As I often explain, the MILF offers very little financial support to its military organisation, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, or the BIAF in shorthand. This has two very important detrimental results, both for the MILF/BIAF and for its unfortunate stakeholders. First, the BIAF is forced to find ways in which to creatively fund itself. Unlike the NPA which enjoys considerable earnings from multi-national mining and lumber concessionaires, the BIAF almost always operates in areas bereft of natural resources. Therefore, the "Revolutionary Taxes" collected by the BIAF- usually under a religious sheen as "Zakat," (charity), one of five compulsory acts incumbent upon all adult Muslims (how convenient)- is far too paltry to support the organisation above and beyond basic sustenance.
In 2004 the BIAF's Field Divisions were converted to their current form, the ostensibly mobile "Base Commands." Each Base Command operates independently of all other Base Commands and so they each raise their own funds. In order to be able to provide for weaponry, etc., most resort to illegal activities although such activities vary according to the particular Base Command and the "pickings" available within their individual AORs, or Areas of Responsibility (military-speak for Areas of Operation). In the case of some Base Commands, the 102, 103, 105, 113, 114, and 118, this involves heavy amounts of both commercial extortion (Protection Rackets), and KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom. Among the most active in those two activities is the 113.
The 113 Base Command's main camp sits atop a small mountain, a hill really, Bundok Payong (Mt.Payong) which lends its name to the surrounding barangay, now known simply as Barangay Payong. Located in the municipality of Sultan Naga Dimaporo, formerly known as Karomatan, in Lanao del Norte Province, directly bordering the Zamboanga Peninsula and its three constituent provinces:
1) Zamboanga Sibugay
2) Zamboanga del Sur
3) Zamboanga del Norte
The 113's AOR, apart from Sultan Naga Dimaporo, consists of the entire Zamboanga Peninsula proper, and some of its offshore islands. Other offshore islands, including those belonging to Zamboanga City, belong to the 114 Base Command which is centered in Basilan (and of which I have written about relating to the latest violence in the municipality of Al Barka). This close proximity sometimes leads to commerce between the two adjacent Base Commands, mostly consisting of the 113, the more prolific of the two, seling KFR victims to the 114 which then reaps a profit from simply ransoming them.
Authorities aren't stupid (well some anyway). If I, a foreigner, am this knowledgeable about the ins and outs of that little corner of hell you can bet your bottom barong that both the PNP and AFP (Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines) know the same information and in a precious few cases, even know a lot more (usually because they too profit from payoffs and sometimes direct involvement). My last rejoinder of course explains just why these degenerate scumbags aren't prosecuted for their literally thousands of major crimes. On April 5th, 2011, that changed in a major way.
One of the 113 Base Command's major extortion targets, Rural Bus Lines, refuses to bow down and hand over its hard earned profits to a bunch of social parasites. The result of course is that the 113 Base Command regularly targets the company, and this usually involves shooting and burning busses that pass through BIAF-controlled communities. As a result of these frequent attacks which have been targeting that particular company for 5 years and three other similarly reluctant bus companies for nearly as long, the AFP extended its SCAA Program to include bus companies.
SCAAs, or Special Citizen Active Auxiliaries are a variant within the CAA Protocol. CAAs, or Civilian Active Auxiliaries, are the post-Marcos equivalent of the CHDF, or Civilian Home Defense Force. In the AFP's COIN (counterinsurgency) program the AFP clears rebel-controlled communities. At that point it is up to the original CAA entity, the CAFGU, or Citizens Active Force Geographical Unit, to "Hold" the community- in other words, to keep the insurgents from re-infiltrating and eventually re-controlling the community. CAFGU are geographically fixed, manned by citizens of specific barangays who aren't supposed to ever operate outside those particular barangays. Of course the reality is alot different but that of course is besides the point.
Seeing a need for a localised force dedicated towards "Holding" the areas of operation for big businesses, the AFP then created the SCAA. The SCAAs are receuited by and paid for by a specific company but armed, trained, and ostensibly under the control of an AFP detachment known as a "cadre battalion" (as are CAFGU). Eventually SCAA were utilised in other ways, such as using them to serve as "Bus Marshals" here on Mindanao. A passenger taking a trip on a targeted company's bus will usually see two young men in camouflage fatigues, cradling M1, M14, or M16 assault rifles, sitting in staggered positions. Unfortunately the SCAA soldiers, known as CAAs, usually take the very same seating arrangement each and every time, one dead centre on the rear bench, the other at the midway point on eaither side depending on the demand of passengers for specific seats.
On the day in question, April 5th, 2011, four young men boarded Rural Bus Lines unit #9342 in the municipality of Roseller T.Lim (RT Lim) in Zamboanga Sibugay Province. Like the majority of bus passengers on Mindanao these four men flagged down the bus as it sped down National Hwy, heading into Zamboanga City, in Zamboanga del Norte Province, from the town of Ipil (the capital of Zamboanga Sibugay Province).
As the bus entered the municipality of Tungawan's Barangay Upper Tungawan, one of the four men suddenly stood. Quickly, a second one stood as well. Almost as if on cue the two pulled 45 caliber pistols, the first man quickly pivoting and with pinpoint accuracy shot the CAA sitting on the bus' rear seat right between the eyes, killing Lito de la Cruz instantly. His companion drew down on the second CAA, Frederico A.Luchaves, nodding his head slowly as if to warn him against moving a muscle. Sitting next to the dead CAA in the rear was AFP Major Julistidi Arasid, the EXO (Executive Officer, as in Second in Command) of the 18IB (Infantry Battalion), stationed in Ipil. Major Arasid's wife Sitti Alaya Jundam Arasid and their 15 year old son had travelled all the way from their Zamboanga City homes just to meet the Major as he came off of rotation in Ipil, so that they could travel home to Zamboanga City together. It was a special week for the couple, their eldest son, the 15 year old joining them, was about to graduate from highschool (most Filipinos do so by age 16).
Though not in uniform Major Arasid, like most AFP personnel, always carried his AFP-issued sidearm, a 45 caliber pistol. Perhaps fearing for his and his family's life Major Arasid, sitting immediately to the left of the just killed CAA, suddenly, perhaps instinctually, reached for his pistol. Just as suddenly both he and his wife were shot in the head and immediately killed. Pandemonium broke out as passengers began screaming and some quickly rushed towards the front trying to exit the closed door. As this took place the second gunman who had been training his pistol on CAA Luchaves saw the man suddenly move and promptly dropped his with a single round, wounding him. Major Arasid's 15 year old son took that as an opportunity to dive out the open window beside him and run for dear life.
The remaining two gunmen quickly revealed themselves and ordered all passengers and the bus driver, Crispin Lozada, to empty out all their valuables onto their seats and then slowly move towards the front, as they had Mr.Lozada open the door to allow passengers out. Once all passengers were lined up on the side of the road, two of the gunmen trained the newly captured M14s taken from the two CAAs, and trained them on their terrified captives as a third gunman went down the line checking for secreted valuables. Inside the bus the gunmen who had killed the three victims at the rear of the vehicle trained his pistol on the painfully wounded CAA, Luchaves. Kicking the man as he crawled, he forced the badly wounded CAA off of the bus and onto the roadside. As bad as Frederico Luchaves surely felt I guarantee that he felt much better after witnessing which took place shortly after he tumbled down the steps and onto the pavement.
The lone gunman inside of the bus doused the interior with gasoline that had been brought aboard in a jerrycan by one of the four gunmen. Walking to the bus' entrance he threw a lit matchbook down the aisle and immediately set the whole interior aflame. The three bodies inside the bus were charred beyond recognition when authorities finally doused the flames nearly two hours later. Had CAA Luchaves not crawled out of the bus he too would have ended up burned beyond recognition.
So ends this entry, a prelude to the recent AFP operation in the municipality of Payao. I will continue this sad tale in "Part 2."
No comments:
Post a Comment