Sunday, December 19, 2010
Kidnapping for Ransom for the Fourth Quarter of 2010, Part II: The Resurrection of the Pentagon Gang
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Kidnapping for Ransom,Last Quarter of 2010:The Philippine National Sport: Kidnapping for Ransom
Ok, I admit, Electoral Violence IS the actual National Sport. Indeed, I have said as much myself in my numerous longwinded posts devoted to the queer spectacle known as "Philippine Politics." But really, think about it, there is not much of a contest watching 2 (or more) candidates for Barangay Kagwad beating each other's brains in...or shooting each other's brains out...or, well you get the jist of it. With KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) the highest ransom wins. A far simpler version might be called, "Great Day, Not so Great Day." This entry's contestants:
December 14, 2010 was a " great day" for Cecillia Sosas. Back on November 15, 2010, Ms.Sosas, the Vice Principal of Baas Elementary School in Barangay Baas, Lamitan, Basilan Island was standing with teacher Merlyn Yacatip, when 6 gunmen forced the 2 women out of the school just before 11AM. Naturally those who witnessed it immediately called authorities and a composite force of the AFP's 32IB (Infantry Battalion) and PNP-PMG#1518 (Philippine National Police-Police Mobile Group#1518) were deployed in pursuit of the kidnappers. As the Blocking Forces took position, the kidnappers, later confirmed to be ASG's (Abu Sayyaf Group) Jamiri Faction, deployed a simple diversionary tactic, they released Ms.Yacatip just before noon in Sitio Manuk, Barangay Talon, Tuburan, just across the border from the municipality of Mohammad Ajul.
The ASG gunmen then worked their way to the shoreline of Tuburan where a motor banca (a local style wooden boat) carrying 3 more guerillas took custody of Ms.Sosas. She was then taken by sea to to the municipality of Sumisip where another band of gunmen took custody of her and as night fell brought her into Barangay Luuk-Bait where she was dropped off at a house. After the homeowner divested her of her jewlery, including her wedding ring, she was basically left to her own terrified thoughts until the evening of November 17. Told that the barangay would be having a fiesta the next day Ms.Sosas and that the chance of discovery was too great. To try and avoid detection her captor led the blindfolded Ms.Sosas to a patch of jungle on the outskirts of the barangay where hidden by vegetation, she spent the next 15 days living exposed to the elements.
On the evening of December 03 she was taken under the cover of darkness to an abandoned jungle nipa (bamboo and thatched palm leaf dwelling). There she was handcuffed to 1 of the interior log supports though her right arm remained free. She was given sufficient water, food and a bed pan, which was left within reach. Alone all day, a solitary guard would come each night to replenish her sustenance and empty her waste. Other than that she was simply warned against making noise and told to wait.
On Tuesday, December 14, at 7PM her guard returned earlier than usual and blindfolded her. Leading her to a waiting motorcycle whose driver was idling, she was told to hold on tightly. At roughly 730PM her driver stopped, helped her dismount and led her to 1 of 2 idling motorcycles. After her intial driver departed they left that site and continued until reaching in Barangay Lagayas, Tipo Tipo near the border of Barangay Cabangalan in the neighbouring town of Ungkaya Pukan. There she was helped off the motorcycle and warned not to attempt to remove her blindfold until she could no longer hear the motorcycles. After nearly a month Cecillia Sosas was free and re-united with her family.
That same evening, Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at exactly the time Ms.Sosas was being helped astride the initial motorcycle that would take her to freedom, 21 year old Mary Cris Cuartocruz was about to have a "not so great day." Sitting at home in Sitio Kilometer#26 in Zamboanga City's Barangay Manihacan, the young lady might have been imagining the huge changes that would take place in her life once her paperwork came through for her nursing job in New Zealand. Her father is an OFW (Overseas Foreign Worker, Filipinos who work in foreign nations), so she was at home alone with her mother, a rice trader, when 4 gunmen burst through the door of her home. As her mother began screaming for help 1 of the 4 gun men smacked her until she was subdued. Very rapidly the men moved Mary outside where 6 more gunmen kept watch. Alerted by his daughter and grandadaughter's screams, 72 year old Jesus Sogradiel ran from his home next door only to be shot to death with an M16. The gunmen, now known to be MILF guerillas with 113 Base Command, moved the young lady to the shore of that barangay where she then disappeared into the abyss.
It was a "very good day" for 19 year old Alcher"Archie"Baricuatro and his 18 year old girlfriend Sheila May Vidal. Very late in the evening of Monday, December 06, 2010, the young lovers snuck out of their respective dormitories on the Marawi City Campus of MSU (Mindanao State University) in Lanao del Sur Province. Archie, majoring in Agricultural Engineering and Sheila Mae, a Hotel and Resturant Management Major held their late night rendevouz on the deserted grounds of the university's dairy farm in Barangay Lomdiong-Salam . I should say "almost deserted" because as the young lovers strolled hand in hand back to their dorms the next morning they were waylaid by a band of gunmen led by Selik Muslimen and Machol Sabtulah who themselves work for the Jamail Pumbaya KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) Group centered in Poona Piagapo, Lanao del Norte Province.
Kidnapped at 830AM on Tuesday, December 07, by noon the couple was saying goodbbye to each other in a house located on the border of the afore mentioned town of Poona Piagapo and the town of Saguiaran, over the provincial border in Lanao del Sur after initially having been taken to Ramain, Lanao del Sur. Ms.Vidal was moved to a house in Poona Piagapo's Barangay Gacap while Baricuatro was taken to a house in the town of Balo-i in Lanao del Norte and there they remained as MSU frantically tried to keep this out of the media. The school's President, Dr.Macapado Abaton was so terrified of the media that he refused to even notify the families who had the shock of their lives when the story finally surfaced on Friday, December 10.
The Vidal family are from Butuan City, in Agusan del Norte Province while the Baricuatro family is from Kapatagan in Lanao del Norte Province. Both families are Seventh Day Adventists but the couple only met this year at school. Another thing both families have in common is the fact that both are far from wealthy and had no hope of paying the final ransom of P100,000 per person (2,000 US per) , much less the initial
P1 Million Pesos (22,000 US). The payoff ended up coming from MSU. Since there really isn't any type of torte liability as one finds in the West it is certain that Dr.Abaton was merely trying to save the school budget some money in the short term (since he was well aware that the school almost always pays the ransom of its students and staff and once it reaches the media cachet grows as the abductees get sold up the food chain). MSU has been targetted numerous times, the last case I know of personally was in October of 2008 when the school's. Budget Director, Hipolito Mendoza was kidnapped in the afore mentioned town of Saguiaran's Barangay Bubong (in Lanao del Sur Province). Saguiaran of course is the town where 1 of the 2 young people I am discussing were held as well. Mendoza was kidnapped by this same group. The leader, Jamail Pumbaya is a sub-Kumander (Deputy Commander) with the MILF 102 Base Command, under Kumander Bravo. After MSU paid the 200,000 Pesos the couple were both released in that same town of Poona Piagapo, on Tuesday, December 15, 2010, at 5AM.
It was a VERY "great day" for Edgar T.Cuajao. The 27 year old paint salesman was out buying bread (I didn't even know you can smoke"bread," go figure) in Barangay Kauswagan, Cagayan del Oro City in Misamis Oriental Province when a group of gunmen under Ali Acbar Dagalangit who forced Cuajao to drive his own Toyota Vios to Dagalangit's hometown of Lumba Bayabao, in Lanao del Sur Province. The Toyota was found abandoned in the town the next evening, Sunday, December 12. Intemediaries approached Dagalangit's grandfather, (Ret) LTC (PA) (Retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Philippine Army) Felipino Dagalangit along with Mayor Gambai Dagalangit, a clansman of Ali's.
In the end Mr.Cuajao was released sans ransom so he had the best day so far, don't you think? I told you this was an easy game!
OK, OK, one more contestant but hers is a bit different. 53 year old Eufemia Trocio of Barangay San Miguel in Lanao del Norte Province's Iligan City who because she borrowed 300,000 Pesos
(6,200 US) and then would not, or perhaps could not pay it back, was kidnapped on November 03, 2010 and held in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur Province. Her family was promptly contacted but when they failed to get the ransom lowered by November 22, decided to have her brother Edmundo Silang report the abduction to the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation). On Tuesday, December 14 she too was released after pressure was applied to Marawi's Mayor, Fahad"Pre"Salic who then miraculously had Ms.Trocio delivered to the NBI Regional Office (I will let you think about that one).
November 04, 2010 was much like any other day. William Ang Go, a 55 year old Tsinoy rice and corn miller and the owner of a commercial truck scale, all located within his "Mincorn" compound on Leon Llido Street in Barangay Lagao in GenSan (General Santos City). Mr. Go drove his 1997 Toyota Corolla to his business, also known as "Mandayao Trading," after first stopping for petrol, where as he always bought 2 liters of gasoline. His frugal ways usually earned Go derision but today they just might have saved his life.
At 2PM, 4 men riding tandem on 2 motorcycles drove into the yard. The men riding on the back of each motorcycle then grabbed Mr,Go and forced him into his own Corolla. Pulling out of the compound the Corolla and the the 2 motorcycles, 1 in front and the other following the car, sped north on General Santos-Cotabato National Hiway. Almost immediately General Santos PNP were notified and engaged in a vehicular pursuit. At almost 6PM a team led by PO2 Sasi sighted the Cirolla by the side of a street in Barangay San Jose, 30 kilometers north of Go's compound but still within GenSan city limits. As the PNP approached on foot the lone assailant guarding Go spotted the police and quickly escaped. Go was found shocked but in good health. His car had run out of fuel, preserving his freedom and possibly his life.
November 02, 2010, Rosabella"Rose"Barranda was on a jeepney returning to her home in Barangay Tumahubong, Sumisip on Basilan Island fromthe town of Lamitan where she had attended a Bible Study early that morning. The 60 year old woman suffering from both diabetes and hypertension had immersed herself in religion since her husband had passed away in 2009. Though she owned a
sari-sari (small general store) on a rubber plantation in her barangay, she spent most of her waking hours at Tumsbuhong Alliance Church where she was a Church Leader. Taken from the jeepney by 6 guerillas from the ASG-Jamiri Faction she was held, at least intially, at a house in the town of al Barka.
At 3AM the next morning, November 03, the family received an SMS (text) from Rose's phone demanding a ransom of 3 Million Pesos (66,000 US). When this figure was rejected and upon investigation the guerillas discovered they had kidnapped a widow with very few assets, ASG attempted a fast sell, demanding 1 Million Pesos (22,000 US) and 2 brand new M16s, each equipped with grenade launchers.
Ms.Barranda is known to be in the custody of a group under sub-Kumander Hud Limaya. A list of guerillas under Limaya:
Abdurasan Limaya
Sapata Limaya
Ustadz Mahmud Tujajin
Botchoy Mastiri
Gaisal Abdulsattar
Malista Nalangka
Abubakar Palinta
Tikih Palinta
October 30, 2010, in Barangay San Jose, Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, 55 year old Babet"Nania"Gomonit, a retired teacher was putting her 10 year old grandson Cekim to bed just before 11PM when 3 gunmen and 1 woman invaded the home. Other family members present were hogtied as Babet and Cekim were taken from the home and placed in the family's Isuzu Trooper which the 4 kidnappers then used to escape, driving towards the town of Labangan. The next morning, October 31, the SUV was discovered abandoned in Barangay Sugod, Tukuan, in that same province. Babet's husband is the owner of a large construcrion business though interestingly, there hasn't been a single communication with either the kidnappers OR the 2 victims. In addition, the 4 people who entered the home were Cebuanos (aka"Bisaya, as is the family affected) so that it seems not to have been KFR at all but perhaps family related.
On October 10, 2010 in Barangay Bus Bus, Jolo City, Jolo Island in Sulu Province, 21 year old Tsinoy (I will explain in the next case below exactly what that term means) Kenn"Kenny"Klefford Lao, a student in Jolo City's Notre Dame was reportedly excited as he gushed to classmates that he was going outside the campus to meet an anonymous "textmate" (the Philippines is the #1 consumer worldwide for SMS Messaging, aka"Texting."Many young Filipinos randomly dial numbers and begin friendships and even romances in this manner...It is not considered unusual in the least). As Lao exited the campus and stood in front of Notre Dame Cathedral he was kidnapped by ASG, though the exact faction now holding him remains unclear. The initial faction was a minor one, led by an ambitious man, Kumander Basaron Arok. Holding Lao in the faction's main camp in the jungle between Barangays Tanum and Maligay within the municipal boundries of Patikul on Jolo Island. Having asked Lao's family, who like virtually all Tsinoy have told the authorities to mind their own business, for a ransom of 3 Million Pesos (66,000 US) and been told they won't pay that much (bargaining is a de riguer part of the process), the faction is known to have sold Lao up the food chain.
On October 08, 2010, at 530PM on a Friday evening, Conchita Atienza Tan was sitting in the backseat while her husband Lucio rode by her side as one of their bodyguards, Richard Emberga, drove the couple home with a second bodyguard, former AFP Marine Eduardo"Alvin"Doruelo riding shotgun . As leading members of the Cotabato City Tsinoy Community ("Tsinoy" is a bastardisation of the words"Cheneta"for"Chinese" and"Pinoy" for"Filipino,"the same no matter the language or dialect though sometimes the word"Chinoy"is also used) they were well used to heavy security precautions. Though the Chinese have been in these islands since at least the 11th Century CE/AD they are perrenial outsiders. Until Independance they were forbidden from owning land, from working most occupations or intermarrying with non-Chinese and so they have evolved into an extremely insular culture that has carved a niche for itself as traders and businesspeople. The problem with such a niche is that it tends to inspire extreme resentment. The Philippines is an extremely poor nation and Mindanao is its poorest island. Noone sees poor Chinese because this very insular community takes care of its own so that in the end they are jealousy perceived as universally wealthy. They are realists, pragmatists but their pragmatism also paints them into a corner in that their tendency to see a ransom as the cost of doing business simply perpetuates their constant victimisation. All the more so when Tsinoy have an inherent distrust in the Philippine political system and would rarely consider even approaching a Philippine police department, let alone let them handle a delicate personal (or alternatively a business matter) matter such as a kidnappimg.
The Tans own the largest hardware slash feed store in Cotabato City, "LCT Hardware," on Don Rufino Alonzo Street and so always travel with at least 3 bodyguards. As their SUV turned onto Quezon Ave from the city's bustling shopping district with a third bodyguard driving a chase car behind them (a 2nd vehicle with which to make a quick exit should attackers target the SUV, or alternatively, to give chase should someone be dragged into an attacker's vehicle) and was but 30 meters from the Tan family home, 6 men armed with M16s stepped out of the evening shadows. 4 men stayed towards the rear, boxing the chase car in as the 2 other gunmen moved forward on either side of the SUV. Getting to the front seat each gunmen simultaneously used the stock of their M16 to break the windows. Before either Doruelos or Emberga could react both were shot in the head. Doruelos, the lead bodyguard for the couple, was killed instantly while Emberga died a few minutes later as he bled out (but was instantly incapacitated.).
From Magallanes Street, the street where the Tans live, a Toyota Corolla and a Toyota Tamaraw FX screeched to a halt beside the 2 Tan vehicles. Dragging a screaming Ms.Tan from the SUV and placing her quickly inside the Corolla, the 2 get away vehicles peeled out and sped towards Abbey Road, the street leading them out of Barangay Rosary Heights, the Tan's neighbourhood.
That night the Corolla was recovered abandoned, empty apart from a single RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) round, next to the Rio Grande (Pulangi River), the river separating the provinces of North Cotabato and Maguindanao. The kidnappers had taken Ms.Tan aboard a pumpboat and transported her down stream to the municipality of Kabuntulan in Maguindanao. Cotabato City's new mayor, Japal Guiani Jr. immediately issued Executive Order#19, creating Task Force Conchita (TF Conchita) and appointed the CO (Commanding Officer) of the 603rd Infantry Brigade as his co-Chairman.
As is so often the case the MILF was accused of having a hand in the murder-kidnapping (I wonder why, I mean, even the AFP doesnt have RPGs) and as usual claimed it was highly offended. The MILF Central Committee then issued an immediate Directive to all Base Commands (a Base Command is more or less equal to a single battalion in terms of manpower) to assist in the search for Ms.Tan and to coordinate movements with the AFP so as to avoid an inadvertant firefight as they searched. As it turned out the Tans paid their matriarch's ransom post haste and she was released before daylight on Friday, October 15, 2010 on General Santos- Cotabato Hiway in the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat, near the border of Talayan in Maguindanao Province, and was picked up by a brother-in-law to be reunited with a grateful family. Of course Mr Doruelos and Mr.Embarga had no such reunion but that goes without saying.
Interestingly, and quite telling, it was on October 01 that Yu Beng Chua, President of the Cotabato City Chapter of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce added his voice to the multitude asking for a re-deployment of AFP Marines to the city to stem the tide of KFRs taking place with regard to Cotabato City Tsinoys. In the late 1990s when the GRP-MNLF Peace Process reached what was believed to be a Final Settlement in that (then) 24 year old insurgency with the inking of the so called, "Jakarta 1996 Agreement." That document put thousands of MNLF guerillas out of work. More than a few became involved in organised kidnapping groups and so the Tsinoy of the region became easy pickings. The AFP Marines deployed an element to the city and the situation stabalised though it had practically nothing to do with the Marines.
Haris Daud, a Maguindanowan Tribesman from Parang, Maguindanao Province will probablly never want to cross into Lanao del Sur Province again. In late August Haris, whose surname was erroneously reported as "Lidasan," was minding his own business when an irate group of Maranaw (Maranaon) Tribesmen kidnapped him at an impromptu roadblock. They then tried to barter Haris' life for an Toyota Vios van that had been impounded by the municipal PNP of Parang, Haris' hometown. Instead of returning the van, Haris' clansmen simply travelled into Lanao del Sur Province and set up their own roadblock in the town of Matanog. It didn't take long at all until 2 vans with a toyal of 7 Maranaw men fell into their trap and voila...The Maranaw holding Haris agreed to accept their 7 brethren in exchange for Haris. As an initial gesture (important in both cultures) the Daud Clan released 2 of the Maranaw men. Haris was then released on September 14, 2010 and when he crossed the provincial border the other 5 Maranaw were driven to the provincial line and released. The van remained in Parang.
December 14, 2010 was a " great day" for Cecillia Sosas. Back on November 15, 2010, Ms.Sosas, the Vice Principal of Baas Elementary School in Barangay Baas, Lamitan, Basilan Island was standing with teacher Merlyn Yacatip, when 6 gunmen forced the 2 women out of the school just before 11AM. Naturally those who witnessed it immediately called authorities and a composite force of the AFP's 32IB (Infantry Battalion) and PNP-PMG#1518 (Philippine National Police-Police Mobile Group#1518) were deployed in pursuit of the kidnappers. As the Blocking Forces took position, the kidnappers, later confirmed to be ASG's (Abu Sayyaf Group) Jamiri Faction, deployed a simple diversionary tactic, they released Ms.Yacatip just before noon in Sitio Manuk, Barangay Talon, Tuburan, just across the border from the municipality of Mohammad Ajul.
The ASG gunmen then worked their way to the shoreline of Tuburan where a motor banca (a local style wooden boat) carrying 3 more guerillas took custody of Ms.Sosas. She was then taken by sea to to the municipality of Sumisip where another band of gunmen took custody of her and as night fell brought her into Barangay Luuk-Bait where she was dropped off at a house. After the homeowner divested her of her jewlery, including her wedding ring, she was basically left to her own terrified thoughts until the evening of November 17. Told that the barangay would be having a fiesta the next day Ms.Sosas and that the chance of discovery was too great. To try and avoid detection her captor led the blindfolded Ms.Sosas to a patch of jungle on the outskirts of the barangay where hidden by vegetation, she spent the next 15 days living exposed to the elements.
On the evening of December 03 she was taken under the cover of darkness to an abandoned jungle nipa (bamboo and thatched palm leaf dwelling). There she was handcuffed to 1 of the interior log supports though her right arm remained free. She was given sufficient water, food and a bed pan, which was left within reach. Alone all day, a solitary guard would come each night to replenish her sustenance and empty her waste. Other than that she was simply warned against making noise and told to wait.
On Tuesday, December 14, at 7PM her guard returned earlier than usual and blindfolded her. Leading her to a waiting motorcycle whose driver was idling, she was told to hold on tightly. At roughly 730PM her driver stopped, helped her dismount and led her to 1 of 2 idling motorcycles. After her intial driver departed they left that site and continued until reaching in Barangay Lagayas, Tipo Tipo near the border of Barangay Cabangalan in the neighbouring town of Ungkaya Pukan. There she was helped off the motorcycle and warned not to attempt to remove her blindfold until she could no longer hear the motorcycles. After nearly a month Cecillia Sosas was free and re-united with her family.
That same evening, Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at exactly the time Ms.Sosas was being helped astride the initial motorcycle that would take her to freedom, 21 year old Mary Cris Cuartocruz was about to have a "not so great day." Sitting at home in Sitio Kilometer#26 in Zamboanga City's Barangay Manihacan, the young lady might have been imagining the huge changes that would take place in her life once her paperwork came through for her nursing job in New Zealand. Her father is an OFW (Overseas Foreign Worker, Filipinos who work in foreign nations), so she was at home alone with her mother, a rice trader, when 4 gunmen burst through the door of her home. As her mother began screaming for help 1 of the 4 gun men smacked her until she was subdued. Very rapidly the men moved Mary outside where 6 more gunmen kept watch. Alerted by his daughter and grandadaughter's screams, 72 year old Jesus Sogradiel ran from his home next door only to be shot to death with an M16. The gunmen, now known to be MILF guerillas with 113 Base Command, moved the young lady to the shore of that barangay where she then disappeared into the abyss.
It was a "very good day" for 19 year old Alcher"Archie"Baricuatro and his 18 year old girlfriend Sheila May Vidal. Very late in the evening of Monday, December 06, 2010, the young lovers snuck out of their respective dormitories on the Marawi City Campus of MSU (Mindanao State University) in Lanao del Sur Province. Archie, majoring in Agricultural Engineering and Sheila Mae, a Hotel and Resturant Management Major held their late night rendevouz on the deserted grounds of the university's dairy farm in Barangay Lomdiong-Salam . I should say "almost deserted" because as the young lovers strolled hand in hand back to their dorms the next morning they were waylaid by a band of gunmen led by Selik Muslimen and Machol Sabtulah who themselves work for the Jamail Pumbaya KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) Group centered in Poona Piagapo, Lanao del Norte Province.
Kidnapped at 830AM on Tuesday, December 07, by noon the couple was saying goodbbye to each other in a house located on the border of the afore mentioned town of Poona Piagapo and the town of Saguiaran, over the provincial border in Lanao del Sur after initially having been taken to Ramain, Lanao del Sur. Ms.Vidal was moved to a house in Poona Piagapo's Barangay Gacap while Baricuatro was taken to a house in the town of Balo-i in Lanao del Norte and there they remained as MSU frantically tried to keep this out of the media. The school's President, Dr.Macapado Abaton was so terrified of the media that he refused to even notify the families who had the shock of their lives when the story finally surfaced on Friday, December 10.
The Vidal family are from Butuan City, in Agusan del Norte Province while the Baricuatro family is from Kapatagan in Lanao del Norte Province. Both families are Seventh Day Adventists but the couple only met this year at school. Another thing both families have in common is the fact that both are far from wealthy and had no hope of paying the final ransom of P100,000 per person (2,000 US per) , much less the initial
P1 Million Pesos (22,000 US). The payoff ended up coming from MSU. Since there really isn't any type of torte liability as one finds in the West it is certain that Dr.Abaton was merely trying to save the school budget some money in the short term (since he was well aware that the school almost always pays the ransom of its students and staff and once it reaches the media cachet grows as the abductees get sold up the food chain). MSU has been targetted numerous times, the last case I know of personally was in October of 2008 when the school's. Budget Director, Hipolito Mendoza was kidnapped in the afore mentioned town of Saguiaran's Barangay Bubong (in Lanao del Sur Province). Saguiaran of course is the town where 1 of the 2 young people I am discussing were held as well. Mendoza was kidnapped by this same group. The leader, Jamail Pumbaya is a sub-Kumander (Deputy Commander) with the MILF 102 Base Command, under Kumander Bravo. After MSU paid the 200,000 Pesos the couple were both released in that same town of Poona Piagapo, on Tuesday, December 15, 2010, at 5AM.
It was a VERY "great day" for Edgar T.Cuajao. The 27 year old paint salesman was out buying bread (I didn't even know you can smoke"bread," go figure) in Barangay Kauswagan, Cagayan del Oro City in Misamis Oriental Province when a group of gunmen under Ali Acbar Dagalangit who forced Cuajao to drive his own Toyota Vios to Dagalangit's hometown of Lumba Bayabao, in Lanao del Sur Province. The Toyota was found abandoned in the town the next evening, Sunday, December 12. Intemediaries approached Dagalangit's grandfather, (Ret) LTC (PA) (Retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Philippine Army) Felipino Dagalangit along with Mayor Gambai Dagalangit, a clansman of Ali's.
In the end Mr.Cuajao was released sans ransom so he had the best day so far, don't you think? I told you this was an easy game!
OK, OK, one more contestant but hers is a bit different. 53 year old Eufemia Trocio of Barangay San Miguel in Lanao del Norte Province's Iligan City who because she borrowed 300,000 Pesos
(6,200 US) and then would not, or perhaps could not pay it back, was kidnapped on November 03, 2010 and held in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur Province. Her family was promptly contacted but when they failed to get the ransom lowered by November 22, decided to have her brother Edmundo Silang report the abduction to the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation). On Tuesday, December 14 she too was released after pressure was applied to Marawi's Mayor, Fahad"Pre"Salic who then miraculously had Ms.Trocio delivered to the NBI Regional Office (I will let you think about that one).
November 04, 2010 was much like any other day. William Ang Go, a 55 year old Tsinoy rice and corn miller and the owner of a commercial truck scale, all located within his "Mincorn" compound on Leon Llido Street in Barangay Lagao in GenSan (General Santos City). Mr. Go drove his 1997 Toyota Corolla to his business, also known as "Mandayao Trading," after first stopping for petrol, where as he always bought 2 liters of gasoline. His frugal ways usually earned Go derision but today they just might have saved his life.
At 2PM, 4 men riding tandem on 2 motorcycles drove into the yard. The men riding on the back of each motorcycle then grabbed Mr,Go and forced him into his own Corolla. Pulling out of the compound the Corolla and the the 2 motorcycles, 1 in front and the other following the car, sped north on General Santos-Cotabato National Hiway. Almost immediately General Santos PNP were notified and engaged in a vehicular pursuit. At almost 6PM a team led by PO2 Sasi sighted the Cirolla by the side of a street in Barangay San Jose, 30 kilometers north of Go's compound but still within GenSan city limits. As the PNP approached on foot the lone assailant guarding Go spotted the police and quickly escaped. Go was found shocked but in good health. His car had run out of fuel, preserving his freedom and possibly his life.
November 02, 2010, Rosabella"Rose"Barranda was on a jeepney returning to her home in Barangay Tumahubong, Sumisip on Basilan Island fromthe town of Lamitan where she had attended a Bible Study early that morning. The 60 year old woman suffering from both diabetes and hypertension had immersed herself in religion since her husband had passed away in 2009. Though she owned a
sari-sari (small general store) on a rubber plantation in her barangay, she spent most of her waking hours at Tumsbuhong Alliance Church where she was a Church Leader. Taken from the jeepney by 6 guerillas from the ASG-Jamiri Faction she was held, at least intially, at a house in the town of al Barka.
At 3AM the next morning, November 03, the family received an SMS (text) from Rose's phone demanding a ransom of 3 Million Pesos (66,000 US). When this figure was rejected and upon investigation the guerillas discovered they had kidnapped a widow with very few assets, ASG attempted a fast sell, demanding 1 Million Pesos (22,000 US) and 2 brand new M16s, each equipped with grenade launchers.
Ms.Barranda is known to be in the custody of a group under sub-Kumander Hud Limaya. A list of guerillas under Limaya:
Abdurasan Limaya
Sapata Limaya
Ustadz Mahmud Tujajin
Botchoy Mastiri
Gaisal Abdulsattar
Malista Nalangka
Abubakar Palinta
Tikih Palinta
October 30, 2010, in Barangay San Jose, Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, 55 year old Babet"Nania"Gomonit, a retired teacher was putting her 10 year old grandson Cekim to bed just before 11PM when 3 gunmen and 1 woman invaded the home. Other family members present were hogtied as Babet and Cekim were taken from the home and placed in the family's Isuzu Trooper which the 4 kidnappers then used to escape, driving towards the town of Labangan. The next morning, October 31, the SUV was discovered abandoned in Barangay Sugod, Tukuan, in that same province. Babet's husband is the owner of a large construcrion business though interestingly, there hasn't been a single communication with either the kidnappers OR the 2 victims. In addition, the 4 people who entered the home were Cebuanos (aka"Bisaya, as is the family affected) so that it seems not to have been KFR at all but perhaps family related.
On October 10, 2010 in Barangay Bus Bus, Jolo City, Jolo Island in Sulu Province, 21 year old Tsinoy (I will explain in the next case below exactly what that term means) Kenn"Kenny"Klefford Lao, a student in Jolo City's Notre Dame was reportedly excited as he gushed to classmates that he was going outside the campus to meet an anonymous "textmate" (the Philippines is the #1 consumer worldwide for SMS Messaging, aka"Texting."Many young Filipinos randomly dial numbers and begin friendships and even romances in this manner...It is not considered unusual in the least). As Lao exited the campus and stood in front of Notre Dame Cathedral he was kidnapped by ASG, though the exact faction now holding him remains unclear. The initial faction was a minor one, led by an ambitious man, Kumander Basaron Arok. Holding Lao in the faction's main camp in the jungle between Barangays Tanum and Maligay within the municipal boundries of Patikul on Jolo Island. Having asked Lao's family, who like virtually all Tsinoy have told the authorities to mind their own business, for a ransom of 3 Million Pesos (66,000 US) and been told they won't pay that much (bargaining is a de riguer part of the process), the faction is known to have sold Lao up the food chain.
On October 08, 2010, at 530PM on a Friday evening, Conchita Atienza Tan was sitting in the backseat while her husband Lucio rode by her side as one of their bodyguards, Richard Emberga, drove the couple home with a second bodyguard, former AFP Marine Eduardo"Alvin"Doruelo riding shotgun . As leading members of the Cotabato City Tsinoy Community ("Tsinoy" is a bastardisation of the words"Cheneta"for"Chinese" and"Pinoy" for"Filipino,"the same no matter the language or dialect though sometimes the word"Chinoy"is also used) they were well used to heavy security precautions. Though the Chinese have been in these islands since at least the 11th Century CE/AD they are perrenial outsiders. Until Independance they were forbidden from owning land, from working most occupations or intermarrying with non-Chinese and so they have evolved into an extremely insular culture that has carved a niche for itself as traders and businesspeople. The problem with such a niche is that it tends to inspire extreme resentment. The Philippines is an extremely poor nation and Mindanao is its poorest island. Noone sees poor Chinese because this very insular community takes care of its own so that in the end they are jealousy perceived as universally wealthy. They are realists, pragmatists but their pragmatism also paints them into a corner in that their tendency to see a ransom as the cost of doing business simply perpetuates their constant victimisation. All the more so when Tsinoy have an inherent distrust in the Philippine political system and would rarely consider even approaching a Philippine police department, let alone let them handle a delicate personal (or alternatively a business matter) matter such as a kidnappimg.
The Tans own the largest hardware slash feed store in Cotabato City, "LCT Hardware," on Don Rufino Alonzo Street and so always travel with at least 3 bodyguards. As their SUV turned onto Quezon Ave from the city's bustling shopping district with a third bodyguard driving a chase car behind them (a 2nd vehicle with which to make a quick exit should attackers target the SUV, or alternatively, to give chase should someone be dragged into an attacker's vehicle) and was but 30 meters from the Tan family home, 6 men armed with M16s stepped out of the evening shadows. 4 men stayed towards the rear, boxing the chase car in as the 2 other gunmen moved forward on either side of the SUV. Getting to the front seat each gunmen simultaneously used the stock of their M16 to break the windows. Before either Doruelos or Emberga could react both were shot in the head. Doruelos, the lead bodyguard for the couple, was killed instantly while Emberga died a few minutes later as he bled out (but was instantly incapacitated.).
From Magallanes Street, the street where the Tans live, a Toyota Corolla and a Toyota Tamaraw FX screeched to a halt beside the 2 Tan vehicles. Dragging a screaming Ms.Tan from the SUV and placing her quickly inside the Corolla, the 2 get away vehicles peeled out and sped towards Abbey Road, the street leading them out of Barangay Rosary Heights, the Tan's neighbourhood.
That night the Corolla was recovered abandoned, empty apart from a single RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) round, next to the Rio Grande (Pulangi River), the river separating the provinces of North Cotabato and Maguindanao. The kidnappers had taken Ms.Tan aboard a pumpboat and transported her down stream to the municipality of Kabuntulan in Maguindanao. Cotabato City's new mayor, Japal Guiani Jr. immediately issued Executive Order#19, creating Task Force Conchita (TF Conchita) and appointed the CO (Commanding Officer) of the 603rd Infantry Brigade as his co-Chairman.
As is so often the case the MILF was accused of having a hand in the murder-kidnapping (I wonder why, I mean, even the AFP doesnt have RPGs) and as usual claimed it was highly offended. The MILF Central Committee then issued an immediate Directive to all Base Commands (a Base Command is more or less equal to a single battalion in terms of manpower) to assist in the search for Ms.Tan and to coordinate movements with the AFP so as to avoid an inadvertant firefight as they searched. As it turned out the Tans paid their matriarch's ransom post haste and she was released before daylight on Friday, October 15, 2010 on General Santos- Cotabato Hiway in the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat, near the border of Talayan in Maguindanao Province, and was picked up by a brother-in-law to be reunited with a grateful family. Of course Mr Doruelos and Mr.Embarga had no such reunion but that goes without saying.
Interestingly, and quite telling, it was on October 01 that Yu Beng Chua, President of the Cotabato City Chapter of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce added his voice to the multitude asking for a re-deployment of AFP Marines to the city to stem the tide of KFRs taking place with regard to Cotabato City Tsinoys. In the late 1990s when the GRP-MNLF Peace Process reached what was believed to be a Final Settlement in that (then) 24 year old insurgency with the inking of the so called, "Jakarta 1996 Agreement." That document put thousands of MNLF guerillas out of work. More than a few became involved in organised kidnapping groups and so the Tsinoy of the region became easy pickings. The AFP Marines deployed an element to the city and the situation stabalised though it had practically nothing to do with the Marines.
Haris Daud, a Maguindanowan Tribesman from Parang, Maguindanao Province will probablly never want to cross into Lanao del Sur Province again. In late August Haris, whose surname was erroneously reported as "Lidasan," was minding his own business when an irate group of Maranaw (Maranaon) Tribesmen kidnapped him at an impromptu roadblock. They then tried to barter Haris' life for an Toyota Vios van that had been impounded by the municipal PNP of Parang, Haris' hometown. Instead of returning the van, Haris' clansmen simply travelled into Lanao del Sur Province and set up their own roadblock in the town of Matanog. It didn't take long at all until 2 vans with a toyal of 7 Maranaw men fell into their trap and voila...The Maranaw holding Haris agreed to accept their 7 brethren in exchange for Haris. As an initial gesture (important in both cultures) the Daud Clan released 2 of the Maranaw men. Haris was then released on September 14, 2010 and when he crossed the provincial border the other 5 Maranaw were driven to the provincial line and released. The van remained in Parang.
Development Agression,Last Quarter of 2010:Development, How Much is TOO Much?
When discussing Counterinsurgency anywhere in the world the one solution that will always enter the conversation is "Development." Simple enough for anyone to grasp, why is it then nearly impossible to implement effectively? A huge part of the problem is that sustainable development, development that will not dissipate over the short term, needs to be carefully tailored for each specific dynamic. For example, a Tilapia* Hatchery scheme that works very well in 1 place might be a disaster in a 2nd locale. Aside from very real environmental concerns, there are cultural, socio-economic and of course geo-political concerns to take into account. In Mindanao, neigh, the Philippines as a whole, there is a very real disconnect between the powers that be concerning viable, sustainable development and the means with which to wage an effective Counterinsurgency.
Without exception in both the poltical and military realms "Development" is absolutely equated with margins of profit. If a facet of development will not produce mid-term dividends it is consigned to the rubbish heap. GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) doesn't ponder the long term. It doesn't care what may or may not take place even one century ahead on the horizon. GRP is deeply concerned with posting short term solutions that cannot possibly sustain themselves over the long run. Instead if planting the seeds of a self-perpetuating economical facet such as Paper Production (excepting the clusterfuc* of a nightmare known as PICOP,the behemoth that went belly up in NE Mindanao some years ago), GRP instead implements a Governmental entity to more easily divvy up the island's mineral wealth. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing wrong with exploiting mineral deposits as long as it is done in a technologically, environmentally and culturally responsible manner. GRP has never done anything of the sort.
The type of "Development" GRP aims for will never serve to help neutralise the various insurgencies plaguing the island. It will merely serve to exacerbate and perpetuate the root causes and aggravate the acute facets there in. With this lovely and comforting realisation I thought it best to offer a running compendium on Developmental issues on Mindanao, most notably the aptly named variant, "Developmental Aggression," a neat little moniker that I aim to explore in another entry.
As I mentioned, Mining is being sold as "Development" and this is having some catastrophic environmental and cultural ramifications. Of course in a government revolving around sheer avarice one will always find appalling cases of sheer greed. A notable and relatively recent example is the debacle taking place on and around Mt.Pinukis on the Zamboangan Peninsula. Mt.Pinukis, like many notable mountains on Mindanao is a holy site for animist tribes, in this case. The Subanen Tribe, the tribe indigenous to Zamboanga. On October 05, 2010, in the town of Midsalip, in Zamboamga Sibugay Province, curious Subanen villagers discovered heavy equipment parked in the town's Barangay Sigapod. The equipment, used for testing claim sites, was registered to CDSI (Construction and Drilling Specialists Inc.), a mining equipment lessor based in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental Province. Upon investigation municipal officials discovered that the equipment had been leased. On October 03 to GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc.), Alpha Sibuco and Cebu Ore, 3 companies who planned to bring their leased testing equipment into the jungle on and around Mt.Pinukis.
Om October 09, in the town's Barangay Guinabor, Subanen villagers found a 2nd batch of testing equipment which sparked an impromptu demonstration, though Midsalip PNP (municipal detachment of Philippine National Police) prevented the angry villagers from destroying the equipment. By October 20 the demonstration had spread to the first site as well, in Barangay. Sigapod. On October 20 the 3 companies targetted by the demonstrators blinked and began to pull out all equipment (a process completed on October 26). When CDSI, the contractor, pulled out citing community opposition the equupment had made it to within 1 kilometer of the Test Site.
One would have thought that the equipment having been removed on October 20 would have caused the demonstrators to dissipate as well but instead, as municipal officials began uncovering more and more disturbing facts the protests continued. On October 28 almost 100 tribespeople laid prostrate on the ground in a symbolic, non-violent show of rancouer against the mining companies and the government that backs them.
The area to have been tested is a 529 hectare tract encompassed on an MPSA (Miner Production Share Agreement) issued to a consortium of the 3 afore mentioned mining companies:
GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc)
Alpha Sibuco
Cebu Ore
Issued by MGB (Mining and Geosciences Bureau) in 2009. Aside from the cultural and religious significance of Mt.Pinukis, the mountain is also the source of many wide and voluminous streams that feed the 3 main bays on the Zamboangan Peninsula and serves as a watershed fir most of Zamboanga Sibugay Province.
By November 20 the investigation into the attempted drilling on Mt.Pinukis had uncovered some startling facts. Prior to any issuance of Permits by MGB a prospective company must first obtain a FPIC (Free and Informed Prior Consent), a form signed by a tribe's "designated" leader(s) stating that the tribal leadership has been fully informed of the applicant's intentions and does not object in any notable way. It attests that this agreement was entirely free of coercion and entirely voluntarily in every way. Lumad Tribes ("Lumad" being a Cebuano/Bisaya word encompassing all non-Negrito animist tribes on Mindanao, analogous to the Tagalog term "Igorot" used correspondingly on Luzon) are by far the poorest and most under served demographic on the nation's poorest and most underserved island. Ergo, it is not difficult at all to stack the deck against Lumads when trying to wrangle their only concrete asset, land. I placed the word, "Leader" in apostrophes because in the vast bulk of FPICs Lumad leaders give away their inheritance for an absolute pittance. One cannot help hearkening back to the Dutch and their "purchase" of Manhattan Island for 24 US Dollars worth of glass beads and just as with Manhattan one finds it is inevitably a European based multi-national corporation doing the "wrangling."
IF Subanen leaders had merely traded away their birthright for glass beads that would be a great tragedy indeed. However, the Subanen of Midsalip claim that their leaders were not even consulted! The majority of protestors maintain that 1 4ubanen Timuay (where as most Lumad call chiefs by the Malay title, "Datu," Subanen use a wird in their own language, "Timuay," or, "Timway") wadnt even a Subanen, let alone a Timuay. The demonstrators claim that the man in question is a Cebuano TBisaya, a non-Lumad ethnicity).They also note with derision that 5 supposed Timuay were brothers and that Subanen Tribal Law mandates that a single generation in each family may not exceed a single Timuay. Clearly they say, the tribe has been duped. What's more they say, the entire FPIC process is supposed to be under the direct supervision of the NCIP (National Council on Indigenous Peoples). The NCIP is absolutely aware of Subanen Tribal Laws and so there has clearly been collusion during the FPIC process (or at the very least, extreme negligence).
To put the entire mining issue in the proper perspective, the entire Zamboanga Peninsula encompasses 1.7 million hectares of dry land. Using the most current MGB Tenement Map, dated December of 2008, 745,675 hectares, or 44% of the entire peninsula, is prospected. Of those 745,675 hectares, 433,801 hectares are bound in 90 Exploration Permits. Of the remaining area, 78,975 hectares are divided between 4 FTAAs (Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements) while all the rest (save roughly 500 hectares) is divvied up under MPSAs (Mineral Production Sharing Agreements). The 500 hectares excepted comprise a single working mine in Barangay Canatuan in the town of Siocon, also in the Province of Zamboanga Sibugay. Like Midsalip it is a Subanen community and just as what is now transpiring in terms0of opposition in Midsalip, Siocon faced extremely stiff opposition. Of course, in the end the Subanen there (and their supporters) lost their struggle to block the mine and did so after several of their number were tortured and murdered (the last case to my knowledge having taken place in 2004), but the demonstrators in Midsalip say they have studied Siocon intently and don't believe that their struggle will find the same pitfalls.
Of Midsalip's 28,000 hectares, 19,000 hectares are under 14 Applications for Exploration Permits. These 14 Applications cover 31 of the town's 33 barangays. 3 of those 14 Applications have already evolved into MPSAs, 1 of. Which is held by the consrtium led by GAMI, the company at the heart of the struggle in Midsalip. GAMI's MPSA was issued in 2009 amd covers 592 hectares in 3 barangays, Guinabot, Sigapod and Comarom. The struggle of course is far from over. Currently (as of December 16, 2010) the Supreme Court is waiting to docket the Motion for Reconsideration on the Petition by NGO, ASIN (Alliance to Save the Integrity of Nature) to revoke the consortium's MPSA. The Petition revolves around the accusations made by Subanen regarding the afore mentioned FPIC. It is worth noting that a 2nd MPSA holder in the town, "168 Ferrum Pacific Mining Corporation" is also under a similarly filed Petition alleging these same impropieties.
The saddest thing to me, is that in 1988 when (then) President Corazon"Cory"Aquino (late mother of our current President) was sitting in the hot seat a similar last minute action had to be taken to save this very same watertshed over LOGGING.
Without exception in both the poltical and military realms "Development" is absolutely equated with margins of profit. If a facet of development will not produce mid-term dividends it is consigned to the rubbish heap. GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) doesn't ponder the long term. It doesn't care what may or may not take place even one century ahead on the horizon. GRP is deeply concerned with posting short term solutions that cannot possibly sustain themselves over the long run. Instead if planting the seeds of a self-perpetuating economical facet such as Paper Production (excepting the clusterfuc* of a nightmare known as PICOP,the behemoth that went belly up in NE Mindanao some years ago), GRP instead implements a Governmental entity to more easily divvy up the island's mineral wealth. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing wrong with exploiting mineral deposits as long as it is done in a technologically, environmentally and culturally responsible manner. GRP has never done anything of the sort.
The type of "Development" GRP aims for will never serve to help neutralise the various insurgencies plaguing the island. It will merely serve to exacerbate and perpetuate the root causes and aggravate the acute facets there in. With this lovely and comforting realisation I thought it best to offer a running compendium on Developmental issues on Mindanao, most notably the aptly named variant, "Developmental Aggression," a neat little moniker that I aim to explore in another entry.
As I mentioned, Mining is being sold as "Development" and this is having some catastrophic environmental and cultural ramifications. Of course in a government revolving around sheer avarice one will always find appalling cases of sheer greed. A notable and relatively recent example is the debacle taking place on and around Mt.Pinukis on the Zamboangan Peninsula. Mt.Pinukis, like many notable mountains on Mindanao is a holy site for animist tribes, in this case. The Subanen Tribe, the tribe indigenous to Zamboanga. On October 05, 2010, in the town of Midsalip, in Zamboamga Sibugay Province, curious Subanen villagers discovered heavy equipment parked in the town's Barangay Sigapod. The equipment, used for testing claim sites, was registered to CDSI (Construction and Drilling Specialists Inc.), a mining equipment lessor based in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental Province. Upon investigation municipal officials discovered that the equipment had been leased. On October 03 to GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc.), Alpha Sibuco and Cebu Ore, 3 companies who planned to bring their leased testing equipment into the jungle on and around Mt.Pinukis.
Om October 09, in the town's Barangay Guinabor, Subanen villagers found a 2nd batch of testing equipment which sparked an impromptu demonstration, though Midsalip PNP (municipal detachment of Philippine National Police) prevented the angry villagers from destroying the equipment. By October 20 the demonstration had spread to the first site as well, in Barangay. Sigapod. On October 20 the 3 companies targetted by the demonstrators blinked and began to pull out all equipment (a process completed on October 26). When CDSI, the contractor, pulled out citing community opposition the equupment had made it to within 1 kilometer of the Test Site.
One would have thought that the equipment having been removed on October 20 would have caused the demonstrators to dissipate as well but instead, as municipal officials began uncovering more and more disturbing facts the protests continued. On October 28 almost 100 tribespeople laid prostrate on the ground in a symbolic, non-violent show of rancouer against the mining companies and the government that backs them.
The area to have been tested is a 529 hectare tract encompassed on an MPSA (Miner Production Share Agreement) issued to a consortium of the 3 afore mentioned mining companies:
GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc)
Alpha Sibuco
Cebu Ore
Issued by MGB (Mining and Geosciences Bureau) in 2009. Aside from the cultural and religious significance of Mt.Pinukis, the mountain is also the source of many wide and voluminous streams that feed the 3 main bays on the Zamboangan Peninsula and serves as a watershed fir most of Zamboanga Sibugay Province.
By November 20 the investigation into the attempted drilling on Mt.Pinukis had uncovered some startling facts. Prior to any issuance of Permits by MGB a prospective company must first obtain a FPIC (Free and Informed Prior Consent), a form signed by a tribe's "designated" leader(s) stating that the tribal leadership has been fully informed of the applicant's intentions and does not object in any notable way. It attests that this agreement was entirely free of coercion and entirely voluntarily in every way. Lumad Tribes ("Lumad" being a Cebuano/Bisaya word encompassing all non-Negrito animist tribes on Mindanao, analogous to the Tagalog term "Igorot" used correspondingly on Luzon) are by far the poorest and most under served demographic on the nation's poorest and most underserved island. Ergo, it is not difficult at all to stack the deck against Lumads when trying to wrangle their only concrete asset, land. I placed the word, "Leader" in apostrophes because in the vast bulk of FPICs Lumad leaders give away their inheritance for an absolute pittance. One cannot help hearkening back to the Dutch and their "purchase" of Manhattan Island for 24 US Dollars worth of glass beads and just as with Manhattan one finds it is inevitably a European based multi-national corporation doing the "wrangling."
IF Subanen leaders had merely traded away their birthright for glass beads that would be a great tragedy indeed. However, the Subanen of Midsalip claim that their leaders were not even consulted! The majority of protestors maintain that 1 4ubanen Timuay (where as most Lumad call chiefs by the Malay title, "Datu," Subanen use a wird in their own language, "Timuay," or, "Timway") wadnt even a Subanen, let alone a Timuay. The demonstrators claim that the man in question is a Cebuano TBisaya, a non-Lumad ethnicity).They also note with derision that 5 supposed Timuay were brothers and that Subanen Tribal Law mandates that a single generation in each family may not exceed a single Timuay. Clearly they say, the tribe has been duped. What's more they say, the entire FPIC process is supposed to be under the direct supervision of the NCIP (National Council on Indigenous Peoples). The NCIP is absolutely aware of Subanen Tribal Laws and so there has clearly been collusion during the FPIC process (or at the very least, extreme negligence).
To put the entire mining issue in the proper perspective, the entire Zamboanga Peninsula encompasses 1.7 million hectares of dry land. Using the most current MGB Tenement Map, dated December of 2008, 745,675 hectares, or 44% of the entire peninsula, is prospected. Of those 745,675 hectares, 433,801 hectares are bound in 90 Exploration Permits. Of the remaining area, 78,975 hectares are divided between 4 FTAAs (Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements) while all the rest (save roughly 500 hectares) is divvied up under MPSAs (Mineral Production Sharing Agreements). The 500 hectares excepted comprise a single working mine in Barangay Canatuan in the town of Siocon, also in the Province of Zamboanga Sibugay. Like Midsalip it is a Subanen community and just as what is now transpiring in terms0of opposition in Midsalip, Siocon faced extremely stiff opposition. Of course, in the end the Subanen there (and their supporters) lost their struggle to block the mine and did so after several of their number were tortured and murdered (the last case to my knowledge having taken place in 2004), but the demonstrators in Midsalip say they have studied Siocon intently and don't believe that their struggle will find the same pitfalls.
Of Midsalip's 28,000 hectares, 19,000 hectares are under 14 Applications for Exploration Permits. These 14 Applications cover 31 of the town's 33 barangays. 3 of those 14 Applications have already evolved into MPSAs, 1 of. Which is held by the consrtium led by GAMI, the company at the heart of the struggle in Midsalip. GAMI's MPSA was issued in 2009 amd covers 592 hectares in 3 barangays, Guinabot, Sigapod and Comarom. The struggle of course is far from over. Currently (as of December 16, 2010) the Supreme Court is waiting to docket the Motion for Reconsideration on the Petition by NGO, ASIN (Alliance to Save the Integrity of Nature) to revoke the consortium's MPSA. The Petition revolves around the accusations made by Subanen regarding the afore mentioned FPIC. It is worth noting that a 2nd MPSA holder in the town, "168 Ferrum Pacific Mining Corporation" is also under a similarly filed Petition alleging these same impropieties.
The saddest thing to me, is that in 1988 when (then) President Corazon"Cory"Aquino (late mother of our current President) was sitting in the hot seat a similar last minute action had to be taken to save this very same watertshed over LOGGING.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
GPH-MILF Peace Process,Last Quarter of 2011:The MILF, Treading Water as Always
In the Honeymoon Phase both (then) newly elected-President Aquino and the MILF could not help but trip over themselves as they gushed sweet nothings,promising a full scale resumption of the GHP-MILF Peace Process.Of course both sides saw no reason to jump back onto that bicycle built for two just then and instead vowed to get down to the task at hand immediately after Ramadan,a month long Muslim"holiday."Well Ramadan has come and gone.After that breather both sides yawned,stretched and finally noticed that it was rather close to the Haj,the time of year when most Muslims who are able,make a pilgrimage to the al Hajaz region of Saudi Arabia.Then,afterwards,came Islamic New Year...besides,the Philippine Xmas Season officially begins on December 16...so let's just hold the darn thing in early 2011.
Of course before both sides can begin to talk to each other,they need people to do the"talking."While the Philipine Government began empanelling its representatives in early July,just about 2 weeks after President Aquino was inagurated.On the flip side,the MILF did what it does best,it put a finger in each ear and tried to find an extra hand so that they could point a finger at someone else (really doesn't matter WHO,anyone will do in a pinch). Finally,as the nation waited with baited breath (hey,it COULD happen) the MILF finally deigned to reveal the names on their re-constituted Peace Panel:
Mohagher Iqbal, Chairman.
Datu Michael O.Mastura
Maulana"Bobby"Alonto
Datu Antonio Kinoc
Abdullah Camilan
Professor Abhoud Sweed (Syed) Linga.
No suprises there, indeed not even any new names since 2 of the 3 new people (Kinoc and Camilan) were long involved on the Technical end of the Process.The 3rd,Lingga,is a flunky who is moderately well known to observers for his involvement in very minor MILF entities.I will go into great depth when I devote an entire post to the MILF Panel.
The next day,September 14, 2010,OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process) Secretary Teresita Q.Deles announced that President Aquino had approved the blueprint for the latest Round of the GHP-MILF Peace Process,without elaborating as to what said blueprint will consist of.The decision came after Aquino met with Malaysian Foreign Minister,Dato Sri Hanifa HJ Aman.Ms.Deles made her remarks during a short speech at the Turn Over Ceremony for MinDA (Mindanao Development Authority).She also announced that the 2 sides plan to hold an informal get together sometime before December so as to iron out any large wrinkles ahead of formal resumption.When asked why it might take additional time before said resumption,in light of both sides having repeatedly vowed to implement resumption just after the end of Ramadan,Deles dropped the ball and said that they are now awaiting word from Malaysia,which as Facilitator of the Peace Process has the responsibility to set the date.
Speaking of MinDA,longtime Chairman Jesus Dureza,who concurrently served as Deles' predecessor as the last Secretary of OPAPP under the Arroyo Administration,handed over control of MinDA to old hand Luwalhati Antonino.Ms.Antonino,a native of Upi,Maguindanao Province (though in her day it was still a part of N.Cotabato Province) made her mark as one of the infamous"Tres Marias" (3 Marias).As the Congresswoman representing South Cotabato Province from 1992 to 2001,Ms.Antonino was an active opponent of the MILF (as well as the MNLF,as well as most anything Muslim).As the so called"Final Agreement" (aka "Jakarta Accorf of 1996") between the Philippine Government and the MNLF began shaping up in 1995 she joined together with 2 other female politicians who vehemently opposed any kind of settlement with Filipino-Muslims at the expence of non-Muslim Filipinos,Daisy Fuentes and the legendary,late Maria Clara Lobregat.
Along with her 2 contemporaries,Ms.Fuentes and the late Ms.Lobregat (mother of Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City and at the time Mayor herself) Ms.Antonino did all that she could possibly do to mitigate the effects of Jakarta 96 (once the Agreement itself became inevitable). Though generally known as the "Tres Marias," the MILF (and most other Filipino-Muslims) referred to the trio as the,"Black Marias."It only took a few days for Secretary Antonino to run afoul of the MILF once again.The issue that caused the consternation? Ms.Antonino hand the gall to tell the media that the MILF's BADF (Bangsamoro Development Assistance Fund) was a product of the GPH-MILF Peace Process.That statement caused Chairman of the then newly re-constituted MILF Peace Panel Secretariat,Jun Mantawil to angrily point out that while the MILF's BDA (Bangsamoro Development Agency) WAS such a development,the BDAF was NOT. The BDA was created out of the (GPH-MILF) Tripoli 2001 Agreement (June 22, 2001) with the mandate to "determine, lead, and manage" relief,rehabilitation and development projects within the targeted area.On the other hand,the BDAF was created by virtue of Executive Order #872, by former-President Arroyo (March 16, 2010) as an implementation mechanism for the afore mentioned economic reforms that were to have been realised by Jakarta 96.Ergo the BDAF is MNLF-centric where as the BDA is MILF-centric.
Septmber 27,2010 saw the MILF jump into the fray surrounding the proposed"Pulangi V"hydro-electric project in Bukidnon Province.The"El Nino"-related drought that effected Mindanao in the Summer of 2010 severely limited the island's hydro-electric output.With 55% of Mindanao deriving its electricity from hydro-electricty,droughts can be catastrophic.How much more so when that 55% of the island relies on 2 plants?The 2 plants,Agus in Lanao del Sur and Pulangi in Bukidnon are in dire straits.For the sake of brevity I will desist from going into great detail, sufficient to say that even in the best of times these 2 plants are struggling.
There is,without an iota of doubt,an extremely pressing need for viable,sustainable energy sources.However,the proposed"Pulangi V"project would utilise a dam on the Upper Cotabato Basin that would flood roughly 32,000 hectares of land that composed 80% of a single CAD (Certificate of Ancestral Domain,a claim by a tribe on its historical, ancestral lands).Among these flooded lands would be the holiest shrine of most Manobo Tribes,a site also holy to other tribes as well.I plan to do an entry on the Pulangi Project as well as its dire ramifications in an entry on"Development Aggression."
With a new president comes a new Peace Panel and THIS Panel's Chairperson,Mario Victor"Marvic"Leonen naturally wants to prove himself capable.How does Mr.Leonen try to do this?He has taken aim at long time Facilitating Nation,the nation of Malaysia,by denigrating its long time representative,Datuk Othman bin 'Abd Razak.On November 16, 2010 the Philippines formally requested that Datuk Razak ("Datuk" is the Malay equivalent of the Southern Philippine title "Datu"),be replaced claiming that Razak had long exhibited a bias against the Philippines.The MILF Central Committee then passed a Resolution in which,aside from lauding Razak,asked Malaysia not to acede to GRP's demands.
Said Resolution was then concurred by the Chairman of the MILF,al Haj Murad Ebrahim.Leonen continued his personal crusade on a Manila radio station during an interview on November 20 where he said that aside from Othman's extreme bias against the Philippine Government he also has been more than a bit keen on taking credit for past GHP-MILF Agreements which contravenes the modus operandi of an effective Facilitator.More over says Leonen,an objective Facilitator would resign post haste upon learning that 1 or both parties he was facilitating had lost all confidence in him.Razak's reluctance to do so is proof positive of his lack of objectivity.
As this minor soap opera unfolded another avoidable snafu was taking place.Since mid-September the MILF has been up in arms about the IMT Programme.IMTs, or International Monitoring Teams,are a product of the 2002 phase of the GPH-MILF Peace Process.Currently with 39 people from 4 nations (Malaysia,which administers the programme overall has 20; Brunei,15;Libya,3 and Japan has a single representative) the programme functions as a Ceasefire Security Mechanism, to minimise the number of armed engagements between the MILF's armed wing,the BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces) and the APF (Armed Forces of the Philippines).
Currently in its 5th deployment,the IMT's mandate is set to expire on February 28, 2011 despite the deployment having began on December 09, 2009 (though this disparity between"Mandate"and"Deployment"has led to controversy and confusion).Because Team deployments last only 12 months the nations involved had been set to withdraw their personnel on December 08, 2010.When the Philippine Government shrugged off its inertia and began to join the MILF in its request for an extension until at least February 28,the official termination date,the MILF suddenly lost interest and then took the opposite stance.The Philippine Government transmitted this request formally on Deceber 01 via a Note Verbale to the diplomatic missions of each of the 4 IMT nations.Finally the MILF"reluctantly agreed"to the same request,an extension until the official termination date via formal letters,from Chairman of the MILF Peace Panel,Mohagher Iqbal on December 03.
The MILF has been expressing concerns over the stated,and even more so,the unstated intentions of the UNWFP (UN World Food Programme) with regard to Ligusuan Marsh.On December 10,2010 the WFP (as it is known in shorthand) Deputy Director for the Philippines,Asaka Nyangara visited a WFP funded tree nursery in the town of Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao Province.The nursery which is equipped to raise 100,000 seedlings is primed to take part in a huge rehabilitation of Ligusuan Marsh.The wetlands span the provinces of North Cotabato,Maguindanao,Sultan Kudarat and Lanao del Sur Provinces and covers a total of 288,000 hectares.The MILF has been observing all the to do and rather quietly noting that the WFP whose primary mission is to provide food staples in extreme locations such as the conflict affected areas of Mindanao is now aiming to do a massive rehabilitation of an ecosystem.This ecosysten just happens to sit atop what some feel may be massive reserves of natural gas and oil.
On December 11,Secretary of the MILF's Central Committee Muhammad Ameen publicly asked why the WFP's envisioned rehab of the marsh was needed on such a grand scale?He also cautioned the UN to coordinate all activities within MILF AOR with the MILF itself.It was such lack of coordination that caused the 2003 GPH-MILF War (aka "Buliok Complex War") in and around that same marsh.
Since MILF founder Salamat Hashim died from natural causes in 2003 the organisation has been Chaired by al Haj Murad Ebrahim.Though Hashim was never one for the limelight he was a rock star compared to his successor,al Haj Murad. Ergo it is hard to discern fact from rumour with regard to reports that Murad is lying in a hospital bed in Malaysia's Sabah State.What is known for sure is that the reclusive leader had enjoyed an all expence paid junket to attend a conference sponsored by a Swiss NGO devoted to fair governance and independent judiciaries being held in Geneva,Switzerland from September 23 to September 28.Murad then travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Haj Pilgrimage (once again).It is believed, according to
IS-AFP (Military Intelligence), that he then travelled to Malaysia, on MILF business.While in Malaysia Murad is said to have made his way from Kuala Lampur to Sabah,which sits on the island of Borneo.It was in Sabah reports say that Murad suffered a massive stroke that as of December 03 has kept him confined to a hospital bed with half of his body paralysed.0f course the MILF is denying that its erstwhile leader is even ill but refuses to disclose his whereabouts,much less what has happened to him since al Haj (not Murad per se,but the Islamic Pilgrimage itself) ended roughly 2 months ago and Murad hasn't ben seen since. If the Intelligence Reports are accurate it would have catastrophic results for the GPH-MILF Peace Process.One should remember that founder Hashim Salamat died in the middle of July,2003 and his death was only publicly revealed by the MILF on August 06 of that year.In the 3 week interval between the 2 dates the MILF was promising that Salamat would be attending the upcoming round of Talks in Malaysia.
On October 04, 2010,an all female NGO based in Aleosan,North Cotabato Province joined the afore mentioned IMT via the entity's CPC (Civil Protection Component).Led by 2 ex-nuns and calling itself the"Female Peace Corps,"it describes itself as"totally committed" to helping maintain the current Ceasefire."The 2 "ex-nuns,"Analiza Ugay formerly a Carmelite sister,and Adel Nayal,a sister in the Oblates of Notre Dame,remain committed while understanding that they may not get very much time to help given the issues related to the expiration of the IMT mandate.The CPC was an innovation of the post-2008 War meetings and was handed a mandate that asked constituent organisations to"provide a functional system and effective mechanisms for monitoring,verifying and reporting" on implementation and maintenance of the Ceasefire and pursuant requisites."In other words,very little work relating to civilians and a whole lot of work with combatants.Oh well,at least it was a great idea,right?
With the rapid pace of modern life I for one,always take comfort in life's constants.One case in point is the constant hypocrisy of the MILF.Here is an organisation that seriously demotes lifelong members who have contravened Rule#1,"No Philippine politics."That in itself might actually be understandable,and in the case of longtime MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu having gotten suspended for 6 months over doing just that,even welcomed... but then we see the MILF constantly engaging politicians and even actively campaigning for politicians that THEY feel will further the MIlF agenda.Supporting candidates is only the converse of denigration of candidates (denigration is something that the MILF has mastered).If one disdains politicking then one disdains ALL politicking.
Towards this end, Secretary of the Central Committee,Muhammad Ameen and Vice Chairman for Political Affairs,Ghazali Jafaar signed off on a memorandum distributed to all BIAF unit commanders with regard to the (then) upcoming synchronised Barangay and SK (Provincial Board) Elections.Dated October 01,2010,the memo said in no uncertain terms that there was to be absolutely no interaction with the election OR its candidates.It went so far as to prohibit even letting a candidate use one's vehicle.The memo went on to describe the Philippine democratic process, and Liberal Democracy in general in less than glowing terms:"The so-called Democratic process of choosing leaders is not only divisive, acrimonious and creates anomosity and intrigues,but it also failed miserably to produce the best qualified people to run their affairs [sic],and the consequence is a corrupt and strife torn society."
The same day that the afore mentioned memorandum was distributed the MILF once again warned the AFP about uncoordinated movements within MILF AOR.This has been a hot issue since July,2007 when 14 AFP Marines were mowed down in an ambush by the MILF 114 Base Commamd on Basilan Island.At the time the AFP had been moving heavily and frequently as it searched high and low for the kidnapped Irish priest, Father Michael Sinott.The elderly Columban Missionary had been abducted from the Columban compound in Pagadian City,across the strait from Basilan Island.The killing of those 14 Marines gained even more notariety when it was discovered that 10 of the Marines were decapitated after being shot to death.Of course,in order to preserve the mostly non-existent Ceasefire the government played ball when the MILF insisted that although the MILF DID mow those Marines down,somehow Abu Sayyaf guerillas had crept into the Kill Zone before the smoke cleared and sawed off 10 heads.Furthermore,the accepted narrative went,it was the Marines' fault for moving within an MILF/BIAF bailiwick without prior notification and
co-ordination (actually THAT issue is valid since the AFP is signatory to an Agreement in which they vow to notify and co-ordinate its movements in such areas).
In the end Fr.Sinott had never even been brought to Basilan.He had been taken by 113 Base Command on the Lanao del Norte/Zamboanga Peninsula Border,but that is another sordid tale.
The MILF concerns this time revolved around AFP Riverine Exercises in and around the rivers and mangroves of Kabuntulan,Maguindanao Province.Trying out those new Australian Air Boats (that were brilliantly offloaded in Polloc, Maguindanao (the ARMM Port...in BROAD DAYLIGHT) ended up having caused a coventional patrol craft to capsize off shore spilling its 4 man AFP crew.Luckily all 4 were rescued but an M60 (machinegun) was among the valuable gear lost.The MILF is correct to note that Special Forces in maneuver could very easily ignite a malestrom IF their presence and intent were never telegraphed to the MILF).
The next day, October 02,2010 in Barangay Nupo,Upi,Maguindanao Province the MILF dispatched a small delegation to the"Second Timfada Lumad"(Second Lumad Conference) sponsored by the local NGO,"TJG"(Timuay Justice and Governance). "Lumad" is the Cebuano (Bisaya) word that generically describes all Mindanowan (Mindanaon) animist tribes except Negritos.It is the local equivalent of the generic Tagalog word,"Igarot,"that is used to desribe Animists (except Negritos) on Luzon.This"Congress"only focuses on the Teduray,Lambangian and Dulangan Manobo Tribes,the 3 Animist tribes of Maguindanao Province.Lumad and Muslims have sometimes had an uneasy co-existence but more often than not muted animosity has exploded into outright violence (despite the propaganda of Muslim-Filipinos and their apologists).Indeed,it was the Teduray Tribe,1 of the 3 sponsoring this event,who initiated the Ilaga-Muslim War of the late 1960s/early 1970s but that deserves an entry all its own).
Much has been made about the Muslim-Filipino disregard for Lumads and the right of Lumads to control their own land.The MILF has been belatedly trying to rectify this huge public relations nightmare,ergo an MILF delegation at a minor Lumad gathering at a municipal gym,albeit with as about a minor a personage as one could find in the MILF,but at least they came...The "minor personage"?The MILF delegation was led by a former member of the MILF Peace Panel's TWG (Technical Working Group),Amor B.Pendaliday.
Mr.Pendaliday read a lengthly speech that he said had been authored by Chairman of the MILF Peace Panel Mohagher Iqbal (maybe he held the pen in his mouth),in which the main focus was what Pendaliday/Iqbal called,"4 Point Policy,"which I will resist describing for the sake of brevity (though I might elaborate upon it in a future entry).
Of course before both sides can begin to talk to each other,they need people to do the"talking."While the Philipine Government began empanelling its representatives in early July,just about 2 weeks after President Aquino was inagurated.On the flip side,the MILF did what it does best,it put a finger in each ear and tried to find an extra hand so that they could point a finger at someone else (really doesn't matter WHO,anyone will do in a pinch). Finally,as the nation waited with baited breath (hey,it COULD happen) the MILF finally deigned to reveal the names on their re-constituted Peace Panel:
Mohagher Iqbal, Chairman.
Datu Michael O.Mastura
Maulana"Bobby"Alonto
Datu Antonio Kinoc
Abdullah Camilan
Professor Abhoud Sweed (Syed) Linga.
No suprises there, indeed not even any new names since 2 of the 3 new people (Kinoc and Camilan) were long involved on the Technical end of the Process.The 3rd,Lingga,is a flunky who is moderately well known to observers for his involvement in very minor MILF entities.I will go into great depth when I devote an entire post to the MILF Panel.
The next day,September 14, 2010,OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process) Secretary Teresita Q.Deles announced that President Aquino had approved the blueprint for the latest Round of the GHP-MILF Peace Process,without elaborating as to what said blueprint will consist of.The decision came after Aquino met with Malaysian Foreign Minister,Dato Sri Hanifa HJ Aman.Ms.Deles made her remarks during a short speech at the Turn Over Ceremony for MinDA (Mindanao Development Authority).She also announced that the 2 sides plan to hold an informal get together sometime before December so as to iron out any large wrinkles ahead of formal resumption.When asked why it might take additional time before said resumption,in light of both sides having repeatedly vowed to implement resumption just after the end of Ramadan,Deles dropped the ball and said that they are now awaiting word from Malaysia,which as Facilitator of the Peace Process has the responsibility to set the date.
Speaking of MinDA,longtime Chairman Jesus Dureza,who concurrently served as Deles' predecessor as the last Secretary of OPAPP under the Arroyo Administration,handed over control of MinDA to old hand Luwalhati Antonino.Ms.Antonino,a native of Upi,Maguindanao Province (though in her day it was still a part of N.Cotabato Province) made her mark as one of the infamous"Tres Marias" (3 Marias).As the Congresswoman representing South Cotabato Province from 1992 to 2001,Ms.Antonino was an active opponent of the MILF (as well as the MNLF,as well as most anything Muslim).As the so called"Final Agreement" (aka "Jakarta Accorf of 1996") between the Philippine Government and the MNLF began shaping up in 1995 she joined together with 2 other female politicians who vehemently opposed any kind of settlement with Filipino-Muslims at the expence of non-Muslim Filipinos,Daisy Fuentes and the legendary,late Maria Clara Lobregat.
Along with her 2 contemporaries,Ms.Fuentes and the late Ms.Lobregat (mother of Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City and at the time Mayor herself) Ms.Antonino did all that she could possibly do to mitigate the effects of Jakarta 96 (once the Agreement itself became inevitable). Though generally known as the "Tres Marias," the MILF (and most other Filipino-Muslims) referred to the trio as the,"Black Marias."It only took a few days for Secretary Antonino to run afoul of the MILF once again.The issue that caused the consternation? Ms.Antonino hand the gall to tell the media that the MILF's BADF (Bangsamoro Development Assistance Fund) was a product of the GPH-MILF Peace Process.That statement caused Chairman of the then newly re-constituted MILF Peace Panel Secretariat,Jun Mantawil to angrily point out that while the MILF's BDA (Bangsamoro Development Agency) WAS such a development,the BDAF was NOT. The BDA was created out of the (GPH-MILF) Tripoli 2001 Agreement (June 22, 2001) with the mandate to "determine, lead, and manage" relief,rehabilitation and development projects within the targeted area.On the other hand,the BDAF was created by virtue of Executive Order #872, by former-President Arroyo (March 16, 2010) as an implementation mechanism for the afore mentioned economic reforms that were to have been realised by Jakarta 96.Ergo the BDAF is MNLF-centric where as the BDA is MILF-centric.
Septmber 27,2010 saw the MILF jump into the fray surrounding the proposed"Pulangi V"hydro-electric project in Bukidnon Province.The"El Nino"-related drought that effected Mindanao in the Summer of 2010 severely limited the island's hydro-electric output.With 55% of Mindanao deriving its electricity from hydro-electricty,droughts can be catastrophic.How much more so when that 55% of the island relies on 2 plants?The 2 plants,Agus in Lanao del Sur and Pulangi in Bukidnon are in dire straits.For the sake of brevity I will desist from going into great detail, sufficient to say that even in the best of times these 2 plants are struggling.
There is,without an iota of doubt,an extremely pressing need for viable,sustainable energy sources.However,the proposed"Pulangi V"project would utilise a dam on the Upper Cotabato Basin that would flood roughly 32,000 hectares of land that composed 80% of a single CAD (Certificate of Ancestral Domain,a claim by a tribe on its historical, ancestral lands).Among these flooded lands would be the holiest shrine of most Manobo Tribes,a site also holy to other tribes as well.I plan to do an entry on the Pulangi Project as well as its dire ramifications in an entry on"Development Aggression."
With a new president comes a new Peace Panel and THIS Panel's Chairperson,Mario Victor"Marvic"Leonen naturally wants to prove himself capable.How does Mr.Leonen try to do this?He has taken aim at long time Facilitating Nation,the nation of Malaysia,by denigrating its long time representative,Datuk Othman bin 'Abd Razak.On November 16, 2010 the Philippines formally requested that Datuk Razak ("Datuk" is the Malay equivalent of the Southern Philippine title "Datu"),be replaced claiming that Razak had long exhibited a bias against the Philippines.The MILF Central Committee then passed a Resolution in which,aside from lauding Razak,asked Malaysia not to acede to GRP's demands.
Said Resolution was then concurred by the Chairman of the MILF,al Haj Murad Ebrahim.Leonen continued his personal crusade on a Manila radio station during an interview on November 20 where he said that aside from Othman's extreme bias against the Philippine Government he also has been more than a bit keen on taking credit for past GHP-MILF Agreements which contravenes the modus operandi of an effective Facilitator.More over says Leonen,an objective Facilitator would resign post haste upon learning that 1 or both parties he was facilitating had lost all confidence in him.Razak's reluctance to do so is proof positive of his lack of objectivity.
As this minor soap opera unfolded another avoidable snafu was taking place.Since mid-September the MILF has been up in arms about the IMT Programme.IMTs, or International Monitoring Teams,are a product of the 2002 phase of the GPH-MILF Peace Process.Currently with 39 people from 4 nations (Malaysia,which administers the programme overall has 20; Brunei,15;Libya,3 and Japan has a single representative) the programme functions as a Ceasefire Security Mechanism, to minimise the number of armed engagements between the MILF's armed wing,the BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces) and the APF (Armed Forces of the Philippines).
Currently in its 5th deployment,the IMT's mandate is set to expire on February 28, 2011 despite the deployment having began on December 09, 2009 (though this disparity between"Mandate"and"Deployment"has led to controversy and confusion).Because Team deployments last only 12 months the nations involved had been set to withdraw their personnel on December 08, 2010.When the Philippine Government shrugged off its inertia and began to join the MILF in its request for an extension until at least February 28,the official termination date,the MILF suddenly lost interest and then took the opposite stance.The Philippine Government transmitted this request formally on Deceber 01 via a Note Verbale to the diplomatic missions of each of the 4 IMT nations.Finally the MILF"reluctantly agreed"to the same request,an extension until the official termination date via formal letters,from Chairman of the MILF Peace Panel,Mohagher Iqbal on December 03.
The MILF has been expressing concerns over the stated,and even more so,the unstated intentions of the UNWFP (UN World Food Programme) with regard to Ligusuan Marsh.On December 10,2010 the WFP (as it is known in shorthand) Deputy Director for the Philippines,Asaka Nyangara visited a WFP funded tree nursery in the town of Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao Province.The nursery which is equipped to raise 100,000 seedlings is primed to take part in a huge rehabilitation of Ligusuan Marsh.The wetlands span the provinces of North Cotabato,Maguindanao,Sultan Kudarat and Lanao del Sur Provinces and covers a total of 288,000 hectares.The MILF has been observing all the to do and rather quietly noting that the WFP whose primary mission is to provide food staples in extreme locations such as the conflict affected areas of Mindanao is now aiming to do a massive rehabilitation of an ecosystem.This ecosysten just happens to sit atop what some feel may be massive reserves of natural gas and oil.
On December 11,Secretary of the MILF's Central Committee Muhammad Ameen publicly asked why the WFP's envisioned rehab of the marsh was needed on such a grand scale?He also cautioned the UN to coordinate all activities within MILF AOR with the MILF itself.It was such lack of coordination that caused the 2003 GPH-MILF War (aka "Buliok Complex War") in and around that same marsh.
Since MILF founder Salamat Hashim died from natural causes in 2003 the organisation has been Chaired by al Haj Murad Ebrahim.Though Hashim was never one for the limelight he was a rock star compared to his successor,al Haj Murad. Ergo it is hard to discern fact from rumour with regard to reports that Murad is lying in a hospital bed in Malaysia's Sabah State.What is known for sure is that the reclusive leader had enjoyed an all expence paid junket to attend a conference sponsored by a Swiss NGO devoted to fair governance and independent judiciaries being held in Geneva,Switzerland from September 23 to September 28.Murad then travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Haj Pilgrimage (once again).It is believed, according to
IS-AFP (Military Intelligence), that he then travelled to Malaysia, on MILF business.While in Malaysia Murad is said to have made his way from Kuala Lampur to Sabah,which sits on the island of Borneo.It was in Sabah reports say that Murad suffered a massive stroke that as of December 03 has kept him confined to a hospital bed with half of his body paralysed.0f course the MILF is denying that its erstwhile leader is even ill but refuses to disclose his whereabouts,much less what has happened to him since al Haj (not Murad per se,but the Islamic Pilgrimage itself) ended roughly 2 months ago and Murad hasn't ben seen since. If the Intelligence Reports are accurate it would have catastrophic results for the GPH-MILF Peace Process.One should remember that founder Hashim Salamat died in the middle of July,2003 and his death was only publicly revealed by the MILF on August 06 of that year.In the 3 week interval between the 2 dates the MILF was promising that Salamat would be attending the upcoming round of Talks in Malaysia.
On October 04, 2010,an all female NGO based in Aleosan,North Cotabato Province joined the afore mentioned IMT via the entity's CPC (Civil Protection Component).Led by 2 ex-nuns and calling itself the"Female Peace Corps,"it describes itself as"totally committed" to helping maintain the current Ceasefire."The 2 "ex-nuns,"Analiza Ugay formerly a Carmelite sister,and Adel Nayal,a sister in the Oblates of Notre Dame,remain committed while understanding that they may not get very much time to help given the issues related to the expiration of the IMT mandate.The CPC was an innovation of the post-2008 War meetings and was handed a mandate that asked constituent organisations to"provide a functional system and effective mechanisms for monitoring,verifying and reporting" on implementation and maintenance of the Ceasefire and pursuant requisites."In other words,very little work relating to civilians and a whole lot of work with combatants.Oh well,at least it was a great idea,right?
With the rapid pace of modern life I for one,always take comfort in life's constants.One case in point is the constant hypocrisy of the MILF.Here is an organisation that seriously demotes lifelong members who have contravened Rule#1,"No Philippine politics."That in itself might actually be understandable,and in the case of longtime MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu having gotten suspended for 6 months over doing just that,even welcomed... but then we see the MILF constantly engaging politicians and even actively campaigning for politicians that THEY feel will further the MIlF agenda.Supporting candidates is only the converse of denigration of candidates (denigration is something that the MILF has mastered).If one disdains politicking then one disdains ALL politicking.
Towards this end, Secretary of the Central Committee,Muhammad Ameen and Vice Chairman for Political Affairs,Ghazali Jafaar signed off on a memorandum distributed to all BIAF unit commanders with regard to the (then) upcoming synchronised Barangay and SK (Provincial Board) Elections.Dated October 01,2010,the memo said in no uncertain terms that there was to be absolutely no interaction with the election OR its candidates.It went so far as to prohibit even letting a candidate use one's vehicle.The memo went on to describe the Philippine democratic process, and Liberal Democracy in general in less than glowing terms:"The so-called Democratic process of choosing leaders is not only divisive, acrimonious and creates anomosity and intrigues,but it also failed miserably to produce the best qualified people to run their affairs [sic],and the consequence is a corrupt and strife torn society."
The same day that the afore mentioned memorandum was distributed the MILF once again warned the AFP about uncoordinated movements within MILF AOR.This has been a hot issue since July,2007 when 14 AFP Marines were mowed down in an ambush by the MILF 114 Base Commamd on Basilan Island.At the time the AFP had been moving heavily and frequently as it searched high and low for the kidnapped Irish priest, Father Michael Sinott.The elderly Columban Missionary had been abducted from the Columban compound in Pagadian City,across the strait from Basilan Island.The killing of those 14 Marines gained even more notariety when it was discovered that 10 of the Marines were decapitated after being shot to death.Of course,in order to preserve the mostly non-existent Ceasefire the government played ball when the MILF insisted that although the MILF DID mow those Marines down,somehow Abu Sayyaf guerillas had crept into the Kill Zone before the smoke cleared and sawed off 10 heads.Furthermore,the accepted narrative went,it was the Marines' fault for moving within an MILF/BIAF bailiwick without prior notification and
co-ordination (actually THAT issue is valid since the AFP is signatory to an Agreement in which they vow to notify and co-ordinate its movements in such areas).
In the end Fr.Sinott had never even been brought to Basilan.He had been taken by 113 Base Command on the Lanao del Norte/Zamboanga Peninsula Border,but that is another sordid tale.
The MILF concerns this time revolved around AFP Riverine Exercises in and around the rivers and mangroves of Kabuntulan,Maguindanao Province.Trying out those new Australian Air Boats (that were brilliantly offloaded in Polloc, Maguindanao (the ARMM Port...in BROAD DAYLIGHT) ended up having caused a coventional patrol craft to capsize off shore spilling its 4 man AFP crew.Luckily all 4 were rescued but an M60 (machinegun) was among the valuable gear lost.The MILF is correct to note that Special Forces in maneuver could very easily ignite a malestrom IF their presence and intent were never telegraphed to the MILF).
The next day, October 02,2010 in Barangay Nupo,Upi,Maguindanao Province the MILF dispatched a small delegation to the"Second Timfada Lumad"(Second Lumad Conference) sponsored by the local NGO,"TJG"(Timuay Justice and Governance). "Lumad" is the Cebuano (Bisaya) word that generically describes all Mindanowan (Mindanaon) animist tribes except Negritos.It is the local equivalent of the generic Tagalog word,"Igarot,"that is used to desribe Animists (except Negritos) on Luzon.This"Congress"only focuses on the Teduray,Lambangian and Dulangan Manobo Tribes,the 3 Animist tribes of Maguindanao Province.Lumad and Muslims have sometimes had an uneasy co-existence but more often than not muted animosity has exploded into outright violence (despite the propaganda of Muslim-Filipinos and their apologists).Indeed,it was the Teduray Tribe,1 of the 3 sponsoring this event,who initiated the Ilaga-Muslim War of the late 1960s/early 1970s but that deserves an entry all its own).
Much has been made about the Muslim-Filipino disregard for Lumads and the right of Lumads to control their own land.The MILF has been belatedly trying to rectify this huge public relations nightmare,ergo an MILF delegation at a minor Lumad gathering at a municipal gym,albeit with as about a minor a personage as one could find in the MILF,but at least they came...The "minor personage"?The MILF delegation was led by a former member of the MILF Peace Panel's TWG (Technical Working Group),Amor B.Pendaliday.
Mr.Pendaliday read a lengthly speech that he said had been authored by Chairman of the MILF Peace Panel Mohagher Iqbal (maybe he held the pen in his mouth),in which the main focus was what Pendaliday/Iqbal called,"4 Point Policy,"which I will resist describing for the sake of brevity (though I might elaborate upon it in a future entry).
Monday, December 13, 2010
The NPA Continues to Spread its Xmas Cheer
In my previous post I had gone into great detail about the jump starting of the decades old GRP-NDF Peace Process as well as a very brief description of a single NPA tactical offencive that took place 4 days ago in Davao City. Of course that 1 incident is only 1 of many armed engagements involving the NPA here in Mindanao so I thought it prudent to give a more in depth accounting of the latest NPA armed engagements.
As I had discussed in my previous post, Friday night, December 10, 2010 saw the NPA's Merardo Arce Command confound the 10ID (Infantry Division) with a full infiltration of the Barangay Mapula CAFGU (Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit, an official paramilitary geographically linked to a specific municipality) in Davao City's Paquibato District. The NPA was able to do so without firing a single shot owing to the very experienced planning and execution of the operational commander. Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao personally led an element of his 1st Pulang Bagani Company, all of them dressed in AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) uniforms captured during previous armed contacts with the AFP.
Travelling to Mapula they abducted the Barangay Captain and a local datu (tribal chief) before the group set out for the CAFGU post.Like a typical CAFGU post anywhere in the nation on a Friday night the Mapula post had a skeleton crew on duty, 9 CAFGU soldiers and the detachment CO (Commanding Officer) ,an AFP NCO (Non Commisioned Officer) , Cpl.Fresilo Dosel of the 72IB (Infantry Battalion). As soon as the detachment realised that their friendly visitors were not AFP regulars but rather Maoist guerillas 8 of the 9 abandoned their post after throwing their rifles down and running away. Capturing the CO's M14 and the detachment's 9 M1s (vintage Garands) and taking the 1 CAFGU soldier and the AFP NCO hostage the group left. After travelling out of Paquibato District all 4 captives were released unharmed.
December 07, 2010, the same day that the annual Xmas Ceasefire was unilaterally announced by the NPA, in Purok #9, Barangay Pasian, Monkayo, ComVal (Compostela Valley Province), the 25IB
(Infantry Battalion) was on patrol when it stumbled onto a temporary encampment of 10 guerillas from the NPA's Front 3 (Alejandro Lanaja Command) inside an abandoned nipa (thatched hut, most common form of housing in the Philippines). After a brief but extremely intence fire fight 6 guerillas withdrew leaving behind 4 mates. 3 were dead but the 4th, Lea "Ka Tanya" Palma Gil from Mati, Davao Oriental Province had taken a round in her right thigh leaving her unable to move. The 25IB radioed in for a Medevac (helicopter evacuation for advanced medical treatment) to transport the young lady to Camp Panacan Hospital at 10ID (Infantry Division) HQ in Davao City. Unfortunately the bullet severed an artery and 20 minutes into the 25 minute flight Palma Gil died. In addition to the 4 dead guerillas rifles, all M16s, 3 of their fleeing comrades had abandoned theirs as well, for a total of 7 rifles captured by the AFP in that short engagement: 5 M16s, 1 M14 and 1 M1 (vintage Garand). Also captured were 2 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, aka "bombs").
On December 05, 2010 in Barangay Tandik, Maragusan, ComVal, the NPA's Front 27 ambushed a column from the Scout Rangers 2nd Battalion while the latter was on patrol but the NPA took the worst of it with 1 guerilla killed and his M16 captured by the AFP. The dead guerilla, Juanito "Ka JunJun" Bustamente was from Sitio Patalangon, Barangay Zone #1, Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur Province. The young man was an assistant on a jeepney but when the vehicle's owner sold it in the Spring of 2010 Bustamente told his family he was going to try to find work in Manila. Instead he ended up as a bamboo harvester in ComVal. Starting that difficult job in late June, by August, 2010 he had become an NPA regular... little more than 60 days later he was dead.
On November 30, 2010 in Barangay Paloc, Maragusan, the NPA's Front 27 (Rhyme Petalcorin Command) ambushed a 50 man column of the Scout Rangers 5th Company with 3 simaltaneously detonated IEDs. 5 Scout Rangers were killed, 10 were wounded, 6 critically.The NPA lost 1 guerilla, known by his nom de guerre, "Ka Boogie,"
On November 25, 2010 in Barangay Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon Province the family of a recently killed guerilla from the NPA's Julito Tiro Command were inexplicably denied permission by the 8IB to disinter the grave if their loved one, Joel "Ka Toto" Compas of Barangay Bangbang, Medina, Misamis Oriental
despite representatives from the ICRC (Red Cross) accompanying them. The family wished to re-bury Compas in his hometown but the 8IB citing security concerns in an NPA influenced barangay refused to issue a Safe Passage Permi to the party. Such permits are part of the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) and allow bearers to circumvent AFP/CAFGU/PNP checkpoints unmolested. Usually the AFP will agree to provide an armed security detail or else disinter the remains themselves and deliver them to a nearby funeral home. For some reason known only to the 8IB CMO (Civil Military Officer) this family was told to let their loved one rot in a shallow grave in an expanse of hinterland junfle.
On November 19, 2010 in that same previous barangay, Hagpa, in Impasug-on in Bukidnon Province, as a composite force from the 8 and 29IBs conducted ground operations against the NPA, a series if 105MM shells slammed into Bundok Talundanan in Sitio Bagong Silang. Talundanan is a Higaon-an and Pulangiyen Tribal holysite. Perhaps the 8IB's denial of passage to the ICRC 6 days later had a bit to do with negligently fired artillery shells...
November 16, 2010, in Sitio Membanta, Barangay Upper Ulip, Monkayo, in ComVal, Cpl.Daiem Amsali Hadjaie of the 25IB left his camp on his motorcycle en route to Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City seeking treatment for abdominal cramping and a possibly unrelated skin condition. Minutes later he came across an NPA checkpoint implemented by Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Commamd). This time the NPA bit off more than their pouty little mouths could chew, Cpl.Hadjaie's abduction was a propagandist's nightmare. Not only was the 25 year old NCO ill, his wife was 8 and a half months pregnant and waiting for him in Camp Panacan. Going from bad to worse, Hadjaie is a Tausug Tribesmen, a Muslim. This by itself would be a major headache because of the risk in alienating other insurgent movements. The cherry on top was that the day in question was a Muslim holiday.
Both the MILF and MNLF quickly went to bat for the NCO which is as hypocritical as it gets seeing as how both those insurgencies kill AFP soldiers regardless of their tribal or religious allegiances. In any event Hadjaie was released to Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City on November 28.
That same day in Barangay Limot, Luuk, ComVal, Bagani (tribal paramilitary sancrioned by the AFP but officially denied so as to avoid culpability when these poorly trained soldiers run amok) soldier under Kumander (CO) Isagani Carmelotes and based in Sitio Logom, Barangay Pagwas lured 2 local NPA regulars," Ka Jeffrey" and "Ka Iso," to the home of a 2nd Bagani soldier.The 2 guerillas were tortured and then had their limbs hacked off while still alive, before they bled to death. Isgani then personally surrendered the 2 guerillas' M16s to the post manned by 26IB's C COY (Company C) in Barangay Del Monte, Veruela, Agusan del Sur Province. The 2 dead NPA guerillas had been part of the detachment from Front 3 that had ambushed a composite AFP detachment from 26IB, 3rd Special Forces (Airborne) Battalion and Isgani's Bagani Company just days earlier.
November 10, 2010 in Barangay Upper Bala, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur Province, a detachment from the NPA's Valentin Palamine Command disarmed that barangay's CVO (Civilian Volunteer Auxiliary, the PNP equivalent of the AFP's CAFGU though almost always only found in Muslim areas). The NPA captured 2 M1s (Garands), 7 pump shotguns and a single 9MM pistols. The disarmament took place without a single shot being fired.
Lest anyone imagine the NPA to somehow be morally superior after reading my synopsis of the Bagani soldiers gruesome killing of 2 NPA guerillas in ComVal...
On November 02, 2010 in Sitio Bango, Barangay Ngan in the town of Compostela, in ComVal, offduty CAFGU soldier Albert Meniza was enjoying a rare quiet night off with his family when 3 female NPA guerillas kicked in his door, tied his arms behind his back and frog marched him into the jungle. Reaching a clearing hours later he was tied to a tree. Shortly there after a detachment from the Merardo Arce Command's Pulang Bagani Company 4 under "Ka Jason" entered the clearing. After interrogating Meniza Ka Jason warned him that he had until December 01 to withdraw his CAFGU commission or he and his family would be killed.
On October 29, 2010 in Barabgay Langgawesan, Maragusan, ComVal, 2 off duty CAFGU soldiers, Rey Ciba and Panpilo Lupogan were both at home with their families when a group of NPA guerillas entered each home and tied their arms behind their backs. Prodding them with the stocks of their rifles they were marched to the home of Junior Lagungan of that barangay's Sitio Hanginan. Waiting inside the home was a female guerilla who identified herself as "Ka Jen Jen" who ordered both soldiers to resign their CAFGU commissions immediately lest she execute a 3rd CAFGU soldier from their detachment as a "lesson,"
As I had discussed in my previous post, Friday night, December 10, 2010 saw the NPA's Merardo Arce Command confound the 10ID (Infantry Division) with a full infiltration of the Barangay Mapula CAFGU (Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit, an official paramilitary geographically linked to a specific municipality) in Davao City's Paquibato District. The NPA was able to do so without firing a single shot owing to the very experienced planning and execution of the operational commander. Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao personally led an element of his 1st Pulang Bagani Company, all of them dressed in AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) uniforms captured during previous armed contacts with the AFP.
Travelling to Mapula they abducted the Barangay Captain and a local datu (tribal chief) before the group set out for the CAFGU post.Like a typical CAFGU post anywhere in the nation on a Friday night the Mapula post had a skeleton crew on duty, 9 CAFGU soldiers and the detachment CO (Commanding Officer) ,an AFP NCO (Non Commisioned Officer) , Cpl.Fresilo Dosel of the 72IB (Infantry Battalion). As soon as the detachment realised that their friendly visitors were not AFP regulars but rather Maoist guerillas 8 of the 9 abandoned their post after throwing their rifles down and running away. Capturing the CO's M14 and the detachment's 9 M1s (vintage Garands) and taking the 1 CAFGU soldier and the AFP NCO hostage the group left. After travelling out of Paquibato District all 4 captives were released unharmed.
December 07, 2010, the same day that the annual Xmas Ceasefire was unilaterally announced by the NPA, in Purok #9, Barangay Pasian, Monkayo, ComVal (Compostela Valley Province), the 25IB
(Infantry Battalion) was on patrol when it stumbled onto a temporary encampment of 10 guerillas from the NPA's Front 3 (Alejandro Lanaja Command) inside an abandoned nipa (thatched hut, most common form of housing in the Philippines). After a brief but extremely intence fire fight 6 guerillas withdrew leaving behind 4 mates. 3 were dead but the 4th, Lea "Ka Tanya" Palma Gil from Mati, Davao Oriental Province had taken a round in her right thigh leaving her unable to move. The 25IB radioed in for a Medevac (helicopter evacuation for advanced medical treatment) to transport the young lady to Camp Panacan Hospital at 10ID (Infantry Division) HQ in Davao City. Unfortunately the bullet severed an artery and 20 minutes into the 25 minute flight Palma Gil died. In addition to the 4 dead guerillas rifles, all M16s, 3 of their fleeing comrades had abandoned theirs as well, for a total of 7 rifles captured by the AFP in that short engagement: 5 M16s, 1 M14 and 1 M1 (vintage Garand). Also captured were 2 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, aka "bombs").
On December 05, 2010 in Barangay Tandik, Maragusan, ComVal, the NPA's Front 27 ambushed a column from the Scout Rangers 2nd Battalion while the latter was on patrol but the NPA took the worst of it with 1 guerilla killed and his M16 captured by the AFP. The dead guerilla, Juanito "Ka JunJun" Bustamente was from Sitio Patalangon, Barangay Zone #1, Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur Province. The young man was an assistant on a jeepney but when the vehicle's owner sold it in the Spring of 2010 Bustamente told his family he was going to try to find work in Manila. Instead he ended up as a bamboo harvester in ComVal. Starting that difficult job in late June, by August, 2010 he had become an NPA regular... little more than 60 days later he was dead.
On November 30, 2010 in Barangay Paloc, Maragusan, the NPA's Front 27 (Rhyme Petalcorin Command) ambushed a 50 man column of the Scout Rangers 5th Company with 3 simaltaneously detonated IEDs. 5 Scout Rangers were killed, 10 were wounded, 6 critically.The NPA lost 1 guerilla, known by his nom de guerre, "Ka Boogie,"
On November 25, 2010 in Barangay Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon Province the family of a recently killed guerilla from the NPA's Julito Tiro Command were inexplicably denied permission by the 8IB to disinter the grave if their loved one, Joel "Ka Toto" Compas of Barangay Bangbang, Medina, Misamis Oriental
despite representatives from the ICRC (Red Cross) accompanying them. The family wished to re-bury Compas in his hometown but the 8IB citing security concerns in an NPA influenced barangay refused to issue a Safe Passage Permi to the party. Such permits are part of the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) and allow bearers to circumvent AFP/CAFGU/PNP checkpoints unmolested. Usually the AFP will agree to provide an armed security detail or else disinter the remains themselves and deliver them to a nearby funeral home. For some reason known only to the 8IB CMO (Civil Military Officer) this family was told to let their loved one rot in a shallow grave in an expanse of hinterland junfle.
On November 19, 2010 in that same previous barangay, Hagpa, in Impasug-on in Bukidnon Province, as a composite force from the 8 and 29IBs conducted ground operations against the NPA, a series if 105MM shells slammed into Bundok Talundanan in Sitio Bagong Silang. Talundanan is a Higaon-an and Pulangiyen Tribal holysite. Perhaps the 8IB's denial of passage to the ICRC 6 days later had a bit to do with negligently fired artillery shells...
November 16, 2010, in Sitio Membanta, Barangay Upper Ulip, Monkayo, in ComVal, Cpl.Daiem Amsali Hadjaie of the 25IB left his camp on his motorcycle en route to Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City seeking treatment for abdominal cramping and a possibly unrelated skin condition. Minutes later he came across an NPA checkpoint implemented by Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Commamd). This time the NPA bit off more than their pouty little mouths could chew, Cpl.Hadjaie's abduction was a propagandist's nightmare. Not only was the 25 year old NCO ill, his wife was 8 and a half months pregnant and waiting for him in Camp Panacan. Going from bad to worse, Hadjaie is a Tausug Tribesmen, a Muslim. This by itself would be a major headache because of the risk in alienating other insurgent movements. The cherry on top was that the day in question was a Muslim holiday.
Both the MILF and MNLF quickly went to bat for the NCO which is as hypocritical as it gets seeing as how both those insurgencies kill AFP soldiers regardless of their tribal or religious allegiances. In any event Hadjaie was released to Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City on November 28.
That same day in Barangay Limot, Luuk, ComVal, Bagani (tribal paramilitary sancrioned by the AFP but officially denied so as to avoid culpability when these poorly trained soldiers run amok) soldier under Kumander (CO) Isagani Carmelotes and based in Sitio Logom, Barangay Pagwas lured 2 local NPA regulars," Ka Jeffrey" and "Ka Iso," to the home of a 2nd Bagani soldier.The 2 guerillas were tortured and then had their limbs hacked off while still alive, before they bled to death. Isgani then personally surrendered the 2 guerillas' M16s to the post manned by 26IB's C COY (Company C) in Barangay Del Monte, Veruela, Agusan del Sur Province. The 2 dead NPA guerillas had been part of the detachment from Front 3 that had ambushed a composite AFP detachment from 26IB, 3rd Special Forces (Airborne) Battalion and Isgani's Bagani Company just days earlier.
November 10, 2010 in Barangay Upper Bala, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur Province, a detachment from the NPA's Valentin Palamine Command disarmed that barangay's CVO (Civilian Volunteer Auxiliary, the PNP equivalent of the AFP's CAFGU though almost always only found in Muslim areas). The NPA captured 2 M1s (Garands), 7 pump shotguns and a single 9MM pistols. The disarmament took place without a single shot being fired.
Lest anyone imagine the NPA to somehow be morally superior after reading my synopsis of the Bagani soldiers gruesome killing of 2 NPA guerillas in ComVal...
On November 02, 2010 in Sitio Bango, Barangay Ngan in the town of Compostela, in ComVal, offduty CAFGU soldier Albert Meniza was enjoying a rare quiet night off with his family when 3 female NPA guerillas kicked in his door, tied his arms behind his back and frog marched him into the jungle. Reaching a clearing hours later he was tied to a tree. Shortly there after a detachment from the Merardo Arce Command's Pulang Bagani Company 4 under "Ka Jason" entered the clearing. After interrogating Meniza Ka Jason warned him that he had until December 01 to withdraw his CAFGU commission or he and his family would be killed.
On October 29, 2010 in Barabgay Langgawesan, Maragusan, ComVal, 2 off duty CAFGU soldiers, Rey Ciba and Panpilo Lupogan were both at home with their families when a group of NPA guerillas entered each home and tied their arms behind their backs. Prodding them with the stocks of their rifles they were marched to the home of Junior Lagungan of that barangay's Sitio Hanginan. Waiting inside the home was a female guerilla who identified herself as "Ka Jen Jen" who ordered both soldiers to resign their CAFGU commissions immediately lest she execute a 3rd CAFGU soldier from their detachment as a "lesson,"
The Annual NPA Dog and Pony Show
Here on our tropical isle of Mindanao some might think that we aren't as blessed as many Westerners are when it comes to the Xmas Season. Those living in colder climes for example, can very easily make do without their calendars and simply observe the changing colours of the leaves, or fill the air grow nippier. No, we may not be able to enjoy THOSE seasonal changes but we likewise have some peculiarly all our own. When one hears the NPA announce a Ceasefire they can fire up that jeepney and race to Swiss Market for some eggnog because you can bet a plethora of Pesos that its time for old Saint Nick to make his presence known. Those that are in the know however will always wait fir the Ceasefire to commence before rushing anywhere since the days leading up to the implementation of the Ceasefire are always the bloodiest of the preceeding year.
Speaking of "implementation," when will this year's quiet time begin? On December 07th the NPA unilaterally announced that this year's Xmas Ceasefire will begin at 6AM, on December 16th and will last (one hopes) until January 03rd. The date of commencement was by no means arbitrary in that December 16th marks the beginning of the Philippine Xmas Season. The duration of 17 days makes the 2010 Ceasefire the longest in a decade. Again, not an arbitrary fact given the fact that almost immediately after the end of the cessation the resumption of the long stalled GRP-NDF Peace Process takes place in Oslo, Norway.
The Ceasefire Announcement took place after a fortuitous week for the NPA and its political facet, the CPP (Communist Party of the Phillipines). On December 01 and 02 in Hong Kong, long time Chairperson of the NDF Peace Panel, Luis Jalandoni met with his GRP counterpart, Alexander "Alex" Padilla in an informal tet a tet. Also present was Jalandoni's wife and #2 on the NDF Panel, Coni Ledesma. Joining Padilla was GRP Panel member Pablito Sanidad and both sides were joined by attorney Rachel Pastores who is consulting for the overall Peace Process. As was expected both Padilla and Jalandoni got along quite well and dates for both Informal Talks (January 14 through January 18) and the First Round of Formal Talks (February 19 through February 25) were tenatively agreed upon pending formal approval by their respective entities.
During their 2 day meeting in Hong Kong Padilla formally handed Jalandoni a copy of the HDO (Hold Departure Order) had been in effect with GRP's Bureau of Immigration since June 29, 1992. HDOs are issued by the DOJ (Department of Justice) and enforced by the Bureau of Immigration when a targeted individual attempts to leave via a commercial flight. Prior to leaving Manila Padilla had been instructed to hand over the official notification by Malacanang's Chief Counsel Ricardo Paras III. In addition, Padilla also handed Jalandoni an official notification that JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) was still viable. JASIG was a product of a 1995 Round in the Peace Process. It allows for NDF Panel members and other NDF members closely involved in the Process to freely enter and leave the Philippimes as well as to remain unmolested during visits. JASIG had been suspended by former-President Arroyo during the 2004 meltdown following the US and EU classification of the CPP-NPA as "Terrorist Organisations." President Arroyo had lobbied hard for the groups' inclusion in an irrational bout of egotism. Her theatrics then derailed the Process until the present.
JASIG is an extremely relevant issue for the entire NDF but more so for Jalandoni on a personal level given that his aged mother, still in tje Philippines, is quite ill. Jalandoni had wanted to visit his mother for perhaps the last time but the questuin of JASIG's viability loomed large. Jalandoni et al had been informed that President Arroyo had actually lifted her own Suspension Order on July 17, 2009 but without an official notification that fact didn't mean much. On December 04, official notifications in hand, Jalandoni and his wife arrived in Manila aboard a Cathay Pacific flight out of Hong Kong.
As I mentioned, the days leading up to the annual Xmas Ceasefires are inevitably filled with the blood and gore of increasingly bold tactically offencive operations. Case in point? Ka Parago's evening visit to the CAFGU post in Davao City's Barangay Mapula. The post is located in the city's Paquibato District, 1 of 4 city districts in which former Mayor (and current Vice Mayor under his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio) Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte had given the NPA free reign.
When Vice Mayor Duterte was stlll a Davao City Prosecutor he had come to a working arrangement with the Maoists.
By 1984, not long after Ka Parago had moved his family from Laak in Davao del Norte Province (the town is now within Compostela Valley Province, aka ComVal, the province later carved out of the northwest corner of Davao del Norte) to the coastal bsrangay of Isla Verde in Davao City the NPA was so deeply ensconced in the poorer barangays that ring Mindanao's largest city that authorities all but conceeded it as NPA territory. From 1979 until that point the organisation had been exponentially all over the Central and Southern Philippines. As so often happens in such situations this uber-rapid expansion severely weakened the NPA's ideological foundation. Forget about Mao, most NPA regulars of the era had no idea who Marx was (granted that today that things have not progressed all that much).
As with any base of power people were joining the NPA for a variety of reasons and virtually none of them were good. Among them were a group of petty criminals in the city's Agado District, an area encompassing some of the city's most depressed barangays.By mid-1984 the NPA began cleaning house, deploying SPARU Teams (Special Partisan Armed Revolutionary Units, often mis transliterated as "Sparrow") to publicly murder NPA members that ran afoul of their hierarchy (in addition to the assasinations of PNP, government officials, informers and non-combatants the group erroneously marked as informers). As SPARU operations became much more frequent elements like those petty criminals abandoned ship. Knowing that withdrawing from the NPA not only did nothing to alleviate their vulnerability but actually made them much more probable targets they banded together and formed an anti-NPA organisation called "Alsa Masa" (Masses Arise).
A lot has been said, erroneously, about Vice Mayor Duterte's suuport of Alsa Masa. Indeed it is claimed often enough that he led the organisation! Duterte did reluctantly develop a working relationship with the group after intially targetting them for prosecution. He really did not have a choice in the matter after the AFP officially sanctioned the group as an integral cog in its Force Multiplication scheme in the Davao Region. By the time the late President Corazon Aquino came to town amd vowed to support Alsa Masa in a nationally televised speech Duterte had long been in bed with the group.
Alsa Masa was the tip of the iceberg in the AFP's anti-Communist Force Multiplication so that by the start of 1989 the NPA was relegated to the city's hinterlands, where it has remained ensconced ever since. The afore mentioned 4 NPA controoled districts, Paquibato, Tugbok, Marilog and Toril (Calinan and Baguio also have a moderate presence if not used tactically), have been consigned to the NPA with understanding that they will refrain from re-entering (or entering as the case may be) the city's other districts. One could say Duterte has merely been a pragmatist but others (the brave and the few) say a lot worse.
The AFP almost always refrains from publicly commenting on Duterte's self-described "Back Door Policy" (aaaah, is THAT what they are calling it these days?) though that nearly changed when current Mayor Sarah Duterte Carpio actually crossed the line and withdrew the city's support for AFP operations within the city's borders.Following through on a threat her father had been making for years Carpio severed municipal support while accusing the AFP of disregard for non-combatants in those 4 NPA controlled districts. The 2 sides have since made uo with Carpio giving the keynote speech at the Commencement Ceremony for a
P and D Mission (Peace and Development, civic oriented projects such as infrastructural improvements or MEDCAPS, aka medical and dental fairs...though in this case the operation merely involved the recently arrived 84 Infantry Battalion doing a house by house census in Toril District). In her speech Carpio lauded the non-combative nature of the current operation and pledged Davao City's assistance.
When one mentions the NPA and Davao City in the same sentence it is a fair assumption that Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's name will soon be following. Pitao is the CO (Commanding Officer) of the Merardo Arce Command, a battalion sized entity that while primarily operating within the 4 districts I mentioned also inclucludes Davao del Sur (the province in which Davao City sits) as well as parts of Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental Provinces. Comprised of 5 COYs (Companies, a "COY" generally contains 90 to 110 riflemen) of which only 4 are currently operational. Of these COYs, Pulang Bagani Company 1 through 5 (Red Warriors Company 1 through 5), Pitao personally commands Coy 1. Known as Pulang Bagani Company 1, or PBC1, it perhaps the best equipped of all NPA elements on Mindanao, if not the entire nation.
In a long and often brutal relationship the AFP hace. Been at each others' throats. Aside from capturing him at his family home after his sister Evelyn tipped authorities, he has never been caught and this fact cause an extreme amount of consternation. The capture I just mentioned took place almost immediatel after PBC1 released s Brigadier General it captured along with other AFP personnel. That capture was an amazing propaganda coup for the Communist and so it really msade Pitao the highest value target. In the end he spent just over a year incarcerated before being freed sans pre-conditions as President Estrada sought to jumpstart the GRP-NDF Peace Process.
From 2000 onwards Pitao loomed extremely large in AFP sights.
In June of 2008 Pitao's younger brother Danilo was abducted and summarily executed. Unlike his older brother Danilo not only stayed on the right side of the law but actually worked as a Provincial Guard in the Davao del Norte Provincial Capitol Complex in Tagum City. With a sister turned informer and a brother murdered, both because of his role in the insurgency Pitao might have re-thought his long involvement with the organisation...but in fact it seems to have only strengthened his resolve.
After a series of stunning tactical operations in early 2009, Pitao's youngest daughter, Rebelyn "Ivy" Maasin Pitao was kidnnapped as she returned to the family's home in Bago Gallera in Davao City. Found the next day,in Davao del Norte Province, her corpse half naked, physically tortured (including sexually), the 20 year old paid the highest price for her father's membership in the NPA. The AFP denied all involvement but despite its initial reluctance to do so, opened an internal investigation into the matter. Predicting correctly that the military would do nothing the NPA conducted its own investigation and pointed the finger at an AFP Intelligence detachment ensconced in the town of Carmen, Davao del Norte Province and even listed involved personnel by name. After placing the personnel on Restriction to Barracks for almost 3 months the investigation was swept under the rug...though the NPA deployed SPARU Teams who killed a number of the listed men.
Fast forward to December 10, 2010 and Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's PBC1 abducted the Barangay Captain of Barangay Mapula and a well known local datu (tribal chief) and while wearing AFP uniforms had the Barangay Captain and datuaccompany them to the Barangay Mapula's CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit), an official paramilitary under direct supervision of the AFP) post. Using the Barangay Captain and datu to infiltrate the post compound. Once inside they disarmed all personnel and made off with a nice haul. I am sure that they will look great under the tree...
Not a single shot fired, Ka Parago strikes again.
Speaking of "implementation," when will this year's quiet time begin? On December 07th the NPA unilaterally announced that this year's Xmas Ceasefire will begin at 6AM, on December 16th and will last (one hopes) until January 03rd. The date of commencement was by no means arbitrary in that December 16th marks the beginning of the Philippine Xmas Season. The duration of 17 days makes the 2010 Ceasefire the longest in a decade. Again, not an arbitrary fact given the fact that almost immediately after the end of the cessation the resumption of the long stalled GRP-NDF Peace Process takes place in Oslo, Norway.
The Ceasefire Announcement took place after a fortuitous week for the NPA and its political facet, the CPP (Communist Party of the Phillipines). On December 01 and 02 in Hong Kong, long time Chairperson of the NDF Peace Panel, Luis Jalandoni met with his GRP counterpart, Alexander "Alex" Padilla in an informal tet a tet. Also present was Jalandoni's wife and #2 on the NDF Panel, Coni Ledesma. Joining Padilla was GRP Panel member Pablito Sanidad and both sides were joined by attorney Rachel Pastores who is consulting for the overall Peace Process. As was expected both Padilla and Jalandoni got along quite well and dates for both Informal Talks (January 14 through January 18) and the First Round of Formal Talks (February 19 through February 25) were tenatively agreed upon pending formal approval by their respective entities.
During their 2 day meeting in Hong Kong Padilla formally handed Jalandoni a copy of the HDO (Hold Departure Order) had been in effect with GRP's Bureau of Immigration since June 29, 1992. HDOs are issued by the DOJ (Department of Justice) and enforced by the Bureau of Immigration when a targeted individual attempts to leave via a commercial flight. Prior to leaving Manila Padilla had been instructed to hand over the official notification by Malacanang's Chief Counsel Ricardo Paras III. In addition, Padilla also handed Jalandoni an official notification that JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) was still viable. JASIG was a product of a 1995 Round in the Peace Process. It allows for NDF Panel members and other NDF members closely involved in the Process to freely enter and leave the Philippimes as well as to remain unmolested during visits. JASIG had been suspended by former-President Arroyo during the 2004 meltdown following the US and EU classification of the CPP-NPA as "Terrorist Organisations." President Arroyo had lobbied hard for the groups' inclusion in an irrational bout of egotism. Her theatrics then derailed the Process until the present.
JASIG is an extremely relevant issue for the entire NDF but more so for Jalandoni on a personal level given that his aged mother, still in tje Philippines, is quite ill. Jalandoni had wanted to visit his mother for perhaps the last time but the questuin of JASIG's viability loomed large. Jalandoni et al had been informed that President Arroyo had actually lifted her own Suspension Order on July 17, 2009 but without an official notification that fact didn't mean much. On December 04, official notifications in hand, Jalandoni and his wife arrived in Manila aboard a Cathay Pacific flight out of Hong Kong.
As I mentioned, the days leading up to the annual Xmas Ceasefires are inevitably filled with the blood and gore of increasingly bold tactically offencive operations. Case in point? Ka Parago's evening visit to the CAFGU post in Davao City's Barangay Mapula. The post is located in the city's Paquibato District, 1 of 4 city districts in which former Mayor (and current Vice Mayor under his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio) Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte had given the NPA free reign.
When Vice Mayor Duterte was stlll a Davao City Prosecutor he had come to a working arrangement with the Maoists.
By 1984, not long after Ka Parago had moved his family from Laak in Davao del Norte Province (the town is now within Compostela Valley Province, aka ComVal, the province later carved out of the northwest corner of Davao del Norte) to the coastal bsrangay of Isla Verde in Davao City the NPA was so deeply ensconced in the poorer barangays that ring Mindanao's largest city that authorities all but conceeded it as NPA territory. From 1979 until that point the organisation had been exponentially all over the Central and Southern Philippines. As so often happens in such situations this uber-rapid expansion severely weakened the NPA's ideological foundation. Forget about Mao, most NPA regulars of the era had no idea who Marx was (granted that today that things have not progressed all that much).
As with any base of power people were joining the NPA for a variety of reasons and virtually none of them were good. Among them were a group of petty criminals in the city's Agado District, an area encompassing some of the city's most depressed barangays.By mid-1984 the NPA began cleaning house, deploying SPARU Teams (Special Partisan Armed Revolutionary Units, often mis transliterated as "Sparrow") to publicly murder NPA members that ran afoul of their hierarchy (in addition to the assasinations of PNP, government officials, informers and non-combatants the group erroneously marked as informers). As SPARU operations became much more frequent elements like those petty criminals abandoned ship. Knowing that withdrawing from the NPA not only did nothing to alleviate their vulnerability but actually made them much more probable targets they banded together and formed an anti-NPA organisation called "Alsa Masa" (Masses Arise).
A lot has been said, erroneously, about Vice Mayor Duterte's suuport of Alsa Masa. Indeed it is claimed often enough that he led the organisation! Duterte did reluctantly develop a working relationship with the group after intially targetting them for prosecution. He really did not have a choice in the matter after the AFP officially sanctioned the group as an integral cog in its Force Multiplication scheme in the Davao Region. By the time the late President Corazon Aquino came to town amd vowed to support Alsa Masa in a nationally televised speech Duterte had long been in bed with the group.
Alsa Masa was the tip of the iceberg in the AFP's anti-Communist Force Multiplication so that by the start of 1989 the NPA was relegated to the city's hinterlands, where it has remained ensconced ever since. The afore mentioned 4 NPA controoled districts, Paquibato, Tugbok, Marilog and Toril (Calinan and Baguio also have a moderate presence if not used tactically), have been consigned to the NPA with understanding that they will refrain from re-entering (or entering as the case may be) the city's other districts. One could say Duterte has merely been a pragmatist but others (the brave and the few) say a lot worse.
The AFP almost always refrains from publicly commenting on Duterte's self-described "Back Door Policy" (aaaah, is THAT what they are calling it these days?) though that nearly changed when current Mayor Sarah Duterte Carpio actually crossed the line and withdrew the city's support for AFP operations within the city's borders.Following through on a threat her father had been making for years Carpio severed municipal support while accusing the AFP of disregard for non-combatants in those 4 NPA controlled districts. The 2 sides have since made uo with Carpio giving the keynote speech at the Commencement Ceremony for a
P and D Mission (Peace and Development, civic oriented projects such as infrastructural improvements or MEDCAPS, aka medical and dental fairs...though in this case the operation merely involved the recently arrived 84 Infantry Battalion doing a house by house census in Toril District). In her speech Carpio lauded the non-combative nature of the current operation and pledged Davao City's assistance.
When one mentions the NPA and Davao City in the same sentence it is a fair assumption that Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's name will soon be following. Pitao is the CO (Commanding Officer) of the Merardo Arce Command, a battalion sized entity that while primarily operating within the 4 districts I mentioned also inclucludes Davao del Sur (the province in which Davao City sits) as well as parts of Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental Provinces. Comprised of 5 COYs (Companies, a "COY" generally contains 90 to 110 riflemen) of which only 4 are currently operational. Of these COYs, Pulang Bagani Company 1 through 5 (Red Warriors Company 1 through 5), Pitao personally commands Coy 1. Known as Pulang Bagani Company 1, or PBC1, it perhaps the best equipped of all NPA elements on Mindanao, if not the entire nation.
In a long and often brutal relationship the AFP hace. Been at each others' throats. Aside from capturing him at his family home after his sister Evelyn tipped authorities, he has never been caught and this fact cause an extreme amount of consternation. The capture I just mentioned took place almost immediatel after PBC1 released s Brigadier General it captured along with other AFP personnel. That capture was an amazing propaganda coup for the Communist and so it really msade Pitao the highest value target. In the end he spent just over a year incarcerated before being freed sans pre-conditions as President Estrada sought to jumpstart the GRP-NDF Peace Process.
From 2000 onwards Pitao loomed extremely large in AFP sights.
In June of 2008 Pitao's younger brother Danilo was abducted and summarily executed. Unlike his older brother Danilo not only stayed on the right side of the law but actually worked as a Provincial Guard in the Davao del Norte Provincial Capitol Complex in Tagum City. With a sister turned informer and a brother murdered, both because of his role in the insurgency Pitao might have re-thought his long involvement with the organisation...but in fact it seems to have only strengthened his resolve.
After a series of stunning tactical operations in early 2009, Pitao's youngest daughter, Rebelyn "Ivy" Maasin Pitao was kidnnapped as she returned to the family's home in Bago Gallera in Davao City. Found the next day,in Davao del Norte Province, her corpse half naked, physically tortured (including sexually), the 20 year old paid the highest price for her father's membership in the NPA. The AFP denied all involvement but despite its initial reluctance to do so, opened an internal investigation into the matter. Predicting correctly that the military would do nothing the NPA conducted its own investigation and pointed the finger at an AFP Intelligence detachment ensconced in the town of Carmen, Davao del Norte Province and even listed involved personnel by name. After placing the personnel on Restriction to Barracks for almost 3 months the investigation was swept under the rug...though the NPA deployed SPARU Teams who killed a number of the listed men.
Fast forward to December 10, 2010 and Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's PBC1 abducted the Barangay Captain of Barangay Mapula and a well known local datu (tribal chief) and while wearing AFP uniforms had the Barangay Captain and datuaccompany them to the Barangay Mapula's CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit), an official paramilitary under direct supervision of the AFP) post. Using the Barangay Captain and datu to infiltrate the post compound. Once inside they disarmed all personnel and made off with a nice haul. I am sure that they will look great under the tree...
Not a single shot fired, Ka Parago strikes again.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
A Merrier Xmas for the AFP
The big subject amongst Senior Officers within the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is the Amnesty Proclamation,restoring the law abiding status of the servicemen and officers involved in"Oakwood Mutiny*,"the" Marine Mutiny" and the"Peninsula Hotel Coup Attempt,"that is currently making its way through Congress after having been withdrawn by its author, President Aquino.Presidential Proclamations must gain concurrence by Congress before being implemented. This is almost aways an easy sell to Congress, but not this time. the main bone of contention is that the original Proclamation,#50,contained some important points that the Congressional Committee on Justice took issue with.
The main sticking point involved the "Admission of Guilt"which was not mandated on the proposed applications that were to be distributed.Congressional Minority Leader, Representative Edcel Lagman took great umbrage with 1 prospective applicant, former Brigadier General Danilo Lim, who at the time of the "Marine Mutiny" was the Commandant of the Marine Corps. who remarked under oath during his testimony that he does not consider himself guilty of anything, noting that the 1987 Constitution the AFP is the desginated,"Protector of the People,"and that as a Senior Officer he had no choice but to take a proactive stance with regard to the Administration of former President Arroyo. Taking his supposition a step further Lim cited Article#2, Section#3 which specifies this course of action even when it pits the military directly against the Government. In his line of reasoning the AFP serves the citizenry first and THEN the Government.
The issue of implied guilt, or the actual admission there of, dominated the nearly 3 hours long hearing.Rep.Lagman,in response to Lim referencing the 1987 Constitution asked Lim if he was at all aware of relevant case law, specifically, that the Supreme Court has ruled that the failure to offer an Admission of Guilt negates the possibility of Amnesty. Lim in return pointed out that there is also a precedent that says the diametric opposite,thus supporting Lim's own position on this matter. Rep.Lagman was referring to"Vera vs. People (1963) while Lim was referring to"Barrioquinto vs.Fernandez (1949)."In the former case the Justices ruled that when an applicant maintains one's innocence they are negating the commission of the crime for which they are then applying for Amnesty which is not only counter-intuitive but non-sensical as well. The latter maintains that amnesty is a societal act and there fore only needing a legal recognition and NOT a legal dispensation.
The Chairman of the Congressional Committee on Justice, Rep.Niel Tupas Jr.of Iolio is adamant that such an admission is absolutely neccessary where as, in Lim's corner is Secretary of Justice, Leila De Lima.Rep.Tupas said that "Barrioquinto" was overuled by"Vera."In the end however Congress wouldnt budge on the issue,with Rep.Tupas publicly vowing to rule in "the vein"of"Vera,"ergo telegraphing the verdict before even retiring to ajudicate the issue.Secretary De Lima steadfastly asserted her opinion and so it stood until President Aquino took a pro-active stance and withdrew his Proclaation intelligently considering that having to withdraw the document and retool it would be alot better than having the Proclamation rejected by Congress.
Congress expressed serious concerns over a couple of more very important issues; The issue of commencement was one that seemed to rile the entire Congress.Under the original incarnation Asylum would commence as soon as the President signed off on each application. Congress opined that it should only ever commence upon Congressional concurrence. As Senator Teofisto Guingona III remarked, it seems that President Aquino formulated Proclamation#50 using Proclamation#80 as a template. Proclamation#80* was authored by his mother, the late and former President Corazon"Cory"Aquino. At the time presidents possesed Legislative Powers, something that is no longer the case. Presidents must now gain concurrence from Congress, the sole entity holding Legislative Power.
A third stumbling block with the original version, Proclamation#50, is the ambiguous wording with regard to reinstatement and reinstatement benefits. In the original document, ajudication of this issue wasnt clearly outlined and so in the re-tooled document, amongst AFP personnel, only Enlisted Personnel and NCOs (Non Commisioned Officers) through the rank of Technical Sgt.are going to be permitted to re-enlist sans benefits. PNP personnel from the rank of PO1 to SPO3 were to be permitted to reintegrate,sans back pay and benefits. Personnel above the afore mentioned ranks, in both the AFP and the PNP, are banned from re-integration. However, those higher ranks will be eligible for both Separation Pay and Retirement Pay.
On November 25, 2010 the AFP announced its position on suggestions that the MDT (Mutual Defense Treaty) be reviewed. Adopted in 1951 by both the US and the Philippines it is the enabling mechanism for the controversial VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement,bi-lateral agreement between the US and the Philippines) which the opposition sees as a violation of the 1987 Constitution since, contrary to the prohibition of foreign forces on Philippines soil). The military says that it welcomes the review. The issue was first broached by Senator Joker Arroyo who says the agreement is not worth the onus borne by the Philippine People.
On November 24,2010 at AFP HQ, Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, AFP Cief of Staff, General Ricardo David announced that not only is he not dissolving the CAA (Citizens Auxiliaries) system but was increasing the pace of recruitment. He offered that he has primarily based his decison on the flood of requests he has received from. Mindanowan LGUs (Local Govt.Units).The CAA Programme is a localised Army Reserve that serves only witin its soldiers' municipalities. Of residence, unlike the formal Army Reserve which like its Active Duty counterpart serves wherever it is deployed.The Army currently has 2 CAA elements, CAFGU (Citizens Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit) and the SCAA (Special Citizens Auxiliary). Additionally the PNP (Philippine National Police) also have their own element, CVO (Civilian Volunteer Organization).
The next day, November 25,2010 in Barangay Salingcomot, Baganga, Davao Oriental Province, at 67IB (Infantry Battalion) HQ, 330 men from that battalion bolstered by select personnel from Davao Oriental Provinicial PNP detachnent began their training for PDTs (Peace and Development Teams) for eventual deployment in the municipalities of Manay and Taragon. The 14 day course will equip the men for CMO (Civil Military Operations) in 2 barangays in each of those 2 towns. PDTs have been extremely popular within 10ID's (10 Infantry Division) AOR (Area of Responsibility). Thus far they have been deployed within ComVal (Compostela Valley Province), a key NPA zone connecting Davao Region, the AFP's highest priority area for the last 4 years, and Caraga Region, another NPA innundated area. The PDTs have gotten rave reviews. In addition to ComVal Teams from 84IB have also deployed in NPA influenced districts in Davao City.
The afore mentioned deployment of PDTs from 84IB took place on October 28, 2010 with roughly 300 soldiers. Those Teams will be working in Toril and Tugbok Districts, 2 of the 4 districts in Davao City that are firmly under NPA control. Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (who just stepped into that position after reaching his Term Limit as Mayor) long ago reached an understanding with the NPA's Leonicio"Ka Parago"Pitao. As long as Pitao relegated NPA activities to 4 outlying districts the Mayor would not act overtly against Pitao or the NPA. Apparently Vice Mayor Duterte taught his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio, the city's current mayor, to reach this same working arrangement.
Shortly after Mayor Carpio took office in the Spring of 2010 she pulled all support for AFP COIN (Counterinsurgency) operations within the city. Davao City is ground zero in 10ID's AOR, indeed its HQ, as well as the HQ for EASMINCOM os located within city limits. Now that 10ID has turned its cheek so to speak and begun cottoning to modern doctrine, such as the over-emphasis on CMO as opposed to "blood and gore," Mayor Carpio is all sniles and handshakes with the AFP. I will save that interesting story for a later entry and only note that the Mayor presided at the initiation of those PDTs' deployment.
On November 22, 2010 in Barangay Poblacion, San Miguel, Zamboanga Sibugay, 35IB's 1stLt.Orlando Galutera was in a great mood, celebrating his birthday and was kind enough to invite 2 NCOs (Non Commissioned Officers) under him to enjoy a bottle on him. Cpls.Rolando Serencio and Rey Galarpe joined their superior at a table in the Barangay Hall and the fun began. Before too long Galutera was heard cautioning the 2 NCOs to go easy on the bottle which precipitated a loud argument. Onlookers were shocked as Cpl.Serencio grabbed his M16 and pointed it at the officer and asked him why he had placed a 3rd NCO on Restricted Duty earlier that day. Before Galutera could answer however Serencio blew off his head with a 3-Round Burst. Galarpe then grabbed his M16 as well and both men fled into the jungle.
On Friday, November 19, 2010, Lt.Gen.Raymundo Ferrer,CO (Commanding Officer) of EASMINCOM (Eastern Mindanao Command) was laterally transferred to command WESMINCOM (Western Mindanao Command) to replace WESMINCOM's Maj.Gen.Ben Dolorfino who having reached Mandatory Retirement at age 56 is leaving for greener pastures. Ferrer has 1 extra Star dye to his having been repeatedly passed over for the Chairman's seat. The long suffering Ferrer was CO of Basilan in 2004 when refused to play ball and hand Basilan to former President Arroyo. 2004 of course was the year that the "Hello Garci Scandal" took place in which a recorded call from then Pres.Arroyo to COMELEC (national electoral authority) Commissioner Garci in which she discussed cheating in Mindanao. Ferrer's reluctance relehated him to less than he deserved but loyalty from compatriots in the AFP kept him from being drummed out.
Of course, back in 2004 there was no EAS and WES, both were combined as Southern Command until 2006 when they were cleaved from Southern which was itself then dissolved. The thinking was that Mindanao had 2 major fronts, the East with the Communist Insurgencies (NPA, RPM-M) and the West with the Islamo-fascist Insurgencies (MILF, ASG/JI, Abu Sofia and KFRs). Indeed the separation of Commamds was a great idea so leave it to the AFP to now be seriously considering the re-combination of the 2 into 1 Commamd. Ferrer's replacement is Maj.Gen.Arthur Tabaquero who lest held Command of the National Capitol Region (Metro Manila).
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