Showing posts with label North Cotabato Province. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Cotabato Province. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Political Developments for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part VI: Manny Pinol Fighting to Re-gain his Seat
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Kidnap for Ransom in the Third Quarter of 2011, Part XIV: Kisha Jel Navarro
On Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 seven year old Kisha Jel Navarro was walking with her mother Elsie Navarro having just left their home in the municipality of Pikit's Barangay Poblacion in North Cotabato Province on the way to Kisha's school, Pikit Central Pilot Elementary School after their lunch as was their daily routine. On Mindanao "daily routines" can wreck lives and so it was that day as the mother and daughter passed the town's Pikit National Highschool and then turned down Feneral Street. Two men riding tandem on a red Yamaha DT motorcycle approached at a fairly high rate of speed before skidding to a stop next to the terrified mother. The man on the rear quickly got off of the bike and told Ms.Navarro bluntly that her daughter was being kidnapped and to expect a communication shortly.
Grabbing the little girl and forcing her onto the motorcycle between himself and the driver, the man on the rear suddenly pointed a 45 caliber pistol at the shocked Ms.Navarro and warned her not to contact the authorities. The motorcycle then quickly roared off heading into the town's Barangay Gli-Gli before passing into the adjacent Barangay Balong, an MILF/BIAF controlled settlement bordering Liguasan Marsh. Perhaps trying to engage in a bit of damage control following the Luisita Galvez KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, in which the common law wife of a Scottish expatriate was initially kidnapped by the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces as the MILF's military wing is known, via their 113 Base Command before being sold to the Abu Sayyaf, the MILF contacted the BIAF Camp in Barangay Balong, belonging to the 105 Base Command under sub-Kumander Tungko "Bad Boy" Sawali Asim, as well as those in adjacent municipalities asking for their assistance in gaining the release of young Kisha Jel.
Although the mother, Elsie Navarro, is herself a public highschool teacher and therefore far from wealthy, Mr.Navarro is a deckhand aboard an oil tanker, or in Fil-English, a "seaman.' Seamen make a considerable wage, certainly by Filipino standards, and so her being Christian and being from what in Mindanao at least constitutes an upper-middleclass family, the young girl was an attractive KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom target for the MILF/BIAF. Though the MILF itself doesn't sanction such kidnappings it looks the other way in the case of the BIAF. Owing to a downturn in logistical and funding assistance from the MILF Central Committee some years ago certain BIAF Base Commands have resorted to criminal activity to fund their operations. KFR is the second most lucrative of these activities after commercial and municipal extortion.
With the MILF Central Committee trying to earn brownie points by seemingly getting tough on KFR the Navarro Kidnapping was more trouble than its worth for the kidnappers, even from the start, almost as bad as the Angelina Soken Chew Kidnapping across the border in Maguindanao's municipality of Datu Piang roughly two months ago when the MILF resorted to abducting family members of the kidnappers in a novel rendering of "an eye for eye." Then, when the wife of Pikit's Mayor Sumulong K.Sultan took it upon herself to informally handle negotiations by personally traveling to the Navarro home where she was able to intercept a hand delivered note containing a cellphone number for the kidnappers. Delia Sultan, no shrinking violet as her membership on the North Cotabato Provincial Board has proven, then nominated herself the kidnapping's unofficial negotiator, circumventing the official negotiator on the Crisis Management Committee quickly empaneled by her husband, the Mayor.
Communicating with the kidnappers via cellphone,
the kidnappers were more than willing to listen. Naturally Ms.Sultan offered the captors a decently sized "Room and Lodging Fee" as lowballed ransoms are popularly known in Mindanao. After an hour of talking in which Ms.Sultan also offered promises of largesse from future municipal projects in addition to the aforementioned fee, she departed for the town hall to await the kidnappers' decision, having been told that they would seriously consider all she had said and all she had to offer and then call her on her cellphone to let her know one way or the other.
At 10PM she received that much awaited phonecall in which the kidnappers informed Ms.Sultan that they would be releasing Kisha Jel in Barangay Balong momentarily, in Sitio Gawang near the border of Barangay Kabacan, IF the proffered Room and Lodging fee was delivered as she had offered. Mayor Sultan then dispatched a plain clothes police officer from the Pikit MPO, or Municipal Police Office. Twenty minutes later, the money having been delivered in Barangay Gil-Gil, Kisha Jel walked down a quiet street and into the arms of her relieved mother as she stood next to Mayor Sultan, his wife Delia, and a group of AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines soldiers from the 7IB (Infantry Battalion). After a long 10 hours in Liguasan Marsh, Kisha Jel Navarro was reunited with her loved ones and as the adage goes, "All's well that ends well."
Grabbing the little girl and forcing her onto the motorcycle between himself and the driver, the man on the rear suddenly pointed a 45 caliber pistol at the shocked Ms.Navarro and warned her not to contact the authorities. The motorcycle then quickly roared off heading into the town's Barangay Gli-Gli before passing into the adjacent Barangay Balong, an MILF/BIAF controlled settlement bordering Liguasan Marsh. Perhaps trying to engage in a bit of damage control following the Luisita Galvez KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom, in which the common law wife of a Scottish expatriate was initially kidnapped by the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces as the MILF's military wing is known, via their 113 Base Command before being sold to the Abu Sayyaf, the MILF contacted the BIAF Camp in Barangay Balong, belonging to the 105 Base Command under sub-Kumander Tungko "Bad Boy" Sawali Asim, as well as those in adjacent municipalities asking for their assistance in gaining the release of young Kisha Jel.
Although the mother, Elsie Navarro, is herself a public highschool teacher and therefore far from wealthy, Mr.Navarro is a deckhand aboard an oil tanker, or in Fil-English, a "seaman.' Seamen make a considerable wage, certainly by Filipino standards, and so her being Christian and being from what in Mindanao at least constitutes an upper-middleclass family, the young girl was an attractive KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom target for the MILF/BIAF. Though the MILF itself doesn't sanction such kidnappings it looks the other way in the case of the BIAF. Owing to a downturn in logistical and funding assistance from the MILF Central Committee some years ago certain BIAF Base Commands have resorted to criminal activity to fund their operations. KFR is the second most lucrative of these activities after commercial and municipal extortion.
With the MILF Central Committee trying to earn brownie points by seemingly getting tough on KFR the Navarro Kidnapping was more trouble than its worth for the kidnappers, even from the start, almost as bad as the Angelina Soken Chew Kidnapping across the border in Maguindanao's municipality of Datu Piang roughly two months ago when the MILF resorted to abducting family members of the kidnappers in a novel rendering of "an eye for eye." Then, when the wife of Pikit's Mayor Sumulong K.Sultan took it upon herself to informally handle negotiations by personally traveling to the Navarro home where she was able to intercept a hand delivered note containing a cellphone number for the kidnappers. Delia Sultan, no shrinking violet as her membership on the North Cotabato Provincial Board has proven, then nominated herself the kidnapping's unofficial negotiator, circumventing the official negotiator on the Crisis Management Committee quickly empaneled by her husband, the Mayor.
Communicating with the kidnappers via cellphone,
the kidnappers were more than willing to listen. Naturally Ms.Sultan offered the captors a decently sized "Room and Lodging Fee" as lowballed ransoms are popularly known in Mindanao. After an hour of talking in which Ms.Sultan also offered promises of largesse from future municipal projects in addition to the aforementioned fee, she departed for the town hall to await the kidnappers' decision, having been told that they would seriously consider all she had said and all she had to offer and then call her on her cellphone to let her know one way or the other.
At 10PM she received that much awaited phonecall in which the kidnappers informed Ms.Sultan that they would be releasing Kisha Jel in Barangay Balong momentarily, in Sitio Gawang near the border of Barangay Kabacan, IF the proffered Room and Lodging fee was delivered as she had offered. Mayor Sultan then dispatched a plain clothes police officer from the Pikit MPO, or Municipal Police Office. Twenty minutes later, the money having been delivered in Barangay Gil-Gil, Kisha Jel walked down a quiet street and into the arms of her relieved mother as she stood next to Mayor Sultan, his wife Delia, and a group of AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines soldiers from the 7IB (Infantry Battalion). After a long 10 hours in Liguasan Marsh, Kisha Jel Navarro was reunited with her loved ones and as the adage goes, "All's well that ends well."
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Kidnap for First Quarter,2011 Part III:Frank Chung and Randelle Talania
On February 21, 2011 54 year old Frank Chung of Midsayap,North Cotabato must have experienced de ja vu as yet another KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) attempt was made against him.The owner of Midsayap's largest hardware store had managed to escape harm in the first attack which took place on September 17, 2010 and did it by outwitting his assailants.In the first case Mr.Chung had been opening his hardware store when gunmen suddenly grabbed him and tried to force him into an idling SUV.The Tsinoy (Chinese Filipino) then faked a heart attack and collapsed onto the sidewalk in front of his shoppe.Unable to lift Mr.Chung, who stands 6'2,"the would be kidnappers panicked and quickly left the scene.
In this latest case he was once again grabbed while opening his store,FMC Hardware,in Barangay Poblacion.Unbeknownst to Mr.Chung,as he was occupied with trying to open the metal gate in front of his business,a green pickup truck slowed as it approached him with the occupants craning their necks to scrutinise his actions.As the would be kidnappers examined Mr.Chung however,a CVO (Civilian Voluntary Organization,a CAA,or Civilian Active Auxiliary,element sublimated to municipal police departments in areas affected by Islamic Insurgencies) soldier was carefully watching their every move.As the pickup moved past the shoppe and was about to turn at the next corner the CVO soldier moved to stop the truck,having already radioed in his concerns.
Before the CVO soldier could reach the pickup truck a man wearing a black jacket jumped out of the passenger side door and began almost jogging to FMC and Mr.Chung.Other CVO soldiers ran to cut him off at which point the man in the black jacket had second thoughts and did his best to run back to the green truck.Seeing the other CVO soldier at the truck the man in the black jacket pulled out a 45 caliber pistol from his waistband and reeled around.Before the gunman could get a shot off however 3 CVO personnel began firing their M1 rifles.Still doing his best to reach the truck tand what he had hoped would be his escape he gunman was shot in his buttocks.The truck then gunned its gas pedal and drove around the single CVO soldier trying to stop it.The gunman, now moderately wounded then made a run for a petrol station at the corner nearest FMC.Running past a bedspacer (rooming house) he almost ran head on into an elderly occupant of that boarding house.At that point the gunman took the old man as a hostage,intending to use him as a human shield.Managing to flank the gunman though,a CVO soldier got behind him and shot him in the back,killing him.
By then the 40IB (Infantry Battalion) was rushing to the scene.Having heard about the truck's escape the army (40IB) sent several small detachments to act as Blocking Forces to prevent the rest of the kidnap team from disappearing into Ligusan Marsh.A composite Blocking Force of the 40IB and the village CAFGU (Civilian Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit, another CAA element,this one sublimated to the army) spotted the green pickup truck as it entered Barangay Pomologan,roughly 10km from the botched kidnapping. Pomolok is 1 of many towns that provide a route of entry into Ligusan Marsh and so that Blocking Force detachment moved into defencive positions only to have the truck come to a halt 1km away from the marsh due to its tires shaving been shredded by bullets.Five men quickly got out of the truck and engaged in a running firefight.Within minutes 3 of the 5 gunmen were laying dead,1 had disappeared into a canal leading into the marsh and the 5th man meekly surrendered to soldiers from the 40IB.
The captured man,21 year old Esmael Mamison,a Maguindanowan Tribesman with no understanding of Cebuano,Ilonggo,Tagalog OR English said that he had been recruited just that morning and therefore claimed he could offer little in the way of valuable information.The first man killed,the kidnapper in the black jacket was identified as the epononymously named Abubakar.According to municipal officials and the PNP (Philippine National Police) the assailents were BIFF guerillas (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the new MILF breakaway group led by Kumamder Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato).Kato himself denied the accusation.Inside the abandoned pickup truck authorities discovered one M16, two 45 caliber pistols and two M79 grenades.
Later,a local Islamic Cleric again accused the BIFF of having committed the attempted kidnapping.Ustadz Ome (sic) Ikhayr said that the kidnappers were new BIFF recruits who had been given the operation as a "Test Mission"before full membership.Of course noone has ever heard of this"cleric"so that noone awards the accusation any credibility.
On March 09, 2011 in Barangay Poblacion,Titay,Zamboanga Sibugay Province,9 year old Randelle Talania, son of Barangay Capt.Rose Marie Talania of Barangay Namnama in that same town was standing in front of the fence surrounding his school waiting for a ride home from school.as Randelle stood in front of Titay Central School's fence a white van pulled up next to him.Immediately two men opened the side panel of the cargo van,grabbed yound Randelle and threw him into the vehichle before getting in themselves.Driving off through Barangay Poblacion three eye witnesses alerted school officials of the kidnapping and mentioned that the van had taken off towards the town of Kalawit in that same province.By the time a composite force of PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) arrived in Kalawit the kidnappers had already arrived,switched vehicles,and set fire to their abandoned van before departing Barangay Marcelo.
In this latest case he was once again grabbed while opening his store,FMC Hardware,in Barangay Poblacion.Unbeknownst to Mr.Chung,as he was occupied with trying to open the metal gate in front of his business,a green pickup truck slowed as it approached him with the occupants craning their necks to scrutinise his actions.As the would be kidnappers examined Mr.Chung however,a CVO (Civilian Voluntary Organization,a CAA,or Civilian Active Auxiliary,element sublimated to municipal police departments in areas affected by Islamic Insurgencies) soldier was carefully watching their every move.As the pickup moved past the shoppe and was about to turn at the next corner the CVO soldier moved to stop the truck,having already radioed in his concerns.
Before the CVO soldier could reach the pickup truck a man wearing a black jacket jumped out of the passenger side door and began almost jogging to FMC and Mr.Chung.Other CVO soldiers ran to cut him off at which point the man in the black jacket had second thoughts and did his best to run back to the green truck.Seeing the other CVO soldier at the truck the man in the black jacket pulled out a 45 caliber pistol from his waistband and reeled around.Before the gunman could get a shot off however 3 CVO personnel began firing their M1 rifles.Still doing his best to reach the truck tand what he had hoped would be his escape he gunman was shot in his buttocks.The truck then gunned its gas pedal and drove around the single CVO soldier trying to stop it.The gunman, now moderately wounded then made a run for a petrol station at the corner nearest FMC.Running past a bedspacer (rooming house) he almost ran head on into an elderly occupant of that boarding house.At that point the gunman took the old man as a hostage,intending to use him as a human shield.Managing to flank the gunman though,a CVO soldier got behind him and shot him in the back,killing him.
By then the 40IB (Infantry Battalion) was rushing to the scene.Having heard about the truck's escape the army (40IB) sent several small detachments to act as Blocking Forces to prevent the rest of the kidnap team from disappearing into Ligusan Marsh.A composite Blocking Force of the 40IB and the village CAFGU (Civilian Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit, another CAA element,this one sublimated to the army) spotted the green pickup truck as it entered Barangay Pomologan,roughly 10km from the botched kidnapping. Pomolok is 1 of many towns that provide a route of entry into Ligusan Marsh and so that Blocking Force detachment moved into defencive positions only to have the truck come to a halt 1km away from the marsh due to its tires shaving been shredded by bullets.Five men quickly got out of the truck and engaged in a running firefight.Within minutes 3 of the 5 gunmen were laying dead,1 had disappeared into a canal leading into the marsh and the 5th man meekly surrendered to soldiers from the 40IB.
The captured man,21 year old Esmael Mamison,a Maguindanowan Tribesman with no understanding of Cebuano,Ilonggo,Tagalog OR English said that he had been recruited just that morning and therefore claimed he could offer little in the way of valuable information.The first man killed,the kidnapper in the black jacket was identified as the epononymously named Abubakar.According to municipal officials and the PNP (Philippine National Police) the assailents were BIFF guerillas (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the new MILF breakaway group led by Kumamder Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato).Kato himself denied the accusation.Inside the abandoned pickup truck authorities discovered one M16, two 45 caliber pistols and two M79 grenades.
Later,a local Islamic Cleric again accused the BIFF of having committed the attempted kidnapping.Ustadz Ome (sic) Ikhayr said that the kidnappers were new BIFF recruits who had been given the operation as a "Test Mission"before full membership.Of course noone has ever heard of this"cleric"so that noone awards the accusation any credibility.
On March 09, 2011 in Barangay Poblacion,Titay,Zamboanga Sibugay Province,9 year old Randelle Talania, son of Barangay Capt.Rose Marie Talania of Barangay Namnama in that same town was standing in front of the fence surrounding his school waiting for a ride home from school.as Randelle stood in front of Titay Central School's fence a white van pulled up next to him.Immediately two men opened the side panel of the cargo van,grabbed yound Randelle and threw him into the vehichle before getting in themselves.Driving off through Barangay Poblacion three eye witnesses alerted school officials of the kidnapping and mentioned that the van had taken off towards the town of Kalawit in that same province.By the time a composite force of PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) arrived in Kalawit the kidnappers had already arrived,switched vehicles,and set fire to their abandoned van before departing Barangay Marcelo.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Political Developments,Second Quarter of 2010,Part V:Election Related Violence in Cotabato City
As I continue my wrap up of the 2010 Election Season one might ask just why I even bother since thus far,all areas mentioned have managed to live up to their nefarious reputations.I suppose that it might be a fair question but apart from simply noting the causes of unrest,i.e."insurgency,"people familiar with Mindanao are well aware of how such events go woefully under reported.People who have never been here or alternatively may have only been here in passing would usually have to rely strictly upon media reportage in trying to gain a clear picture of what took place this past Election Season.Obviously that would be problematic.Before a problem can be solved it has to be first identified and then discussed.
The government has its reasons for claiming that this was one of the safest Election Seasons in memory,but their rationale is self serving and will not do anything for the people of Mindanao or those trying to help them.The National figures for Election Related Violence,or"EVR,"and more to the point the figures relating to EVR Deaths does not even exceed the number of deaths from a single Mindanowan Region (Region IX, Zamoboanga Peninsula for example) so there definitely needs to be a record made of what happened this year,and what happens here day in and day out. Pretending it does not happen is not going to help a single person on this island,save a precious few deeply tied into the national government either politically or economically (which in the Philippines,like most nations,happens to be one and the same).
All things considered,Cotabato's 2 provinces (North and South,with North's infamous city, Cotabato City) are the historical epicenter of the Mindanowan insurgency.Originally the capital of the Maguindanowan Sultante,and the seat of Spanish administration of the island until Zamoboanga"s"La Caldera"was developed,the city has seen it share of hard times.A metropolis with a strong Christian population (mostly Ilonggons and to a lesser degree Cebuanos) it sits in the middle of a mostly Islamic region.
The night before Election Day,Sunday,May 9th at 7PM,just as the Islamic 4th Prayer finished,a man tossed a hand grenade into the entrance of a village mosque in Sitio Tinibtikan,Barangay Batulawan,in the town of Pikit,North Cotabato Province killing 1 man,Manuel Tautin and wounding 9 others.Although the town is the historical epicenter of the Ilaga-Barakuda paramilitary war (Christian versus Muslim) of the late 1960s/early 1970s (with the Ilaga re-emerging there in the early mid-1980s) this killing is not believed to be sectarian related and is instead believed to be Election related.
On Election Day itself,Monday,May 10th, 2010 at 105AM in Kidipawan City,South Cotabato Province,supporters of local cable television magnate Nancy Catamco were out plastering campaign posters near Catamco's home when they ran across supporters of Cotabato Christian (as in the ethnic sense) icon Congressman Bernardo"Bernie"Pinol,of the Pinol political dyansty.As these things usually do,it quickly devolved into gunfire causing the death of Pinol supporter Johnny Magbanua,aged 28.Interestingly,instead of simply denying any level of culpability,Ms.Catamco blamed the killing on another Pinol supporter,Efren Albaera Rivera.A 2nd man,Leo Laquinadanum,was badly wounded.
After the dust had cleared,and Ms.Catamco won a stunning upset against Pinol in the election that day,the soon to be ex-Governor Pinol went to the media with his version of events,which do not seem that removed from reality considering all reports thus far.Pinol claims that Catamco's armed supporters were at one of her cable stations,just meters away from the shooting site and that as Magbanua turned to leave,seeing that he was greatly outnumbered,these men shot him in the back (also supported by autopsy reports).It has to be noted that the CIDG (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group of the PNP) has failed to connect any Catamco supporters but then again they have failed to solidly connect anyone to the shooting).Indeed,the CIDG Report seems to actually point a finger at the aforementioned Pinol supporter,Efren Albaera Rivera,showing the PNP to truly epitomise political whoredom.After buttering their bread off of the Pinol Clan's collective backside the local PNP stooges took all of 9 hours to completely burn a decades long bridge.
Congresswoman Elect Catamco's version has the campaign workers out plastering posters when they notice a group of 4 men on 4 motorcycles trailing them.This almost always signals deadly trouble in Mindanao,all the more so when the men,like these men are wearing skimasks,or as they are called locally,"bonnets."Seeing they were had,the men on motorcycles allegedly took some pistol shots at the Catamco campaign workers,who were themselves then able to speed away towards Catamco's residence and flagship cable station (the 2 buildings are adjacent to one another).Reaching the front of that station,the groups collided and 1 man died in the subsequent firefight.The Catamco group IDd the shooters as Magbanua,Laquindanum,Rivera and a man named Syl Aranas Aninon.
Rivera is listed as a suspect because 18 people from both sides,said to have been present,were parrafin tested for gunshot residue and only Rivera tested positive.A big problem with that type of claim is that when one wears gloves, as most people do when riding motorcycles...or shooting people, they will test negative for gunshot residue.Basing culpability upon residue is a bit ridiculous in a place where the majority of men handle weapons.
That same morning,Election Day,May 10th,a cousin of former Congressman Pinol was shot to death while riding his motorcycle,also in Kidapawan City,South Cotabato Province.His passenger,another man,was seriously wounded.The gunman using a 45 pistol,the weapon of choice for motorcycle borne assassins here,has not been IDd but the conventional wisdom is that it is a supporter of Emmylou Talino Mendoza,a candidate for Vice Governor of North Cotabato Province. Aside from being the cousin of ex-Congressman Pinol,the unidentified dead cousin was also the cousin of incumbent Vice Governor Emmanuel"Manny"Pinol.
On Thursday,May 13th,2010,Abdulrakman Mero,a principal at Litain Elemntary School on Bongo Island,an offshore part of the municipality of Parang in Manguindanao Province was driving down Cotabato City's Bonifacio Avenue with his wife and 2 young children having arrived the evening before.Sitting next to him in his white VW were the results of the Parang Municipal Elections being delivered to the regional COMELEC (Electoral Authority) office in Cotabato City.
As the car crawled along in traffic,reaching the corner of Jose Lim Avenue,2 men riding tandem on a single motorcycle got off of their bike and casually walked over to the diver's side of the Mero auto.Looking over Mero's wife,they then walked around the back of the car and as they approached the driver's side window one of them pulled a 45 caliber pistol from his waistband and shot Mero in the head, killing him instantly.Then they slowly walked back to their motorcycle,calmly started it and rode off towards People's Plaza,the city hall of Cotabato City.
In a very suprising turn of events,on Wednesday,June 6th,2010,the 2 hired guns were arrested, a rare occurrence indeed.30 year old Malik Alano of Cotabato City's Barangay Campo Muslim and 31 year old Mandi Karublian of Bongo Island in the aforementioned town of Paranag in Maguindanao Province (the same locale as Mero) were taken without incident as they ate their lunch in a cafe near the Cotabato City town market.Alano had a loaded 45 in his waistband.
There is no word as to whether or not the Ballots had even been taken during the killing,let alone whether or not they had been recovered.
The government has its reasons for claiming that this was one of the safest Election Seasons in memory,but their rationale is self serving and will not do anything for the people of Mindanao or those trying to help them.The National figures for Election Related Violence,or"EVR,"and more to the point the figures relating to EVR Deaths does not even exceed the number of deaths from a single Mindanowan Region (Region IX, Zamoboanga Peninsula for example) so there definitely needs to be a record made of what happened this year,and what happens here day in and day out. Pretending it does not happen is not going to help a single person on this island,save a precious few deeply tied into the national government either politically or economically (which in the Philippines,like most nations,happens to be one and the same).
All things considered,Cotabato's 2 provinces (North and South,with North's infamous city, Cotabato City) are the historical epicenter of the Mindanowan insurgency.Originally the capital of the Maguindanowan Sultante,and the seat of Spanish administration of the island until Zamoboanga"s"La Caldera"was developed,the city has seen it share of hard times.A metropolis with a strong Christian population (mostly Ilonggons and to a lesser degree Cebuanos) it sits in the middle of a mostly Islamic region.
The night before Election Day,Sunday,May 9th at 7PM,just as the Islamic 4th Prayer finished,a man tossed a hand grenade into the entrance of a village mosque in Sitio Tinibtikan,Barangay Batulawan,in the town of Pikit,North Cotabato Province killing 1 man,Manuel Tautin and wounding 9 others.Although the town is the historical epicenter of the Ilaga-Barakuda paramilitary war (Christian versus Muslim) of the late 1960s/early 1970s (with the Ilaga re-emerging there in the early mid-1980s) this killing is not believed to be sectarian related and is instead believed to be Election related.
On Election Day itself,Monday,May 10th, 2010 at 105AM in Kidipawan City,South Cotabato Province,supporters of local cable television magnate Nancy Catamco were out plastering campaign posters near Catamco's home when they ran across supporters of Cotabato Christian (as in the ethnic sense) icon Congressman Bernardo"Bernie"Pinol,of the Pinol political dyansty.As these things usually do,it quickly devolved into gunfire causing the death of Pinol supporter Johnny Magbanua,aged 28.Interestingly,instead of simply denying any level of culpability,Ms.Catamco blamed the killing on another Pinol supporter,Efren Albaera Rivera.A 2nd man,Leo Laquinadanum,was badly wounded.
After the dust had cleared,and Ms.Catamco won a stunning upset against Pinol in the election that day,the soon to be ex-Governor Pinol went to the media with his version of events,which do not seem that removed from reality considering all reports thus far.Pinol claims that Catamco's armed supporters were at one of her cable stations,just meters away from the shooting site and that as Magbanua turned to leave,seeing that he was greatly outnumbered,these men shot him in the back (also supported by autopsy reports).It has to be noted that the CIDG (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group of the PNP) has failed to connect any Catamco supporters but then again they have failed to solidly connect anyone to the shooting).Indeed,the CIDG Report seems to actually point a finger at the aforementioned Pinol supporter,Efren Albaera Rivera,showing the PNP to truly epitomise political whoredom.After buttering their bread off of the Pinol Clan's collective backside the local PNP stooges took all of 9 hours to completely burn a decades long bridge.
Congresswoman Elect Catamco's version has the campaign workers out plastering posters when they notice a group of 4 men on 4 motorcycles trailing them.This almost always signals deadly trouble in Mindanao,all the more so when the men,like these men are wearing skimasks,or as they are called locally,"bonnets."Seeing they were had,the men on motorcycles allegedly took some pistol shots at the Catamco campaign workers,who were themselves then able to speed away towards Catamco's residence and flagship cable station (the 2 buildings are adjacent to one another).Reaching the front of that station,the groups collided and 1 man died in the subsequent firefight.The Catamco group IDd the shooters as Magbanua,Laquindanum,Rivera and a man named Syl Aranas Aninon.
Rivera is listed as a suspect because 18 people from both sides,said to have been present,were parrafin tested for gunshot residue and only Rivera tested positive.A big problem with that type of claim is that when one wears gloves, as most people do when riding motorcycles...or shooting people, they will test negative for gunshot residue.Basing culpability upon residue is a bit ridiculous in a place where the majority of men handle weapons.
That same morning,Election Day,May 10th,a cousin of former Congressman Pinol was shot to death while riding his motorcycle,also in Kidapawan City,South Cotabato Province.His passenger,another man,was seriously wounded.The gunman using a 45 pistol,the weapon of choice for motorcycle borne assassins here,has not been IDd but the conventional wisdom is that it is a supporter of Emmylou Talino Mendoza,a candidate for Vice Governor of North Cotabato Province. Aside from being the cousin of ex-Congressman Pinol,the unidentified dead cousin was also the cousin of incumbent Vice Governor Emmanuel"Manny"Pinol.
On Thursday,May 13th,2010,Abdulrakman Mero,a principal at Litain Elemntary School on Bongo Island,an offshore part of the municipality of Parang in Manguindanao Province was driving down Cotabato City's Bonifacio Avenue with his wife and 2 young children having arrived the evening before.Sitting next to him in his white VW were the results of the Parang Municipal Elections being delivered to the regional COMELEC (Electoral Authority) office in Cotabato City.
As the car crawled along in traffic,reaching the corner of Jose Lim Avenue,2 men riding tandem on a single motorcycle got off of their bike and casually walked over to the diver's side of the Mero auto.Looking over Mero's wife,they then walked around the back of the car and as they approached the driver's side window one of them pulled a 45 caliber pistol from his waistband and shot Mero in the head, killing him instantly.Then they slowly walked back to their motorcycle,calmly started it and rode off towards People's Plaza,the city hall of Cotabato City.
In a very suprising turn of events,on Wednesday,June 6th,2010,the 2 hired guns were arrested, a rare occurrence indeed.30 year old Malik Alano of Cotabato City's Barangay Campo Muslim and 31 year old Mandi Karublian of Bongo Island in the aforementioned town of Paranag in Maguindanao Province (the same locale as Mero) were taken without incident as they ate their lunch in a cafe near the Cotabato City town market.Alano had a loaded 45 in his waistband.
There is no word as to whether or not the Ballots had even been taken during the killing,let alone whether or not they had been recovered.
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