Norte Province. Checking into the cheapest pension he could find he happened across a woman nearly his age, a native of Pangaturan Island in Sulu Province.

Inviting Mr. Ito to enjoy lunch with her by the end of the meal Ito knew the woman's life story and had even talked to her husband by phone. The husband, a retired municipal councilor in the town of Panguturan, he instantly warmed to his wife's new acquaintance. Mr. Ito had told them that he was a doctor in Japan but had suffered a great personal loss and was so beset with melancholy that he had inadvertently run out of funds. His new acquaintance insisted that he accompany her home to Pangaturan, to stay at their home in the island's Barangay Bangkilay, at least until he was on his feet and fit to travel. That was in 2004.

Telling the couple and everyone he met thereafter that his name was Dr.Katayama Mamaito he began to quickly re-build his life in a manner that reflected the way he saw himself, not as others saw him. Trying to ingratiate himself with his new hosts he actively sought religious instruction and then converted to Islam. Thereafter he was known as "Doctor Ameer," his Muslin name meaning "Prince" in Arabic (usually transliterated as "Emir" in English).

When he sensed that his welcome might be wearing thin he convinced his hosts to help stake him in a small clinic that doubled as a non-prescription pharmacy. Free space was provided by the municipal government after his sponsors spoke to the Mayor on his behalf, promising free medical care to all island children. The Mayor, like most island males was a member of the MNLF-Misuari and soon sponsored Doctor Ameer for membership in the organisation as well. Issued a MNLF photo ID in the name Ameer Katayama Mamaito he was given the designation "Medic." He began building up credentials in his new identity even going so far to obtain a Filipino birth certificate in his new name that listed his birthplace as Marawi City in Lanao del Sur Province.

As life moved ever forward though somethings weren't all peaches and cream. Mr.Ito had told all his new friends that he had lived in Marawi City, not Plaridel. When the Mayor checked with local officials in Marawi they could find no record of the man. Over the years other holes began appearing and some islanders, especially those much younger, began talking behind Ito's back, accusing him of being a military asset or Deep Penetration Agent. At 130AM on July 16th, 2010 it all came to a head when ten young men carrying long arms kicked in Ito's door and marched him off into the night never to be seen again. A strange post script developed when, in mid-February of 2011 the Japanese Embassy in Makati received a typed letter from someone claiming to be Mr.Ito. The contents of that letter have never been revealed although it was made available to the PNP, or Philippine National Police. It has been 13 months since Ito marched off into the night. Despite alleged sightings in Basilan, where he was said to be held by ASG, nothing concrete has ever surfaced.


III) Randalle Patilona Talania, the 9 year old son of Barangay Captain Rosemarie Patilona Talania of Barangay Namnama in the municipality of Titay in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay had just gotten out of school and was leaving the campus of Titay Central Elementary School in that town's Barangay Poblacion. Just as he reached the sidewalk the side door on a green minivan slid open and two men jumped out. Each grabbing young Randelle by an arm they took him with them as they climbed back aboard and rapidly drove off towards Barangay Bangko. Late that night the captor's vehicle was discovered in the municipality of Kalawit's Barangay Marcelo in Zamboanga del Norte Province.

Registered to Jose Enriquez of Zamboanga City it had been reported stolen the day of the abduction. His mother Rosemarie had long been targetted for KFR by the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (military wing of the MILF) 113 Base Command. Intially held for P20 Million ($450,000) it was lowered to P10 Million by the end of May. The problem however is that most observers feared that young Randelle Patilona Talania had died in late April. The boy was severely asthmatic and since his captors had failed to provide the boy with adequate medication. Then, in early May the Proofs of Life became undated photos and when his family demanded more concrete proof that Randelle was alive and well his captors ceased all contact.

IV) Eulogio "Aidan" Lim Yu, a Tsinoy resident of Cotabato City in North Cotabato Province is another case that simply sputtered into nothingness. Owner of Yuking Guan Trading, a large hardware store, Mr.Yu was enjoying a Saturday night out with his wife Kathy Yu on January 7th, 2011. Fond of gambling the pair had spent the evening at the Etosan Garden Hotel's popular casino but decided to make an early evening out of it since both had to be at the shoppe bright and early the next morning. As Mr. and Mrs.Yu left the hotel via its front entrance they waited for the parking attendant to fetch their SUV. Standing just meters from the entrance gates of the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Capital Complex, was a group of three men, appearing to be in the midst of a heated discussion. Suddenly two of those men stepped away from their companion and rapidly approached Mr. and Mrs.Yu.

Just as a red Toyota Corolla holding two men in the front screeched to a stop in front of them. The two men who had been approaching the couple suddenly lunged for them but only managed to grab Mr.Yu, Mrs.Yu managed to escape and run back inside the hotel screaming hysterically.

Throwing Mr.Yu roughly into the backseat of the Corolla all three gunmen piled in beside him before slamming the car's doors and speeding off. By now Kathy Yu had recovered her faculties and ran screaming hysterically into the hotel foyer. Hearing a loud commotion a gaggle of hotel security officers rushed to the entrance and after Mrs.Yu quickly explained herself, continued running out into the carpark in an attempt to stop the kidnappers. Just as the security guards exited the hotel they readied themselves in a combat firing position and squeezed off a handful of rounds from their 45 caliber pistols at the retreating Corolla. As the guards were doing this though, a motorcycle with two men riding tandem came roaring up to the hotel entrance with the rear passenger firing rounds in a stacatto burst. This sent the guards and a couple of unlucky hotel and casino patrons scrambling. Cotabato City, a town where even the top hotel is a wild west arcade.

When the Corolla was recovered later in the city's Barangay Rosary Heights #10 its rear seat was soaked in blood and its rear windshield had been shattered showing that more than one of the shots fired by hotel security connected with its intended or unintended target.

The next day, Sunday, January 8th Mrs.Yu received a very brief but to the point phone call informing her that her husband had been kidnapped (as if it wasn't clear to her already) and that she would soon receive a call with instructions regarding the ransom. The following day, Monday, January 9th Mrs.Yu again received a phone call instructing her to gather P50 Million ($1 Million), a typically ridiculous sum which is to be expected in the initial sum. Mrs. Yu than asked for the requisite Proof of Life, always given with the initial ransom demand. Instead of complying however the caller abruptly terminated the call. A sickening feeling began knawing at Kathy Yu's insides, hurting her so much more as she looked at their three young children. Days later a third ransom demand was made. Once again Mrs.Yu requested Proof of Life. Again the call was terminated. That was the last contact made until March when another phone call offered a much reduced ransom of P5 Million ($110,000), only to once again slam down the phone when asked for Proof of Life.

To everyoneone around her Mr.Yu was dead but Kathy Yu couldn't bear to even consider that possibility. Even when the forensic examination of the blood soaked rear seat in the Corolla positively identified it as coming from her husband Mrs.Yu closes her eyes and ears and continued believing that her husband is alive and well and will one day return to her.

Kidnap for Ransom for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part VI: Dina Tan Dumaran and Sophia Tan Dumaran

Dexter Ian Dumaran, a native of Barangay City Heights in GenSan, as General Santos City in Sarangani Province is locally known, is one of those rare breed of people who always knew what they wanted to do for as long as anyone could remember. Entering Notre Dame de Dadiangas University in his hometown he majored in Business Management so that he could build upon the success of his father, Igmedio Dumaran, a self made man who with hard work was able to purchase a petrol station. The business, Meridian Shell on the corner of Barangay City Height's Mansanita Street and Pedro Acharon Boulevard afforded Dexter the abily to choose his own direction.

After university Dexter continued working for his father and eventually was able to buy his own petrol station in 2007. The Mabuhay Linmax Shell on the corner of Barangay City Height's Mabuhay Road and Yumang Street. Although work took up the majority of the young entrepreneur's day he still made time for more down to earth activities, like dating. In 2008 he began dating a local Tsinoy, or Filipina of Chinese descent, Dina Tan. Their relationship took an unexpected turn when Dina became pregnant, After the initial shock Dexter quickly regained his composure, proposed to Dina and just after daughter, Sophia "Sophie" Tan Dumaran was born, the couple was wed.

After settling into their domestic routine Dexter began planning for his next business venture, a resturant. Having purchased a quarter hectare lot when buying his petrol station on Mabuhay Road, he decided to build his eatery on the unused portion of his lot. As well as he had planned though, Dexter still felt more than a bit of trepidation over using up virtually all his cash reserves. Dina then suggested that they bring in a partner, her recently retired uncle, Gilbert Tan. With Mr.Tan's counsel Dexter decided to save a substantial amount of money by housing the eatery inside of a heavy duty canvas tent of the kind employed by travelling circuses. Then, with further advice from Mr.Tan, Dexter built the menu around an American-style steakhouse, in fact, the new eatery would soon be christened, "The Redtent Steakhouse."

Filipino beef leaves a lot to be desired. The breeds raised tend to be Brahma hybrids, suitable for the climate but poor quality as far as their beef is concerned. Then there is the technique, or lack thereof. Filipino ranchers run their herds as free range. In the West quality beef cattle are fed a balanced diet very high on grain. Then there is a lack of seasoning, as in aging. Tough beef needs to be aged properly to break it down and soften the cut. Ergo Dexter began importimg his meat from Australia. The result was a resturant that grew in popularity very quickly. By 2010 Dexter Ian Dumaran was widely regarded as a successful businessman. While the accolades were certainly appreciated they also placed Dexter in a delicate bind in that it made Dexter quite vulnerable, and much more importantly, endangered both his wife Dina and their precious daughter Sophie.

On Sunday, August 21st, 2011 Dexter took his wife and daughter for Evening Mass at their parish church, Saint Michaels in GenSan's Barangay City Heights. Arriving just after 6PM it wasn't long before little Sophie was squirming and complaining that she needed to use the CR, or Comfort Room as bathrooms are known locally. Embarrassed by hostile stares from fellow parishioners Dina whispered to her husband that would take Sophie to the CR and be back quickly. Nodding his head Dexter barely looked up at her, unaware of what was about to take place.

When Mass ended without their having returned an aggravated Dexter quickly walked to the CR in search of his wife and daughter. Failing to find them he next went outside and began searching in earnest. It was there that Dexter found a group of parishioners who had seen Sophie run out the front door unescorted. Seconds later out rushed Dina to grab her and that was the last anyone would see the pair.

Now distraught Dexter phoned his father for advice. Within minutes Igmedio was kicking up dust in the dirt carpark. Quickly he joined his son and together with the parish priest they covered the parish grounds centimeter by centimeter without discovering any additional clues or witnesses. At this point Igmedio concluded that the two had been kidnapped. With little to do but wait Igmedio took Dexter home to the family compound to wait for news.

In virtually all KFRs, or Kidnaps for Ransom the initial Ransom demand comes on the second or third day of captivity, giving the victims enough time to travel to their final destination and the shot caller, or oganiser of the kidnapping to gauge a proper opening gambit. This is accomplished by interrogating the victim. For the victim's loved ones though those initial days without contact can be absolutely maddening, so it was for Dexter Ian Dumaran. The young man repeatedly insisted on notifying the authorities. Igmedio strongle warned him not to, knowing that in virtually all KFR cases on the island the assailants are either tied directly into the local power structure or are indeed, members of the power structure themselves. The police inspector who interviews you about your child's kidnapping could be one of the men who actually took part in the abduction. At other times he could be feeding the organisation behind the kidnapping facts about your emotional state and/or financial resources so as to maximise the abductors' advantage during ransom negotiations. Still, a young man whose wife and 2 year old daughter have just been kidnapped isn't going to be in the most rational frame of mind. When midnite came and went without the first contact Dexter defied hid father and reported the kidnapping to the GenSan CPO, or City Police Office.

Naturally Igmedio discovered what Dexter had done and the two almost came to blows. When three CPO vehicles full of police personnel pulled into the Dumaran residential compound and informed Igmedio that a detachment from the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippine's TF GenSan (Task Force GenSan) was en route Igmedio went ballistic. With the police refusing to leave Igmedio phoned Mayor Darlene Antonino Custodio and after apologising for waking her up had her pull rank. By daylight the media was circling like the buzzards they are only to have the Mayor mount the podium at a press conference and announce that the case was now under a news blackout. So, while not being able to keep the case absolutely under wraps Igmedio was able to quickly contain what could have been a disaster. Then, after creating all that un-necessary drama Sexter finally received that initial call that afternoon, Monday, August 22nd. The opening gambit? P8 Million ($170,000), a pretty penny to be sure.

GPH-MILF Peace Process for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part I: The Peace Process Totters on the Abyss

The 22nd Round of Exploratory Talks between the Government (GPH) and the MILF was brimming with expectation as Talks began on Monday, August 22nd, 2011. At the beginning of the 20th Round on February 9th, 2011 the MILF had handed its GPH counterparts a Revised Draft of its Comprehensive Compact, a tongue twister of a title when they could have simply labeled it, "Blueprint for Peace." A 26 page document that focused on 11 salient points, it was given to the GPH Peace Panel with the understanding that the Government would reciprocate with its own Draft Comprehensive Compact to be given to the MILF Peace Panel during the 21st Round of Exploratory Talks, to take place on March 29th and 30th.

On March 15th the 21st Round was scrubbed. Though this took place at the behest of the Philippine Government the explanation offered to the public was that the cancellation resulted from a request by the Malaysian Facilitator of the Peace Process, Dato Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed [sic]. Why? The verbatim explanation, "He had other, more pressing matters to attend to." Suuuure. Most realised that it was because the GPH Peace Panel needed time to formulate an apt response to the points raised in the MILF's Revised Draft without boxing themselves into a corner. Besides, the 21st Round was quickly re-scheduled for April 27th and 28th, there wouldn't be long to wait.

When the 21st Round transpired however the GPH Peace Panel did nothing but tread water. It begged off producing its long awaited Draft, vowing to turn it over during the 22nd Round, scheduled to take place on June 27th and 28th. In the meantime they wasted two valuable days of face time reviewing certain turns of phrase contained within the MILF document and tackled a couple of very simple side table issues.

Then, in late June the GPH Peace Panel notified its MILF counterpart that it still wasn't ready to submit its Draft but
rather then simply scrubbing the June Meeting, they would be amenable to an Executive Session, if the MILF was in agreement. The Executive Session took place and the 22nd Round was re-scheduled for August 2nd and 3rd. At the end of July the GPH Peace Panel once again informed its MILF counterpart that it would be unable to submit its Draft but offered a magnanimous gesture to appease a now livid MILF Central Committee; on August 4th President Aquino held a secret face to face meeting with MILF Chairman al Haj Murad Ebrahim in a suburban Tokyo hotel. In a nation obsessed with "face" the meeting in Japan was the ultimate face saving gesture. Where as the MILF had been just about to trash the Peace Process over GPH inaction it now was more than agreeable to yet another re-scheduling. The 22nd Round was then set for August 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.

The 22nd Round opened on August 22nd with an Executive Session in the Sri Bandahara Conference Room, in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia's Chulan Royale Hotel at 940AM. Both Panel Chairmen, Mario Victor "Marvic" Leonen for the GPH and his counterpart for the MILF, Mohagher Iqbal along with one Panelist each:

1) Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer for the GPH

2) Datu Michael O.Mastura for the MILF

and Malaysian Facilitator Dato Ab Ghafar Tegku Mohamed spent exactly an hour as Chairman Leonen tried to soften the blow and salvage at least some of the 14 year GPH-MILF Peace Process. When they all emerged at exactly 1040AM on the dot not one face among them was smiling. Surely an inauspcious beginning to what was to be a pivotal Round in this long, drawn out process.

At 1045AM all participants took their places in the Executive Board Room for the Formal Opening and like the previous Round, it was held behind closed doors. Emerging for a 15 minute breather at 12PM all participants then continued uninterrupted from 1215PM until the end of the First Day Session at 140PM. In deference to both the MILF Peace Panel and their Malaysian Hosts the 3 Days were scheduled as Half Days to end by 2PM. In the midst of the month long Islamic holiday of Ramadan where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, proceedings had to take circumstances into account.

After Opening Remarks by both Chairmen as well as by Facilitator Mohamed, GPH Chairman Leonen then handed over the GPH Draft Comprehensive Compact to MILF Chairman Iqbal. Patterned after the MILF Revised Draft submitted to Leonen on February 9th, it focused on 11 salient points. Leonen though creatively described it as a "Three for One Deal," with the "three" aspects being:

I) Socio-Economic Improvement

II) Inclusion and Respect for the Bangsamoro narrative

III) A Political Settlement.

I will condense each of the 11 points as following:

GPH Revised Comprehensive Compact

I) In partnership with the MILF the GPH seeks a permanent and just solution that will focus on sustainable improvements in all facets. Unlike past Administrations the Aquino Government is sincere and ready to prove it by adressing relevant issues.

II) The solution will be based upon a real partnership with the MILF and it may in fact lead to legal reforms.

III) It is a comprehensive solution that seeks to meet the needs of all three of the Mindanowan demographics:

A) Muslims

B) Lumad (Animist Hill Tribes)

C) Christians

The solution is cognisant of the socio-economic disparities that exist between Mindanao and the rest of the Philippines as well as the role played by shifts in demography.

IV) The solution is cognisant of the short term realities and limitations imposed by President Aquino's term in office expiring in 2016 and so focuses on those issues with the best chance of rectification within that limited period. At the same time the solution offers urgent help to those who need it the most, the victims of "colonial oppression, post-colonial neglect, misguided leaders and past abuses of some national leaders." It also sets the stage for longer term solutions.

V) The solution aims for the best outcome in the shortest amount of time.

VI) The solution is cognisant of the limitations in Executive power but also aims to construct a platform for continued dialog and if and when it becomes necessary, judicial, legal, and even Constitutional Reforms.

VII) The solution is cognisant of Bangsamoro identity and history. It doesn't aim to provide a simple solution for a highly complex problem. Although the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao failed in the past, it was more than likely because of inept national leadership and corrupt regional leadership as opposed to inherent flaws in the ARMM framework. The solution will foster genuine autonomy.

VIII) The solution will provide an avenue for continued "debate" with regards to revenue sharing as well as utilising revenue sharing to further enhance regional autonomy while also focusing on the need to foster sustainability of natural resources.

IX) The solution begins the process of disarmament, de-mobilisation and reintegration of MILF and BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (military wing of the MILF) members.

X) The solution will require stakeholder commitment to suceed.

XI) The solution will lead to a re-writing of the Filipino narrative to include the Bangsamoro narrative and identity as being part and parcel of the Philippines.

Now, aside from being extremely vague on all pertinent issues it fails to mention anything about the MILF's "State:Sub-State Assymetrical Government" mantra. The MILF Peace Panel took extreme umbrage at this and made no bones about telling GPH Chairman Leonen that they would unanimously recommend rejection of the GPH Draft when conferring with the MILF's Central Committee. Leonen was not a happy camper but by Tuesday night, August 23rd his frown had morphed into a crooked smile and he was selling it as a positive development because the MILF Peace Panel hadn't simply thrown the document back at him after reading it.

To recall the 11 salient points included in the MILF document were, again condensed:

I) After exhausting all avenues within the Democratic process in trying to solve the Bangsamoro's ethno-nationalist conflict the MILF looks toward other similar situations on the world stage, particularly Northern Ireland and South Sudan and finds very good examples of just solutions.

II) The Draft seeks to correct the domineering and exploitative relationship between the Philippine Government and the Bangsamoro people.

III) The Draft merely offers the Bangsamoro a mere share of respect that is already owed, a people whose homeland, Mindanao, has never been conquered. Even into the American Colonial Era the Bangsamoro homeland had been considered as a separate entity and not a part of the Philippines per se.

IV) The Draft offers the Bangsamoro a mere 7 to 9% of an island that had been 98% theirs just a century before.

V) The Draft offers a balance between state sovreignity and the people's right to self determination, something never before seen anywhere in the world.

VI) The Draft focuses on an Assymetrical State:Sub-State Relationship with clearly defined separation of powers between national and regional governments.

VII) The Draft recognises Bangsamoro identity without negating Philippine citizenship.

VIII) The Draft recognises the Bangsamoro struggle and desire to obtain regional autonomy while recognising the supremacy of the national govt.

IX) The Draft melds the Democracatic maxim that sovereignity lies within each person with the Islamic principle of "Shura," or "Consultation."

X) The Draft provides a complete modus operandi with which to segue from full implementation of the FPA, or Final Peace Agreement into disarmament, de-mobilisation, and re-integration of MILF and BIAF members under International supervision to safeguard Bangsamoro interests.

XI) Peace will benefit everyone, including Malaysia.


Not that the Government has been at all sincere in trying to reach an Agreement, because clearly it is impossible to believe they have after yesterday's meltdown, but IF the MILF/BIAF insist on fantasy there will never even be an inkling of a chance. Bangsamoro? As I have noted in other entries the term is a piece of fiction created by Filipino Muslim intellectuals of the late-1960s as an attempt to overcome the ethnic, tribal, and linguistic divides amongst the 13 Islamicised groups living in the Southern Philippines. You cannot invent an "ethnicity." The "Palestinians" are surely trying and look where it has gotten them. Without a genuine historical narrative the fantasy collapses.

Another figment is the claim, contained within the MILF Draft, Point IV, that at the start of the 20th Century the "Bangsamoro" controlled up to 98% of Mindanao. If one interpolates "Muslim" with "Bangsamoro" it still fails. It only works IF applied to Mindanao's island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi Tawi. On Mainland Mindanao Muslims never controlled more than Central Mindanao (Maguindanao and North Cotabato Provinces) and a large portion of Lanao. In fact, that "7 to 9%" is actually what they controlled 100 years ago and THAT was the maximum they have ever controlled.

It will be impossible to find peace until Filipino Muslims find truth. Have they always gotten a fair shake from Manila? Of course not. Yet, how does a group where 12 out of 13 tribes reject secular education expect to close the socio-economic gap? The other end of the equation is infrastructure and investment. How can they complain about a lack thereof when bombs are popping off every 4 or 5 days and even surveyors are kidnapped for ransom? Filipino Muslims need to accept a large part of the blame and stop always blaming others.

Tuesday's Session, August 23rd, began at 940AM and ended abruptly at 1140AM. At that point GPH Chairman Leonen stormed out of the Closed Door Session and brusquely commanded an underling to fetch all GPH staffers for an impromptu lunch meeting.

All that had transpired in those 2 hours was a quick discussion on the TORs, or Terms of Reference for the IMT, or International Monitoring Team's Humanitarian, Rehabilitation, and Development component. That component consists of two women, a Frenchwoman and a British subject deployed by the European Union. They have been in-country for four months already but working without clearly defined TORs. Then the Panels moved onto a very contentious subject, the Governments offering of tenders for Exploration Tenements on oil and gas drilling. A handful of tenders fall within the MILF AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "Area of Operation"). Between that and the lackluster document handed to MILF Chairman Iqbal the day before the subject was too much to bear and the MILF Panel lost their composure. Finally Chairman Iqbal bluntly told his counterpart, Chairman Leonen, that there was no point in continuing this Round under the current circumstances.

As Chairman Leonen et al departed the ICG, or International Contact Group, composed of representatives from four foreign governments:

1) Turkey (not present)

2) United Kingdom, Political Officer of the British Embassy in the Philippines, Chris Wright

3) Japan, Political Officer of the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines, Keiko Takakawa

4) Saudi Arabia (not present)

and four NGOs:

1) CHD, or Centre for Humanitarian Dialog, based in Geneva, Switzerland, represented by David Gorman

2) Concilliation Resources, based in London, England (not present)

3) Muhammadiyyah, a Jarkata-based organisation devoted to Islamic issues (not present)

4) The Asia Foundation. This favourite of the MILF began life as a CIA project and though it now claims to be entirely removed from the CIA it still serves as a conduit for American Intelligence, represented by Dr.Steven Rood

tried to placate the MILF Panel. GPH Chairman Leonen then held a de-briefing with his team in the hotel's Tai Ping Resturant, just down the hall from the Executive Conference Room. That was probably not an intended insult but in the end, eating while others have to fast isn't the height of decorum. As The GPH Panel enjoyed a sumptious lunch a member of the IVG shuttled between the conference room where the MILF Panel remained and the resturant trying to keep a 14 year long process from imploding. Pundits have hailed the ICG's utility after this last Rpund. Myself? They definitely deserve credit because at 2:20PM both Panels and the Facilitator returned to the table. Still, the mood remained extremely volatile with the MILF Panel telling their counterparts that they reject it out of hand. GPH Chairperson Leonen then lost his cool as well, screaming, "I reject your rejection" shortly before the two parties called it a day at 3:33PM. Later MILG Chairman Iqbal described the differences between the two Drafts as "heaven and earth."


A disaster from start to finish.