The Lim Clan on the Zamboanga Peninsula are one of Mindanao's most storied political dynasties. Migrating like so many Tsinoy, or Filipinos of Chinese descent, from China's Fujian Province, by way of Pagasinan on Luzon, the clan patriarch settled in Zamboanga City. It was his grandson, Luis G. Lim who became the peninsula's first civilian governor in 1914. His nephew, Roseller T. Lim, the man responsible for dividing the peninsula into two provinces, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur, is perhaps the peninsula's best know historical figure. The Lim Clan's presence on the Zamboangan political stage continues into the present.
The municipality of Salug, in Zamboanga del Norte Province, began life as an isolated sitio in what was then the municipality of Sindanngan's Barangay Liloy. Liloy became a full fledged town itself in 1951, within which Sitio Salug now became a barrio (the antecedent of today's "barangay"). Finally, Salug was itself emancipated as a full fledged municipality in 1979. The Lim Clan has played a significant role in the town since its creation. Current Mayor, Jeffrey Tan Lim, won election in 2010, suceeding his father, Jesus Nantes Lim. At age 36, Jeffrey Tan Lim was eager to make his own mark and come out from under his father's shadow.
The construction of a new municipal bus terminal in Barangay Poblacion was one accomplishment the new mayor was particularly fond of. In fact, most evenings found the Mayor and his immediate family enjoying their supper in one of the terminal's small eateries. After all, the terminal sits a mere 200 meters from his office in the municipal hall. On April 2nd, 2012, Mayor Lim had just enjoyed an afternoon tennis match with some longtime friends of his and was returning to the municipal hall to shower and change before once again joining his wife and children for a late evening supper in the bus terminal.
At just past 7PM a yellow minivan came to a stop in front of Mayor Lim. A man wearing camoflauge pants and a blue tshirt bearing the word "Pulis" (police) dismounted from the truck and quickly approached the Mayor. Carrying a manila folder the man then tersely informed him that he was serving an arrest warrant on him and warned Mayor Lim not to resist. Shocked, but in full possesion of his faculties, Mayor Lim asked to examine the warrant, saying he was going to confer with his own MPO, or Municipal Police Office. The "police officer" serving the warrant then gave a hand signal, at which point the four men in identical attire dismounted from the van and quickly moved in, grabbing Lim who was only then subdued after a fierce, albeit short struggle.
Naturally, word immediately reached the municipal hall, after all, three townspeople had been walking past Lim when it happened. A flurry of calls were made trying to ascertain the nature of the supposed arrest warrant. By the time Lim's colleagues realised that there was no warrant, the multicab had made its way into the town's Barangay Mucas where it quickly discharged Lim and his captors before it sped off into Barangay Caracol where it was burned as a diversion.
Dragged aboard one of two idling white pumpboats, Lim and his captors skirted the coast past the adjacent municipality of Labson, before veering off coast towards Sacol Island, an offshore territory belonging to Zamboanga City. Although Mayor Lim was undoubtedly clueless, he had become the latest KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom victim of the BIAF 113 Base Command. The BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, are the armed wing of the MILF. Because the MILF provides precious little material support to the military wing, the nineteen Base Commands, analogous to a "brigade" in a conventional armed force, have had to become creative with regard to fund raising. The 113 Base Command, with operational control over the entire Zamboanga Peninsula, except for Zamboanga City, has become the leading Base Command in the KFR Industry. Ironically, the 113's overall commander, Alroy Alsree, was close to Lim when the Mayor was growing up. As luck would have it, Alsree died a week later of natural causes and Lim's existence became that much more precarious.
Mayor Lim had been kidnapped by a subordinate of Alsree's, sub-Kumander Latip "Rajamuda" Jamat, and Jamat's second in command, Latip Tatutan. Taken to Sacol Island Lim was then sold to the BIAF 114 Base Command which in turn transported Mayor Lim to Basilan Province. Once on Basilan, an island 17 kilometers off of Zamboanga City, Lim was transported to Barangay Baiwas in the municipality of Sumisip. There he was sold to the ASG, or Abu Sayyaf Group, and its leading faction on Basilan, that of Kumander Puruji Indama.
After being purchased by ASG Lim was seen in tandem with Australian KFR victim, Warren Rodwell, though the two were soon seperated to prevent the loss of both captives in the face of AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines "rescue operations."
Showing posts with label AFP KFR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFP KFR. Show all posts
Friday, June 22, 2012
Kidnap for Ransom for the Second Quarter of 2012, Part III: Jordanian Journalist Baker Abdullah Atyani, Part 2
The choice to use Mayor Alvarez Isnaji of Indanan as negotiator had not been made by sub-Kumander Sulayman "Abu Haris" Patta. Although Professor Octavio Dinampo, Philippine newsanchor Ces Orena Drilon and her two man crew were held in Abu Haris's camp, Haris himself served under Gafur Jumdail (his name is often mangled by the shoddy Philippine media hacks as "Gapur Jundain"), who had laid claim to the jungle covered badlands lying between the iconic Bud Daho and Matanding Hill, two extinct volcanos. This forbidding expanse, known to the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines as the Karawan Complex, a sector in which five of the island's municipalities converge. Jumdail, in turn, served as the right hand man to his brother, Kumander Gumbahali "Dr. Abu Pula" Umbra Jumdail, the leader of a strong faction within the ASG, or Abu Sayyaf Group. It was Gumbahali Jumdail, a veteran of the MNLF, who opted to use his well respected superior in the MNLF, Alvarez Isnaji.
Mayor Isnaji's son, Haider "Jun" Isnaji was quite close to several members of ASG serving under Abu Haris, the ASG minion charged with actually capturing and holding Ces Drilon and her three companions. In fact three of his cousins were among the kidnappers. Initially Drilon saw Isnaji as an ally, even a savior when-from Drilon's perspective-Isnaji intervened to save Drilon's cameraman Angelo Valderrama from what she believed to be certain decapitation. Although Drilon has presented herself as having been incredibly stoic and firmly resolute during her ordeal, the truth of the matter is, she remained on the verge of hysteria throught most of her captivity. When, on June 11th, her captor's opening ransom demand quickly devolved into Abu Haris reeling in a murderous rage, it was Isnaji whom Drilon begged to intervene.
Drilon had been speaking with her family's chosen negotiator, the Vice Governor of Sulu Province, Lady Anne Sahidula, and per ASG insistence, had had the call on the phone's loudspeaker. Responding to ASG's opening gambit of P20Million ($400,000), Vice Governor Sahidula explained that Drilon's family could only afford P2 Million ($40,000). Abu Haris had been listening intently, struggling to follow the conversation in Tagalog, a language rarely spoken fluently south of Luzon. Upon hearing that Drilon, the captive he had hoped would provide the lionsshare of the colkective ransom, could only generate a paltry P2 Million, he ordered his men to drag Drilon's two man crew-Angelo Valderrama and Jimmy Encarnacion-through the mud before having them kneel back to back. While screaming that he was going to have all four captives killed, he had the two men tied to one another, by their wrists. Now much calmer, but much more menacingly, Abu Haris told Drilon quite matter of factly, that if the entire ransom of P20 Million ($40,000) was not received by 2PM the following day, June 12th, Angelo Valderrama would be decapitated. As Ces Drilon once again slipped into hysteria one of the guerillas standing next to crew member Jimmy Encarnacion looked leeringly at Drilon and advised her to do her makeup so that she would look her best when her loved ones opened up the box containing her severed head.
After several minutes the fourth captive, Professor Octavio Dinampo, himself a Tausug like their captors, warned Drilon that if they did not do something quickly, Angelo Valderrama would certainly die. He quickly explained that in Tausug culture consensus ranks all important so that, having made a definitive threat, Abu Haris could not renege even if he wanted to. Because a consensus had been reached on that issue, it was now entirely out of his hands. Dinampo recommended that they make an acceptable counter-offer along the lines of something much more attractive than the aforementioned P2 Million serving as an advance payment on the P20 Million total. Dinampo recommended offering P10 Million in exchange for the release of one of the captives, and barring the delivery of that amount, accepting P5 Million to extend the deadline. This would allow Abu Haris to save face if he called off the 2PM deadline.
Drilon quickly nodded in agreement and Dinampo approached Abu Haris. Returning to Drilon's side he informed her that Abu Haris had agreed to discuss the counter-offer with his men and if the managed to reach another consensus on the issue, he would let Dinampo know.
As the sun sank below the horizon both Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderrama were led to seperate hammocks with one arm tied to one of the supporting trees. Dinampo and Drilon could do nothing more, so both watched and waited. Just after 9PM Abu Haris approached the plastic tarp where Dinampo and Drilon were laying restlessly. Grinning from ear to ear, Abu Haris informed the two that a consensus had been reached. A minimum downpayment of P5 Million ($100,000) would forstall Valderrama's impending decapitation. Drilon was handed a cellphone and instructed to make the ransom arrangements. Afraid that Vice Govenor Sahidullah's involvement might cause Abu Haris to once again become enraged, Drilon adressed the Vice Governor as "sister" and stated in no uncetrtain terms that P5 Million needed to be delivered to Mayor Isnaji Alvarez by 2PM the following afternoon.
That evening, Drilon's brother Frank left Manila aboard a private jet carrying a duffel bag with P5 Million ($100,000). Landing in Jolo City at just after 2AM he was met by Vice Governor Sahidullah and Senior Superintendent (SSupt) Winnie Quidato, who presented himself as pointman for the DILG, or Department of the Interior and Local Government. Frank got a quick update and handed off the money before climbing back aboard the jet for his flight home to Manila. Vice Governor Sahidullah and SSupt.Quidato then made their way to the municipality of Indanan where the money was given to Mayor Isnaji. It took Isnaji several hours to communicate receipt of the money but when he did, he explained that of the P5 Million earmarked for ASG, P2 Million would be needed to pay off a host of important personalities, including Vice Governor Sahidullah. An additional P1 Million was being taken by Isnaji himself, as his "commission." After all, he had just begun a costly run for the Governorship of the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Factional leader Gumbahali Jumdail was in no position to argue, he had just received an effortless P1 Million for himself, and another to be divvied up by his brother Gafur and Abu Haris.
The next day, at 140PM, Abu Haris informed Drilon and Dinampo that Valderrama would not be dying. An hour later, barely able to contain himself, Haris again approached Dilon and informed her that the ransom was already with Mayor Isnaji and that he had been instructed to release Angelo Valderrama as a "present." That evening, as the guerillas celebrated their good fortune, Valderrama said his emotional goodbyes to his colleagues and Professor Dinampo. At just past midnite, June 13th, when Abu Haris and twelve of his men began escorting Valderrama out of the jungle. At 830PM that night, Valderrama was handed off to Mayor Isnaji's son Haider in the municipality of Talipao's Barangay Sinumaan. Taken to Isnaji's compound in Indanan, he was fed a good meal and then passed to the PPO-Sulu, or Police Provincial Office for Sulu Province for the requisite medical exam and debriefing.
Back in the Karawan Complex, the three remaining captives sat uneasily, the joy of Valderrama's release had quickly evaporated, if it had ever touched them at all. Still, with only ten guerrilas in the camp, and their leader gone, there was a more relaxing atmosphere, though "relaxing" is about as misplaced adjective as one could imagine. Whatever good cheer might have been had was hopelessly out of reach when, on the next day, June 14th, Abu Haris led his column of guerilas back into camp. When the group returned they joyfully passed out what amounted to six months wages there abouts, but even the guerillas' good cheer was fleeting as Abu Haris immediately gave the order to break camp.
As the guerillas began packing Abu Haris approached the three captives, now being kept together, and informed them that if at least half of the remaining P15 Million ($300,000) in outstanding ransom money was not delivered by June 16th, one of the three captives would be beheaded. Once again Ces Drilon segued from highly emotional into outright hysteria, causing a dismayed Abu Haris to add that Mayor Isnaji had requested, as a concession, that the deadline be extended until June 17th, and so it had been arranged.
As it turned out, the new encampment has a mere 30 minutes downhill, on the western slope of Matanding Hill, and after quickly settling in, Abu Harris rounded up the ten guerillas who had left behind when Angelo Valderrama had been released. They were now being given the same opportunity to quickly visit their home and distribute their share of the ransom to their loved ones.
The new camp consisted of "nipas," bamboo framed huts with palmleaf thatched walls. However, they lacked roofs and so once again, plastic tarps were spread over head to protect the captives from the elements. As if waiting for the new deadline of June 16th to pass was not difficult enough, on June 14th, the three captives had awoken to a lengthly mortar barrage as the AFP's 81MM mortar shells rained down upon an MNLF-EC15 (Executive Council of 15) came in the municipality of Indanan's Barangay Siyunugan. Of 25 rounds that dropped that morning in Sitio Timaho, four made direct hits on residential homes, wounding five civilians in addition to an undetermined number of MNLF guerillas:
1) Sitti Bia Bahara
2) Merna Abon
3) Wawan Ibni
4) Apa Atan
5) Ismael Idja
In addition, all of the nearly 200 families living in the sitio were made into "Bakwits," Philippine speak for "IDPs," or Internally Displaced Persons...refugees. MNLF-EC15 Kumander Sumimpal Khanain correctly noted that ASG stayed wel clear of his camp, and indeed, was rarely seen on that side of Bud Kapok, the dormant volcano upon which the camp sits. The AFP engaged in alot of double talk, claiming intermittingly that it was merely a drill...a long planned push for the year old OPlan Ultimatim...a surgical strike aiming to neutralize Jemayah Islamiyyah, or JI bombmaker Umar Patek...anything, as long as it wasnt the truth. In fact, it was a punative response aimed at Mayor Alvarez Isnaji, the highest ranking MNLF-EC15 figure in Sulu Province. The pointman for the DILG? SSupt.Winnie Quidato? He was actually a PNP, or Philippine National Police intelligence operative. During the delivery of the initial P5 Million,
Quidato had amassed enough circumstantial evidence to convince his superiors that Isnaji was neck deep in the Drilon KFR. The mortar volley on Bud Kapok was Isnaji's wakeup cal
As if a mortar attack isnt a miserable enough way to be woken up, after finally getting some much needed sleep later in the day, Drilon and her two companions were angrily woken up by screaming guerillas who accused them of mounting an escape attempt. Conditions worsened considerably when Drilon and her remaining crew member, Jimmy Encarnacion, each had their wrists tied together, with Encarnacion's wrists tied behind his back.
On June 16th the day began with the guerillas threatening to decapitate Jimmy Encarnacion and giving Drilon the phone, instructing her to contact her family for the next installment of the ransom. Instead Drilon called Senator Loren Legarda. The Senator, an opportunist if ever one existed, had obtained Drilon's cellphone number from Senator Franklin Drilon, related to Ces by her husband. Gaining the number, Legarda began texting Ces and so, just as she had with Mayor Alvarez Isnaji, Drilon began her over-reliance on yet another self-serving politician.
At just before noon Jimmy Encarnacion was prepared for beheading while Ces Drilon was once again instructed to pgone her family for an update on the ransom installment. Again Drilon sureptitiously phoned Senator Legarda and earned a hard slap in the face for her troubles. Drilon hit the floor hard, crying and moaning, she witnessed Jimmy being beaten with the stock of an M16. As Jimmy cried, begging for his life, the cellphone Drilon had just used began ringing. The guerilla that answered the call listened carefully, ended the call and began lauging joyously as he informed the shocked captives they were being released.
Unbeknownst to Ces Drilon and her fellow captives, while she had made her first phone call to Senator Legarda that motning, two duffel bags, each containing P7.5 Million ($175,000) had been leaving Manila aboard private jet. In Zamboanga City the bags were transferred to a chartered Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair) flight to Jolo City, in order to circumvent the extra-heavy media attention that could easily derail the ransom payoff. More to the point, Drilon's very high public profile had the Government extremely nervous over its "No Ransom Policy." Officialy, it is illegal to pay a ransom. Unofficialy, noone really cares EXCEPT when the media gets yet another golden opportunity to showcase Government hypocrisy. When the chartered plane landed in Jolo City the PNP Aviation Services Group was highly suscpicious seeing as how a charteted airline devoid of passengers had just landed and refiled a Flight Plan with almost no turn around time.
The PNP searched the plane and of course quickly discovered the two unaccompanied duffelbags full of cash. As the police prepared to steal...I mean "seize" the money, local attorney Nasser Inawat stepped forward inside the airport terminal with a written order from Vice Governor Sahidullah and was handed both bags. Inawat, a fomer member of the ARMM CLA (Consultative Regional Assembly) then delivered the money to Mayor Isnaji. Though he surely would have wished to do otherwise, Isnaji was now compelled by the ASG to turn over all the cash, his commision having been covered already.
Ces Drilon, Jimmy Encarnacion, and Professor Octavio Dinampo ended their nine day sojourn with a five hour walk into the municipality of Talipao's Barangay Kagay. There, Vice Governor Sahidullah accompanied disheveled but ecstatic Drilon and her companions to the Isnaji compound in Indanan. Fed, bathed and given a bed to sleep in, the three along with their hosts, Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider, were driven into Jolo City very early the next morning and from there took an AFP Huey (UH-1H helicopter) to Zamboanga City. Professor Dinampo left them there and Drilon and Encarnacion boarded a private jet bound for Manila with the Isnajis
The Isnajis were arrested after two days of interrogation at PNP Headquarters, Camp Crame. By October everyone of the eight young men who initially took custody of Ces Drilon and her companions had been arrested but so what? aged.14 through 21, the most educated among them had a fifth grade education. less than P1,000 ($20) each, their lives were ruined by those tasked with leading them...people like Mayor Alvarez Isnaji. Isnaji and his son just had their cases re-filed on Money Laundering charges, after escaping the more serious Kidnapping charges but alas, I will have to get to that sordid tale in a "Political Developments" entry.
The operative lesson here is that a journalist, Ces Drilon, thought herself entirely above the fray. Even after being warned not to do so by her superior Ms.Drilon still saw fit to endanger her crew in hopes of sticking another feather into her cap. Her employer, the Manila-based network, ABS-CBN, merely gave her a 90 day suspension...while milking her faux paux for all it was worth in the ratings. The scary thing? Ces Drilon was the THIRD case of an interview with the ASG turned into a big money KFR. Just this month, June of 2012, four years almost to the day, yet another journalist thought themselves above the fray. In "Part 3" I will discuss that ongoing abduction.
Mayor Isnaji's son, Haider "Jun" Isnaji was quite close to several members of ASG serving under Abu Haris, the ASG minion charged with actually capturing and holding Ces Drilon and her three companions. In fact three of his cousins were among the kidnappers. Initially Drilon saw Isnaji as an ally, even a savior when-from Drilon's perspective-Isnaji intervened to save Drilon's cameraman Angelo Valderrama from what she believed to be certain decapitation. Although Drilon has presented herself as having been incredibly stoic and firmly resolute during her ordeal, the truth of the matter is, she remained on the verge of hysteria throught most of her captivity. When, on June 11th, her captor's opening ransom demand quickly devolved into Abu Haris reeling in a murderous rage, it was Isnaji whom Drilon begged to intervene.
Drilon had been speaking with her family's chosen negotiator, the Vice Governor of Sulu Province, Lady Anne Sahidula, and per ASG insistence, had had the call on the phone's loudspeaker. Responding to ASG's opening gambit of P20Million ($400,000), Vice Governor Sahidula explained that Drilon's family could only afford P2 Million ($40,000). Abu Haris had been listening intently, struggling to follow the conversation in Tagalog, a language rarely spoken fluently south of Luzon. Upon hearing that Drilon, the captive he had hoped would provide the lionsshare of the colkective ransom, could only generate a paltry P2 Million, he ordered his men to drag Drilon's two man crew-Angelo Valderrama and Jimmy Encarnacion-through the mud before having them kneel back to back. While screaming that he was going to have all four captives killed, he had the two men tied to one another, by their wrists. Now much calmer, but much more menacingly, Abu Haris told Drilon quite matter of factly, that if the entire ransom of P20 Million ($40,000) was not received by 2PM the following day, June 12th, Angelo Valderrama would be decapitated. As Ces Drilon once again slipped into hysteria one of the guerillas standing next to crew member Jimmy Encarnacion looked leeringly at Drilon and advised her to do her makeup so that she would look her best when her loved ones opened up the box containing her severed head.
After several minutes the fourth captive, Professor Octavio Dinampo, himself a Tausug like their captors, warned Drilon that if they did not do something quickly, Angelo Valderrama would certainly die. He quickly explained that in Tausug culture consensus ranks all important so that, having made a definitive threat, Abu Haris could not renege even if he wanted to. Because a consensus had been reached on that issue, it was now entirely out of his hands. Dinampo recommended that they make an acceptable counter-offer along the lines of something much more attractive than the aforementioned P2 Million serving as an advance payment on the P20 Million total. Dinampo recommended offering P10 Million in exchange for the release of one of the captives, and barring the delivery of that amount, accepting P5 Million to extend the deadline. This would allow Abu Haris to save face if he called off the 2PM deadline.
Drilon quickly nodded in agreement and Dinampo approached Abu Haris. Returning to Drilon's side he informed her that Abu Haris had agreed to discuss the counter-offer with his men and if the managed to reach another consensus on the issue, he would let Dinampo know.
As the sun sank below the horizon both Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderrama were led to seperate hammocks with one arm tied to one of the supporting trees. Dinampo and Drilon could do nothing more, so both watched and waited. Just after 9PM Abu Haris approached the plastic tarp where Dinampo and Drilon were laying restlessly. Grinning from ear to ear, Abu Haris informed the two that a consensus had been reached. A minimum downpayment of P5 Million ($100,000) would forstall Valderrama's impending decapitation. Drilon was handed a cellphone and instructed to make the ransom arrangements. Afraid that Vice Govenor Sahidullah's involvement might cause Abu Haris to once again become enraged, Drilon adressed the Vice Governor as "sister" and stated in no uncetrtain terms that P5 Million needed to be delivered to Mayor Isnaji Alvarez by 2PM the following afternoon.
That evening, Drilon's brother Frank left Manila aboard a private jet carrying a duffel bag with P5 Million ($100,000). Landing in Jolo City at just after 2AM he was met by Vice Governor Sahidullah and Senior Superintendent (SSupt) Winnie Quidato, who presented himself as pointman for the DILG, or Department of the Interior and Local Government. Frank got a quick update and handed off the money before climbing back aboard the jet for his flight home to Manila. Vice Governor Sahidullah and SSupt.Quidato then made their way to the municipality of Indanan where the money was given to Mayor Isnaji. It took Isnaji several hours to communicate receipt of the money but when he did, he explained that of the P5 Million earmarked for ASG, P2 Million would be needed to pay off a host of important personalities, including Vice Governor Sahidullah. An additional P1 Million was being taken by Isnaji himself, as his "commission." After all, he had just begun a costly run for the Governorship of the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Factional leader Gumbahali Jumdail was in no position to argue, he had just received an effortless P1 Million for himself, and another to be divvied up by his brother Gafur and Abu Haris.
The next day, at 140PM, Abu Haris informed Drilon and Dinampo that Valderrama would not be dying. An hour later, barely able to contain himself, Haris again approached Dilon and informed her that the ransom was already with Mayor Isnaji and that he had been instructed to release Angelo Valderrama as a "present." That evening, as the guerillas celebrated their good fortune, Valderrama said his emotional goodbyes to his colleagues and Professor Dinampo. At just past midnite, June 13th, when Abu Haris and twelve of his men began escorting Valderrama out of the jungle. At 830PM that night, Valderrama was handed off to Mayor Isnaji's son Haider in the municipality of Talipao's Barangay Sinumaan. Taken to Isnaji's compound in Indanan, he was fed a good meal and then passed to the PPO-Sulu, or Police Provincial Office for Sulu Province for the requisite medical exam and debriefing.
Back in the Karawan Complex, the three remaining captives sat uneasily, the joy of Valderrama's release had quickly evaporated, if it had ever touched them at all. Still, with only ten guerrilas in the camp, and their leader gone, there was a more relaxing atmosphere, though "relaxing" is about as misplaced adjective as one could imagine. Whatever good cheer might have been had was hopelessly out of reach when, on the next day, June 14th, Abu Haris led his column of guerilas back into camp. When the group returned they joyfully passed out what amounted to six months wages there abouts, but even the guerillas' good cheer was fleeting as Abu Haris immediately gave the order to break camp.
As the guerillas began packing Abu Haris approached the three captives, now being kept together, and informed them that if at least half of the remaining P15 Million ($300,000) in outstanding ransom money was not delivered by June 16th, one of the three captives would be beheaded. Once again Ces Drilon segued from highly emotional into outright hysteria, causing a dismayed Abu Haris to add that Mayor Isnaji had requested, as a concession, that the deadline be extended until June 17th, and so it had been arranged.
As it turned out, the new encampment has a mere 30 minutes downhill, on the western slope of Matanding Hill, and after quickly settling in, Abu Harris rounded up the ten guerillas who had left behind when Angelo Valderrama had been released. They were now being given the same opportunity to quickly visit their home and distribute their share of the ransom to their loved ones.
The new camp consisted of "nipas," bamboo framed huts with palmleaf thatched walls. However, they lacked roofs and so once again, plastic tarps were spread over head to protect the captives from the elements. As if waiting for the new deadline of June 16th to pass was not difficult enough, on June 14th, the three captives had awoken to a lengthly mortar barrage as the AFP's 81MM mortar shells rained down upon an MNLF-EC15 (Executive Council of 15) came in the municipality of Indanan's Barangay Siyunugan. Of 25 rounds that dropped that morning in Sitio Timaho, four made direct hits on residential homes, wounding five civilians in addition to an undetermined number of MNLF guerillas:
1) Sitti Bia Bahara
2) Merna Abon
3) Wawan Ibni
4) Apa Atan
5) Ismael Idja
In addition, all of the nearly 200 families living in the sitio were made into "Bakwits," Philippine speak for "IDPs," or Internally Displaced Persons...refugees. MNLF-EC15 Kumander Sumimpal Khanain correctly noted that ASG stayed wel clear of his camp, and indeed, was rarely seen on that side of Bud Kapok, the dormant volcano upon which the camp sits. The AFP engaged in alot of double talk, claiming intermittingly that it was merely a drill...a long planned push for the year old OPlan Ultimatim...a surgical strike aiming to neutralize Jemayah Islamiyyah, or JI bombmaker Umar Patek...anything, as long as it wasnt the truth. In fact, it was a punative response aimed at Mayor Alvarez Isnaji, the highest ranking MNLF-EC15 figure in Sulu Province. The pointman for the DILG? SSupt.Winnie Quidato? He was actually a PNP, or Philippine National Police intelligence operative. During the delivery of the initial P5 Million,
Quidato had amassed enough circumstantial evidence to convince his superiors that Isnaji was neck deep in the Drilon KFR. The mortar volley on Bud Kapok was Isnaji's wakeup cal
As if a mortar attack isnt a miserable enough way to be woken up, after finally getting some much needed sleep later in the day, Drilon and her two companions were angrily woken up by screaming guerillas who accused them of mounting an escape attempt. Conditions worsened considerably when Drilon and her remaining crew member, Jimmy Encarnacion, each had their wrists tied together, with Encarnacion's wrists tied behind his back.
On June 16th the day began with the guerillas threatening to decapitate Jimmy Encarnacion and giving Drilon the phone, instructing her to contact her family for the next installment of the ransom. Instead Drilon called Senator Loren Legarda. The Senator, an opportunist if ever one existed, had obtained Drilon's cellphone number from Senator Franklin Drilon, related to Ces by her husband. Gaining the number, Legarda began texting Ces and so, just as she had with Mayor Alvarez Isnaji, Drilon began her over-reliance on yet another self-serving politician.
At just before noon Jimmy Encarnacion was prepared for beheading while Ces Drilon was once again instructed to pgone her family for an update on the ransom installment. Again Drilon sureptitiously phoned Senator Legarda and earned a hard slap in the face for her troubles. Drilon hit the floor hard, crying and moaning, she witnessed Jimmy being beaten with the stock of an M16. As Jimmy cried, begging for his life, the cellphone Drilon had just used began ringing. The guerilla that answered the call listened carefully, ended the call and began lauging joyously as he informed the shocked captives they were being released.
Unbeknownst to Ces Drilon and her fellow captives, while she had made her first phone call to Senator Legarda that motning, two duffel bags, each containing P7.5 Million ($175,000) had been leaving Manila aboard private jet. In Zamboanga City the bags were transferred to a chartered Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair) flight to Jolo City, in order to circumvent the extra-heavy media attention that could easily derail the ransom payoff. More to the point, Drilon's very high public profile had the Government extremely nervous over its "No Ransom Policy." Officialy, it is illegal to pay a ransom. Unofficialy, noone really cares EXCEPT when the media gets yet another golden opportunity to showcase Government hypocrisy. When the chartered plane landed in Jolo City the PNP Aviation Services Group was highly suscpicious seeing as how a charteted airline devoid of passengers had just landed and refiled a Flight Plan with almost no turn around time.
The PNP searched the plane and of course quickly discovered the two unaccompanied duffelbags full of cash. As the police prepared to steal...I mean "seize" the money, local attorney Nasser Inawat stepped forward inside the airport terminal with a written order from Vice Governor Sahidullah and was handed both bags. Inawat, a fomer member of the ARMM CLA (Consultative Regional Assembly) then delivered the money to Mayor Isnaji. Though he surely would have wished to do otherwise, Isnaji was now compelled by the ASG to turn over all the cash, his commision having been covered already.
Ces Drilon, Jimmy Encarnacion, and Professor Octavio Dinampo ended their nine day sojourn with a five hour walk into the municipality of Talipao's Barangay Kagay. There, Vice Governor Sahidullah accompanied disheveled but ecstatic Drilon and her companions to the Isnaji compound in Indanan. Fed, bathed and given a bed to sleep in, the three along with their hosts, Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider, were driven into Jolo City very early the next morning and from there took an AFP Huey (UH-1H helicopter) to Zamboanga City. Professor Dinampo left them there and Drilon and Encarnacion boarded a private jet bound for Manila with the Isnajis
The Isnajis were arrested after two days of interrogation at PNP Headquarters, Camp Crame. By October everyone of the eight young men who initially took custody of Ces Drilon and her companions had been arrested but so what? aged.14 through 21, the most educated among them had a fifth grade education. less than P1,000 ($20) each, their lives were ruined by those tasked with leading them...people like Mayor Alvarez Isnaji. Isnaji and his son just had their cases re-filed on Money Laundering charges, after escaping the more serious Kidnapping charges but alas, I will have to get to that sordid tale in a "Political Developments" entry.
The operative lesson here is that a journalist, Ces Drilon, thought herself entirely above the fray. Even after being warned not to do so by her superior Ms.Drilon still saw fit to endanger her crew in hopes of sticking another feather into her cap. Her employer, the Manila-based network, ABS-CBN, merely gave her a 90 day suspension...while milking her faux paux for all it was worth in the ratings. The scary thing? Ces Drilon was the THIRD case of an interview with the ASG turned into a big money KFR. Just this month, June of 2012, four years almost to the day, yet another journalist thought themselves above the fray. In "Part 3" I will discuss that ongoing abduction.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Kidnap for Ransom for the Second Quarter of 2012, Part II: Justina Parian and Rona Parian
As far as dangerous occupations go, working as a money lender in the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, has got to be one of the jobs topping the list. Usury, an antiquated term meaning "lending money and profitting off of the interest," is about as despised by Muslims as selling lottery tickets is. However, despite many Filipino Muslims fantasizing about it, the ARMM is NOT entirely Muslim. The region's Christian and Animist residents do utilize the services of people like Ms.Parian.
Owing to the safety profile of her job, Justina was provided with an armed bodyguard while making collections, courtesy of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). Private First Class (Pfc) Regime "Rey" Jim Emerio, of the 6IB (Infantry Battalion) had no specialized training-just like all AFP security detail personnel-and was simply ordered to ride shotgun, in uniform, and carrying his 45 caliber service pistol. AFP security details are, like the rifle toting security guards outside all Philippine malls, a "feel good" measure designed to placate, not actually combat the very real dangers that are so overly abundant here on Mindanao.
On Friday, June 15th, 2012, Justina Parian asked her 22 year old daughter Rona to tag along to keep her company while she spent a long day in her Toyota Vios, driving along the entire length of the Lebak Cotabato City National Hiway. Bringing her infant daughter along, Rona joined her mother and Pfc.Emerio. After a long and uneventful day mother and daughter were returning to their home in the municipality of North Upi, in Maguindanao Province. As the group entered Barangay Kibucay in the adjacent town of Upi, Pfc.Emerio remarked that something just did not feel right. Reaching Kilometer #26 in Sitio Kibuncog, all hell broke loose as their vehicle was ambushed.
Twenty guerillas from the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, 105 Base Command pounded the vehicle with M16s and M14s but to their suprise Pfc.Emerio refused to fold, returning fire with his 45 caliber pistol. With Justina Parian cowering in the driver's seat, and Rona wailing in terror as she lay across her baby, Pfc.Emerio held on as long as he could until, finally, he ran out of ammunution.
Rushing the now defenseless vehicle one of the attackers used the butt of his rifle to smash open the front paasenger door, pointed the barrel of his M14 in Pfc.Emerio's face and squeezed off a three round burst, blowing most of Emerio's head off. On the opposite side another BIAF guerilla used his rifle to smash the Toyota's driver side window. Opening the door, he dragged Justina out of the vehicle. During the firefight Justina had taken a round directly in her foot and aside from her precarious emotional state, Justina's foot severely limited her mobility.
Leaving the hiway the guerillas moved one kilometer on an easterly vector, moving back towards the municipality of Guindulungan when a firefight with the 40IB (Infantry Battalion) killed one guerilla, Impaw Musa Datuayon, of Barangay Muti in Guindulungan. A second column from that same battalion entered the sector and after receiving word about it, the guerillas quickly abandoned Justina, and then withdrew after seperating into smal groups.
Justina, and Rona who was herself wounded in the head and foot, were both transported to a nearby hospital before being debriefed. Luckily, Rona's infant daughter emerged from the ordeal none the worse.
Owing to the safety profile of her job, Justina was provided with an armed bodyguard while making collections, courtesy of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). Private First Class (Pfc) Regime "Rey" Jim Emerio, of the 6IB (Infantry Battalion) had no specialized training-just like all AFP security detail personnel-and was simply ordered to ride shotgun, in uniform, and carrying his 45 caliber service pistol. AFP security details are, like the rifle toting security guards outside all Philippine malls, a "feel good" measure designed to placate, not actually combat the very real dangers that are so overly abundant here on Mindanao.
On Friday, June 15th, 2012, Justina Parian asked her 22 year old daughter Rona to tag along to keep her company while she spent a long day in her Toyota Vios, driving along the entire length of the Lebak Cotabato City National Hiway. Bringing her infant daughter along, Rona joined her mother and Pfc.Emerio. After a long and uneventful day mother and daughter were returning to their home in the municipality of North Upi, in Maguindanao Province. As the group entered Barangay Kibucay in the adjacent town of Upi, Pfc.Emerio remarked that something just did not feel right. Reaching Kilometer #26 in Sitio Kibuncog, all hell broke loose as their vehicle was ambushed.
Twenty guerillas from the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, 105 Base Command pounded the vehicle with M16s and M14s but to their suprise Pfc.Emerio refused to fold, returning fire with his 45 caliber pistol. With Justina Parian cowering in the driver's seat, and Rona wailing in terror as she lay across her baby, Pfc.Emerio held on as long as he could until, finally, he ran out of ammunution.
Rushing the now defenseless vehicle one of the attackers used the butt of his rifle to smash open the front paasenger door, pointed the barrel of his M14 in Pfc.Emerio's face and squeezed off a three round burst, blowing most of Emerio's head off. On the opposite side another BIAF guerilla used his rifle to smash the Toyota's driver side window. Opening the door, he dragged Justina out of the vehicle. During the firefight Justina had taken a round directly in her foot and aside from her precarious emotional state, Justina's foot severely limited her mobility.
Leaving the hiway the guerillas moved one kilometer on an easterly vector, moving back towards the municipality of Guindulungan when a firefight with the 40IB (Infantry Battalion) killed one guerilla, Impaw Musa Datuayon, of Barangay Muti in Guindulungan. A second column from that same battalion entered the sector and after receiving word about it, the guerillas quickly abandoned Justina, and then withdrew after seperating into smal groups.
Justina, and Rona who was herself wounded in the head and foot, were both transported to a nearby hospital before being debriefed. Luckily, Rona's infant daughter emerged from the ordeal none the worse.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Kidnap for Ransom for the Second Quarter of 2012, Part I: Ex-Mayor of Placer, Charry T.Mangacop
Kinapping for Ransom, or KFR, has been largely relegated to four portions of Mindanao:
1) Cotabato City and Liguasan Marsh, covering all of Central Mindanao and points south down to GenSan, as General Santos City is known.
2) Zamboanga Peninsula, including the offshore province of Basilan,
3) Jolo Island and Tawi Tawi Province to the south of it,
4) Marawi City and both Lanao Provinces.
KFR does occur elsewhere but most cases outside of those four nexuses are opportunistic crimes unrelated to the highly organized criminal enterprises being used to fund political objectives. Of all Mindanowan Regions, Region 13, usually referred to as Caraga, has long been immune to the cancer of KFR. Those politically-related kidnappings that have occurred are almost always undertaken by the NPA. During Election Seasons the NPA taps each candidate down to the barangay level with an appeal for "Revolutionary Taxes," in what the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) cheekily calls, "Permit to Campaign" (PTC), or in the 2010 Election, "Permit to Win" (PTW).
While the recent KFR of Victor Lim Tan, the former Mayor of Carrascal, in Surigao del Sur on May 21st, 2012, was reason enough to pay close attention, another incident taking place just nine days later showed that a worrisome dynamic just may be shaping up.
Indeed, the second incident ALSO targetted a former mayor from the same region. On May 30th, 2012, the former Mayor of Placer, Charry T.Mangacop was also abducted. Mangacop had just stepped out of his Barangay Bonifacio home and was securing himself into his Mitsubishi Montero when one of two men hiding in its rear seat quickly placed a leather noose around Mangacop's neck. As Charry Mangacop began to lose consciousness the two men dragged him into the rear seat and hogtied him while pummeling him about the chest and abdomen. Once tied, Mangacop had packaging tape wrapped around his head, over his mouth, before a "bonnet"- Philippine speak for a "ski-hat"- was placed on his head and pulled down hard, over his eyes.
With Mangacop incapacitated in the rear seat, one gunman moved into the driver's seat and pulled out of Mangacop's compound at Sitio Kilometer #28, and onto National Hiway. Upon clearing the sitio.the SUV pulled over onto the shoulder of the hiway, allowing two other men, both presumably armed, to get into idling vehicle.
After a seven hour drive along Mindanao's Northern Coast, Mangacop was able to recognize Cagayan del Oro City but still the Montero continued on. Skirting Iligan City the SUV made its way into Lanao del Norte Province, and there, in an isolated jungle clearing the Montero came to a stop. Untying Mangacop's ankles, his captors ordered him to dismount from the SUV, warning him that should he attempt to escape he would be shot in the back and left to rot where he lay. Acknowledging the warning Mangacop fell in behind the two captors leading the motley crew and saw one of the four gunmen climb back into the Montero before driving away with it. Thus the group began an uphill trek in the afternoon heat.
A mid afternoon siesta in an upland clearing was interrupted by the arrival of a dozen BIAF guerillas from the 116 Base Command. Greeting Mangacop's three captors warmly, the leader of the guerilla band rudely forced Mangacop to his feet and began leading him over winding foot paths that traversed the isolated foothills that run along the Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur Provincial border. As the day turned into evening Mangacop calculated they had walked at least 10 kilometers. As stars appeared overhead the group suddenly entered a jungle clearing filled with dozens of BIAF guerillas. The BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces-as the armed wing of the MILF is known- receives practically no financial support from its parent organization (the MILF). Each Base Command, synonymous with a "Brigade" in a conventional military organization, is left to fend for itself. A few of the 19 Base Commands have turned to KFR to augment whatever else they manage to shake out of a terrified publics' pockets.
"Zakat," or "Charity," is one of the "Five Pillars of Islam," actions and/or attributes incumbent upon all adult Muslims. Charity in this case is conveyed as support of Islam and/or Muslims. What better way to support both Islam AND Muslims, then to support the MILF/BIAF? After all, the BIAF is fighting in defense of both, or so says the MILF/BIAF narrarative. Ergo, even the poorest of Filipino Muslims is turning their pockets inside and out, in hopes if handing over as many centavos as possible. In addition, non-Muslims are "compelled" to contribute via the BIAF's version of "Revolutionary Taxation." After all the MILF tells us, wont non-Muslims benefit just as much from MILF governance?
For some BIAF Base Commands, Zakat and Revolutionary Taxation do not come close to cutting it. Some, like the 113 (covering the Zamboanga Peninsula, some of its offshore islands and a sliver of Region 10), the population is overwhelmingly non-Muslim. Others, like the aforementioned 116, control a very small territory and are constantly under pressure from much larger and more powerful Base Commands, in this case, the 101 and 102. Forced to look elsewhere, they turn to KFR. Kidnapping for Ransom of non-Muslims is conveniently supported by "Shari'a," or Islamic Jurisprudence. In addition, kidnapping is a traditional pursuit for most of Mindanao's Islamicised Tribes.
It was after midnite, on May 31st, when Mangacop, was led to a small group of horses. Helped atop one, his horse was tethered to another, and his wrists were still tightly bound, to prevent escape. The small group then made its way onto a meandering foot path and soon left the larger group of BIAF guerillas behind. Making its way up steep hills it was soon apparent to Mangacop that they had left the foothills of the provincial border and entered the mountains...therefore it was quite clear that they had crossed the border into Lanao del Sur Province.
Just before dawn the party entered a clearing near the top of a particular mountain and came to a ramshackle nipa, as the bamboo framed and palmleaf thatched huts are known. Perched atop stilts, and offering a panoramic view of the countryside around them- it had as perfect an early warning system as one could possibly hope for should anyone think to search that forlorn corner of the island.
When Mangacop failed to return to his home that evening, his wife Luzviminda Sala Mangacop, began worrying. Although her husband had failed in his bid to gain re-election in 2010, he had plenty of pressing responsibilities. Like any politician on Mindanao, Mangacop had used his term in office to enrich himself. Among his profitmaking enterprises is a long term heavy equipment contract with Tag-anito Mining Corporation. If that name sounds at all familiar to readers it is because Tag-anito was one of the mining companies targeted in the astronomical NPA assault on Red Mountain in the municipality of Placer-yes, the very same town where Mangacop sat as Mayor-in October of 2011 (see my NPA Armed Contacts for the Fourth Quarter of 2011 entries on what was Mindanao's most economically damaging attack by the NPA yet). Six months earlier, on May 25th, 2011, the NPA's Front 16, of the Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee, or NEMRC, attacked Mangacop's compound.
On the day in question, Mangacop, his wife Luzviminda, and their driver, Jaculba Madera, were all sitting down to supper when six well armed guerillas ran into the house through its rear door. Taking all three by gunpoint, first to a neighbours home, then out to National Hiway, the other twenty-four guerillas set about divesting Mangacop of two liscenced M653s ("Baby M16s") and a 45 caliber pistol, along with an unliscenced
shotgun and second 45 caliber pistol. The NPA then burned an Isuzu dual axle dump truck worth P1.6 Million ($30,000), one Fuzo Canter mini-dump truck worth P400,000 ($9,500), one Fuzo Canter with a van body, worth P700,000 ($11,000), one Hitachi excavator, worth P1.5 Million ($30,000), and one Komatsu bulldozer, worth P1 Million ($20,000). It has been a hellish twelve months for Charry T.Magnacop.
On June 4th the KFR organization's negotiator contacted Luzviminda with the initial ransom demand. As is always the case the negotiator's opening gambit consisted of a terse demand for an astronomical sum, P300 Million ($6 Million). Long before a victim is abducted the people planning his or her kidnapping have fully investigated the intended victim's financial situation. The astronomical demand is meant to put a victim's loved ones on the defensive, to increase their feeling of vulnerability and hopelessness. Warning Luzviminda not to report the kidnapping to the authorities, the negotiator promised to call again.
To her credit, Luzviminda handled the negotiations herself and on June 13th she finally settled on P5 Million ($100,000). After using up their entire cash reserve and borrowing from family members, Luzviminda was still far short of the agreed upon sum. Finally able to secure an emergency cash loan from their primary bank, Luzviminda informed the negotiator that she was ready to pay the agreed upon sum when he next contacted her, on June 15th.
The next morning, June 16th, Luzviminda was picked up by her brother in law, Digs Mangacorp, and the two drove the same hiway that Mangacorp's captors did on May 30th when they dragged him into oblivion. Shortly after arriving in Iligan City Luzviminda received a phone call from the negotiator, instructing her to proceed to a Jollibee fastfood resturant and await further instructions. Finally, just before 2PM, a handsome, soft spoken gentleman approached them and after exchanging coded messages, he graciously accepted the bag containing the ransom, exited the store, and promptly disappeared into the afternoon crowd.
Twenty minutes later Luzviminda received yet another call from the negotiator and was informed that her husband was being released and to await his arrival, early that evening, at that very same resturant. Waiting there all day, it was just past 10PM when Luzviminda was startled by her brother in law's screaming. Looking around frantically she saw her husband outside as he exited a taxi. Much thinner and alot dirtier than she had ever seen him, Charry T.Mangacop walked slowly into.the resturant and returned to the loving embrace of his wife.
1) Cotabato City and Liguasan Marsh, covering all of Central Mindanao and points south down to GenSan, as General Santos City is known.
2) Zamboanga Peninsula, including the offshore province of Basilan,
3) Jolo Island and Tawi Tawi Province to the south of it,
4) Marawi City and both Lanao Provinces.
KFR does occur elsewhere but most cases outside of those four nexuses are opportunistic crimes unrelated to the highly organized criminal enterprises being used to fund political objectives. Of all Mindanowan Regions, Region 13, usually referred to as Caraga, has long been immune to the cancer of KFR. Those politically-related kidnappings that have occurred are almost always undertaken by the NPA. During Election Seasons the NPA taps each candidate down to the barangay level with an appeal for "Revolutionary Taxes," in what the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) cheekily calls, "Permit to Campaign" (PTC), or in the 2010 Election, "Permit to Win" (PTW).
While the recent KFR of Victor Lim Tan, the former Mayor of Carrascal, in Surigao del Sur on May 21st, 2012, was reason enough to pay close attention, another incident taking place just nine days later showed that a worrisome dynamic just may be shaping up.
Indeed, the second incident ALSO targetted a former mayor from the same region. On May 30th, 2012, the former Mayor of Placer, Charry T.Mangacop was also abducted. Mangacop had just stepped out of his Barangay Bonifacio home and was securing himself into his Mitsubishi Montero when one of two men hiding in its rear seat quickly placed a leather noose around Mangacop's neck. As Charry Mangacop began to lose consciousness the two men dragged him into the rear seat and hogtied him while pummeling him about the chest and abdomen. Once tied, Mangacop had packaging tape wrapped around his head, over his mouth, before a "bonnet"- Philippine speak for a "ski-hat"- was placed on his head and pulled down hard, over his eyes.
With Mangacop incapacitated in the rear seat, one gunman moved into the driver's seat and pulled out of Mangacop's compound at Sitio Kilometer #28, and onto National Hiway. Upon clearing the sitio.the SUV pulled over onto the shoulder of the hiway, allowing two other men, both presumably armed, to get into idling vehicle.
After a seven hour drive along Mindanao's Northern Coast, Mangacop was able to recognize Cagayan del Oro City but still the Montero continued on. Skirting Iligan City the SUV made its way into Lanao del Norte Province, and there, in an isolated jungle clearing the Montero came to a stop. Untying Mangacop's ankles, his captors ordered him to dismount from the SUV, warning him that should he attempt to escape he would be shot in the back and left to rot where he lay. Acknowledging the warning Mangacop fell in behind the two captors leading the motley crew and saw one of the four gunmen climb back into the Montero before driving away with it. Thus the group began an uphill trek in the afternoon heat.
A mid afternoon siesta in an upland clearing was interrupted by the arrival of a dozen BIAF guerillas from the 116 Base Command. Greeting Mangacop's three captors warmly, the leader of the guerilla band rudely forced Mangacop to his feet and began leading him over winding foot paths that traversed the isolated foothills that run along the Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur Provincial border. As the day turned into evening Mangacop calculated they had walked at least 10 kilometers. As stars appeared overhead the group suddenly entered a jungle clearing filled with dozens of BIAF guerillas. The BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces-as the armed wing of the MILF is known- receives practically no financial support from its parent organization (the MILF). Each Base Command, synonymous with a "Brigade" in a conventional military organization, is left to fend for itself. A few of the 19 Base Commands have turned to KFR to augment whatever else they manage to shake out of a terrified publics' pockets.
"Zakat," or "Charity," is one of the "Five Pillars of Islam," actions and/or attributes incumbent upon all adult Muslims. Charity in this case is conveyed as support of Islam and/or Muslims. What better way to support both Islam AND Muslims, then to support the MILF/BIAF? After all, the BIAF is fighting in defense of both, or so says the MILF/BIAF narrarative. Ergo, even the poorest of Filipino Muslims is turning their pockets inside and out, in hopes if handing over as many centavos as possible. In addition, non-Muslims are "compelled" to contribute via the BIAF's version of "Revolutionary Taxation." After all the MILF tells us, wont non-Muslims benefit just as much from MILF governance?
For some BIAF Base Commands, Zakat and Revolutionary Taxation do not come close to cutting it. Some, like the 113 (covering the Zamboanga Peninsula, some of its offshore islands and a sliver of Region 10), the population is overwhelmingly non-Muslim. Others, like the aforementioned 116, control a very small territory and are constantly under pressure from much larger and more powerful Base Commands, in this case, the 101 and 102. Forced to look elsewhere, they turn to KFR. Kidnapping for Ransom of non-Muslims is conveniently supported by "Shari'a," or Islamic Jurisprudence. In addition, kidnapping is a traditional pursuit for most of Mindanao's Islamicised Tribes.
It was after midnite, on May 31st, when Mangacop, was led to a small group of horses. Helped atop one, his horse was tethered to another, and his wrists were still tightly bound, to prevent escape. The small group then made its way onto a meandering foot path and soon left the larger group of BIAF guerillas behind. Making its way up steep hills it was soon apparent to Mangacop that they had left the foothills of the provincial border and entered the mountains...therefore it was quite clear that they had crossed the border into Lanao del Sur Province.
Just before dawn the party entered a clearing near the top of a particular mountain and came to a ramshackle nipa, as the bamboo framed and palmleaf thatched huts are known. Perched atop stilts, and offering a panoramic view of the countryside around them- it had as perfect an early warning system as one could possibly hope for should anyone think to search that forlorn corner of the island.
When Mangacop failed to return to his home that evening, his wife Luzviminda Sala Mangacop, began worrying. Although her husband had failed in his bid to gain re-election in 2010, he had plenty of pressing responsibilities. Like any politician on Mindanao, Mangacop had used his term in office to enrich himself. Among his profitmaking enterprises is a long term heavy equipment contract with Tag-anito Mining Corporation. If that name sounds at all familiar to readers it is because Tag-anito was one of the mining companies targeted in the astronomical NPA assault on Red Mountain in the municipality of Placer-yes, the very same town where Mangacop sat as Mayor-in October of 2011 (see my NPA Armed Contacts for the Fourth Quarter of 2011 entries on what was Mindanao's most economically damaging attack by the NPA yet). Six months earlier, on May 25th, 2011, the NPA's Front 16, of the Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee, or NEMRC, attacked Mangacop's compound.
On the day in question, Mangacop, his wife Luzviminda, and their driver, Jaculba Madera, were all sitting down to supper when six well armed guerillas ran into the house through its rear door. Taking all three by gunpoint, first to a neighbours home, then out to National Hiway, the other twenty-four guerillas set about divesting Mangacop of two liscenced M653s ("Baby M16s") and a 45 caliber pistol, along with an unliscenced
shotgun and second 45 caliber pistol. The NPA then burned an Isuzu dual axle dump truck worth P1.6 Million ($30,000), one Fuzo Canter mini-dump truck worth P400,000 ($9,500), one Fuzo Canter with a van body, worth P700,000 ($11,000), one Hitachi excavator, worth P1.5 Million ($30,000), and one Komatsu bulldozer, worth P1 Million ($20,000). It has been a hellish twelve months for Charry T.Magnacop.
On June 4th the KFR organization's negotiator contacted Luzviminda with the initial ransom demand. As is always the case the negotiator's opening gambit consisted of a terse demand for an astronomical sum, P300 Million ($6 Million). Long before a victim is abducted the people planning his or her kidnapping have fully investigated the intended victim's financial situation. The astronomical demand is meant to put a victim's loved ones on the defensive, to increase their feeling of vulnerability and hopelessness. Warning Luzviminda not to report the kidnapping to the authorities, the negotiator promised to call again.
To her credit, Luzviminda handled the negotiations herself and on June 13th she finally settled on P5 Million ($100,000). After using up their entire cash reserve and borrowing from family members, Luzviminda was still far short of the agreed upon sum. Finally able to secure an emergency cash loan from their primary bank, Luzviminda informed the negotiator that she was ready to pay the agreed upon sum when he next contacted her, on June 15th.
The next morning, June 16th, Luzviminda was picked up by her brother in law, Digs Mangacorp, and the two drove the same hiway that Mangacorp's captors did on May 30th when they dragged him into oblivion. Shortly after arriving in Iligan City Luzviminda received a phone call from the negotiator, instructing her to proceed to a Jollibee fastfood resturant and await further instructions. Finally, just before 2PM, a handsome, soft spoken gentleman approached them and after exchanging coded messages, he graciously accepted the bag containing the ransom, exited the store, and promptly disappeared into the afternoon crowd.
Twenty minutes later Luzviminda received yet another call from the negotiator and was informed that her husband was being released and to await his arrival, early that evening, at that very same resturant. Waiting there all day, it was just past 10PM when Luzviminda was startled by her brother in law's screaming. Looking around frantically she saw her husband outside as he exited a taxi. Much thinner and alot dirtier than she had ever seen him, Charry T.Mangacop walked slowly into.the resturant and returned to the loving embrace of his wife.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Kidnap for Ransom for the First Quarter of 2012, Part III:.The Strange Fate of Japanese Victim Toshio Ito
In a Third Quarter of 2010 entry I discussed the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, of Japanese expatriate Toshio Ito. Ito arrived in the Philippines in 2000. The 54 year old man from Hiroshima brought his life savings with him and sought to re-invent himself as so many expatriates in the Philippines seem to do.
Travelling south Ito established himself in Dumaguete, on Negros Island. Via an internet dating site Ito met a nubile teenaged Filipina from Misamis Occidental Province on Mindanao. Travelling to our fair isle in 2002 Mr.Ito made his way to his paramour's hometown, Plaridel. It was in Plaridel that Toshio Ito began calling himself Katayama Mamaito. Believing he had found the love of his life, Mr.Ito invested all his life savings in a home for the young lady and her family, and in a sand and gravel business to keep them all afloat.
By 2004 both his love life and his business had gone belly up. His young Filipina not only left him, she kept the house Ito had bought- since it is illegal for foreigners to buy land (though they CAN inherit it from a deceased spouse-in the young lady's name. Adding the proverbial insult to injury, Ito's ex-girlfriend then began a relationship with a Westerner who then promptly moved into Ito's home, ex-home, you get the picture...
As many might, Toshio Ito took a dive off the deep end. One day, soused on "tuba," the local rotgut, Ito broke into the house. Though only Ito knows what he had in mind, the young lady's maid-paid for out of money stolen from Ito's failed sand and gravel business- spotted the drunk man and alerted a next door neighbour. This being Mindanao after all, the neighbour grabbed his trusted M14 and quickly confronted Ito who collapsed im gut wrenching sobs.
Incarcerated in the Plaridel City Jail, Toshio Ito cum Katayama Mamaito, spent the next seven days lying in what to most readers would be unimaginable filth. Finally, his few local friends pooled their money to bail their poor friend out of jail. Toshio Ito promptly repaid the kindness of his friends by absconding and forfeiting their bail...that is...after he borrowed still more money.
Making his way to a low rent hostel in Zamboanga City, Ito then did what Toshio Ito apparently does best, he wallowed in self pity, told his "woe unto me" sob stories to anybody who even glanced at him, and attempted to once again live off of the misplaced kindness of strangers. Ito didnt have much luck in that last endeavour, at least until he ran across a middle aged Sama woman from Pangaturan Island. In town for a medical exam, the woman was about to sit down to lunch when she made the terrible mistake of listening to Toshio Ito's sad lament. Inviting the pitiful man to join her, her treat of course, the two had a long and meandering conversation. Hearing why the woman was in Zamboanga City, Ito, like any adept conman, introduced himself as Dr.Katayama Mamaito, of Hiroshima, though since his wife had died in a terrible train wreck, he had lost everything as he spiraled into the abyss of depression. By the end of the meal the two were getting on like long lost friends.
At the woman's insistence, Ito spoke with her husband by phone. A retired village politician, the man insisted Ito join his wife for the trip south to Pangaturan, and to honor them by becoming their treasured house guest. Ito didnt have many options at this point, in fact, with just two days left at the hostel, he had no options whatsoever. So it was that Toshio Ito, a penniless Japanese man, ended up living in a remote corner of Sulu Province.
On Pangaturan it didnt take Ito long to figure out the surest way to ingratiate himself with his new host, a mid-ranking officer in the MNLF-Misuari. Studying Islam, Ito announced that he had seen the light and was now ready to accept the true faith, Islam. Converting in front of the entire population of Pangaturan's Barangay Bangkilay, he took the name Ameer (Prince, usually spelled "Emir"), a common name for male converts. Dr.Ameer Katayama Mamaito next gained entry into the MNLF-Misuari and was assigned as a medic. Pleased beyond measure, Ito's new hosts readily agreed when their houseguest hit them up for seed money to open a small pharmacy in that barangay's Sitio Bas.
From 2004 until 2010, Ito led a quiet and unassuming life. Perhaps the forlorn man had finally found what all of us seek, a loving home. He was respected in his community, so much so that his friends in the MNLF, learning that Ito had run afoul of Philippine Visa Regulations, obtained a black market birth certificate from crooked officials in Marawi City on Mainland Mindanao. However, not everybody was so taken with Toshio Ito. Younger men had begun circulating rumors that Ito was a Deep Penetration Agent out to spy on the MNLF. Despite his many defenders in the community, the aituation continued to worsen and on the evening of July 16th, 2010, it came to a head.
Ito was dragged out of his bed at just past 10PM that evening by ten young men carrying assault rifles. Frog marching Ito to a mangrove Ito must have been sure that his luck had finally run out. Instead of executing the frightened Japanese man however, the young men forced Ito into an idling pumoboat which then castoff and sailed for Jolo Island.
For a year and a half little was known about Toshio Ito's fate, other then he had been handed off to subordinates of MNLF-Misuari commander, Kumander Ustadz Habir Malik upon making landfall on Jolo. It was also known that the MNLF had turned a fast profit by selling Ito to the ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group. Held by the faction led by Kumander Ninok Sappari, who when not keeping Ito's hands tightly bound with rope, compels the emaciated captive to cook whatever livestock they have stolen.
Because Ito cooks, Police Provincial Office for Sulu Province (PPO-Sulu), via its Director, Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra, has gone on the record as saying that Toshio Ito is now a full fledged member of ASG. Given Ito's nefarious past it is not difficult at all to understand just why PPO-Sulu has sought the easy way out of meeting its responsibilities in this case. Not suprisingly, the Japanese Embassy has likewise abdicated its responsibilities. On March 14th, 2012, the PNP, or Philippine National Police, officially removed Toshio Ito from its roster of KFR victims and re-classified him as a member of ASG. Talk about "Stockholm Syndrome" gone bad. In fact, he exists in a grey netherworld where his captors, having shelled out cash to buy him from the MNLF, are reluctant to release him without even a minimal net profit. On the other hand, executing Ito, the normal course of events in such cases, is not a realistic option given Ito's conversion to Islam. So, for the forseeable future, Toshio Ito's life will remain a living hell.
Travelling south Ito established himself in Dumaguete, on Negros Island. Via an internet dating site Ito met a nubile teenaged Filipina from Misamis Occidental Province on Mindanao. Travelling to our fair isle in 2002 Mr.Ito made his way to his paramour's hometown, Plaridel. It was in Plaridel that Toshio Ito began calling himself Katayama Mamaito. Believing he had found the love of his life, Mr.Ito invested all his life savings in a home for the young lady and her family, and in a sand and gravel business to keep them all afloat.
By 2004 both his love life and his business had gone belly up. His young Filipina not only left him, she kept the house Ito had bought- since it is illegal for foreigners to buy land (though they CAN inherit it from a deceased spouse-in the young lady's name. Adding the proverbial insult to injury, Ito's ex-girlfriend then began a relationship with a Westerner who then promptly moved into Ito's home, ex-home, you get the picture...
As many might, Toshio Ito took a dive off the deep end. One day, soused on "tuba," the local rotgut, Ito broke into the house. Though only Ito knows what he had in mind, the young lady's maid-paid for out of money stolen from Ito's failed sand and gravel business- spotted the drunk man and alerted a next door neighbour. This being Mindanao after all, the neighbour grabbed his trusted M14 and quickly confronted Ito who collapsed im gut wrenching sobs.
Incarcerated in the Plaridel City Jail, Toshio Ito cum Katayama Mamaito, spent the next seven days lying in what to most readers would be unimaginable filth. Finally, his few local friends pooled their money to bail their poor friend out of jail. Toshio Ito promptly repaid the kindness of his friends by absconding and forfeiting their bail...that is...after he borrowed still more money.
Making his way to a low rent hostel in Zamboanga City, Ito then did what Toshio Ito apparently does best, he wallowed in self pity, told his "woe unto me" sob stories to anybody who even glanced at him, and attempted to once again live off of the misplaced kindness of strangers. Ito didnt have much luck in that last endeavour, at least until he ran across a middle aged Sama woman from Pangaturan Island. In town for a medical exam, the woman was about to sit down to lunch when she made the terrible mistake of listening to Toshio Ito's sad lament. Inviting the pitiful man to join her, her treat of course, the two had a long and meandering conversation. Hearing why the woman was in Zamboanga City, Ito, like any adept conman, introduced himself as Dr.Katayama Mamaito, of Hiroshima, though since his wife had died in a terrible train wreck, he had lost everything as he spiraled into the abyss of depression. By the end of the meal the two were getting on like long lost friends.
At the woman's insistence, Ito spoke with her husband by phone. A retired village politician, the man insisted Ito join his wife for the trip south to Pangaturan, and to honor them by becoming their treasured house guest. Ito didnt have many options at this point, in fact, with just two days left at the hostel, he had no options whatsoever. So it was that Toshio Ito, a penniless Japanese man, ended up living in a remote corner of Sulu Province.
On Pangaturan it didnt take Ito long to figure out the surest way to ingratiate himself with his new host, a mid-ranking officer in the MNLF-Misuari. Studying Islam, Ito announced that he had seen the light and was now ready to accept the true faith, Islam. Converting in front of the entire population of Pangaturan's Barangay Bangkilay, he took the name Ameer (Prince, usually spelled "Emir"), a common name for male converts. Dr.Ameer Katayama Mamaito next gained entry into the MNLF-Misuari and was assigned as a medic. Pleased beyond measure, Ito's new hosts readily agreed when their houseguest hit them up for seed money to open a small pharmacy in that barangay's Sitio Bas.
From 2004 until 2010, Ito led a quiet and unassuming life. Perhaps the forlorn man had finally found what all of us seek, a loving home. He was respected in his community, so much so that his friends in the MNLF, learning that Ito had run afoul of Philippine Visa Regulations, obtained a black market birth certificate from crooked officials in Marawi City on Mainland Mindanao. However, not everybody was so taken with Toshio Ito. Younger men had begun circulating rumors that Ito was a Deep Penetration Agent out to spy on the MNLF. Despite his many defenders in the community, the aituation continued to worsen and on the evening of July 16th, 2010, it came to a head.
Ito was dragged out of his bed at just past 10PM that evening by ten young men carrying assault rifles. Frog marching Ito to a mangrove Ito must have been sure that his luck had finally run out. Instead of executing the frightened Japanese man however, the young men forced Ito into an idling pumoboat which then castoff and sailed for Jolo Island.
For a year and a half little was known about Toshio Ito's fate, other then he had been handed off to subordinates of MNLF-Misuari commander, Kumander Ustadz Habir Malik upon making landfall on Jolo. It was also known that the MNLF had turned a fast profit by selling Ito to the ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group. Held by the faction led by Kumander Ninok Sappari, who when not keeping Ito's hands tightly bound with rope, compels the emaciated captive to cook whatever livestock they have stolen.
Because Ito cooks, Police Provincial Office for Sulu Province (PPO-Sulu), via its Director, Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra, has gone on the record as saying that Toshio Ito is now a full fledged member of ASG. Given Ito's nefarious past it is not difficult at all to understand just why PPO-Sulu has sought the easy way out of meeting its responsibilities in this case. Not suprisingly, the Japanese Embassy has likewise abdicated its responsibilities. On March 14th, 2012, the PNP, or Philippine National Police, officially removed Toshio Ito from its roster of KFR victims and re-classified him as a member of ASG. Talk about "Stockholm Syndrome" gone bad. In fact, he exists in a grey netherworld where his captors, having shelled out cash to buy him from the MNLF, are reluctant to release him without even a minimal net profit. On the other hand, executing Ito, the normal course of events in such cases, is not a realistic option given Ito's conversion to Islam. So, for the forseeable future, Toshio Ito's life will remain a living hell.
Kidnap for Ransom for the First Quarter of 2012, Part II: The Release of Frank Oliver Tam Lim
Readers may recall that a "Fourth Quarter of 2011" entry outlined the BIAF 113 Base Command's KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, of 32 year old Frank Oliver Tam Lim. The BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the MILF, sometimes funds its armed insurgency via KFR. Indeed, the 113 Base Commamd is first and foremost amongst all BIAF Base Commands in this endeavour.
Lim, a Tsinoy, or Filipino of Chinese descent, is the son and namesake of a multi-millionaire who, among other things, owns a Jollibee fastfood franchise in Pagadian City. Lim himself owns Fresh Harvest Farms, a poultry operation in Dipolog City's Barangay Gulayon. On October 27th, 2011, Lim and his brother John Patrick Tam Lim, had just left National Hiway and had turned onto the farm's dirt access road when a van full of BIAF guerillas pulled in behind them. When the Lims were forced to stop to negotiate the farm's locked gate, the guerillas dismounted and rushed the Lims. John Patrick managed to escape, running through a rice paddy, as Frank was snatched out of his front seat and dragged into oblivion.
On February 21st, 2012, Lim Clansman and the family's chosen negotiator, Wendell Lim, handed over a ransom of P600,000 ($12,000) to his BIAF counterpart and was told to wait for a phone call later that evening. Finally, at just after midnite, February 22nd, Wendell Lim was instructed to proceed to the municipality of Molave, in Zamboanga del Sur Province where he was told to sit tight and await further instructions. Arriving in Molave just before 1AM, Wendell was told to drive to the Zamboanga del Sur Electric Co-operative, known to most as ZAMSURECO. It was there, in front of the co-operative at 120AM that Frank Oliver Lim was released to his kin.
Lim, a Tsinoy, or Filipino of Chinese descent, is the son and namesake of a multi-millionaire who, among other things, owns a Jollibee fastfood franchise in Pagadian City. Lim himself owns Fresh Harvest Farms, a poultry operation in Dipolog City's Barangay Gulayon. On October 27th, 2011, Lim and his brother John Patrick Tam Lim, had just left National Hiway and had turned onto the farm's dirt access road when a van full of BIAF guerillas pulled in behind them. When the Lims were forced to stop to negotiate the farm's locked gate, the guerillas dismounted and rushed the Lims. John Patrick managed to escape, running through a rice paddy, as Frank was snatched out of his front seat and dragged into oblivion.
On February 21st, 2012, Lim Clansman and the family's chosen negotiator, Wendell Lim, handed over a ransom of P600,000 ($12,000) to his BIAF counterpart and was told to wait for a phone call later that evening. Finally, at just after midnite, February 22nd, Wendell Lim was instructed to proceed to the municipality of Molave, in Zamboanga del Sur Province where he was told to sit tight and await further instructions. Arriving in Molave just before 1AM, Wendell was told to drive to the Zamboanga del Sur Electric Co-operative, known to most as ZAMSURECO. It was there, in front of the co-operative at 120AM that Frank Oliver Lim was released to his kin.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Kidnap for Ransom for the First Quarter of 2012, Part I: The Abduction of Two European Naturalists in Tawi Tawi Province
The Tawi Tawi island group, an offshore province of Mindanao, forms the southernmost province in the Philippines. Originally part of Sulu Province, gaining its independent provincial status in 1973, Tawi Tawi has developed a character all its own. The dominant ethnicity, the Sama, with all its disparate offshoots- from the Jama Mapun to the Sama Ubia- offer Tawi Tawi a distinctive character far different from Jolo, the central island in the adjacent province of Sulu. Jolo, and Sulu as a whole, is dominated by the Tausugs, a group that migrated from Butuan, by way of Basilan, six to seven centuries ago.
Tausug culture revolves around an honor code that governs mosy every aspect of male life. Known as "Adat" (akin to the "Kanun" of the Albanians or "Pashtunwali" of the Pashtun of Pakistan and Afghanistan), the code requires violent remedies for any afront to personal dignity or family honor. The result is a warrior culture, that has come to dominate not only the Tausug's adopted home of Jolo, but the offshore province of Basilan as well. The Sama, most offshoots anyway, are peaceful and seek co-existence with the Tausug at almost any cost. Tawi Tawi then has largely avoided the violence-including the Islamic Insurgencies- that have plagued both Jolo and Basilan for decades (actually centuries if one looks at the larger picture).
Piracy and KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, have deep roots in the Tausug culture. This has been re-inforced by the introduction of Islam to the region just prior to the Tausu migration. Ransoming captives, non-Muslims anyway- is legal within Shari'a (Islamic Jurisprudence). Granted, most members of ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) can barely read and write in their native languages, let alone Arabic, but there ARE a few who are highly educated, usually via scholarships offered by Middle Eastern nations. Therefore, fluent in Arabic and well versed in Shari'a, they offer up a precious Islamic rationalization that segues perfectly with ingrained cultural practices. Within Islam, the operative issue is the faith of a potential captive (must be a non-Muslim), and the existence of a state of war. I think anyone would be hardpressed to deny that Mindanao has been in just such a state, albeit ebbing and flowing, since pre-history. Indeed, it was a war in Butuan that drove the Tausug out of Mainland Mindanao and into Basilan (and shortly thereafter, Jolo).
The Sama though, have a very different culture. Aside from the Sama Ubian, who are actually Dayaks from Borneo who adapated to Sama influences, the culture is one of appeasement, and in the case of Jolo, subservience (so much for the ridiculous myth of Bangsamoro peoplehood..). One exception to this "culture of appeasement" are the Balangingi, a Sama group from the island of Balangingi who managed to dominate piracy in the Sulu and Celebes Seas until a genocidal attack by the Spanish Military in 1848 virtually destroyed the group.
Although the Tausug did not settle in Tawi Tawi in any great numbers, they continued their political, economic and cultural domination of Tawi Tawi. The subsequent "culture of appeasement" that developed amongst the Sama has for the most part, rendered Tawi Tawi far more sedate, and offers visitors a much greater sense of security. So much so in fact, that intrepid travellers, including Westerners, continue to visit the small island group without bothering to arrange any special security detail, as would be par for the course in Sulu (Jolo included), Basilan, and even in many parts of Mainland Mindanao.
Such was the case of two European taxidermists who share a deep interest in Birding, a pasttime that most refer to as "Birdwatching." 52 year old Ewold Horn left his home in Den Andel, in Groningen, Holland and met his friend and professional colleague Lorenzo Vinciguerra for a long awaited trip to the Southern Philippines. Vinciguerra, aged 47, owns a profitable taxidermy business in the town of Grub, in Switzerland, and like Horn he enjoys Birding more than he did his chosen trade, stuffing dead animals into likelike poses.
They planned on spotting, and hopefully photographing, several rare Philippine birds in what was to be a 14 day vacation. The highlight of this dream get away was a little known bitd endemic to just two of the 307 islands in the Tawi Tawi island group (and Jolo, now only existing on Mainland Tawi Tawi in a tiny area), the Sulu Hornbill (Anthracoceros Montani). The bird is considered to be on the verge of extinction with an estimated population of 27 adults. Such rarity renders the bird a hot item in the world of Birding. Indeed, the two men had travelled to Tawi Tawi in 1996 in hopes of catching a glimpse only to have their hopes dashed due to the sector being made off limits to foreigners while the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, undertook a security operation against the ASG.
Arriving in Zamboanga City on Saturday, January 28th, 2012, the two men rendevouzed with a Filipino Birding enthusiast, 32 year old Ivan Sardenas. Sardenas, a residentof Davao City had recently spent considerable time in Tawi Tawi as he sought to establish himself as a guide for nature enthusiasts. It was Sardenas who had put in the legwork in locating the latest sightings of the highly endangered bird and who then pre-arranged security for their expedition. Early Sunday morning, January 29th, the three men boarded a plane in Zamboanga City fora 45 minute flight to Bongao, the capital of Tawi Tawi.
At their hotel Ivan Sadenas called ahead to the municipality of Panglima Sugala, where four of the birds had been sighted in recent months. The Mayor's righthand man recommended that Sardenas employ Municipal Councilor Nestor
Camilo Cabarrubias Sr. as a local guide, and that the Councilor himself would then arrange the expedition's security using police officers from the MPO, or Municipal Police Office. Sardenas didnt have much choice in the matter but dis make the man aware that the expedition wasnt well funded and that the Security Detail would have to take this into account.
Leaving Bongao's Chinese Pier by motorbanca, Philippine speak for "motorized skiff," the group slowly skirted the coast of Mainland Tawi Tawi until reaching Panglima Sugala in the middle of the elongated island's coast. As the men disembarked and began wading through the surf the boat opetator repeated that he would be returning to that same spot to pick them up for their return trip on Wednesday, February 1st, three days hence. Casting off while wishing them luck, the party began carrying their gear through Barangay Bato Bato, the town center, or "Poblacion." As the group atrived at Municipal Hall they were greeted warmly by Councilor Cabarrubias and a lone UNARMED police officer who would be serving as the expedition's paltry "Security Detail."
After a very short meet and greet with town dignitaries the expedition piled into an SUV belonging to the Municipal Government, the expedition made its way to Tubig Malum, or as the Philippine Governmen refers to it, the Rio Hondo River. Parking the vehicle, to be retrieved later by other police officers, the group forded the river and began their tedious hike upcountry to Mount Balik Sampan where the expedition would sped the next three days encamped as the two Europeans and Ivan Sadenas would do their best to photograph their quarry, the Sulu Hornbill.
Wednesday, February 1st arrived and the expedition, having failed to even sight the elusive bird, re-packed their gear and began hiking back down to Tubig Malum where they were to part ways with their "Security Detail." Once at the river , Horn, Vinciguerra, and Sadenas began following it into Barangay Parangan. In that barangay's Sitio Luuk Luuk the three men were suprised, but elated to find the skiff was moored waiting for them, moored just off shore. It didnt take long at all to load the gear aboard and at just after 120PM the boat started its engine and turned back towards Bongao, where the three men hoped to spend a quiet evening back at the hotel, resting in comfort before the next day's flight back to Zamboanga City.
As the boat made its way offshore to skirt all the outriggers of fishermen and seaweed farmers, a pumpboat turned into the lane behind them. Within minutes everybody onboard the skiff was on edge, how much more so when the pumpboat pulled closer and Sadenas noticed the dual barrels of an M16 rifle fitted out with an M203 grenade launcher er. Before long the men in the pumpboat began screaming at the skiff and vigirously motioning with their arms, waving their assault rifles in a menacing fashion. However, it wasnt until a few rounds were fired over their heads that the skiff's operator began dejectedly easing off its throttle.
The pumpboat quickly pulled parallel before two men aboard it hooked the crafts together. Four gunmen quickly came aboard the skiff and pointed their barrels at all four men, motioning for Horn, Vinciguerra, and Sadenas to transfer themselves and their gear to the pumpboat. Forcing the fourth man, the boat opetator, to turn off his idling engine, they then snatched his keys, stole two of his batteries and forced him over the side at gunpoint.
Back aboard the pumpboat, the three captives were forced under a blue plastic tarp covering the foresection almost to.the bow. Quickly throttling up the pumpboat turned around as if to travel back towards Panglima Sugala. Before reaching that town's municipal boundry however, it veered into a "bakawan," or mangrove, where it rendevouzed with a second pumpboat with a markedly different appearance. Once again secured under a blue plastic tarp, the small craft turned out to sea and gunned its engines.
As the second pumpboat entered the waters off of the municipality of Languyan, an offshore islet came into view, pylling parallel to it the boat slowed considerably and finally began idling. Within ten minutes a third, larger pumpboat came at a high rate of speed from the fishing grounds just off of the town. Pulling abreast, the five gunmen aboatd received the three captives and their gear and as was the case twice before, Horn, Vinciguerra, and Sadenas wete forced out of sight under a blue plastic tarp. As this third pumpboat nosed itself out to sea the three captives took stock of their situation; with them under the tarp were three liter containers of fresh water and 55 gallon drums of fuel. With the boat heading out to the sealanes, and seeing a large cachet of fresh water and fuel, it was clear that they erre heading into a Sulu Province, and the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) base of operations, Jolo Island.
Ivan Sadenas knew well that it was the Europeans that their captors valued. Coming from a poor family and being a Christian Filipino, his life was worth practically nothing once the five gunmen handed them off to their cohorts on Jolo. Thinking fast, Sadenas told his two companions that he was thinking about making.a run for it by throwing himdelf ovrtboard. Promising the Horn and Vinciguerra that he would alert the authorities, he quietly lifted the edge of the tarp and saw that the five gunmen were busy amongst themselves. Making his way to the opposite side of the tarp he once again quietly lifted an edge and discovered that they were only 1,000 meters off of Mainland Tawi Tawi, smack dab in the middle of fishing grounds as the pumpboat sought cover as it made its way to a busier shipping lane.
Quickly realizing that the fishing grounds represented a great opportunity since witnesses would inhibit a violent reaction from his captors...at least he prayed it would...Sadenas lifted the tarp enough to climb up over the side of tge boat and quickly dove into the azure sea. Diving down as far as he could Ivan Sadenas furiously swam as far as he could until he felt his lungs would burst. Surfacing, desperate for air, he was shocked (and relieved) to find that the boat hadnt even slowed down. He was free, if he could make his way to shore anyway.
Waving his arms as he bobbed in the water, Sadenas quickly caught the attention of an outrigger crewed by three fishermen. Dragging the elated man aboard, the fishermen were able to piece together Sadena's story through gestures and.a few mutually intelligible words. The outrigger made its way to Panglima Sugala where Ivan Sadenas quickly summoned the police. Taking his report the MPO quickly notified the Police Provincial Office, or PPO. Per protocols, PPO-Tawi Tawi immediately notified the AFP's Naval Task Force 62 (TF-62) which handles all seaborne incidents in Tawi Tawi and the waters seperating that province from Borneo.
TF-62 consists of a tender and four patrol boats, along with personnel from MBLT-5 (Marine Battalion Landing Team #5). Despite this capable force, and.cordon it implenented around Mainland Tawi Tawi's eastern and northern coasts, the third pumpboat and the two Europeans, Ewold Horn and Lorenzo Vinciguerra, remained undiscovered. Within two days Governor Sadikul Sahali deployed a 2,000 man search party to comb Mainland Tawi Tawi's 275 square kilometers of jungle, within which Panglima Sugala sits. PPO-Tawi Tawi Director, Superintendent Rodelio Jocson, Chairperson of the Governor's Crisis Management Committee, the requisite entity empaneled to co-ordinate all Governmental responses to the kidnapping, wasted no time in going to the media and accusing Councilman Nestor Camilo Cabarrubias Sr. and his handpicked municipal police officer were pulling the strings on an "inside job."
Superintendent Jocson was naturally asked to elaborate. His bombshell? With a snide conspiratorial grimace, Jocson observed that when the expedition's motorbanca was overtaken by the first pumpboat, neither Councilor Cabarrubias nor the police officer were present, having left the expedition at the river. Of course that is absolutely ridiculous given the fact that the abduction occurred as the men were returning to Bongao. Why would Cabarrubias and the officer be aboard when their "services" had only been secured for Panglima Sugala?
The actual culprit was MNLF-Misuari officer, Kumander Sahi Tali, via his footsoldiers in and around Panglima Sugala. There arent many employment opportunnities in the province and the tourists coming to Panglima Sugala have helped to spawn a healthy cottage industry amongst young men from the immediate area. amany such youth are members of the MNLF-Misuari, a group ostensibly at peace with Manila although it is tenuous, if not an outright fantasy. One of tgese young men, Mustapha Muallam, bent at losing his P250 ($5.50) fee, contacted his immediate superior within the MNLF, who in turn got the go ahead from an underling of Kumander Tali. Tali's own superior, Kumander Habir Malik on Jolo, wanted to turn an easy profit.
The official narrative has the third pumpboat having turned back to Mainland Tawi Tawi after rough seas and a shortage of fuel convince the MNLF guerillas to try again another day. In reality there was no shortage of fuel as the vessel carried several spare drums. Moreover, people on Jolo saw the pumpboat land off of the municipality of Patikul on Jolo. Once on Jolo, Kumander Tali quickly sold both Europeans to Kumamder Yasset Igasan, leader of an ASG faction operating in the hills around Patikul.
Having only found the burned remnants of that first pumpboat in the mamgrove where it had transferred the captives, Governor Sahali finally conceeded that even the Dutch and Swiss Embassies no longer believed that thetwo men remained on Tawi Tawi. Sheepishly demobilizing the Crisis Management.Committee, the Governor them tossed the ball to his counterpart in Sulu, Governor Abdursakur Tan. PPO-Sulu however refused to even consider the possibility.
Tausug culture revolves around an honor code that governs mosy every aspect of male life. Known as "Adat" (akin to the "Kanun" of the Albanians or "Pashtunwali" of the Pashtun of Pakistan and Afghanistan), the code requires violent remedies for any afront to personal dignity or family honor. The result is a warrior culture, that has come to dominate not only the Tausug's adopted home of Jolo, but the offshore province of Basilan as well. The Sama, most offshoots anyway, are peaceful and seek co-existence with the Tausug at almost any cost. Tawi Tawi then has largely avoided the violence-including the Islamic Insurgencies- that have plagued both Jolo and Basilan for decades (actually centuries if one looks at the larger picture).
Piracy and KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, have deep roots in the Tausug culture. This has been re-inforced by the introduction of Islam to the region just prior to the Tausu migration. Ransoming captives, non-Muslims anyway- is legal within Shari'a (Islamic Jurisprudence). Granted, most members of ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) can barely read and write in their native languages, let alone Arabic, but there ARE a few who are highly educated, usually via scholarships offered by Middle Eastern nations. Therefore, fluent in Arabic and well versed in Shari'a, they offer up a precious Islamic rationalization that segues perfectly with ingrained cultural practices. Within Islam, the operative issue is the faith of a potential captive (must be a non-Muslim), and the existence of a state of war. I think anyone would be hardpressed to deny that Mindanao has been in just such a state, albeit ebbing and flowing, since pre-history. Indeed, it was a war in Butuan that drove the Tausug out of Mainland Mindanao and into Basilan (and shortly thereafter, Jolo).
The Sama though, have a very different culture. Aside from the Sama Ubian, who are actually Dayaks from Borneo who adapated to Sama influences, the culture is one of appeasement, and in the case of Jolo, subservience (so much for the ridiculous myth of Bangsamoro peoplehood..). One exception to this "culture of appeasement" are the Balangingi, a Sama group from the island of Balangingi who managed to dominate piracy in the Sulu and Celebes Seas until a genocidal attack by the Spanish Military in 1848 virtually destroyed the group.
Although the Tausug did not settle in Tawi Tawi in any great numbers, they continued their political, economic and cultural domination of Tawi Tawi. The subsequent "culture of appeasement" that developed amongst the Sama has for the most part, rendered Tawi Tawi far more sedate, and offers visitors a much greater sense of security. So much so in fact, that intrepid travellers, including Westerners, continue to visit the small island group without bothering to arrange any special security detail, as would be par for the course in Sulu (Jolo included), Basilan, and even in many parts of Mainland Mindanao.
Such was the case of two European taxidermists who share a deep interest in Birding, a pasttime that most refer to as "Birdwatching." 52 year old Ewold Horn left his home in Den Andel, in Groningen, Holland and met his friend and professional colleague Lorenzo Vinciguerra for a long awaited trip to the Southern Philippines. Vinciguerra, aged 47, owns a profitable taxidermy business in the town of Grub, in Switzerland, and like Horn he enjoys Birding more than he did his chosen trade, stuffing dead animals into likelike poses.
They planned on spotting, and hopefully photographing, several rare Philippine birds in what was to be a 14 day vacation. The highlight of this dream get away was a little known bitd endemic to just two of the 307 islands in the Tawi Tawi island group (and Jolo, now only existing on Mainland Tawi Tawi in a tiny area), the Sulu Hornbill (Anthracoceros Montani). The bird is considered to be on the verge of extinction with an estimated population of 27 adults. Such rarity renders the bird a hot item in the world of Birding. Indeed, the two men had travelled to Tawi Tawi in 1996 in hopes of catching a glimpse only to have their hopes dashed due to the sector being made off limits to foreigners while the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, undertook a security operation against the ASG.
Arriving in Zamboanga City on Saturday, January 28th, 2012, the two men rendevouzed with a Filipino Birding enthusiast, 32 year old Ivan Sardenas. Sardenas, a residentof Davao City had recently spent considerable time in Tawi Tawi as he sought to establish himself as a guide for nature enthusiasts. It was Sardenas who had put in the legwork in locating the latest sightings of the highly endangered bird and who then pre-arranged security for their expedition. Early Sunday morning, January 29th, the three men boarded a plane in Zamboanga City fora 45 minute flight to Bongao, the capital of Tawi Tawi.
At their hotel Ivan Sadenas called ahead to the municipality of Panglima Sugala, where four of the birds had been sighted in recent months. The Mayor's righthand man recommended that Sardenas employ Municipal Councilor Nestor
Camilo Cabarrubias Sr. as a local guide, and that the Councilor himself would then arrange the expedition's security using police officers from the MPO, or Municipal Police Office. Sardenas didnt have much choice in the matter but dis make the man aware that the expedition wasnt well funded and that the Security Detail would have to take this into account.
Leaving Bongao's Chinese Pier by motorbanca, Philippine speak for "motorized skiff," the group slowly skirted the coast of Mainland Tawi Tawi until reaching Panglima Sugala in the middle of the elongated island's coast. As the men disembarked and began wading through the surf the boat opetator repeated that he would be returning to that same spot to pick them up for their return trip on Wednesday, February 1st, three days hence. Casting off while wishing them luck, the party began carrying their gear through Barangay Bato Bato, the town center, or "Poblacion." As the group atrived at Municipal Hall they were greeted warmly by Councilor Cabarrubias and a lone UNARMED police officer who would be serving as the expedition's paltry "Security Detail."
After a very short meet and greet with town dignitaries the expedition piled into an SUV belonging to the Municipal Government, the expedition made its way to Tubig Malum, or as the Philippine Governmen refers to it, the Rio Hondo River. Parking the vehicle, to be retrieved later by other police officers, the group forded the river and began their tedious hike upcountry to Mount Balik Sampan where the expedition would sped the next three days encamped as the two Europeans and Ivan Sadenas would do their best to photograph their quarry, the Sulu Hornbill.
Wednesday, February 1st arrived and the expedition, having failed to even sight the elusive bird, re-packed their gear and began hiking back down to Tubig Malum where they were to part ways with their "Security Detail." Once at the river , Horn, Vinciguerra, and Sadenas began following it into Barangay Parangan. In that barangay's Sitio Luuk Luuk the three men were suprised, but elated to find the skiff was moored waiting for them, moored just off shore. It didnt take long at all to load the gear aboard and at just after 120PM the boat started its engine and turned back towards Bongao, where the three men hoped to spend a quiet evening back at the hotel, resting in comfort before the next day's flight back to Zamboanga City.
As the boat made its way offshore to skirt all the outriggers of fishermen and seaweed farmers, a pumpboat turned into the lane behind them. Within minutes everybody onboard the skiff was on edge, how much more so when the pumpboat pulled closer and Sadenas noticed the dual barrels of an M16 rifle fitted out with an M203 grenade launcher er. Before long the men in the pumpboat began screaming at the skiff and vigirously motioning with their arms, waving their assault rifles in a menacing fashion. However, it wasnt until a few rounds were fired over their heads that the skiff's operator began dejectedly easing off its throttle.
The pumpboat quickly pulled parallel before two men aboard it hooked the crafts together. Four gunmen quickly came aboard the skiff and pointed their barrels at all four men, motioning for Horn, Vinciguerra, and Sadenas to transfer themselves and their gear to the pumpboat. Forcing the fourth man, the boat opetator, to turn off his idling engine, they then snatched his keys, stole two of his batteries and forced him over the side at gunpoint.
Back aboard the pumpboat, the three captives were forced under a blue plastic tarp covering the foresection almost to.the bow. Quickly throttling up the pumpboat turned around as if to travel back towards Panglima Sugala. Before reaching that town's municipal boundry however, it veered into a "bakawan," or mangrove, where it rendevouzed with a second pumpboat with a markedly different appearance. Once again secured under a blue plastic tarp, the small craft turned out to sea and gunned its engines.
As the second pumpboat entered the waters off of the municipality of Languyan, an offshore islet came into view, pylling parallel to it the boat slowed considerably and finally began idling. Within ten minutes a third, larger pumpboat came at a high rate of speed from the fishing grounds just off of the town. Pulling abreast, the five gunmen aboatd received the three captives and their gear and as was the case twice before, Horn, Vinciguerra, and Sadenas wete forced out of sight under a blue plastic tarp. As this third pumpboat nosed itself out to sea the three captives took stock of their situation; with them under the tarp were three liter containers of fresh water and 55 gallon drums of fuel. With the boat heading out to the sealanes, and seeing a large cachet of fresh water and fuel, it was clear that they erre heading into a Sulu Province, and the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) base of operations, Jolo Island.
Ivan Sadenas knew well that it was the Europeans that their captors valued. Coming from a poor family and being a Christian Filipino, his life was worth practically nothing once the five gunmen handed them off to their cohorts on Jolo. Thinking fast, Sadenas told his two companions that he was thinking about making.a run for it by throwing himdelf ovrtboard. Promising the Horn and Vinciguerra that he would alert the authorities, he quietly lifted the edge of the tarp and saw that the five gunmen were busy amongst themselves. Making his way to the opposite side of the tarp he once again quietly lifted an edge and discovered that they were only 1,000 meters off of Mainland Tawi Tawi, smack dab in the middle of fishing grounds as the pumpboat sought cover as it made its way to a busier shipping lane.
Quickly realizing that the fishing grounds represented a great opportunity since witnesses would inhibit a violent reaction from his captors...at least he prayed it would...Sadenas lifted the tarp enough to climb up over the side of tge boat and quickly dove into the azure sea. Diving down as far as he could Ivan Sadenas furiously swam as far as he could until he felt his lungs would burst. Surfacing, desperate for air, he was shocked (and relieved) to find that the boat hadnt even slowed down. He was free, if he could make his way to shore anyway.
Waving his arms as he bobbed in the water, Sadenas quickly caught the attention of an outrigger crewed by three fishermen. Dragging the elated man aboard, the fishermen were able to piece together Sadena's story through gestures and.a few mutually intelligible words. The outrigger made its way to Panglima Sugala where Ivan Sadenas quickly summoned the police. Taking his report the MPO quickly notified the Police Provincial Office, or PPO. Per protocols, PPO-Tawi Tawi immediately notified the AFP's Naval Task Force 62 (TF-62) which handles all seaborne incidents in Tawi Tawi and the waters seperating that province from Borneo.
TF-62 consists of a tender and four patrol boats, along with personnel from MBLT-5 (Marine Battalion Landing Team #5). Despite this capable force, and.cordon it implenented around Mainland Tawi Tawi's eastern and northern coasts, the third pumpboat and the two Europeans, Ewold Horn and Lorenzo Vinciguerra, remained undiscovered. Within two days Governor Sadikul Sahali deployed a 2,000 man search party to comb Mainland Tawi Tawi's 275 square kilometers of jungle, within which Panglima Sugala sits. PPO-Tawi Tawi Director, Superintendent Rodelio Jocson, Chairperson of the Governor's Crisis Management Committee, the requisite entity empaneled to co-ordinate all Governmental responses to the kidnapping, wasted no time in going to the media and accusing Councilman Nestor Camilo Cabarrubias Sr. and his handpicked municipal police officer were pulling the strings on an "inside job."
Superintendent Jocson was naturally asked to elaborate. His bombshell? With a snide conspiratorial grimace, Jocson observed that when the expedition's motorbanca was overtaken by the first pumpboat, neither Councilor Cabarrubias nor the police officer were present, having left the expedition at the river. Of course that is absolutely ridiculous given the fact that the abduction occurred as the men were returning to Bongao. Why would Cabarrubias and the officer be aboard when their "services" had only been secured for Panglima Sugala?
The actual culprit was MNLF-Misuari officer, Kumander Sahi Tali, via his footsoldiers in and around Panglima Sugala. There arent many employment opportunnities in the province and the tourists coming to Panglima Sugala have helped to spawn a healthy cottage industry amongst young men from the immediate area. amany such youth are members of the MNLF-Misuari, a group ostensibly at peace with Manila although it is tenuous, if not an outright fantasy. One of tgese young men, Mustapha Muallam, bent at losing his P250 ($5.50) fee, contacted his immediate superior within the MNLF, who in turn got the go ahead from an underling of Kumander Tali. Tali's own superior, Kumander Habir Malik on Jolo, wanted to turn an easy profit.
The official narrative has the third pumpboat having turned back to Mainland Tawi Tawi after rough seas and a shortage of fuel convince the MNLF guerillas to try again another day. In reality there was no shortage of fuel as the vessel carried several spare drums. Moreover, people on Jolo saw the pumpboat land off of the municipality of Patikul on Jolo. Once on Jolo, Kumander Tali quickly sold both Europeans to Kumamder Yasset Igasan, leader of an ASG faction operating in the hills around Patikul.
Having only found the burned remnants of that first pumpboat in the mamgrove where it had transferred the captives, Governor Sahali finally conceeded that even the Dutch and Swiss Embassies no longer believed that thetwo men remained on Tawi Tawi. Sheepishly demobilizing the Crisis Management.Committee, the Governor them tossed the ball to his counterpart in Sulu, Governor Abdursakur Tan. PPO-Sulu however refused to even consider the possibility.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Kidnap for Ransom for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part XIV: Ali Ibrahim Rakman, Kidnapped by Soldiers
In my previous KFR, or, Kidnap for Ransom entries, I have very often offered an overview of just why KFR is so well entrenched here on Mindanao. Tied into the local power base, the industry feeds not only insurgent organisations like Abu Sayyaf and the BIAF, but politicians, police, and yes, even the AFP, or, Armed Forces of the Philippines (BIAF being the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the MILF). In February of 2011 there was a rash of criminal cases filed against Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema and his KFR organisation, but of course he has managed very well, getting the charges bounced at least two times since. Now, we have a senior AFP officer and two NCOs (Non Commissioned Officers) involved in another KFR organisation. Thus far the AFP is doing the right thing; while one cannot expect full transparency with the organisation (it will be a long time coming, if ever), the mother unit, the 4ID (Infantry Division) has at least allowed the civilian authorities deal with the case.
There are four IDs, or, Infantry Divisions on the island:
1) 1ID, Headquartered at Camp Sang-an in the municipality of Labangan, in Zamboanga del Sur Province, covering all of the Zamboanga Peninsula, all points south of Mainland Mindanao, and most of the Lanao Region (Lanao del Sur Province and a portion of Lanao del Norte Province). The Division is almost entirely dedicated to Islamic Insurgencies. Although there is an NPA Regional Command within its territory, the WMRC, or, Western Mindanao Regional Committee, it is the weakest of the island's five NPA Regional Commands.
2) 6ID, Headquartered in Camp Siongco in the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat, in Maguindanao Province. The division's AOR, or, Area of Responsibility (Area of Operation), is Central Mindanao, the smallest geographical scope of any and yet it sees a lot of action being on the front lines of the BIAF Insurgency, Central Mindanao being that organisation's center of gravity, its heartland.
3) 10ID, Headquartered in Camp Yan, in the municipality of Mawab, in Compostela Valley Province (ComVal), this division's AOR covers the Davao Region (Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and ComVal Provinces). With a small BIAF interaction- mostly through the 73IB (Infantry Battalion), operating in the northern sector of Sarangani Province, this division's bread and butter is the NPA. Indeed, it was created specifically to deal with the NPA, to free up the 4ID, the division that prior to 2006 had the largest single AOR on the island.
4) 4ID, Headquartered in Camp Evangelista, in Cagayan del Oro City on the island's Northern Coast. This division's AOR covers the entire Nortern Coast from the Misamis Oriental and Occidental Provincial borders, moving east along the Northern Coast, then down the entire Eastern Coast until the Caraga and Davao Regional borders at Agusan del Sur and ComVal Provincial lines. This division is entirely dedicated to the NPA at the moment although, from time to time, it has heavy interaction with the BIAF (in the 2000 War it was the lead division).
Therefore, when, after the 1996 FPA, or, Final Peace Agreement (a misnomer if ever there was one) between the Government and the MNLF, and its military wing, the BMA (Bangsamoro Army), the Government needed to integrate nearly 7,000 BMA guerillas into the AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police), the 4ID received the bulk of them. With no Islamic Insurgency the powers to be thought the 4ID to be the best environment for the "Integrees." The thinking was that the culture shock of joining the AFP would be enough of a hurdle without transporting thousands of battle-hardened Muslim tribesmen into points north, like the Visayas Region, or Luzon, and of course the unspoken concern-one that was discussed at length in classified correspondence, was that exporting MNLF/BMA guerillas north could very well widen what had up until then been a problem relegated to the Southern Philippines (and to a slightly lesser extent, Palawan which had a tiny Muslim population on islands off of its southern tip). A significant number also went to the 1ID, but in non-combat elements such as its Engineering Battalion. With the 4ID, they were primed for, and eventually integrated into front line units.
The Integration Programme was a huge undertaking. Just picking a somewhat random example, one aspect, the "Balik Baril" (Gun Return), failed miserably. In order to gain admittance, applicants, after going through the Selection Process, had to surrender at least one long arm. The rifle would then be catalouged, registered, issued an AFP serial number, and then re-distributed to the applicant as his service weapon. The biggest problem in that is that the first of three groups admitted into the Enlisted end of the programme, weren't BMA guerillas at all. Most were either younger relatives of guerillas who were farmed to the programme so as to provide a stable source of income to their large extended families. Others had no direct connection to the MNLF/BMA at all and merely bought their way in, as if buying a career opportunity, at a rather steep price. MNLF/BMA officers on the MNLF half of the administration of the programme profited rather nicely from this. Lastly, most Filipino Muslim Tribes are heavily into Gun Culture. Until the 1950s the de riguer acoutrement was a razour sharp bladed weapon akin to the Middle Eastern Scimtar. Kris, Kampilan, and so forth were worn by all males and were central to male identity. After WWII this changed as firearms finally became more affordable to the masses. Instead of sidearms though, the de riguer weapon now became a longarm, preferably semi-automatic.
Indeed, this is just how the MNLF Insurgency began. After Martial Law had been declared in September of 1972, then-President Marcos decreed that all weapon ownership was now illegal and ordered the now defunct Philippine Constabulary, or, PC, collect all weapons, sector by sector. When the PC attempted to do so in Marawi City, the Maranaw (Maranao) Tribal centre, the population waged war, and from there the entire south quickly went up in flames. Indeed, today, most militaries factor in such cultural affectations as the price of doing business. For example, US Forces in Iraq allow each head of household to retain two fully automatic rifles, the usual long arm being the AK47. This seems counter-intuitive to the laymen, but US Forces now have capable anthropologists on the payroll and realise that stripping a male population of its basic masculinity isn't going to endear the American Forces to the average Iraqi.
Aside from the Enlisted end of the Integration programme, there was also one group of BMA Officers admitted to an abbreviated AFP Officers' Training Course. Such applicants received 48 weeks training that, like the Enlisted end, was undertaken in three phases, albeit much longer than the Enlisted course. Of the three phases, the last phase, number three, being on the job training, so that in reality, BMA officers were only trained for 26 weeks. One looming problem was that whatever rank the BMA officers had been holding, they were inducted as Second Lieutenants. One hundred and sixty officers were integrated, although twenty were within fifteen years of retirement according to AFP Regulations. Then and now the mandatory age of retirement is age 56. Amongst the 140 BMA Officer Integrees who weren't packed away for a relatively quick retirement was an Iranun (Illanun) Tribesmen by the name of Mikunung "Mickey" Tanggote, who grew up amongst Maranaw along the shores of Lake Lanao. Integrated into the 4ID, Tanggote gradually rose from the lowest junior officer rank of Second Lieutenant to the rank he holds today, Major. In command of the division's Military Police company, he is attached to the Headquarters Service Battalion, and until recently served as the battalion's Intelligence Officer, only leaving that position reluctantly upon the incoming transfer of an officer from the IS-AFP, the AFP Intelligence Service, a dedicated position instead of the part time endeavour under Tanggote, as he juggled his different responsibilities.
Like virtually all his fellow Integrees, Major Tanggote earned not only the trust of his peers, but the trust of his superiors. Living on Officers' Row, the onbase housing for AFP officers, Tanggote's entire life revolved around the AFP. Although married with two children, both children were in university and so Mickey spent most of his offtime involved in his hobby, making music. Leading the division's marching band, a position that made Major Tanggote very, very well known on base, he also led of all things, a Country and Western combo in which he sang, in Tagalog, and played lead electric guitar.
Corporal Harvey Mabaylan Borreta served as Major Tanggote's right hand man in the battalion's Intelligence Unit, a de facto Aide de Camp, and when Tanggote rotated out of that command Borreta retained his role as wingman in the Headquarters Service Battalion. At 7PM, on Thursday, December 1st, 2011, Borreta was eating supper with his wife when his cellphone wentoff. Rising from the table he merely told her that he had to get dressed to go meet Major Tanggote. Spending years as the wife of an AFP Intelligence Agent had taught Ms.Borreta not to ask questions. Harvey Boretta hopped aboard his black Honda XRM and roared off into the night.
Major Tanggote then phoned a second subordinate, Staff Sergeant Edwin Paculba and just as he had with Corporal Borreta, didn't offer any details of the "mission" while asking Paculba to meet him and Corporal Borreta at Liceo de Cagayan Resturant, next to the university of the same name. Staff Sergeant Paculba got into his blue Kia SUV and drove off to meet the two men.
As Corporal Borreta was taking that call from his superior, Major Tanggote, another call was taking place across town, at the Cagayan de Oro City CPO, or, City Police Office, the department headquarters. The call, directed to CPO CIDG, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (the equivalent of a Major Crimes Unit), was coming from the Director of the Marawi City CPO, in the adjacent province of Lanao del Sur, Inspector (Insp.) Jaime Mojica Jr. Insp.Mojica advised the Chief of CIDG that a KFR of an important Marawi City businessman, Ibrahim Ali Racman, had taken place on November 29th, and that the family of the victim had just negotiated a P5 Million Ransom ($110,000). The KFR organisation's negotiator had insisted that the payoff take place at SM Mall in Cagayan del Oro City and so Marawi City CPO needed to co-ordinate a joint action plan quickly, since the payoff would take place near midnite, on Father Masterson Avenue in Barangay Upper Carmen. At the moment, Mawari City CPO personnel were tailing two Iranun cousins:
1) Hadji Drisha "Dada" Tomawis Mohamed, alias "Abdul
2) Yahya "Pingko" Moscana Tomawis, alias "Marmaya"
in a red Mazda sedan as it sped towards Cagayan del Oro City. Cagayan del Oro CPO, or, CDO CPO, arranged to meet their colleagues from Marawi City near the agreed upon ransom exchange location, Calda's Pizza, an eatery in SM Mall. Reaching Cagayan del Oro City, Marawi City's Insp.Mojica was puzzled when the red Mazda made its way into Barangay Patag and stopped just outside the main gate to Camp Evangelista, the 4ID Headquarters. There, they saw a man, whom they would soon discover to be Major Tanggote, rise from a bench at a jeepney stop, and get into the rear seat of the Mazda. Tailing it towards Barangay Carmen and the meeting place, the Marawi police were again stymied as the Mazda turned into the carpark for the Liceo de Cagayan Resturant. Parking, only Major Tanggote left the car. Officers watched as the Major walked over two men, standing next to a black Honda XRM and a blue Kia minivan.
After a few minutes spent quietly conferring with one another, Major Tanggote turned and returned to the Mazda and its two occupants, as the blue Kia and Honda motorcycle slowly left the carpark. Minutes later, the red Mazda sedan left as well, followed of course by the Marawi City CPO and its Director, Superintendent Mojica. As the small convoy neared the turnoff for Father Masterson Avenue, the vehicles were joined by a marked unit from the CDO CPO, which then turned on its siren and signaled for the Mazda to pull over. Enraged, Marawi City police officers had no choice now but to follow through. However, instead of stopping, the Mazda gunned its engine and attempted to out run the five police vehicles tailing it. As the car chase reached neared SM Mall, Corporal Borreta on his Honda XRM motorcycle joined the chase. Officers inside the marked CDO CPO car began firing their 45 caliber pistols at the Mazda, prompting Corporal Borreta, while still driving his motorcycle, to pull his AFP-issued 45 caliber pistol and return fire. The massive car chase slash gunbattle finally ground to a halt in the SM Mall carpark, where the sedan screeched to a halt outside the Pan de Pugon Bakeshop. As Tanggote and the two Tomawis cousins attempted to flee on foot, a police officer with an M16 fired in their direction, wounding all three suspects. The two Tomawis cousins, seriously wounded, stopped dead in their tracks. Major Tanggote however, made a dash for it and despite the very late hour, managed to enter a call centre (the huge operations which field phonecalls for corporations' customer service departments, etc.). It was in that call centre lobby that Major Tanggote's colourful life hit a brickwall, dead on.
Frisking all three, Tanggote was found to be carrying a loaded 45 caliber pistol, albeit AFP-issued, and therefore legal. It was during this frisking however, that police officers discovered Tanggote's AFP Identification Card. Immediately calling CDO CPO to inform them of this fact, the CPO soon called the 4ID switchboard to inform them of a shooting incident involving one of their senior officers, and mentioned that KFR charges may be laid on him. Meanwhile, Corporal Borreta had been cornered at the next intersection by a CPO Blocking Force and soon joined the other three suspects in the mall carpark. Staff Sergeant Edwin Paculba managed to elude his pursuers only to run into a mobile PNP checkpoint. Seeing as how a report of the shooting incident had gone out all over the airwaves, the officers at the checkpoint quickly collared him and proceded to CPO Headquarters for interrogation.
While also in civilian clothes, Borreta also carried his AFP-issued 45 caliber pistol with him that night. Just as with his superior, Major Tanggote, Borreta had his AFP ID on him but the CPO had already notified the AFP of one military arrest. They would wait to inform the AFP's responding personnel at CPO Headquarters. The PNP checkpoint that had snared Staff Sergeant Paculba likewise decided to wait for the AFP's response to Major Tanggote, while vouchsafing Paculba's AFP-issued 45 caliber pistol.
Under interrogation by CDO CPO CIDG, it was revealed that the two Tomawis cousins are also cousins with Major Tanggote. Tanggote, in his version, consuming four pages in his affadavit, claimed that his two cousins from Lanao del Sur Province had been in town and invited him out for a meal at that quinessential Filipino takeaway joint, Jollibees. For reasons not disclosed, they had decided instead to eat at Liceo de Cagayan Resturant. While eating there Tanggote says, he and two cousins noticed members from a Marnaw (Maranao) clan that they recognised from Marawi City. The clan in question, the Salics, had been in a "Rido," or violent clan feud, with the Tomawis Clan for an entire generation. Unsettled, the three men then noticed high ranking members of the Marawi City CPO staking out the resturant. Seeing as how the Salic Clan has ruled Marawi City's government for well over a decade now, seeing those police made the three Tomawis clansmrn very nervous. With only one single pistol between the three men, and it by then being nearly 8PM, he desperately reached out to his two subordinates, Corporal Borreta and Staff Sergeant Paculba.
After the two non commision officers, or, NCOs, arrived on scene Tanggote quietly conferred with both. After, the two men agreed to follow Tanggote to Camp Evangelista where he could shed the Salic Clan and their police protection. While en route to the base, on Father Masterson Avenue, Cagayan del ORO CPO officers opened fire on the Mazda carrying the two Tomawis cousins and Major Tanggote. Pulling into the carpark where they car skidded to a stop and its three occupants attempted to make an ill fated run for it, all three Tomawis Clansmem had been shot.
The three wounded suspects were taken to JR Borja Hospital where the two Tomawis cousins were admitted in serious condition while Major Tanggote was patched up and whisked away to enjoy two days of tactical interrogation at the CDO CPO Headquarters, alongside the two NCOs who had been taken there soon after being caught earlier that morning. The AFP deployed a senior officer from JAGO, or, Judge Advocate General's Office (the AFP legal department for both defence and prosecution of major charges), Major Aldrich Uayan, who was accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel (LTC.) Rene Canete, the Commanding Officer of the 36IB (Infantry Battalion), and a former Commanding Officer of Tanggote's.
LTC.Canete, when hearing the police version of events noted that he was also Tanggote's neighbour on Officer's Row and that the Major hadn't left the base in nearly two weeks. Therefore, he highly doubted the accusation of KFR being made against a fellow senior officer he knew inside and out. Lately, the AFP has taken a few body hits to its collective image, especially here on Mindanao. One Private First Class was found to have beaten his wife to death and then, audaciously, buried her in the brigade headquarters graveyard in an unmarked grave. On Basilan, an Intelligence Officer and two subordinates were nabbed for giving an innocent villager a gasoline enema with a glass pop bottle. In North Cotabato Province, aside from being repeatedly fingered in yet another priest killing, the AFP is accused of murdering yet another villager and these are only three of literally dozens of recent cases- real or figments of propaganda- of which the AFP stands accused. Now, add KFR, which by the way, is not a new accusation.
The two Tomawis cousins have been released due to the defence taking advantage of two loopholes. When an accused subject goes through the pre-requisite inquest, there is a waiver form against Arbitrary Detention. If you sign it, the prosecution may incarcerate you even if you aren't charged. Most defendants sign it unthingkingly. These two men did not. When, at the inquest, a Manila-based prosecutor from the Department of Justice, or, DOJ, failed to include the two in her Charge Sheet- since she, like virtually all prosecutors, used the signed Waiver as a point of reference, the two cousins had their unusually capable attorney file a Writ of Habeus Corpus, on December 6th. On the 7th it was granted and the police guards at the hospital were removed. On December 8th that same Manila-based prosecutor flew into Cagayan del Oro City just to formally ammend her Charge Sheet but alas, there is still no Commitment Order against the men (loophole #2). The two men have been whisked away out of the hospital and into the wind.
The three AFP personnel are however, being held in the city jail in Barangay Lumbia, that same facility where several inmates escaped within the last week, AFTER an escape tunnel being constructed from outside the prison was discovered.
There are four IDs, or, Infantry Divisions on the island:
1) 1ID, Headquartered at Camp Sang-an in the municipality of Labangan, in Zamboanga del Sur Province, covering all of the Zamboanga Peninsula, all points south of Mainland Mindanao, and most of the Lanao Region (Lanao del Sur Province and a portion of Lanao del Norte Province). The Division is almost entirely dedicated to Islamic Insurgencies. Although there is an NPA Regional Command within its territory, the WMRC, or, Western Mindanao Regional Committee, it is the weakest of the island's five NPA Regional Commands.
2) 6ID, Headquartered in Camp Siongco in the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat, in Maguindanao Province. The division's AOR, or, Area of Responsibility (Area of Operation), is Central Mindanao, the smallest geographical scope of any and yet it sees a lot of action being on the front lines of the BIAF Insurgency, Central Mindanao being that organisation's center of gravity, its heartland.
3) 10ID, Headquartered in Camp Yan, in the municipality of Mawab, in Compostela Valley Province (ComVal), this division's AOR covers the Davao Region (Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and ComVal Provinces). With a small BIAF interaction- mostly through the 73IB (Infantry Battalion), operating in the northern sector of Sarangani Province, this division's bread and butter is the NPA. Indeed, it was created specifically to deal with the NPA, to free up the 4ID, the division that prior to 2006 had the largest single AOR on the island.
4) 4ID, Headquartered in Camp Evangelista, in Cagayan del Oro City on the island's Northern Coast. This division's AOR covers the entire Nortern Coast from the Misamis Oriental and Occidental Provincial borders, moving east along the Northern Coast, then down the entire Eastern Coast until the Caraga and Davao Regional borders at Agusan del Sur and ComVal Provincial lines. This division is entirely dedicated to the NPA at the moment although, from time to time, it has heavy interaction with the BIAF (in the 2000 War it was the lead division).
Therefore, when, after the 1996 FPA, or, Final Peace Agreement (a misnomer if ever there was one) between the Government and the MNLF, and its military wing, the BMA (Bangsamoro Army), the Government needed to integrate nearly 7,000 BMA guerillas into the AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police), the 4ID received the bulk of them. With no Islamic Insurgency the powers to be thought the 4ID to be the best environment for the "Integrees." The thinking was that the culture shock of joining the AFP would be enough of a hurdle without transporting thousands of battle-hardened Muslim tribesmen into points north, like the Visayas Region, or Luzon, and of course the unspoken concern-one that was discussed at length in classified correspondence, was that exporting MNLF/BMA guerillas north could very well widen what had up until then been a problem relegated to the Southern Philippines (and to a slightly lesser extent, Palawan which had a tiny Muslim population on islands off of its southern tip). A significant number also went to the 1ID, but in non-combat elements such as its Engineering Battalion. With the 4ID, they were primed for, and eventually integrated into front line units.
The Integration Programme was a huge undertaking. Just picking a somewhat random example, one aspect, the "Balik Baril" (Gun Return), failed miserably. In order to gain admittance, applicants, after going through the Selection Process, had to surrender at least one long arm. The rifle would then be catalouged, registered, issued an AFP serial number, and then re-distributed to the applicant as his service weapon. The biggest problem in that is that the first of three groups admitted into the Enlisted end of the programme, weren't BMA guerillas at all. Most were either younger relatives of guerillas who were farmed to the programme so as to provide a stable source of income to their large extended families. Others had no direct connection to the MNLF/BMA at all and merely bought their way in, as if buying a career opportunity, at a rather steep price. MNLF/BMA officers on the MNLF half of the administration of the programme profited rather nicely from this. Lastly, most Filipino Muslim Tribes are heavily into Gun Culture. Until the 1950s the de riguer acoutrement was a razour sharp bladed weapon akin to the Middle Eastern Scimtar. Kris, Kampilan, and so forth were worn by all males and were central to male identity. After WWII this changed as firearms finally became more affordable to the masses. Instead of sidearms though, the de riguer weapon now became a longarm, preferably semi-automatic.
Indeed, this is just how the MNLF Insurgency began. After Martial Law had been declared in September of 1972, then-President Marcos decreed that all weapon ownership was now illegal and ordered the now defunct Philippine Constabulary, or, PC, collect all weapons, sector by sector. When the PC attempted to do so in Marawi City, the Maranaw (Maranao) Tribal centre, the population waged war, and from there the entire south quickly went up in flames. Indeed, today, most militaries factor in such cultural affectations as the price of doing business. For example, US Forces in Iraq allow each head of household to retain two fully automatic rifles, the usual long arm being the AK47. This seems counter-intuitive to the laymen, but US Forces now have capable anthropologists on the payroll and realise that stripping a male population of its basic masculinity isn't going to endear the American Forces to the average Iraqi.
Aside from the Enlisted end of the Integration programme, there was also one group of BMA Officers admitted to an abbreviated AFP Officers' Training Course. Such applicants received 48 weeks training that, like the Enlisted end, was undertaken in three phases, albeit much longer than the Enlisted course. Of the three phases, the last phase, number three, being on the job training, so that in reality, BMA officers were only trained for 26 weeks. One looming problem was that whatever rank the BMA officers had been holding, they were inducted as Second Lieutenants. One hundred and sixty officers were integrated, although twenty were within fifteen years of retirement according to AFP Regulations. Then and now the mandatory age of retirement is age 56. Amongst the 140 BMA Officer Integrees who weren't packed away for a relatively quick retirement was an Iranun (Illanun) Tribesmen by the name of Mikunung "Mickey" Tanggote, who grew up amongst Maranaw along the shores of Lake Lanao. Integrated into the 4ID, Tanggote gradually rose from the lowest junior officer rank of Second Lieutenant to the rank he holds today, Major. In command of the division's Military Police company, he is attached to the Headquarters Service Battalion, and until recently served as the battalion's Intelligence Officer, only leaving that position reluctantly upon the incoming transfer of an officer from the IS-AFP, the AFP Intelligence Service, a dedicated position instead of the part time endeavour under Tanggote, as he juggled his different responsibilities.
Like virtually all his fellow Integrees, Major Tanggote earned not only the trust of his peers, but the trust of his superiors. Living on Officers' Row, the onbase housing for AFP officers, Tanggote's entire life revolved around the AFP. Although married with two children, both children were in university and so Mickey spent most of his offtime involved in his hobby, making music. Leading the division's marching band, a position that made Major Tanggote very, very well known on base, he also led of all things, a Country and Western combo in which he sang, in Tagalog, and played lead electric guitar.
Corporal Harvey Mabaylan Borreta served as Major Tanggote's right hand man in the battalion's Intelligence Unit, a de facto Aide de Camp, and when Tanggote rotated out of that command Borreta retained his role as wingman in the Headquarters Service Battalion. At 7PM, on Thursday, December 1st, 2011, Borreta was eating supper with his wife when his cellphone wentoff. Rising from the table he merely told her that he had to get dressed to go meet Major Tanggote. Spending years as the wife of an AFP Intelligence Agent had taught Ms.Borreta not to ask questions. Harvey Boretta hopped aboard his black Honda XRM and roared off into the night.
Major Tanggote then phoned a second subordinate, Staff Sergeant Edwin Paculba and just as he had with Corporal Borreta, didn't offer any details of the "mission" while asking Paculba to meet him and Corporal Borreta at Liceo de Cagayan Resturant, next to the university of the same name. Staff Sergeant Paculba got into his blue Kia SUV and drove off to meet the two men.
As Corporal Borreta was taking that call from his superior, Major Tanggote, another call was taking place across town, at the Cagayan de Oro City CPO, or, City Police Office, the department headquarters. The call, directed to CPO CIDG, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (the equivalent of a Major Crimes Unit), was coming from the Director of the Marawi City CPO, in the adjacent province of Lanao del Sur, Inspector (Insp.) Jaime Mojica Jr. Insp.Mojica advised the Chief of CIDG that a KFR of an important Marawi City businessman, Ibrahim Ali Racman, had taken place on November 29th, and that the family of the victim had just negotiated a P5 Million Ransom ($110,000). The KFR organisation's negotiator had insisted that the payoff take place at SM Mall in Cagayan del Oro City and so Marawi City CPO needed to co-ordinate a joint action plan quickly, since the payoff would take place near midnite, on Father Masterson Avenue in Barangay Upper Carmen. At the moment, Mawari City CPO personnel were tailing two Iranun cousins:
1) Hadji Drisha "Dada" Tomawis Mohamed, alias "Abdul
2) Yahya "Pingko" Moscana Tomawis, alias "Marmaya"
in a red Mazda sedan as it sped towards Cagayan del Oro City. Cagayan del Oro CPO, or, CDO CPO, arranged to meet their colleagues from Marawi City near the agreed upon ransom exchange location, Calda's Pizza, an eatery in SM Mall. Reaching Cagayan del Oro City, Marawi City's Insp.Mojica was puzzled when the red Mazda made its way into Barangay Patag and stopped just outside the main gate to Camp Evangelista, the 4ID Headquarters. There, they saw a man, whom they would soon discover to be Major Tanggote, rise from a bench at a jeepney stop, and get into the rear seat of the Mazda. Tailing it towards Barangay Carmen and the meeting place, the Marawi police were again stymied as the Mazda turned into the carpark for the Liceo de Cagayan Resturant. Parking, only Major Tanggote left the car. Officers watched as the Major walked over two men, standing next to a black Honda XRM and a blue Kia minivan.
After a few minutes spent quietly conferring with one another, Major Tanggote turned and returned to the Mazda and its two occupants, as the blue Kia and Honda motorcycle slowly left the carpark. Minutes later, the red Mazda sedan left as well, followed of course by the Marawi City CPO and its Director, Superintendent Mojica. As the small convoy neared the turnoff for Father Masterson Avenue, the vehicles were joined by a marked unit from the CDO CPO, which then turned on its siren and signaled for the Mazda to pull over. Enraged, Marawi City police officers had no choice now but to follow through. However, instead of stopping, the Mazda gunned its engine and attempted to out run the five police vehicles tailing it. As the car chase reached neared SM Mall, Corporal Borreta on his Honda XRM motorcycle joined the chase. Officers inside the marked CDO CPO car began firing their 45 caliber pistols at the Mazda, prompting Corporal Borreta, while still driving his motorcycle, to pull his AFP-issued 45 caliber pistol and return fire. The massive car chase slash gunbattle finally ground to a halt in the SM Mall carpark, where the sedan screeched to a halt outside the Pan de Pugon Bakeshop. As Tanggote and the two Tomawis cousins attempted to flee on foot, a police officer with an M16 fired in their direction, wounding all three suspects. The two Tomawis cousins, seriously wounded, stopped dead in their tracks. Major Tanggote however, made a dash for it and despite the very late hour, managed to enter a call centre (the huge operations which field phonecalls for corporations' customer service departments, etc.). It was in that call centre lobby that Major Tanggote's colourful life hit a brickwall, dead on.
Frisking all three, Tanggote was found to be carrying a loaded 45 caliber pistol, albeit AFP-issued, and therefore legal. It was during this frisking however, that police officers discovered Tanggote's AFP Identification Card. Immediately calling CDO CPO to inform them of this fact, the CPO soon called the 4ID switchboard to inform them of a shooting incident involving one of their senior officers, and mentioned that KFR charges may be laid on him. Meanwhile, Corporal Borreta had been cornered at the next intersection by a CPO Blocking Force and soon joined the other three suspects in the mall carpark. Staff Sergeant Edwin Paculba managed to elude his pursuers only to run into a mobile PNP checkpoint. Seeing as how a report of the shooting incident had gone out all over the airwaves, the officers at the checkpoint quickly collared him and proceded to CPO Headquarters for interrogation.
While also in civilian clothes, Borreta also carried his AFP-issued 45 caliber pistol with him that night. Just as with his superior, Major Tanggote, Borreta had his AFP ID on him but the CPO had already notified the AFP of one military arrest. They would wait to inform the AFP's responding personnel at CPO Headquarters. The PNP checkpoint that had snared Staff Sergeant Paculba likewise decided to wait for the AFP's response to Major Tanggote, while vouchsafing Paculba's AFP-issued 45 caliber pistol.
Under interrogation by CDO CPO CIDG, it was revealed that the two Tomawis cousins are also cousins with Major Tanggote. Tanggote, in his version, consuming four pages in his affadavit, claimed that his two cousins from Lanao del Sur Province had been in town and invited him out for a meal at that quinessential Filipino takeaway joint, Jollibees. For reasons not disclosed, they had decided instead to eat at Liceo de Cagayan Resturant. While eating there Tanggote says, he and two cousins noticed members from a Marnaw (Maranao) clan that they recognised from Marawi City. The clan in question, the Salics, had been in a "Rido," or violent clan feud, with the Tomawis Clan for an entire generation. Unsettled, the three men then noticed high ranking members of the Marawi City CPO staking out the resturant. Seeing as how the Salic Clan has ruled Marawi City's government for well over a decade now, seeing those police made the three Tomawis clansmrn very nervous. With only one single pistol between the three men, and it by then being nearly 8PM, he desperately reached out to his two subordinates, Corporal Borreta and Staff Sergeant Paculba.
After the two non commision officers, or, NCOs, arrived on scene Tanggote quietly conferred with both. After, the two men agreed to follow Tanggote to Camp Evangelista where he could shed the Salic Clan and their police protection. While en route to the base, on Father Masterson Avenue, Cagayan del ORO CPO officers opened fire on the Mazda carrying the two Tomawis cousins and Major Tanggote. Pulling into the carpark where they car skidded to a stop and its three occupants attempted to make an ill fated run for it, all three Tomawis Clansmem had been shot.
The three wounded suspects were taken to JR Borja Hospital where the two Tomawis cousins were admitted in serious condition while Major Tanggote was patched up and whisked away to enjoy two days of tactical interrogation at the CDO CPO Headquarters, alongside the two NCOs who had been taken there soon after being caught earlier that morning. The AFP deployed a senior officer from JAGO, or, Judge Advocate General's Office (the AFP legal department for both defence and prosecution of major charges), Major Aldrich Uayan, who was accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel (LTC.) Rene Canete, the Commanding Officer of the 36IB (Infantry Battalion), and a former Commanding Officer of Tanggote's.
LTC.Canete, when hearing the police version of events noted that he was also Tanggote's neighbour on Officer's Row and that the Major hadn't left the base in nearly two weeks. Therefore, he highly doubted the accusation of KFR being made against a fellow senior officer he knew inside and out. Lately, the AFP has taken a few body hits to its collective image, especially here on Mindanao. One Private First Class was found to have beaten his wife to death and then, audaciously, buried her in the brigade headquarters graveyard in an unmarked grave. On Basilan, an Intelligence Officer and two subordinates were nabbed for giving an innocent villager a gasoline enema with a glass pop bottle. In North Cotabato Province, aside from being repeatedly fingered in yet another priest killing, the AFP is accused of murdering yet another villager and these are only three of literally dozens of recent cases- real or figments of propaganda- of which the AFP stands accused. Now, add KFR, which by the way, is not a new accusation.
The two Tomawis cousins have been released due to the defence taking advantage of two loopholes. When an accused subject goes through the pre-requisite inquest, there is a waiver form against Arbitrary Detention. If you sign it, the prosecution may incarcerate you even if you aren't charged. Most defendants sign it unthingkingly. These two men did not. When, at the inquest, a Manila-based prosecutor from the Department of Justice, or, DOJ, failed to include the two in her Charge Sheet- since she, like virtually all prosecutors, used the signed Waiver as a point of reference, the two cousins had their unusually capable attorney file a Writ of Habeus Corpus, on December 6th. On the 7th it was granted and the police guards at the hospital were removed. On December 8th that same Manila-based prosecutor flew into Cagayan del Oro City just to formally ammend her Charge Sheet but alas, there is still no Commitment Order against the men (loophole #2). The two men have been whisked away out of the hospital and into the wind.
The three AFP personnel are however, being held in the city jail in Barangay Lumbia, that same facility where several inmates escaped within the last week, AFTER an escape tunnel being constructed from outside the prison was discovered.
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