Although this IS an entry about the NPA...I happen to be a huge proponent for Mindanowan Independence and indeed, a federalised republic is the only form that could possibly work in this island of many faiths, ethnicities, and languages. However, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Noble's "Declaration of Independence" was never about Mindanao per se (and that ridiculous flag is just one of many pieces of evidence. Imagine that the other two groups would stand for the Cross being twice as big as the other two symbols?). Noble was a RAMista, a member of the Reform the Armed Forces clique within the Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP, that has incorrectly been pigeonholed as actually being a true "Reformist Movement." Indeed, when RAM changed its name to Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa, or, Revolutionary National Alliance in 1990, it was merely taking off its mask. Like so many things I discuss, RAM is a complicated subject well deserving of a series of posts, though, my main concern is how RAM figured into the schema of post-Marcos Mindanao, and then, not even vis a vis my current entry's main subject, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Noble.
Yes, this is all about that one aforementioned RAMista, and how HE figured into Mindanao in the late 1980s and early 1990s; After RAM launched the audacious coup that toppled Dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, Noble was hand picked to become the Chief of Staff for the nation's first post-Marcos President, Corazon "Cory" Aquino after she rode her husband's murder into office. RAM got its much discussed "reform" but it was far from through. By 1989 RAM would lead three of the six coup attempts against Aquino (with RAMistas playing significant parts in the other three attempts) and did so in bed with Marcos' "Loyalists," as they came to be known.
After the December 1989 RAM coup attempt failed Lieutenant Colonel Nobel, then serving as a lowly BATCOM (Battalion Commander) after his fall from grace, took more than 200 men from his 36IB (Infantry Battalion), 140 Higaon-on Tribesmen from a Lumad paramilitary personly trained by Noble and another 200-odd Higaon-on hangers on, and went into the jungle to avoid capture. Centered west of the municipality of Esperanza in Agusan del Sur Province, near the Bukidnon Provincial Line, Mindanao's own "Captain Kurtz" played Apocalypse Now for the next 10 months.
Then, on October 4th, 1990, Major Agapito Carbeno, who had defected to Noble some time before, led a Higaon-on force in capturing the 402nd Infantry Brigade's Headquarters in Butuan City, in Agusan del Norte Province, with a small airfield and proximity to a commercial port. As being captured Noble, in a captured Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) was leading more than 400 men towards Cagayan del Oro City, nearly 400 kilometers* to the west, along the northern coast, and the largest population centre in Northern Mindanao. Moreover, it held the 4th Infantry Division (ID) which at that point controlled half of Mindanao, the entire nortern and eastern coasts, and the southern as far as Davao City (*as the crow flies the two cities are less than 120 km apart but the one road linking them, even today nearly 22 years later is a two lane road only paved in some sections, twisting and turning si often that it can take one all day to cover it, though it is beautiful for most of it if that makes up for it).
Arriving in Cagayan del Oro City his men dismounted from their 6 x 6 trucks, wearing red, white, and blue arm bands, they marched in back of the slowly moving APC as crowds cheered, having heard on the radio that Noble and his force were en route and declaring Mindanao independent. Another person who had that radion announcement was Brigadier General Miguel Sol, and after hearing it he packed his bags and fled, leaving stupified probationary soldiers guarding the gates to Camp Evangelista. In a heavy downpour at the tail end of the Western Monsoon Noble climbed out of the hatch of his APC and approached the terrified guards. After gently telling them they were free to go or to join him, they joined him.
Entering the base he made his way to the "White House" as the Division Headquarters was known. With his Second in Command, fellow RAM member, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Efre, he began what he hoped would be a long stay. An hour after the 402nd Brigade Headquarters fell in Butuan a bomb detonated at Fort Bonifacio in Makati, in Metro Manila, but other than some isolated incidents the action was not going as Noble had hoped it would. The actual plan had been to set a template for isolated pockets of rebellion and with them to build a momentum that would eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, lead Noble and his comrades in RAM to the halls of Bonifacio and Military Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Metro Manila's Quezon City.
As day broke President Aquino vowed to crush the coup and also vowed not to negotiate. Of course she did, via Senator Aquino Pimentel, a former Mayor of Cagayan del Oro City who maintained a home in the city. Pimentel hopped aboard a Government Fokker and flew down to Cagayan del Oro City's Lumbia Airport, having had connections within RAM intercede for him with Noble. All during the day Noble and Pimentel bantered back and forth but as it became clear that the chance had passed Noble began looking for an out. After briefly planning a withdrawal back into the jungle Noble called it a day and told Pimentel he would surrender. Senator Pimentel sent a car to fetch him and Lieutenant Colonel Efre and at 3AM, Saturday, October 6th, 1990, the 7th Coup Attempt against President Aquino officialy ended, with Noble becoming a curious historical footnote...
Noble was merely 42 years old when this transpired. Unlike many of his mates in RAM he receded from the spotlight, content to remain in the jungles of Mindanao, amongst the Higaon-on Tribesmen he came to respect and love. Noble ended up homesteading a tract near a Higaon-on settlement in the municipality of Impasug-ong, in Bukidnon Province. In that town's Barangay Sayawan, in Sitio Gata, he led a quiet life. Indeed, apparently the NPA didn't even realise its arch nemesis was in the region. On Monday, November 7th, 2011, as the sun began rising in the sky, seven men robbed Lieutenant Colonel's farmhouse. Netting one cellphone, a 12 gauge shotgun and a rusty 38 caliber revolver and a bit more than P4,000 ($95), thet quickly escaped into the jungle.
Noble was out of town, as he often is, so his caretaker, unsure what to do, phoned Impasug-ong's MPO, or Municipal Police Office. As just about any police officer in this part of this world will do, the MPO Director (as in Chief of Police) authoritatively declared that the NPA had "attacked" Lieutenant Colonel Noble's farm. Seven guerillas? Stealing cash? A cellphone? The fact that Noble is still alive means that the NPA was unaware he was living there. This was one that can't be pinned on the Maoists.
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