With all the time DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) Secretary Jessie Robredo has spent in Cotabato City these last 6 months one would expect he would be speaking with a Maguindanowan accent by now (or maybe organising his own Kidnap for Ransom gang like that city's Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema). Of course he has spent those long hot months, dodging bombing attempts and the annual torrential flooding from the Western Monsoon while doing his master's bidding. President Aquino needs Robredo to put on a big act as if he is actually considering names for the 26 OICs (Officers in Charge) that Aquino plans to appoint (one of these days) for his new and improved ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. The scam, I mean "idea," is to make it appear as if it is actually an objective and considerate process whereas in reality President Aquino had his list ready to go as far back as May 30th of this year. While some names may have been shuffled in the many months since May 30th, the appointee who gets to sit in the hotseat, as Governor, has been fixed to remain steadfast and true.
On May 30th, 2011, President Arroyo met with the Governors of all five constituent provinces within the ARMM:
1) Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu of Manguindanao Province
2) Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr., of Lanao del Sur Province
3) Governor Sadikul "Dick" Adalla Sahali, of Tawi Tawi Province
4) Governor Abdusakur "Sakur" Tan, of Sulu Province
5) Governor Jum Jainuddin Akbar, of Basilan Province
along with:
1) Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs, Ronald Llamas,
2) the aforementioned Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Jessie Robredo,
3) the Director of MinDA, the Mindanao Development Authority, Director Luwalhati "Lou" Antonino,
and
4) both Presidential Spokespeople
A) Edwin Lacierda
B) Ricky Carandan
In that meeting President Aquino explained that he had first thought that he would simply appoint Ansaruddin "Hookie" Alonto Adiong, the current OIC Governor of the ARMM and brother of Lanao del Sur's Governor Adiong, to continue on as the appointed Governor until the newly re-scheduled elections took place in 2013. However, he continued, after much consideration he had become convinced that the best man for the job was ex-Congressman Mujiv Sabbihi Hataman. What he did not say in the meeting though, is that the real decision maker had been his Advisor, Ronald Llamas. In fact, if truth be told, it had been Llamas who had orchestrated the entire ARMM Election Delay boondogle. The issue is certainly deserving of an entry all its own and it will be a long one at that. For the sake of brevity I will simply relate that ostensibly the delay is so that the ARMM Election can be synchronised with the 2013 Midterm Elections. The ACTUAL reason though, is so that the President can appoint all twenty-six of the major positions within the ARMM Government, namely, the Governor, Vice Governor, and the twenty-four slots in the RLA, or Regional Legislative Assembly.
Hataman, on the surface, would seem to be a great choice. A Yakan Tribesman from the municipality of Sumisip on Mindanao's island province of Basilan, he was born with one foot in the stomach churning morass known as "Philippine Politics." His father, Haji Sulaiman Hataman served as the barangay chief of Barangay Buli-Buli for decades. His father before him, Panglima Hataman, ruled Buli Buli as its tribal chieftain and in his later years served as a municipal councilor when all of Basilan constituted a single town.
When Mujiv first arrived in Manila for university the nation had just thrown off the shackles of the Marcos dictatorship. It was a tumultuous time socially, culturally, and of course, politically as well. Hataman responded to his environment by involving himself in Filipino Muslim activism. In 1989 he joined the NGO, or as Filipinos usually refer to such entities, Civil Society Organization, BANGSA, or, the Bangsamoro Student Association. That involvement led to his dropping out of university in his sophmore year in order to accept a fulltime position at the NGO al Fatiha Foundation Incorporated. With al Fatiha Hataman worked as an unofficial social worker slash advocate for the teeming masses populating Metro Manila's growing Muslim slums. Populated by Mindanowans who had migrated north within the last 40 years Hataman easily fit in and it was through these initial forays that the young man found his life's calling, resolving to serve Filipino Muslims and to better their lot.
In 1992 Hataman returned home to Basilan where he continued in his activism, co-founding the NGO KAHAPAN, or, Kilusan para sa Hustisya at Kapayapa'an ng Basilan- The Union for Justice and Peace for Basilan). Through this work Hataman came into contact with Basilan politicians, including an ambitious MNLF cum Abu Sayyaf sub-Kumander who was seeking an avenue into national politics. This politician, Wahab Akbar- see my entry, "Portrait of a Warlord, Part I: Wahab Akbar"- challenged the former paramount MNLF Kumander on Basilan, Abdulgani "Gerry" Ajul Salapuddin in the 1995 Gubrenatorial Election. Although Salapuddin, a very well established politician at the time, managed to retain his grip upon the Governor's chair, his victory would be fleeting.
Akbar managed to bounce back and in the 1998 Election when Salipuddin was forced to vacate the Governor's seat having reached his mandatory term limit, Akbar finally won office. Salapuddin wasn't too broken up over losing that position however since he parlayed the influence gained into winning the Congressional race that same year. Akbar meanwhile saw to it that his sister won a chair as one of three representatives from Basilan elected to the ARMM RLA (legislature) in its next election, and likewise saw a brother became Mayor of Maluso, a key municipality on Basilan, Akbar showed that his plans extended beyond the Governorship. After three consecutive wins and therefore reaching his term limit Akbar set his sights on Basilan's lone Congressional seat. As is the case with most Mindanowan politicians at the provincial level or above, Akbar had no desire to vacate the Governor's seat even as he aimed to enter the national stage. Of his four wives he chose Jum, a fellow Yakan, as being the one best able to win and most likely to remain in his pocket, even as he positioned two other wives to gear up for the mayoralty campaign's over the province's two largest cities, Isabela and Lamitan.
So it was that in 2007 one of Akbar's four wives, Jum Jainuddin Akbar pushed Salapuddin out of office as she won election as Governor. A second wife, Cherrylyn Santos Akbar, won election as the Mayor of Isabela City, the provincial capital, and although a third wife, Nur-in Akbar ended up losing in her bid to become the Mayor of Lamitan City, Akbar himself won election as the island's lone Congressman, defeating Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, heretofore the island's pre-eminent politician. The election marked Wahab's formation of what was, at that point in time, Basilan's strongest political dynasty. His laundry list of vehement enemies weren't about to take that lying down. Indeed, all through that 2007 campaign Akbar's followers were duking it out with Salipuddin's supporters, and to a lesser extent, those of gubernatorial candidate Sulaiman "Jim" Hataman Saliman, brother of our man of the hour, Mujiv Hataman.
On November 13th, 2007, as Akbar walked out of the Batasang Pambansa's south wing and into its carpark, after a long day in session, an unoccupied Honda motorcycle suddenly detonated, an IED having been set in its gas tank. Killed instantly were (Batasang Pambansa being the Congressional Building):
1) Marcial Taldo, Driver for Congresswoman Luz Iligan, died instantly
2) Kimhar Indanan, Bodyguard for Akbar
In addition, were wounded, and among them was the target of the bombing, Congressman Wahab Akbar. Akbar and the other fourteen wounded victims:
1) Congresswoman Luzviminda "Luz" Iligan, a Party List representative for Gabriela, the Leftist slash Feminist party took shrapnel in the legs and back
2) Congressman Pryde Henry Teves, representing Negros Oriental Province in the Central Philippines. One of the most seriously wounded he beat the odds and returned to work on Janurary 18th, 2008, albeit in a whhelchair and specia pressurised clothing to retard scarring. Unfortunately his horrible injuries led him into an addiction to morphine though he claims to have wrestled the monkey off his back sometime in mid-2010.
3) Congressional Aide Ma'an Abustanillo, Chief of Staff for her cousin, Congressman Teves. Unfortunately, as she was being transferred from Malvar General Hospital to the much better equipped Saint Luke's Medical Centre she went into cardiac arrest. Quickly re-routed to the nearest hospital, Capitol Medical Center, it was too late and she was declared DOA, or Dead on Arrival
4) Congressional Aide Dennis Manila, staffer of Congressman Akbar, died during treatment later that evening
5) Congressional Aide, Julasiri Hayudini, staffer of Congressman Akbar, died during treatment
6) Congressional Aide, Vercita Garcia, staffer of Congressman Teves, went into cardiac arrest on December 17th, 2007 and died
7) Ismael Lim, Driver for Liza Masa, founder of Gabriel and like her partymate Luz Iligan, serving in Congress
8) Timar Kindanan
9) Perry Garcia
10) Rodolfo Relente
11) Frederick del Castillo
12) Allan Mangulabnan
13) Larry Noda
14) Nikki Ayudoni
and of course
15) Congressnan Wahab Akbar who survived until shortly after reaching the hospital
The final tally, including Akbar, was seven dead, and ten wounded.
After the PNP, or Philippine National Police, requested their expertise, the American Embassy deployed a forensic unit to give the premises a once over. Philippine authorities usually do not care and the precious few that do are terribly under-equipped and under-trained and so the deployment of the American team was incredibly important if the world had any chance of finding out what had actually transpired at the Batasan Pambansa. The detonation took place just after 8PM, and the Americans arrived on scene just before 1015PM, before the crime scene was contaminated too badly (contamination being a given in the Philippines). Their role only extended as far as an initial workup on the IED. Their findings showed that it bore the signature of ASG, shorthand for the Abu Sayyaf Group, in terms of overall device construction and placement. The payload though was highly unusual for the Philippines, let alone Abu Sayyaf, but that appeared to be more due to logistics than anything else.
The payload of choice on Mindanao, for Abu Sayyaf as well as for the MILF/BIAF and various offshoots that have formed into KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) slash extortion rings is good old Compound B. Compound B is the payload inside of mortar and howitzer shells. Basically, it is a simple TNT and RDX admixture (36:63 ratio, respectively). Mindanao being the most heavily militarised swatch of land in Southeast Asia going on four decades now is cursed with an over-abundance of UXO, or Un-exploded Ordnance. Finding mortar and artillery shells is nearly as easy as buying them directly from the AFP, and it is VERY easy to buy anything from a Military in which Junior Officers make less than 14,000 Pesos ($300) a month- but wait! I almost for got the P40 (80 US Cents) a day in Combat Pay!
Buying explosives very well may be simple but few are willing to move them north of Mindanao. Our fair isle of course, sits nearly 750 kilometers to the south of Quezon City and its Batasang Pambansa. While accessible by both sea and air commercial transportation of mortar and artillery shells- or their explosive payload- is never a smart idea. Blasting caps are simple to make but here in the Philippines one need only go to just about any fishing village to find them selling for P50 ($1.10) per cap since fishermen, destroying their own industry, often rely on low grade explosives to "Dynamite Fish." The concussion stuns fish which then float belly up to the surface where waiting fishermen then harvest them. Of course it absolutely trashes coral reefs but when you are a 30 year old man supporting eight children and 9 members of an extended family the ecosystem is one of your least worries (if indeed it enters your mind at all). Triggers are almost always Radio Frequency Command and in a nation literally ranked number one in cellphone usage what else would an aspiring bomber utilise but a cellphone? Charges are typically 9Volt batteries, all items easily had on Luzon, certainly within Metro Manila.
Payloads however, present moderate difficulties as noted but for the knowledgeable bomb maker it isn't even a challenging obstacle. The American team discovered a PETN signature. PETN, or Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, is one of the most efficient military grade explosives on the market with a Relative Effectivebess Factor of 1.66. For the sake of brevity, that value signifies a substance's explosive power compared gramme for gramme with good old TNT. In other words, PETN only takes 0.6 kg to perform as well as 1kg of TNT. More importantly, militarily speaking, it is relatively stable both in terms of handling and in storage. While one hears a lot about terrorists favouring the substance because of its ability to pass basic security checks as well as its being extremely easy to manufacture, it is used militarily and indeed even commercially as well...even in common detonation cable. However, it isn't found in ASG or other domestic organisations.
Naturally the case led to a quick reaction on the part of the Philippine authorities, albeit as vaccuous as always. True to form arrests were quick but cases evaporated under the gross errors investigators committed as they tried to produce fast results with little thought given towards accuracy and/or sustainability. The first police operation took place just days after the bombing, on November 15th. Going down a list of individuals who had entered the southside carpark at the Congressional complex, two names:
1) Ikram Indama
2) Caidar Aunal
led to a single address not far from the complex, in Barangay Payatas' Violago Subdivision. The home rented by Redwan Indama and his wife Saing sat on a quiet residential street. While the PNP could have easily set up a cordon and tried to apprehend the two men peacefully, they instead stayed true to form and rushed in guns a'blazing and mowed down three "suspects.":
1) Redwan Indanan
2) Saing Indanan, Redwan's wife
3) Abu Jundal
The raid, by the PNP SAF, or Special Action Force, the PNP Special Operations element, also resulted in one officer being critically wounded by Friendly Fire:
Police Officer Third Grade (PO3) Roland Baucas
Three other suspects, including the two wanted men, were taken alive and unscathed:
1) Ikram Indama, then 35 years old
2) Caidar Aunal, then 41 years old
3) Adham Kusain, then 21 years old
Inside the home the arresting officers, members of the CIDG NCR-PRO (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group of the National Capital Region Police Region Group) did a thorough search and discovered a deed of sale for the Honda XRM motorcycle that had been used to conceal the IED at the Congressional complex. The deed listed a VIN, or Vehicle Identifacation Number (XRM 13- 066- 203339) that matched the VIN recovered from a piece of the motorcycle chassis recovered from the blast site. Also discovered was the Congressional Identification Badge which Ikram Indama had used to gain entrance for himself and Caidar Aunal aboard that same Honda XRM motorcycle. The badge designated Ikram as a Legislative Staff Assistant III to the Deputy Speaker for Mindanao, none other than Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, who had left office the previous May when his 9 year term limit expired. Also found were envelopes with Salapuddin's Congressional masthead. CIDG delivered the three men to the AFP's Fort Bonifacio in Metro Manila's Makati City. There they were held in the IS-AFP (AFP Intelligence Service) basement, a notorious torture chamber. Within hours all three had given up a co-conspirator:
1) Hajarun Jamiri
Jamiri was the former mayor of Tuburan, a municipality in Basilan, Wahab Akbar's home province and the home of the three previously arrested men as well. Taken without incident at a rental house in Malate he began babbling left and right as soon as the CIDG slipped the handcuffs on him. He led the arresting officers to a second motorcyle, a Suzuki Shogun. Moreover, he led the officers to a second rental home on Malate's Leveriza Street where they found a 3 kilogram IED. The motorcycle and IED were used on October 24th, outside the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City in a first attempt against Conressman Akbar but much to the conspirator's frustration Akbar had been a no show. Therefore the November 13th bombing at the Congressional complex had actually been the second attempt on Akbar's life.
Although the media was told that the four suspects taken into custody had been charged with Murder, Attempted Frustrated Murder, and Destruction of Property, in reality, they hadn't been charged with anything as investigators, with US assistance, attempted to unravel the whole sordid tale. The initial arrests in Barangay Payatas, and the gunshots that went with it, were solely based upon the information on who had entered the carpark that day, cross referenced with information about the home's occupants during a 24 hour surveillance. It turned out that one of the occupants, Abu Jundal, was an ASG, or Abu Sayyaf Group member, with a slew of open warrants for Kidnapping and related crimes, hence the "blazing" guns. Finally, on December 6th, the three arrestees from Barangay Payatas were charged with Obstruction of Justice for the CIDG shooting. The PNP claimed that it been Abu Jundal, the ASG member, who had opened fire first. As his co-conspirators the three men wore the Obstruction charge. The heavier charges would wait, as the PNP slowly untangled the story.
It IS true that there had been running firefights between Salapuddin's many armed supporters and those of then-Governor Akbar as both men ran for the island's lone Congressional seat but as sad as Mindanowan politics are, that is completely run of the mill in any Mindanowan gubernatorial election. The newsworthy subject would have been a major campaign where people hadn't been shot and blown up but that has yet to happen.
Then, it was discovered that one of the three suspects mowed down by the PNP in their first execution- I mean "arrest attempt," Redwan Indanan, was Mujiv Hataman and Jim Hatamn Saliman's cousin (paternal third cousin). However, the Yakan Tribe is rather small and like all other Islamicised Filipino tribes, polygamous, so that one can play connect the dots with Yakan families all day long without even raising more than the scantest circumstantial evidence. The entire province of Basilan barely has a population of 300,000 split between five ethnicities. It isn't hard then, to link one Yakan to another. A third cousin was not even worth noting.
Rather than make this an epically long post I will conclude this sordid tale in a "Part 2" post haste (pun kinda' intended).
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