Political Developments for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part I: President Aquino's Masterplan for the ARMM Hits a Tiny Speedbump, Part 1

With all the time DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) Secretary Jessie Robredo has spent in Cotabato City these last 6 months one would expect he would be speaking with a Maguindanowan accent by now (or maybe organising his own Kidnap for Ransom gang like that city's Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema). Of course he has spent those long hot months, dodging bombing attempts and the annual torrential flooding from the Western Monsoon while doing his master's bidding. President Aquino needs Robredo to put on a big act as if he is actually considering names for the 26 OICs (Officers in Charge) that Aquino plans to appoint (one of these days) for his new and improved ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. The scam, I mean "idea," is to make it appear as if it is actually an objective and considerate process whereas in reality President Aquino had his list ready to go as far back as May 30th of this year. While some names may have been shuffled in the many months since May 30th, the appointee who gets to sit in the hotseat, as Governor, has been fixed to remain steadfast and true.


On May 30th, 2011, President Arroyo met with the Governors of all five constituent provinces within the ARMM:


1) Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu of Manguindanao Province

2) Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr., of Lanao del Sur Province

3) Governor Sadikul "Dick" Adalla Sahali, of Tawi Tawi Province

4) Governor Abdusakur "Sakur" Tan, of Sulu Province

5) Governor Jum Jainuddin Akbar, of Basilan Province

along with:

1) Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs, Ronald Llamas,

2) the aforementioned Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Jessie Robredo,

3) the Director of MinDA, the Mindanao Development Authority, Director Luwalhati "Lou" Antonino,

and

4) both Presidential Spokespeople

A) Edwin Lacierda

B) Ricky Carandan

In that meeting President Aquino explained that he had first thought that he would simply appoint Ansaruddin "Hookie" Alonto Adiong, the current OIC Governor of the ARMM and brother of Lanao del Sur's Governor Adiong, to continue on as the appointed Governor until the newly re-scheduled elections took place in 2013. However, he continued, after much consideration he had become convinced that the best man for the job was ex-Congressman Mujiv Sabbihi Hataman. What he did not say in the meeting though, is that the real decision maker had been his Advisor, Ronald Llamas. In fact, if truth be told, it had been Llamas who had orchestrated the entire ARMM Election Delay boondogle. The issue is certainly deserving of an entry all its own and it will be a long one at that. For the sake of brevity I will simply relate that ostensibly the delay is so that the ARMM Election can be synchronised with the 2013 Midterm Elections. The ACTUAL reason though, is so that the President can appoint all twenty-six of the major positions within the ARMM Government, namely, the Governor, Vice Governor, and the twenty-four slots in the RLA, or Regional Legislative Assembly.

Hataman, on the surface, would seem to be a great choice. A Yakan Tribesman from the municipality of Sumisip on Mindanao's island province of Basilan, he was born with one foot in the stomach churning morass known as "Philippine Politics." His father, Haji Sulaiman Hataman served as the barangay chief of Barangay Buli-Buli for decades. His father before him, Panglima Hataman, ruled Buli Buli as its tribal chieftain and in his later years served as a municipal councilor when all of Basilan constituted a single town.

When Mujiv first arrived in Manila for university the nation had just thrown off the shackles of the Marcos dictatorship. It was a tumultuous time socially, culturally, and of course, politically as well. Hataman responded to his environment by involving himself in Filipino Muslim activism. In 1989 he joined the NGO, or as Filipinos usually refer to such entities, Civil Society Organization, BANGSA, or, the Bangsamoro Student Association. That involvement led to his dropping out of university in his sophmore year in order to accept a fulltime position at the NGO al Fatiha Foundation Incorporated. With al Fatiha Hataman worked as an unofficial social worker slash advocate for the teeming masses populating Metro Manila's growing Muslim slums. Populated by Mindanowans who had migrated north within the last 40 years Hataman easily fit in and it was through these initial forays that the young man found his life's calling, resolving to serve Filipino Muslims and to better their lot.

In 1992 Hataman returned home to Basilan where he continued in his activism, co-founding the NGO KAHAPAN, or, Kilusan para sa Hustisya at Kapayapa'an ng Basilan- The Union for Justice and Peace for Basilan). Through this work Hataman came into contact with Basilan politicians, including an ambitious MNLF cum Abu Sayyaf sub-Kumander who was seeking an avenue into national politics. This politician, Wahab Akbar- see my entry, "Portrait of a Warlord, Part I: Wahab Akbar"- challenged the former paramount MNLF Kumander on Basilan, Abdulgani "Gerry" Ajul Salapuddin in the 1995 Gubrenatorial Election. Although Salapuddin, a very well established politician at the time, managed to retain his grip upon the Governor's chair, his victory would be fleeting.

Akbar managed to bounce back and in the 1998 Election when Salipuddin was forced to vacate the Governor's seat having reached his mandatory term limit, Akbar finally won office. Salapuddin wasn't too broken up over losing that position however since he parlayed the influence gained into winning the Congressional race that same year. Akbar meanwhile saw to it that his sister won a chair as one of three representatives from Basilan elected to the ARMM RLA (legislature) in its next election, and likewise saw a brother became Mayor of Maluso, a key municipality on Basilan, Akbar showed that his plans extended beyond the Governorship. After three consecutive wins and therefore reaching his term limit Akbar set his sights on Basilan's lone Congressional seat. As is the case with most Mindanowan politicians at the provincial level or above, Akbar had no desire to vacate the Governor's seat even as he aimed to enter the national stage. Of his four wives he chose Jum, a fellow Yakan, as being the one best able to win and most likely to remain in his pocket, even as he positioned two other wives to gear up for the mayoralty campaign's over the province's two largest cities, Isabela and Lamitan.


So it was that in 2007 one of Akbar's four wives, Jum Jainuddin Akbar pushed Salapuddin out of office as she won election as Governor. A second wife, Cherrylyn Santos Akbar, won election as the Mayor of Isabela City, the provincial capital, and although a third wife, Nur-in Akbar ended up losing in her bid to become the Mayor of Lamitan City, Akbar himself won election as the island's lone Congressman, defeating Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, heretofore the island's pre-eminent politician. The election marked Wahab's formation of what was, at that point in time, Basilan's strongest political dynasty. His laundry list of vehement enemies weren't about to take that lying down. Indeed, all through that 2007 campaign Akbar's followers were duking it out with Salipuddin's supporters, and to a lesser extent, those of gubernatorial candidate Sulaiman "Jim" Hataman Saliman, brother of our man of the hour, Mujiv Hataman.

On November 13th, 2007, as Akbar walked out of the Batasang Pambansa's south wing and into its carpark, after a long day in session, an unoccupied Honda motorcycle suddenly detonated, an IED having been set in its gas tank. Killed instantly were (Batasang Pambansa being the Congressional Building):

1) Marcial Taldo, Driver for Congresswoman Luz Iligan, died instantly

2) Kimhar Indanan, Bodyguard for Akbar

In addition, were wounded, and among them was the target of the bombing, Congressman Wahab Akbar. Akbar and the other fourteen wounded victims:

1) Congresswoman Luzviminda "Luz" Iligan, a Party List representative for Gabriela, the Leftist slash Feminist party took shrapnel in the legs and back

2) Congressman Pryde Henry Teves, representing Negros Oriental Province in the Central Philippines. One of the most seriously wounded he beat the odds and returned to work on Janurary 18th, 2008, albeit in a whhelchair and specia pressurised clothing to retard scarring. Unfortunately his horrible injuries led him into an addiction to morphine though he claims to have wrestled the monkey off his back sometime in mid-2010.

3) Congressional Aide Ma'an Abustanillo, Chief of Staff for her cousin, Congressman Teves. Unfortunately, as she was being transferred from Malvar General Hospital to the much better equipped Saint Luke's Medical Centre she went into cardiac arrest. Quickly re-routed to the nearest hospital, Capitol Medical Center, it was too late and she was declared DOA, or Dead on Arrival

4) Congressional Aide Dennis Manila, staffer of Congressman Akbar, died during treatment later that evening

5) Congressional Aide, Julasiri Hayudini, staffer of Congressman Akbar, died during treatment

6) Congressional Aide, Vercita Garcia, staffer of Congressman Teves, went into cardiac arrest on December 17th, 2007 and died

7) Ismael Lim, Driver for Liza Masa, founder of Gabriel and like her partymate Luz Iligan, serving in Congress

8) Timar Kindanan

9) Perry Garcia

10) Rodolfo Relente

11) Frederick del Castillo

12) Allan Mangulabnan

13) Larry Noda

14) Nikki Ayudoni

and of course

15) Congressnan Wahab Akbar who survived until shortly after reaching the hospital


The final tally, including Akbar, was seven dead, and ten wounded.


After the PNP, or Philippine National Police, requested their expertise, the American Embassy deployed a forensic unit to give the premises a once over. Philippine authorities usually do not care and the precious few that do are terribly under-equipped and under-trained and so the deployment of the American team was incredibly important if the world had any chance of finding out what had actually transpired at the Batasan Pambansa. The detonation took place just after 8PM, and the Americans arrived on scene just before 1015PM, before the crime scene was contaminated too badly (contamination being a given in the Philippines). Their role only extended as far as an initial workup on the IED. Their findings showed that it bore the signature of ASG, shorthand for the Abu Sayyaf Group, in terms of overall device construction and placement. The payload though was highly unusual for the Philippines, let alone Abu Sayyaf, but that appeared to be more due to logistics than anything else.

The payload of choice on Mindanao, for Abu Sayyaf as well as for the MILF/BIAF and various offshoots that have formed into KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) slash extortion rings is good old Compound B. Compound B is the payload inside of mortar and howitzer shells. Basically, it is a simple TNT and RDX admixture (36:63 ratio, respectively). Mindanao being the most heavily militarised swatch of land in Southeast Asia going on four decades now is cursed with an over-abundance of UXO, or Un-exploded Ordnance. Finding mortar and artillery shells is nearly as easy as buying them directly from the AFP, and it is VERY easy to buy anything from a Military in which Junior Officers make less than 14,000 Pesos ($300) a month- but wait! I almost for got the P40 (80 US Cents) a day in Combat Pay!

Buying explosives very well may be simple but few are willing to move them north of Mindanao. Our fair isle of course, sits nearly 750 kilometers to the south of Quezon City and its Batasang Pambansa. While accessible by both sea and air commercial transportation of mortar and artillery shells- or their explosive payload- is never a smart idea. Blasting caps are simple to make but here in the Philippines one need only go to just about any fishing village to find them selling for P50 ($1.10) per cap since fishermen, destroying their own industry, often rely on low grade explosives to "Dynamite Fish." The concussion stuns fish which then float belly up to the surface where waiting fishermen then harvest them. Of course it absolutely trashes coral reefs but when you are a 30 year old man supporting eight children and 9 members of an extended family the ecosystem is one of your least worries (if indeed it enters your mind at all). Triggers are almost always Radio Frequency Command and in a nation literally ranked number one in cellphone usage what else would an aspiring bomber utilise but a cellphone? Charges are typically 9Volt batteries, all items easily had on Luzon, certainly within Metro Manila.

Payloads however, present moderate difficulties as noted but for the knowledgeable bomb maker it isn't even a challenging obstacle. The American team discovered a PETN signature. PETN, or Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, is one of the most efficient military grade explosives on the market with a Relative Effectivebess Factor of 1.66. For the sake of brevity, that value signifies a substance's explosive power compared gramme for gramme with good old TNT. In other words, PETN only takes 0.6 kg to perform as well as 1kg of TNT. More importantly, militarily speaking, it is relatively stable both in terms of handling and in storage. While one hears a lot about terrorists favouring the substance because of its ability to pass basic security checks as well as its being extremely easy to manufacture, it is used militarily and indeed even commercially as well...even in common detonation cable. However, it isn't found in ASG or other domestic organisations.

Naturally the case led to a quick reaction on the part of the Philippine authorities, albeit as vaccuous as always. True to form arrests were quick but cases evaporated under the gross errors investigators committed as they tried to produce fast results with little thought given towards accuracy and/or sustainability. The first police operation took place just days after the bombing, on November 15th. Going down a list of individuals who had entered the southside carpark at the Congressional complex, two names:


1) Ikram Indama

2) Caidar Aunal

led to a single address not far from the complex, in Barangay Payatas' Violago Subdivision. The home rented by Redwan Indama and his wife Saing sat on a quiet residential street. While the PNP could have easily set up a cordon and tried to apprehend the two men peacefully, they instead stayed true to form and rushed in guns a'blazing and mowed down three "suspects.":

1) Redwan Indanan

2) Saing Indanan, Redwan's wife

3) Abu Jundal

The raid, by the PNP SAF, or Special Action Force, the PNP Special Operations element, also resulted in one officer being critically wounded by Friendly Fire:

Police Officer Third Grade (PO3) Roland Baucas

Three other suspects, including the two wanted men, were taken alive and unscathed:

1) Ikram Indama, then 35 years old

2) Caidar Aunal, then 41 years old

3) Adham Kusain, then 21 years old

Inside the home the arresting officers, members of the CIDG NCR-PRO (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group of the National Capital Region Police Region Group) did a thorough search and discovered a deed of sale for the Honda XRM motorcycle that had been used to conceal the IED at the Congressional complex. The deed listed a VIN, or Vehicle Identifacation Number (XRM 13- 066- 203339) that matched the VIN recovered from a piece of the motorcycle chassis recovered from the blast site. Also discovered was the Congressional Identification Badge which Ikram Indama had used to gain entrance for himself and Caidar Aunal aboard that same Honda XRM motorcycle. The badge designated Ikram as a Legislative Staff Assistant III to the Deputy Speaker for Mindanao, none other than Abdulgani "Gerry" Salapuddin, who had left office the previous May when his 9 year term limit expired. Also found were envelopes with Salapuddin's Congressional masthead. CIDG delivered the three men to the AFP's Fort Bonifacio in Metro Manila's Makati City. There they were held in the IS-AFP (AFP Intelligence Service) basement, a notorious torture chamber. Within hours all three had given up a co-conspirator:

1) Hajarun Jamiri

Jamiri was the former mayor of Tuburan, a municipality in Basilan, Wahab Akbar's home province and the home of the three previously arrested men as well. Taken without incident at a rental house in Malate he began babbling left and right as soon as the CIDG slipped the handcuffs on him. He led the arresting officers to a second motorcyle, a Suzuki Shogun. Moreover, he led the officers to a second rental home on Malate's Leveriza Street where they found a 3 kilogram IED. The motorcycle and IED were used on October 24th, outside the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City in a first attempt against Conressman Akbar but much to the conspirator's frustration Akbar had been a no show. Therefore the November 13th bombing at the Congressional complex had actually been the second attempt on Akbar's life.

Although the media was told that the four suspects taken into custody had been charged with Murder, Attempted Frustrated Murder, and Destruction of Property, in reality, they hadn't been charged with anything as investigators, with US assistance, attempted to unravel the whole sordid tale. The initial arrests in Barangay Payatas, and the gunshots that went with it, were solely based upon the information on who had entered the carpark that day, cross referenced with information about the home's occupants during a 24 hour surveillance. It turned out that one of the occupants, Abu Jundal, was an ASG, or Abu Sayyaf Group member, with a slew of open warrants for Kidnapping and related crimes, hence the "blazing" guns. Finally, on December 6th, the three arrestees from Barangay Payatas were charged with Obstruction of Justice for the CIDG shooting. The PNP claimed that it been Abu Jundal, the ASG member, who had opened fire first. As his co-conspirators the three men wore the Obstruction charge. The heavier charges would wait, as the PNP slowly untangled the story.


It IS true that there had been running firefights between Salapuddin's many armed supporters and those of then-Governor Akbar as both men ran for the island's lone Congressional seat but as sad as Mindanowan politics are, that is completely run of the mill in any Mindanowan gubernatorial election. The newsworthy subject would have been a major campaign where people hadn't been shot and blown up but that has yet to happen.

Then, it was discovered that one of the three suspects mowed down by the PNP in their first execution- I mean "arrest attempt," Redwan Indanan, was Mujiv Hataman and Jim Hatamn Saliman's cousin (paternal third cousin). However, the Yakan Tribe is rather small and like all other Islamicised Filipino tribes, polygamous, so that one can play connect the dots with Yakan families all day long without even raising more than the scantest circumstantial evidence. The entire province of Basilan barely has a population of 300,000 split between five ethnicities. It isn't hard then, to link one Yakan to another. A third cousin was not even worth noting.

Rather than make this an epically long post I will conclude this sordid tale in a "Part 2" post haste (pun kinda' intended).

Abu Sayyaf Armed Contacts, Second Quarter of 2011, Part I: Bombs Away

ASG,or the Abu Sayyaf Group,is a very small but volatile problem for the Philippine Government. Numbering less than 500 guerillas who are extremely factionalised and operating on only 2 of Mindanao's small island provinces (Basilan and Sulu) the organisation is approaching the 20 year mark with no end in sight. The different factions co-operate with one another but because of their relative isolation from each other are unable to forge a concerted ideological and operative front. In fact, the group has been almost entirely devoid of any ideology since 1999. Its activities centre upon KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) and Commercial Extortion. "Jihad" is used as a convenient rationale but that is where its Islamo-fascist leanings end.

One of the group's hallmarks is the use of ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil) primed IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices,as in"bombs"). Elsewhere in Mindanao ANFO is rarely utilised. Instead, bomb builders rely upon UXO (Unexploded Ordinance), especially mortar shells (the actualy substance is Compound B). Indeed, even within ASG AOR (Area of Responsibility, in this case "Area of Operation") one sees other groups using UXO. The typical ASG IED uses ANFO as the primer, TNT as the charge and 2 Nokia 3310 or 3315 cell phones as the powerpack and timer. Lately a second signature has been encountered on Basilan, which I will touch upon a bit later on in this entry.

April 9th, 2011 was much like any other Saturday Night at Spasky Lodging House. The 3 floored concrete building on the island province of Basilan's Barangay Maligaya in Lamitan City was rarely busy. Basilan has never been a tourist destination. With the majority of the islanders belonging to 1 of 4 Islamicised Tribes:

1) Yakan, the indigenous tribe of Basilan

2) Tausug, an Islamicised Bisaya Tribe centered upon Sulu Province's Jolo Island

3) Sama (Samal), the tribe indigenous to Sulu Province

4) Badjao (Bajao), a nomadic seafaring tribe known popularly as "Sea Gypsies"

there just wasn't a huge market for the sort of business most hotels depend upon. At 655PM 2 young men in their late teens or early 20s checked in carrying a large green plastic shopping bag. Requesting a room on the ground floor the young men were given the key to room #200. Just a few minutes later both men left, no longer carrying their shopping bag and hurried down Flores Street, away from the hotel. Just as the clock struck 710PM a powerful IED pancaked the entire building, 2 adjoining houses and everything inside them. As is almost always the case in Mindanao, the authorities refuse to discuss bodycounts. In fact, true to form, the official narrative has no casualties whatsoever. That is pretty amazing considering that at the bare minimum the desk clerk would have been crushed. Owner Jose Tejada had been receiving threatening SMS (Text) messages demanding monthly payments and just a week prior to the detonation he had been visited by 3 well armed ASG guerillas who again demanded a monthly protection fee. Mr.Tejada refused.

At a bit past 9PM that same night, Saturday April 9th, the 3rd Special Forces (Airborne) Battalion's COY 15 (15th Company) on foot patrol in Barangay Port Area [sic] of Basilan's provincial capitol Isabela City turned onto JS Alano Street. One keen soldier espied an abandoned shoulder bag sitting squarely against the exterior wall of an ice plant. Located just 10 meters from a street corner holding a petrol station and a videoke bar (known as the "Sofia Hotel") the AFP CO (Commanding Officer),1LT (First Lieutenant) Arizabel cautiously approached the bag and by carefully examining it found that it contained a small plastic doll (yep,go figure) and a cluster of wires. Ordering his men to set a perimeter to protect an unsuspecting public he then contacted the nearest EOD (Explosives and Ordinance Disposal), in this case the PNP SAF (Philippine National Police Special Action Force, the PNP Special Forces element). After vetting the device which consisted of 2 Nokia 3310 cellphones, a clear plastic lunch box-type container that held the ANFO slash TNT payload and was labeled "ABO SAYYAF" [sic], entirely in capitol letters, the EOD detonated it on site without incident.

At 10AM the next morning the 32IB (Infantry Battalion) was conducting a limited foot patrol with a K9 (bomb sniffing dog) to secure a mobile checkpoint in front of Lamitan Central Elementary School) on Quezon Blvd. The dog alerted and quickly uncovered a yellow plastic shopping bag which, except for it not having a plastic doll was exactly the same signature as the device found in front of the ice plant in Isabela City. The payload sat in a pink tinted clear lunch box-type plastic container. 32IB EOD responded and safely removed the device and disposed of it off site.

On Good Friday, April 22nd, 2011 a passerby discovered a very powerful IED placed directly in front of the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) Building. Though most people unfamiliar with the locale focused on the BIR the site is actually a mere 7 meters from the main gate to Santa Isabela Cathedral, a large Catholic Church that was holding Good Friday Mass. Again, this device had the same signature except that its payload was much larger and was wrapped inside bands of sheetrock nails.

The next day, Saturday April 23rd, a teenaged boy was enjoying the cool evening air in Isabela City when he decided to take a shortcut across Plaza Rizal and its Rizal Monument, opposite the Basilan Provincial Capital Complex. As the youth approached the monument itself he saw a blinking red light inside a pile of rocks placed around the base of the statue. To his credit he didn't approach it but rather dialed up the Isabela CPO (City Police Office) which promptly deployed a detachment. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after discovering a flashlight wired to a 9Volt battery.

Kidnap for Ransom,First Quarter of 2011,Part IV:Amir Nasser Arasul,Poroa Botawan Sancaan,Bairah Datumanong Sangcaan,Roberto Tacobo and Uju Araba'n

On Sunday,January 02,2011 Ujun Arabain joined family and friends at the wedding of a clan member in his home town of Indanan on Jolo Island in Sulu Province.Arabain didn't get a whole lot of time off from his position as Registar at HBSAT and so he looked forward to the wedding as a welcomed change of pace.HBSAT,or"Hadji Butu School of Arts and Trade"on Scott Road in the provincial capitol of Jolo City was formerly known as"National School of the Arts."With separate high school and college programmes and with Mr.Arabain bring the school's sole Registar,he was always struggling to keep up with an incredibly demanding schedule.

Enjoying the wedding feast at a bit past 2PM Mr.Arabain was busy in conversation and was therefore unaware that 5 well armed men had forced their way into the festivities.The leader of the gunmen.Abu Sayyaf sub-Kumander Aldin"Abu Shaining"Bagadi happens to be a 3rd cousin of Arabain's and as luck would have it had come specifically to settle an internal feud centering upon financial issues.Grabbing Mr.Arabain's possesions the 5 men hurriedly left,dragging Arabain as they went.

As unfortunate as the sordid event was it was rapidly concluded and unlike many kidnappings in the Southern Philippines it had a happy ending.Courtesy of clan elders,Mr.Arabain was released after they were able to convince the Abu Sayyaf guerillas to release Mr.Arabain.Just 47 hours later on the afternoon of January 4th,the shaken victim was back in his home in Indanan.If only those same"elders"had the decency to intervene in the cases of non-related kidnapping victims as well.

On the afternoon of February 13th,2011 6 year old Amir Nasser Arasul was walking alone on Kalle Prospero (Prospero Street) in Isabela City's Barangay San Rafael,the provincial capitol of Basilan.Suddenly,2 men riding tandem on a single motorcycle pulled up in front of the little boy,grabbed him without waning and just as quickly sped away.Within an hour Amir's father,Legislator Nasser Arasul,a CLA member (Consultative Legislative Assembly,the legislature of the ARMM,or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) received a phone call informing him that his young son was being ransomed by Barangay Chairman Ronnie Keseg of Barangay Tablas in the town of Tuburan,also on the island province of Basilan.

Aside from serving as a Barangay Chairman,or as they better are much better known,Barangay Captain,Keseg also serves as his municipality's Chairman of the"ABC,"or"Association of Barangay Chairmen,"an entity composed of every barangay chairman in a given municipality.ABC Chairmen also serve as ex-officio members of municipal councils.Keseg took aim at the Arasul Clan because of Haber Arasul.Haber,brother of Legislator Nasser recently ended his term as Mayor of Sumisip,also on Basilan.While still mayor Haber incurred a debt of P300,000 ($6,200) to the Keseg Clan.

After receiving the phone call regarding his son Legislator Arusul took a highly unusual step and called the PNP (Philippine National Police) to seek their assistance in the case.Calling the PNP,or any authorities is usually the last thing someone will want do if victimised by a KFR (Kidnap for Ransom).In most cases PNP officers are complicit on one level or another,if not actually pulling strings themselves.Involvement runs from the lowest ranking officers (PO1s) to some of the highest ranking personnel (even up to Senior Inspector).Just this week a KFR organisation composed entirely of PNP personnel was discovered,albeit on Luzon.Another consideration is the lack of training for officers on all aspects of police work BUT ESPECIALLY with regard to KFR.Then there are other things to consider,namely,the PNP must inform LGUs (Local Government Units,i.e.barangay,municipal and provincial governments) and when KFRs take place the Standard Operating Procedure,as dictated by the philippine Government,is to immediately create a task force dedicated to that specific kidnapping.IF the PNP in a given area is unmarred by institutional involvement it is a guarantee that the LGU IS.LGUs are likewise involved in it either through direct participation or else simply by complicity.Mindanao has 4 KFR orbits:

1) Jolo Island in Sulu Province

2) Zamboanga City-Basilan Island nexus

3) Cotabato City to Liguasan Marsh nexus

4) Marawi City to Poona Piagapo nexus in Lanao del Sur Province

In each of these 4 orbits the LGUs are involved in the utmost.I reckon this would probably be worthy of at least 1 post all its own if not an actual series but for the sake of brevity I will just point to Cotabato City and Liguasan Marsh.In both the city and almost every municipality skirting the marsh there are public officials directly profiting from KFR.In the city,local warlord,Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema (concurrently the Chairman of the MNLF-EC15,MNLF-Executive Committee of 15,an off shoot of the larger MNLF-Misuari) is the shot-caller in the Tsinoy (Filipinos of Chinese descent) KFRs that have been plagueing Cotabato City and its environs for the last decade and change.Sema hasn't always been top dog of course but during his 3 terms as Mayor he was able to supplant the BMA-Misuari (the BMA,or Bangsamoro Army being the armed wing of the MNLF) and BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,the armed wing of the MILF) Kumanders (amongst Islamic Insurgent organisations in the Southern Philippines the term"Kumander"denotes a Commanding Officer) that had here to fore carved a niche in this virtual cottage industry as armed conflicts powered down during the many peace processes that have been implemented and re-implemented.

So,if one has any sort of common sense they keep both the PNP as well as all LGUs as far away as they can.The goal is always profit and the KFR organisations ALWAYS expect serious negotiating.Just as in any negotiation you do not want a member of the opposition sitting in the room as you discuss pricing amongst your allies.More over,you don't want the KFR organisations being able to gauge your level of emotional and/or financial desperation.

Nasser Arasul,as an ARMM politico is well aware of the standard process in KFRs as well as the dangers one faces in directly involving the PNP.Yet,one of the first things Arasul did was call Director,Chief Supt.Felicisimo Khu ofDIPO-West.DIPO,or Directorate of Integrated Police Operations,was created at the end of 2008 to deal specifically with jurisdictional conflicts within the PNP's myriad of organisational entities.Aside from a bloated bureaucracy the PNP is inhibited by the crazy quilt-like patchwork of LGU demarcation.Arasul's home province of Basilan Island for example is very emblematic of this problem.

Basilan constitutes an entire province of Mindanao.The island,except for its provincial capitol,Isabela City,is encompassed within the ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao).Isabela City on the other hand is administratively attached to Region IX which itself encompasses the entire Zamboanga Peninsula.So,you have a city,on an island.The city serves as the capitol of this island BUT isn't attached to the island in terms of regional government.Instead it is attached to a peninsula some 17km away.Travel between the island and the peninsula isn't exactly easy,nor is it easy in terms of infrastructural parity,implementation of regional programming and so forth.Yet,these LGU demarcations are but one piece of the puzzle.The other factor involves law enforcement.The PNP was demilitarised in the post-Marcos Era and to avoid a repeat of the mistakes made while militarised the police were sublimated to the DILG,the Department of the Interior and Local Government.Now,that shouldn't have really led to any real issues since the DILG concurrently oversees all LGUs.Ergo the department should be able to formulate a system that matches its LGUs,providing aququate coverage and services.At least that would be intuitive.However,when your LGUs are structured without rhyme or reason it is impossible to do so.

The LGUs aren't the only problem.The PNP is itself incredibly bloated.There are 2 main structures to deal with:

1) Operational Support Units

2) Police Regional Offices

These 2 structures are entirely parallel command structures subordinate the national headquarters.Ideally there would be a mechanism for parallel communication but it doesn't exist above and beyond informal relationships between individual personnel.Under the Police Regional Office,or PRO,you have the sublimated entities such as PSM (Public Safety Management,formerly known as"PMGs"or Police Mobile Groups),operating in battalion sized elements.Parallel to PSM/PMGs there is a second structure composed of PPOs (Provincial Police Offices) under which are CPOs (City Police Offices) and MPOs,also known as MPSs,or"Municipal Police Offices"or the more commonly known"Municipal Police Stations."

The parallel command structure,OSU,or Operational Support Units,have 3 main sublimated structures (and several less structures).All these different structures are entirely parallel to one another.The 3 main structures:

1) Intelligence Group

2) CIDG,or Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.Further complicating matters is the fact that CIDGs are attached regionally,BUT NOT sublimated to the afore mentioned PRO (Police Regional Office).

3) SAF,or Special Action Force.SAF are Special Forces,primarily utilised in combat environmemts.

If you think this is confusing,imaging someone whose loved one has been kidnapped.Let's take the Arasul Case for an example.The man's 6 year old son has been abducted in Isabela City in Basilan Province.The child was then taken outside the city.Inside the city it is Region IX,outside it is ARMM.CIDG 9,CIDG-ARMM,PRP-ARMM,PRO-9,Isabela City CPO,Tuburan MPO/MPS,what to do?Who to call?

In a more structured environment it would be fine to call any and all because not only would each organisation have the means to effectively communicate and liason with any other of the listed organisations,they would all have an SOP,or Standard Operating Procedure.There would be explicitly articulated protocols and contingencies in place to deal with this exact situation.For example,using the American Model,a kidnapping is under the jurisdiction of the municipal police force where the actual abduction occurred.IF the municipal police force is under equipped OR overwhelmed it is freely able to liason with the state police force who have statewide jurisdiction.IF the kidnapping involves an abduction and conveyance across state borders,even into a neighbouring state,it is taken out of the hands of the municipal and state police and automatically given to the FBI,or Federal Bureau of Investigation.Everybody involved is more than clear on how jurisdiction is handled.

To the PNP's credit it realised that the large amount of kidnappings in Region IX were an organisational nightmare.Quite a number take place in Zamboanga City with the victim being spirited across the strait and onto Basilan.In other words,an abduction would take place in Region IX,and the victim would be immediately taken into ARMM.This immediate changing of jurisdictions crippled law enforcement.So,on November 14,2008 the PNP created DIPO,the Directorate of Integrated Police Operations.Intially there were only 2,DIPO-East and DIPO-West with the latter being the main focus.Headquartered in Zamboanga City its mandate was to improve prevention and interdiction of KFR assailants.Currently,DIPO-West is under the command of the afore mentioned Director,Chief Supt.Khu.

After Arasul phoned Director Khu the latter took a launch across to Isabela City,the immediate response hinging on Arasul's position as a legislator.The next day,February 14th Khu escorted Arasul to the home of Vice Mayor of Tuburan,Durie Kalahal.Kalahal had been briefed by phone and had arranged a formal sit down in the interim.Kalahal,Khu and Arasul proceeded to the Keseg compound where they discussed Keseg's demands.After 7.5 hours the 2 protagonists had agreed that Arasul would pay his brother's debt and Keseg agreed to release Arasul's son.

Tuburan,Ronnie Keseg's hometown,is an Abu Sayyaf centre of operations and most of the local politicians have been compromised by clan loyalty,financial profiteering or even so far as actually joining ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) themselves.Keseg isn't listed as an ASG member but he could not maintain a power base in the municipality without the co-operation of Abu Sayyaf.

On Thursday,March 01,2011,50 year old Roberto Tacbobo was spending his day in the usual manner.Driving his employer's 10 wheeler the Iligan City resident was travelling down Narciso Ramos National Hiway in the municipality of Masiu,in Lanao del Sur Province.Having entered Barangay Sawir he was returning to his employer,Macarambon Calandada in the town of Saguiran,also in Lanao del Sur.With no load,having just delivered rice in the municipality of Lumbayanague Mr.Tacbobo must have realised that he wasn't facing a hijacking when 4 motorcycles rapidly boxed him. In.Despite the appellation"hiway,"Narciso Ramos is exactly like all other hiways on Mindanao,a 2 lane road with no shoulder.Therefore there wasn't much Tacbob could do but slow his pace and allow them to corral him into a gradual stop.

Each motorcycle held 2 men riding tandem.Each one of the 4 passengers were fully armed and so Roberto Tacbobo had no choice but to comply and enter the van that soon pulled up.Lucky for Mr.Tacbobo hus employer wasd ready,willing and able to pay his ransom (amount undetermined) and gain his employeezks release.On Saturday,March 3rd at 4PM,Roberto Tacbobo was released unharmed in Barangay Sandab in the municipality of Butig,Lanao del Sur Province.

On Wednesday March 23,2011 57 year old attorney Poroa Botawan Sangcaan and his wife,Baira Datumanong Sangcaan,53,a public scool teacher were en route to a Kandoori (tribal feast) when they were waylaid at an impromptu checkpoint in the municipality of Pantar Ragao in Lanao del Norte Province.The 4 armed men stopped every vehicle entering Barangay Kalanganan,scanning faces as they searched for specific people.Pulling up in their green Toyota Adventure the Sangcaans had no idea that they check point had been hastily implemented entirely for their benefit.

As soon as the couple were recognised the leader of the 4 gunmen,Arpa"Arafat"Alim Gumpal ordered his men,all clansmen,to disassemble the checkpoint and get into the SUV with the couple.The 3 other men:

1) Farouk"Froxy"Alim Gumpal

2) Odeng Gumpal

3) Lucman"Lucky"Gumpal

Quickly did as they were told and the SUV sped off.The Gumpal Clan almost immediately sold them up the food chain to a very well established KFR group in the town of Poona Piagapo,in that same province,Lanao del Sur.Holding the terrified couple in that town's Barangay Mamaan and initially demanded P1.5 Million (~$33,000) but as is always the case gradually lowered their deman to P500,000 (~$11,500) and then finally to P250,000 (~$5,250).The couple's family members were able to collectively raise that sum and so on Saturday,March 26th the couple were released on the outskirts of Poona Piagapo.

As usual even the Government couldn't get the facts straight and reported the husband as Akmad Sangka Datumanong.Datumanong,a clansman of the female victim,is the Barangay Chairman of Barangay Dadu in the town of Malundo,also in the province of Lanao del Sur.It is extremely ironic given that that actual male victim,Poroa Botawan Sangcaan is a Government employee!He is Legal Counsel for DENR-10 (Department of the Environment and Natural Resources-Region X).The DENR has its share of pratfalls given the profits involves in logging and mining,legal and illegal,all of which come under the domain of that office.The possibility that the male victim's position may habe had something to do with the couple being victimised is certainly something that should be considered.In any event,the couple,residents of Barangay Poblacion in Marawi City were none worse for the wear,all things considered.

Abu Sayyaf, First Quarter Engagements, 2011

As I noted in my previous entry ("Abu Sayyaf Interdiction, First Quarter 2011") the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) would appear to some as if it has finally been making much needed headway against ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group). It has roped in several high profile arrests in the most notorious incidents ("Sipadan Island," "Dos Palmas," Siege of Lamitan" and "Golden Harvest Plantation") and has finally moved forward in the assasination of Congressman Wahab Akbar in the 2007 bombing of the Congressional Complex that killed Rep.Akbar and 4 others.

As the AFP readied itself to go mano a mano with ASG on Basilan LGUs (Local Govt. Units, barangay, town, city and provincial govts.) in the Visayas (Central Philippines) began getting very nervous about the possibility of ASG heading north to their shores. Though historically in the early Spanish Era Muslims would indeed push north, raping, pillaging and enslaving as they moved through the islands, in the present its not likely to happen. ASG goes no further north than the Zamboanga Peninsula (excepting its infamous and singular foray into Palawan in 2001) and even then it does so only out of absolute necessity, the Sulu archipelago being their preferred destination. As if unsteady nerves weren't bad enough, AFP Intelligence warned of an impending attack in Negros, Bohol and/or Siquijor Islands. On January 03, 2011 Intelligence had warned of a large detachment of ASG leaving Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte Province and heading to Negros Oriental Province on the island of Negros. A week later, after the first warning amounted to nothing, ASG was said to be departing Zamboanga City in Zamboanga del Norte Province en route to Dumaguete on Negros Island. On January 14 the attack was said to be impending on Bohol Island. The Alert ended February 01.

January 07 five members of ASG were charged in the "Camp Asturias Chapel" bombing that took place during Xmas Mass in 2010, wounding 11 people including 2 Roman Catholic priests. The 5 charged are;

1) Alhabsy Misaya

2) Dodong Tarik

3) Sali Sa'id

4) Arola (epnonymously named)

5) Gafur (epononymously named)

Number 3, Sali Sa'id, was nabbed on February 01,as I discussed in my previous entry. He was on Chinese Wharf in Jolo City shortly after disembarking from am inter-island ferry.

On January 09,2011 a group of ASG under sub-Kumander Patti Kabulot of the Jamiri Faction ambushed the AFP in Barangay Baguindan, Tipo Tipo on Basilan Island. 2 guerillas were killed in the 45 minute fire fight, one of which was Kabulot himself. A third was captured alive along with two M16s and one RPG, along with two RPG shells.

January 14, in Sitio Fuente, Barangay Sapa Bulag, Sumisip on Basilan Island, Cpl.Haber Akil of the 32IB (32nd Infantry Battalion) was en route to Tumahubong from Isabela City on a motorcycle while on duty. A sniper took his life with a shot to the chest.

January 19, in Sitio Kurellem, Barangay Silangkum, Tipo Tipo on Basilan Island, ASG Factional Leader Nurhusin Jamiri was with at least 50 gunmen when the 4th Scout Rangers Battalion, COY (Company) 13 accidentally found him while scouring the sector. In the ensuing fire fight 1 Scout Ranger was critically wounded and died after being helicoptered out to Zamboanga City for treatment.

January 21 in Barangay Macalang, al Barka, the 4th Scout Rangers Battalion entered a recently abandoned ASG Camp where they discovered 2 IEDs (though not primed as booby traps, merely being stored after manufacture), 50 grammes of ammonium nitrate (an ingredient in IED payloads) and 14 rounds of M60 (large crew fired weapon) ammunition. The camp wad comprised of 4 "nipas" (single roomed bamboo framed palm thatched huts, the average home in the Philippines) that could have held 20 men. The camp was discovered by accident during a scour (meter by meter search within established co-ordinates).

Barangay Maclang is 1 of several al Barka barangays whose residents have fled en masse during the afore mentioned tactical push against ASG. Roughly 6,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons, aka"Refugees") from Barangays Macalang, Danapa and Ka'ilih took refuge in and around Danapa Elementary School in the barangay of the same name. As Febuary began the AFP and LGU (Local Government Unit tried their best to persuade the terrified villagers to go back to their homes and farms but to no avail. Almost all refused to move back home or even tend their farms for as long as the AFP continued its tactical operations in the town.

On February 12 in Barangay Baiwas in Sumisip, Basilan, the 4th Scout Rangers Battalion launched a direct assault on the camp of ASG sub-Kumander Juhaiber"Abu Kiks"Alamsirul of the Janatul Faction. The operation, which began at daybreak was difficult as the camp clings to a very steep mountainside but was deemed high priority after receiving intelligence that the factional leader, Kumander Radzmil Janatul had stayed there overnight with 30 of his best men. A single platoon under Captain Daet was all that Task Force Headquarters could muster on such short notice though all things considered, a platoon of Scout Rangers are worth at least 2 companies of regular AFP Infantrymen (a platoon averages 30 men while a company nets 100 to 120 men). The attack lasted until 3 hours, until 730AM and left 2 soldiers dead, 5 wounded. Upon ASG withdrawing the Scout Rangers entered the camp and secured it, discovering 7 earthen bunkers.

On March 06 in Barangay Santa Barbara, Isabela City, Basilan, PNP PO1 (PNP officers are ranked by a 1,2 or 3 depending upon their seniority, with "1" being the lowest rank equivalent to a "Private" in the Army,with "PO" signifying "Police Officer") Dennis Aquino, Barangay Captain Noel Mirasol and 3 Barangay Kagawads (Barangay Councillors) were walking through the barangay when they were ambushed by snipers. Mirasol and Aquino were critically wounded as the 3 Barangay Kagawads returned fire and killed 2 of the gunmen, epononymously named Baljubir and Nadjar.Though the officials were Cebuanos and Chavacanos (non-Muslim) and the gunmen were Muslim there are rumours that this didn't involve ASG per se and wasn't even political in nature. Aquino and Mirasol are said to be neck deep in the drug trade and since this is the Southern Philippines "drugs" are synonymous with "Shabu," highly pure smokable methamphetamine.

March 09, an IED placed inside a triksiad (ubiqitous form of Philippine public transport constructed out of a motorcycle dirt bike with an aluminum body constructed around it, inside of which there are 2 bench seats hold passengers) detonated as a group of triksiads idled in front of the Sulu Peovincial Board of Education building in Jolo City, on Jolo Island. The blast, timed for afternoon rush hour killed 5 drivers and wounded 11, including passerby. The blast seems to have been aimed for a PNP transport carrying a detachment of SAF (Special Action Force, the PNP's Special Operations element) which had just passed by when detonation occurred. The group of drivers were parked against the fence around Salih Ututalum Elementary School where 2 men were immediately killed. The other 3 deaths occurred during treatment at a nearby hospital. The initial 2 fatalities are unidentifiable because of the damage to their bodies from the powerful blast. The 3 men who died during treatment are:

1) Habir Sabri

2) Abdulmajid Ibrahim

3) Aleson Ma'ing




On that same day, March 09 the AFP threw all progress they had made thus far in 2011 out the proverbial window when they played the "Keystone Cops, Philippine Style" in an episode we will call, "Sacol Island: Whose on First?" In a Top Secret Operation so hush hush that Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin had no idea it was even planned, never mind dumbfounded LGUs who have been railing against this breech of protocol.

Acting upon intelligence that ASG-Basilan Factional Leader Khair Mundos was ensconced on an isolated tract on Sacol Island, possibly wit the other major factional leader on Basilan, Nurhusin Jamiri, the AFP's TF Basilan launched a massive air/amphibious operation. Using Hueys (helicopters) to insert Airborne soldiers from 3rd Special Forces Battalion, covered by 2 MG-529s (helicopter gunships) on the far side of the very small islet. On the tract where ASG was supposed to be dug in, those Gun Ships softened the ground with 8 missiles launched as the soldiers were scouring from the other coast. The problem however is that that ASG "camp"? The one containing Khair Mundos and Nurhusin Jamiri? It was an empty mangrove. If ASG had ever been there they weren't now. Sadly it took the AFP NINE HOURS to discover they were killing...a...MANGROVE. I need to also add that the missile strikes were supposed to be kilometers away from the nearest civilians but residents of Barangay Landang Laum note that the strikes hit mere meters from their village which abuts that mangrove. Perhaps the AFP should be happy people are laughing at them as opposed to calling them "mass murderers."


March 17 the AFP seems to have caught with its pants down AGAIN. Scout Rangers set a cross fire ambush along a main road to try and interdict ASG. It ended up instead critically wounding a PNP (Pgilippine National Police) officer who was operating a motorcycle and his civilian passenger. In its own defence the Scout Ranger Team in question claimed it had thought the motorcycle was carrying Barangay Captain Nat Haddalam, a member of ASG. In other words, the AFP's elite units see the need to lay a cross fire ambush rather than to try and LAWFULLY stop and arrest the subject they were after. Even more disgustingly, both men on the motorcycle were shot in the back!

On Saturday, March 19 off of Menes Island, part of the island municipality of Hadji Panglima Tahil, formerly known as "Marunggas," yet another case of "Ambak Pare" took place. The phrase is Cebuano and idiomatically is akin to, "You better jump dude!" It denotes piracy, almost always by ASG, where if you aren't kidnapped you are told, "Ambak Pare!" It is prevalent on Mindanao's southwestern coast and Zamboanga Peninsula. Less often it happens like Saturday's case, in the Sulu archipelago and Tawi Tawi, the Philippines' southern most island. This last case revolved around the typical ASG extortion aimed at small to medium sized fishing companies. The vessel "M/V Mega VIII" was manned by 3 men, who are missing:

1) Captain Renato Panisales

2) Wennie Ferrer

3) Jonald Ocsimar

The 3 men were initially believed to have been killed but 2 days after their disappearance the Jamiri Jawari Faction of ASG made contact with the fishing company and demanded 10 Million Pesos in Ransom. From then until March 31 nothing else was known though the AFP concentrated its search in and around the factional territory near the municipality of Patikul on Jolo Island. On the day in question, March 31, the military entered an outlying barangay within Patikul and came under fire from Abu Sayyaf. During intence fighting the AFP killed 3 guerillas but failed to sight the 3 captives. When ASG withdrew from the village 50 minutes later the soldiers found the Seaman Book (a work permit issued to maritime workers) issued to the fishing boat captain, Renato Panisales. As for the island municipality where this incident initially took place, took place, Hadji Panglima Tahil, the town is spread out over several tiny islets and is an MNLF-Misuari Faction stronghold now mainly populated by MNLF guerillas who sought land after the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. Led by Kumander Elol Salim, the 417 guerillas now put their energy into an abalome co-operative and a seaweed farming operation funded by ELAP (Emergency Livlihood Assistance Program) and its evolved form, LEAP (Livlihood Enhancement and Peace Pogrsmme). LEAP is funded by USAID's GEM (Growth with Equity in Mindanao), a programme meant to help de-programme MNLF guerillas.

On Monday, March 21 ASG's Jamiri Faction kidnapped yet another person on Basilan Island. At 130 AM Rolando de la Cruz, caretaker for "Cawley Resturant" on Aguinaldo Street, Barangay Matibay, Lamitan City, was checking for intruders after his dogs began barking excitedly. As the 44 year old man stepped into the compound he was confronyed by ASG guerillas under sub-Kumander Ustadz Salim Tado. The kidnapper's forced de la Cruz into his own vehicle and sped off in the direction of that city's Barangay Bulanting. It was in that barangay's Sitio Libi that the SUV was found on fire. However, by early that evening the 32IB had brought that band of guerillas to heel and rather than be caught themselves the kidnappers simply release Mr.de la Cruz. It is a standard ASG diversionary tactic and for better or for worse there is an unwritten but well understood rule between the AFP and ASG. IF ASG releases a kidnapping victim without having harmed him or her the AFP allows a route for escape and does not attack. After being released by ASG in Barangay Sinulatan, Tuburan at 520PM the 32IB gave the kidnappers an hour to fully withdraw and so they recovered the victim alive and well at 620PM.

Ironically the kidnapping coincides with US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr's visit to the region. Arriving in Zamboanga City on the March 21 he will next head across the strait to Basilan and then to Jolo City where he will take part in a ceremony marking the US grant of more than 1 million US Dollars (23,000 Pesos) to local NGO, "LPDR" (Literacy for Peace and Development).

March 28, 2011 saw the closure of a case that had been vexing Philippine authorities for almost a decade. Javanese bomb expert Umar"Mike"Patek of the Indonesian terrorist organisation Jemaya'a Islamiyya ("JI"). Having been arrested by Pakistan's "Inter-Services Intelligence Agency" on information provided by the CIA (American Intelligence, isn't THAT an oxymoron?).For nearly a decade JI and ASG have been nearly synonymous with one another, ever since the aftermath of JI's "Bali Bombing." Patek, and by extension JI's first involvement with ASG first took place in 1995 when he arrived in Mindanao to relieve Nasir bin Abas as the CO (Commanding Officer" of JI's "Mantiki III," the label applied to the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Brunei. In 1999 he returned to Jakarta and assumed a leadership role as the group began laying the ground work needed for the "Bali Bombing." The attack, which eventually transpired in 2002. The act killed 202 people, nearly half of them Australian, and thereby turned JI into the posterboy of SE Asian Terrorism. An international manhunt began with several relatively high ranking members choosing to capitalise on a long standing relationship with Mindanao and the Muslims living here. It was a natural thing to do given the common Malay ancestry, common physical appearance and of course, a common faith.

JI members like Patek, and his brother-in-law Joko"Dulmatin"Pitoyo originally came to teach at an MILF "academy" in a now defunct jungle stronghold, "Camp Hudaibiyah." Located in Pawas, Maguindanao, it trained MILF, ASG AND JI members. It was in Hudaibiyah that the 2 JI leaders would cultivate relationships and teach both ASG AND MILF members how to manufacture technically proficient IEDs.

After the bombing in Bali, in 2002, the Indonesian authorities, aided by Australian law enforcement began a relentless manhunt for not only the bombers but all Islamo-fascists in general. Patek decided to travel with Dulmatin north to Mindanao. With authorities all over the region on the look out this latest trip would have to take place off the grid; The Southern Philippines (Mindanao and its outlying island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi) have regional agreements concerning unfettered travel between ialands, regardless of international borders. One can take a ferry, freighter or fishing boat between Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. There is no need for Immigration OR Customs, one simply disembarks and isn't questioned or impeded. Still, it takes a bit of knowhow in choosing which craft from whatever port and so the duo had an acquaintance from the Islamo-fascist organisation "Darul Islam" to guide them on their journey north. The man chosen, Arham (a.k.a."Arnoldl) was a . Arriving in mid-2003 the duo immediately returned to Maguindanao Province and Camp Hudaibiyah.

Though their old protector, the MILF's Kumamder Abu Badrin Badruddin welcomed the 2 men back to Central Mindanao things had changed drastically. Since the Indonesians had left in 1999 the MILF had been badly beaten, almost to the point of destruction, during then President Estrada's "All Out War on the MILF." The war, in 2000, had been precipitated by an attack by an MILF unit on the town of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte Province. Occupying the Christian town in a show of strength the MILF hadn't been aware that that AFP AOR (Area of Responsibility) had received a Brigade strength deployment of Marines just 4 hours prior. Without even unpacking their kitbags the Marines rushed to Kauswagan from their new base in Cagayan del Oro City in the adjacent province of Misamis Oriental and freed the town by midnite. From that quick victory Estrada, capitalising on its momentum added 2 entire Infantry Divisions and in a pincer move began advancing up Narciso Ramos National Hiway from both its terminuses, clearing all MILF positions as they went. Within 3 months the government forces reached Camp Abubakar, the MILF nerve center, and leveled it. So total was the victory that Estrada himself hurried south by private jet and then helicoptered into Camp Abubakar in order to personally host a pigroast and beerbash. Edtrada's choice of refreshments being highly symbolic in what was here to fore a bastion of Islamic Power on the island. The President swilling beer and chewing pork cracklings in the MILF Central Mosque had its intended effect, the MILF almost collapsed.

In the nearly 3 years since, MILF Kumanders like Badruddin had reorganised their forces into highly mobile formationd known as "Base Commands" and operated without much of a power structure above them. This essentially meant that Patek and Dulmatin were incredibly vulnerable despite Camp Hudaibiyah having managed to survive largely unscathed within the impenetrable Ligusan Marsh. Within months of the pair's arrival the MILF came under intense political pressure from the Philippine Government.

In the Philippines it is the military that runs the country. Though Estrada's guidance had led to a massive victory for the AFP in the 2000 War, his corruption had reached epic proportions. This became the impetus for a strong faction within the Army to forment a coup to install then Vice President Gloria M.Arroyo in the Presidential Palace. Almost immediately after seizing power President Arroyo sought to solidify her position by reaching a Peace Agreement with at least 1 of the several insurgencies plagueing the nation. She decided that the MILF presented the strongest chance for a successful outcome. After enlisting the aid of Malaysia to Facilitate these Talks she and the MILF began aggressively negotiating. Just after the Indonesian's arrival in Mindanao the Philippine Government turned its attentions towards Camp Hudaibaya after Australian Intelligence ascertained that members of Indonesian terror groups (JI, Darul Islam, KOMPAK) and leaned on the MILF to shutter the encampment.

It was in mid-2004 then that Patel and Dulmatin took refuge with the Khadaffi Janjalani Faction of ASG on Basilan. On Basilan the conditions were deplorable, trekking deep in the isolated bush, always being pursued by the AFP and so by 2005 they had sailed south with part of the Janjalani Faction, taking refuge on Jolo Island with the Sadhiron Faction of ASG. From that point there are highly conflicting reports on his whereabouts. Readers might recall that in my ASG entry for the last quarter of 2010 that pundits were getting hot and bothered as they challenged each others' view concerning Patek's latest whereabouts. Some thought he was still in Sulu Province, others in Tawi Tawi Province (supported by a video of him there though not dated in any way), while others had him in Pakistan. Lo and behold, Pakistan was correct. No word on who gets to collect a 10 Million US Bounty.

Finally this quarter, just after New Year, skeletal remains of a decapitated male waa found in a cave in the hills above Tipo Tipo, in that municipality's Barangay Kabug Pababag. Forensics are being formed with American assistance to try and determine the identity of the deceased.

Abu Sayyaf Interdiction for the First Quarter of 2011

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Abu Sayyaf for the 4th Quarter of 2010: Abu Sayyaf Hates Christmas...I Mean Christians (Oooops)

I have been so preoccupied with the NPA Ceasefire lately that I almost neglected to mention the latest happenings from everybodys' favourite Islamo-fascists, the ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group. Of course there is no real chance of me doing that when Xmas rolls around. Just as the NPA has its cute little quirks that revolve around the calendar, so does the ASG. There are two times of year when the smart money is on the Abu Sayyaf grabbing some media attention. The first of those two times is Valentines Day, February 14th. While most Filipinos are keeping busy as they immerse themselves (and their pocketbooks) in the wonderfully stupefying stench of crass Western consumerism, those intellectually stunted fellows at ASG are deciding which community of Christians to terrorise. The second time of the year as I did mention, is Xmas Eve (Noche Buena in the Philippines) and Xmas Day (Pasko).

The obvious raison d'etre would be that the Philippines is a traditionally Catholic Nation and those two days are Catholic Holy Days (albeit days that have been twisted into plastic carticatures of themselves by greeting card companies, florists, etc. The Abu Sayyaf began life as a truly textbook example of Islamo-fascism. Abdurajak Janjalani, its main founder, was deeply committed towards an ideological end game which involved capturing all Philippine territory and the imposition of an Islamic political system. Although the scope is different, just to point out, the MILF and ASG aren't too far removed from each other in this main objective. Both Janjalani and the MILF's late founder Hashim Salamat saw politics and religion as inseparable. Put succinctly...

I) The purpose of humankind (in Islam its actually "mankind") is to honour the deity (Allah).

II) In order to properly honour the deity, humankind must congregate (the more the merrier so to speak).

III) When humans congregate they inevitably need a political system.

Another way to understand this rather simplistic proposition is to consider it thus: The purpose of political systems is to optimise humankind's ability to honour the deity. Ergo Islam is the endgame of any political system and there is absolutely no differentiation between so called "Church" and "State." "Ibada," as it is known in Arabic (ergo "in the Islamic worldview"), denotes the obesiance to Allah in all things. Proper Ibada requires an "Ummah," (a community of Muslims), and ANY community needs rules (aka "a political system"). The result is an unbroken circle of, Allah-Muslim-Allahs Law (aka "Shari'a"), THE perfect political system.

Though identical on this point, what I will call "form of governance," Janjalani and Salamat differed as to
"content of form." Both agreed that it should be based on the very basic Islamic principle of "Shura, (Arabic for "Consultative," which is identical to both mens' tribal perspectives as well. Salamat was a Maguindanowan Tribesman, Janjalani was a Yakan Tribesman though his mother was an Ilonggo, I'm sure her parents were just thrilled with how she turned out). They even agreed on the process to achieve this, the "Majlis" (Arabic word denoting an assembly of knowledgeable clerics). Where they differed was in scope. Janjalani saw no compromise and envisioned the Philippines as part of a worldwide system. His vision was devoid of etno-nationalism where as that of Salamat was not only deeply rooted in it, it absolutely revolved around the fantasy of, "Bangsamoro." The Bangsamoro is a non-existent People on par intellectually with the belief that "Palestinians" constituted an actual People prior to 1948. I use this analogy because just as with "Palestinians" one sees the manufacturing of not only an entire ethnicity but also a manufactured historical narrative that could not exist without a manufactured foil. With "Palestinians" this of course would be Zionists, and with the "Bangsamoro" this would be the... "Filipino." The parallels are very deep but I fear allowing such tangents to hijack what I hoped would be a relatively simple screed (hahaha, Shandyesque as always. Hey what good is a Blog if I can't use it to marry obscure political analogies, obscure literary references and obscure witticisms? Yay to obscurity!).

Salamat, like any capable leader, was a pragmatist to a large degree. Where Janjalani rooted himself in an extremist position out of utter conviction Salamat did so only in order to obtain and utilise an advantageous bargaining position. Once Salamt realised that Misuari's MNLF would leave Central Mindanowan Muslims (Maguindanowans, Maranaw, Iranun and Kagan Tribes) as marginalised as they had always been he used Islam as the ideological vehicle with which to differentiate his clque within the MNLF (basically the MNLF's "Kutawato Regional Committee" that Salamat had Chaired since the Committee's inception shortly after the MNLF was founded). It took a solid 5 years before the MILF was able to truly assert itself as an organisation independently of the MNLF (it left the MNLF in 1976 and formally declared itself extant in 1981). By the time the MILF was fully opetational Salamat had already, internally, abandoned the primary objective of a fully independent homeland, as well as the unilateral imposition of a universal system of Shari'a (Islamic Law). ASG could never compromise ideologically and this in turn led the organisation (actually there is no "organisation" at this point) to wallow in its current state of milquetoast mediocrity.

Enter, stage left, the actual reason why I began this long winded (hey, its a lot better than "foul winded") screed; The ASG and its propencity for violence on Valentines and Xmas. If you spent every Xmas sucking down boiled rice and cassava while your Christian neighbours got toys, candy and a luxurious meal I reckon you would have some issues as well (my chief complaint about the internet is that it is impossible to convey sarcasm, as I am so failingly attempting to do now). How else to rationalise what took place on Jolo Island early Xmas morning?

At 710AM Xmas morning, Father Bacolol was in the middle of performing Mass for roughly 100 worshipers at Evangelical
Chapel when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device, aka "Bomb") detonated, wounding 11 worshippers. The device had been planted in between panels of the corrugated tin roof 3 meters from the right corner of the altar. Authorities are quite perplexed as to how the device was set because the chapel, in Jolo City's Barangay Asturias, sits smack dab in the middle of Camp Asturias, the Provincial PNP (Philippine National Police) installation. Also worth noting is that this compound is now guarded by Marines from 3rd Brigade's Recon (Reconaissance) Company. The Marines were deployed on December 22nd after the head priest, Father Romeo Villanueva, received a tip from a parishoner that the chapel was to be targetted. 1 possibility of course is that the IED was set prior to the Marine deployment. Another is that it was not an ASG action at all but rather an attention seeking act. I tend to believe the latter because the IED had no shrapnel payload (ASG usually includes sheetrock nails to do real damage, at least they don't use shredded razor blades as is done in the Middle East). The eleven wounded people were injured by building debris as the roof came down.

Also on Xmas, at 5AM, four men escaped from the Sulu Provincial Jail by breaking through their communal cell's antiquated ceiling. Of course the two guards on duty did not hear a thing. PNP Officers (the Philippines has no real correctional system and certainly has no specially trained guards. Wardens and most officials involved in that dynamic are entirely political appointees who receive that position in quid pro quo arrangements) PO1 Renomhar Undangan and PO1 Algamar Sahiron have been suspended pending the requisite investigation (I could add, "for not sharing their considerable bribe" but am trying to run a relatively serious Blog, work with me). If you notice the surname of that second police officer, Sahiron, a light bulb MAY suddenly go on and all things will become clear. No? The Sahiron Clan is neck deep in ASG with Clansman Radullan Sahiron serving as the major factional leader in Sulu.

One of the four men who escaped, Sulaiman Muin, was incarcerated for the IED attack against Sulu's Governor, Abdusakur Tan, on May 13, 2009. The attack on Governor Tan was one of two bombings directed against him in a 15 month time period. The second attack was the bombing at Zamboanga City Airpoty, which I will briefly discuss below.

The May 13 attack took place just as the governor's motorcade left the capitol complex in Patikul, en route to Sakur's residential compound for the mid-day meal. At roughly 1215PM a parked motorcycle rigged with a powerful IED just as Tan's SUV passed it. Thanks to a stroke of luck the governor merely suffered superficial injuries when the vehicle was lifted off the ground. Mayor Hatta Berto of Pandami was among the 9 individuals who were more seriously wounded, including 2 soldiers and 1 PNP officer in different vehicles.

The attempt was committed by ASG members but had been contracted by unknown parties. Ergo, some very important and powerful people have a lot to lose if the facts ever reach the light of day. Officially, Tan's political arch nemesis, NGO Chairman Cocoy Tulawie was blamed (as he was in the 2nd attempt as well) but the real culprit could be any one of a number of people. I will save the pondering for an entry devoted to the governor that I have been planning for awhile.

The 2nd attack, on August 05, 2010 took place just a couple of meters from the exit of Zamboanga City Airport's terminal. As Governor Tan, his son and a couple of close friends left the terminal after a flight from Manila, a man identified as Reynaldo Apilado of Zamboanga City's Barangay Maasin stepped towards him and detonated his back pack . Originally it was pegged as a so called "Suicide Bombing" but upon investigation a second theory emerged, one in which Mr. Apilado was given a backpack, the contents of which were unknown to him. The widowed, unemployed carpenter was simply instructed to "give it" to a 2nd individual. Standing outside the airport terminal Mr. Apilado was none the wiser when the "consignee" walked out the sliding glass doors.

Killed along with Mr. Apilado was his companion (or according to this 2nd theory, his "minder"), Hatamil Yakob, 30, of Barangay Baluk-Baluk, Lantawan, Basilan Island. Wounded were 24 civilians though the Philippine Media being what it is, only 1 of the 24 (not including Governor Tan and son) merited special notice, an elderly British expat living in the city with his young Filipina lover. Governor Tan was only moderately wounded with mostly superficial cuts on the left side of his abdomen, from Mr. Apilado's bone fragments. Supporting the afore mentioned 2nd theory, that Apilado had no idea he was part of a bombing plot was the fact that he detonated as he was facing the governor. The bomb in the backpack was absorbed by his Apilado's own body. Had he been intent on harming the governor he would have certainly been standing with his back towards the him or else facing him with the backpack slung over an arm, held in front of him, etc. Again, for brevity's sake I am omitting a lot of information that I will include in the entry devoted to Governor Tan.


Now here the story on the "Jail Escape" takes a turn that should really make things clear for you: It only took a few hours to get a bead on 3 of the 4 escapees. The 4th, Salipalo Pulalon, had left his 3 comrades as soon as they cleared the jail compound. The PNP team hunting the escapees, led by Inspector Abdulgafur Sahiron (notice the surname again) managed to sight the 3 men who remained together late Sunday evening, December 26. The OFFICIAL version of events is that of the 3, Sulaiman Muin refused to surrender. As the team moved towards Muin to subdue him the escapee grabbed for Inspector Sahiron's weapon. Naturally he was shot to death...with every shot in his back.

The other 2 escapees on scene, Khadaffy Askalani (carthief) and Nadzmir Amirul (I will explain his case) were returned to the Provincial Jail without further incident. Nadzmir Amirul has got to be 1 of the stupidest men on Jolo. He was in jail not because of any crime but because he had been threatened and the island has no sort of effective protection. The country itself only implemented its 1st Witness Protection Programme this year and seeing as to what happened with the first witness in the Ampatuan Case ("Maguindanao Massacre") when he trusted in it I don't think many Filipinos will allow themselves to be enrolled. I will spare those sordid details and instead save them for a series of Ampatuan related entries I plan to do as well. Even more ironically though, while Amirul wasn't in jail for a crime prior to his escape, he is now. Yep, poor Amirul has been charged for breaking out of the jail where he had been incarcerated WITHOUT charges.

On December 21, 2010 the Malaysian Government finally had to eat crow. Ever since 2 Malaysian-Chinese had been kidnapped by ASG in February 08, 2010, the Malaysians have been denying what everyone (regionally) knew, that ASG had managed ONCE AGAIN to enter Malaysian territory at will. The 2 men, Lai Wong Chun, 46, and Chen Yui Chung, 48 had been grabbed from a seaweed farm off of Pulao Sebangkit Island, which is itself off of Borneo's Sabah State. I have mentioned in my last MILF entry how Sabah is a contested territory and that the same ethnicities one finds here in the Southern Philippines are also sometimes found in Sabah. Ergo, people come and go at will travelling between 4 regional nations (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and in isolated cases Brunei as well). There are little known regional agreements that allow residents to do this without even having to show a school ID, let alone a passport and visa. Of course this is exploited by terrorists and smugglers but in truth it really doesn't matter because there are literally many thousands of islands in the region and scant ability to police them. The larger number of ASG guerillas are Tausug Tribesmen whose modern origin lies on Jolo Island, in Sulu Province. However, more Tausug live in Sabah than in all islands of the Philippines combined. ASG will be in Sabah as long as ASG exists.


The 2 men, cousins from Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, were originally taken to Tawi Tawi, the southern most province in the Philippines and part of Mindanao, administratively. Due to the international nature of the offence little had been stated about this case, and despite what Malaysia may state publicly, it was no secret that they landed on Bonggao, Tawi Tawi. From there as pressure ebbed and flowed they were shuttled between islands in Sulu until finally this month, December, 2010, they returned to Bonggao. PNP SAF (Police Special Action Force, the PNP Special Force) laid an effective cordon around the sector in which the band of 10 ASG gueriilas had encamped. The official story is that the captors, under Kumander Ahmad fled knowing that they were surrounded and left their quarry in a standard diversionary tactic. In reality though, the PNP made a deal, leave the 2 victim and you are free to go. This is almost always the outcome in those rare instances when the PNP (or AFP, Armed Forces of the Philippines) manages to actually locate an encampment. Kidnappers tend to operate in the most economically depressed areas. They make big money, the biggest in a given area and as you see with the Sahiron Clan, are often the same legal authorities victims rely on to help protect them. Even when that is not the case, an AFP, or PNP Jr. Officer leading a detachment can have his career ruined if a captive is killed during a rescue attempt. Conversely, a kidnap victim rescued alive and well can make one's entire career depending upon the status (or nationality) of the victim(s). Therefore it behooves the young officer to play the game just so. The AFP oversees security in any insurgency prone area. AFP SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) requires notification to and coordination with an LGU (Local Government Unit, aka "municipality"). Even when LGU executives aren't actually related to kidnappers they are still going to be very susceptible to bribery (the "Siege of Lamitan" is a textbook example of the problems I am briefly discussing).

Indeed, the very same thing happened for a 2nd time this week in the case of young Tsinoy (Filipino-Chinese, aka "Chinoy") Kenn "Kenny" Klefford Lao. I mentioned the 21 year old college student's case in a recent KFR ( Kidnap for Ransom) entry A 1st year student at Notre Dame College in Jolo City, on Jolo Island in Sulu Province he stupidly left the safety of his campus on October 07, 2010 to meet an anonymous text mate (I explained just what that is in that entry I mentioned) but he was instead waylaid by ASG guerillas who kidnapped him. He was "freed" on December 22, 2010 when again, a PNP SAF cordon was laid down around an isolated settlement in Sitio Kabbon, Barangay Langhob, in the town of Indanan. Only guarded by 2 young men at that point, the 2 abandoned their delightful meal of boiled rice and cassava (excuse me, I have to retch) and skedaddled to wherever ASG go when they are not making the world miserable. Kenny recognised the "opportunity" and ran for dear life,... Until he collided with an ensconced PNP SAF asset in a sniper blind (camoflauged site for snipers to conceal themselves in).

The 3rd ASG kidnap victim to find freedom this week is also a person I discussed in a recent KFR entry; 60 year old widow Rosabella "Rose" Barranda was returning to her home in Barangay Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan Island aboard a jeepney (puic transportation) from a Bible study group in the town of Lamitan when ASG gunmen from the Nurhasan Jamiri Faction kidnapped her at a checkpoint. Though she owns a small general store on a rubber plantation she struggled to make ends meet and so had no wealth for her family to ransom her with. Kidnapped on November 02, 2010 her captors lowered their ransom demands from 1 Million Pesos (22,000 US) to 700,000 Pesos (15,000 US) in addition to the 2 new M16s (meaning newly manufactured M16A2s as opposed to new model M16s which would be the almost impossible to access, M16A4s, which one never sees in the Philippines), both equipped with grenade. Launchers (M203s). Finally it was 500,000 Pesos (11,000 US) and Rose was free and on Xmas day no less. At 3PM she was released in Sitio Limbo Kassah, Barangay Magkawah, al Barka on Basilan Island.
Not a moment too soon either since Rose, who suffers from both diabetes AND hypertension could barely stand unassisted when picked up by authorities.

On December 21, 2010 in the Zamboanga City Public Market at almost 3PM an AFP detachment captured ASG guerilla Abu Isaac was nabbed on a Warrant issued by Judge Leo Jay Principe of Regional Trial Court, Branch #1 on Basilan for his part in both the Sipadan Island Dive Resort near Sandakan Island, Malaysia Kidnapping in 2000 and the Dos Palmas Kidnapping in Puerto Princessa, Palawan Island in 2001. The former put ASG in the limelight and gave it its biggest pay day (20 Million US). The latter sealed its infamy as that was the 1 where 3 Americans were kidnapped and only 1 survived. The 1st, Guillermo Sobero, a dual Peruvian/American was beheaded days after the famous "Siege of Lamitan" which was subsequent to the landing on Basilsan from Palawan. The other 2, the American missionary couple Gracia and Martin Burnham spent a very trying 51 odd weeks being marched all over the mountains of Basilan, and in their las 2 weeks on the Zamboanga Peninsula. In the end, held by the infamous and very ambitious Abu Sabaya they were sighted by an AFP detachment of Scout Rangers, COY 15 (15th Company) led by 1stLt. Oliver Almonares, on its Test Mission (a very stupid AFP protocol that has combat elements undertake a very loosely defined tactical operation at the end of field training. The only way in which a detachment can pass is to make contact with the enemy. This naturally causes very reckless behavior). The 15th, along with a local CAFGU soldier as a guide (Citizens Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit, a form of Army Reserve manned by residents from a single municipal unit within which that CAFGU element is deployed. A unit may not operate outside of its official AOR, aka, "Area of Responsibility") ended up causing the deaths of both Martin Burnham and a Filipina captive, Ediborah Yap. Ms. Yap had been a nurse at the hospital occupied during the Siege of Lamitan and when the AFP connived with corrupt local officials to allow ASG to walk through a 5000 man cordon she and other hospital staff were added to the growing list of captives.


Lastly, on December 17, 2010 in a Federal Court Room in Washington D.C., in the US, 1 of ASG's 1st members finally faced justice. Madhatta "Kumander Haipe" Haipe was leading a band of 40 ASG guerillas in the backcountry around Lake Sebu, in South Cotabato Provibce when a group of vacationers had the very bad fortune to cross the band's path on December 27, 1995. The 1f tourists, all Filipinos and Filpino-Americans had been enjoying the beautiful vista offered at Trankini Falls, downstream from the lake. Kidnapping all 16, Haipe, formerly a Professor of Islamic Studies at MSU (Mindanao State University) then released a couple to arrange ransoms for the rest. By December 31 all were released and ASG had made 1.5 Million Pesos (56,000 US in 1995 but 34,000 US today).

He was extradited to the US on August 27, 2010 and arrested upon landing as is the American way in such things. Originally indicted in the US back in November, 2000 owing to the American citizenship of 4 of his 16 victims, he received 23 years in an American prison (which all things considered means 19 years of living conditions better than most Mindanowans will ever enjoy. This is America's weak spot, one of many. If a young Mindanowan who has been subsisting upon 1 meal a day for most of his life is made aware that should he somehow hold an American captive he can then expect to face 3 decent meals (relatively speaking), free medical and dental care and a warm bed IF caught, well you get the point).