Evangeline Taverisma spent her time caring for her husband, a retired soldier in the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines and doing what she did best, helping expectant mothers to be at the Rural Health Station in Barangay Tagbak. The clinic, in the municipality of Indanan on the island of Jolo catered to Barabgay Tagbbak's Muslim Community. Despite having served that community for nearly 35 years Mrs. Taverisma was targetted by ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group.
On Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 Mrs. Taverisma finished her duties early and left the clinic just before 3PM, hurrying home to cook supper for her husband whose identity I will withold given his status as a retired soldier living in a somewhat dangerous area. As the 55 year old woman began walking to the barangay's main road in order to catch a jeepney ride home a red Toyota Tamaraw cut in front of her and slammed on its brakes.
Four ASG guerillas jumped out waving 45 caliber pistols and forced the shocked woman into the truck before getting back in themselves and speeding off towards the municipality of Patikul. Authorities, with typical ridiculousness have linked the attack to the Jose Batronel Kidnapping which had ended just fifteen days prior (covered in my entry, "Kidnap for Ransom for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part IV"). In that case, on July 13th, 2011 a Batangas-based trader, his live in lover and their maid had been kidnapped from a rooming house in Jolo City's Barangay Bus Bus. The maid, Julie Latorre had managed to escape when one of the attackers mis-fired his 45 caliber pistol. Jumping out of the red Toyota Tamaraw jeepney as it sped towards a main road she ran for her life and was able escaped none the worse for the experience. Knowing noone in the Southern Philippines and having no way in which to contact those people she did know back on Luzon Ms.Latorre made a regrettable but thoroughly understandable decision to report the incident to the Jolo City CPO, or City Police Office.
Shortly thereafter Mr.Batronel was able to convince the guerillas holding him, under sub-Kumander Naser Timbang, that only he could access the funds needed to ransom him and his live in lover. Released to do just that he then paid the ransom as agreed and his lover re-gained her freedom the very next day, July 18th
Authorities reckon that because a red Toyota Tamaraw was utilised in the latest case and that the kidnapping was undertaken by ASG gunmen carrying 45 caliber pistols must mean that Naser Timbang is behind the kidnapping of Mrs.Taverisma as well. The only problem with that though is that Mr. Batronel's assailants were aboard a jeepney. The Tamaraw that kidnapped Engeline Taverisma was not a jeepney. 45 caliber pistols are the most common pistol in a nation where weapons are VERY common - and as far as the Southern Philippines go- are part of the landscape. ASG involvement on one level or another is a given since they have cornered the KFR industry in Sulu Province, to which Jolo Island belongs as well as a major share in that of Basilan Island.
Employed through the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao's Department of Health and its Rural Health Force Program, Mrs. Taverisma had been nearing retirement but planned to stay on in a volunteer capacity. ARMM's Secretary of Health, Dr.Kadil "Jojo" Sinolilinding Jr. quickly organised a demonstration at the ARMM Capital, in Cotabato City in Mainland Mindanao's North Cotabato Province. On August 6th nearly 300 ARMM healthcare workers demonstrated on Governor Gutierrez Street against the targetting of healthcare workers.
Later that same day ASG made its first ransom demand, an outrageous P15 Million ($350,000) indicating that Abu Sayyaf is expecting the ARMM to pony up most or all of the ransom. Though the Government pays lip service to a "No Ransom" policy it does, from time to time, cough up a share depending upon certain circumstances. Time will tell if this is one such circumstance.
On Sunday, August 21st, 2011 60 year old Ambon Ahamad Blas was driving his motorcycle home after a long day selling used clothes, or "ukay-ukay" adjacent to P-mart Department Store in the municipality of Patikul's Barangay Darang. Seated in back of him was his co-worker Perlita Bagay, age 25. She too was tired after a difficult day at their stall in Sitio Patong Patong. As the motocycle passed Latih Elementary School in Patikul's Barangay Latih, just inside Sitio Ba'unoh a band of young men blocked their path and forced them to stop.
A recently formed street gang calling itself the "Virgin Boys" had just taken its first bold step into the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom Industry. The Virgin Boys, co-led by two young men known only as Roger and Gapas had undertaken the act in hopes of ingratiating themselves with ASG sub-Kumander Basarun Arok. Arok is an experienced hand, currently under warrant along with underlings Edimar Isnain and Abdulaptip Jalmani for the October of 2009 KFR of Roger Canizares.
Mr.Canizares was the principal of Tanum Elementary School in Patikul's Barangay Tanum. When the ransom wasn't forthcoming sub-Kumander Basarun Arok had Mr.Canizares decapitated. Let us hope that Mr.Blas and Ms.Bagay fare a whole lot better.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Kidnap for Ransom for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part IV: The Release of Nelson Lim
Late in the afternoon on April 29th, 2011 Nelson Lim told his son to man the fort as he and his wife decided to leave a bit early on their long walk home. The "fort," Times Hardware, in Jolo City's bustling downtown area is one of several hardware businesses in the city owned by Tsinoy, as Filipinos of Chinese descent are commonly known. After the Battle of 1974 during the MNLF Insurgency most Tsinoy had abandoned Jolo City turning a vibrant storied city into a shell of its former self. The city's economy never recovered and with each passing year more and more Tsinoy moved away, unwilling to shoulder the risk posed by the next generation of insurgents, ASG, or the Abu Sayyaf Group and other lawless elements. Kidnapping had become an epidemic over the last decade and no single group was targetted more than the Tsinoy.
As Mr.Lim and his wife left their store they were both looking forward to a relaxing evening at home. The next morning, Saturday, was the couples' turn at the family owned resturant Plaza Panciteria on Jolo City's Serantes Street. One of the island's oldest and most popular eateries it had been founded by Mr. Lim's late father in law. Upon his death shares in it were distributed amongst the extended family. Each share holder took a turn at managing its day to day operation. Still, th
at was tomorrow and for now the couple busied themselves with the long walk home to Barangay Bus Bus.
Concerned family members had tried to convince the elderly couple to ride to and from their downtown store but Mr.Lim would hear nothing of it. At the very least he argued, the walk provided him with a way in which to maintain the trim physique he took pride in. As for safety concerns, he maintained that noone would bother with such an old man. After all he reasoned, he had managed to survive nearly 70 years in Jolo without making a single enemy, no mean feat given local mores.
As the two walked through Barangay Bus Bus they failed to notice a navy blue Mitsubishi L300 van that had begun tailing them at a distance. Nearing their home in the barangay's Sitio Lambayong the van increased its speed to close the distance and just as the couple neared the front gate of their residential compound the van skidded to a stop beside them. Four ASG guerillas:
1) Asman Sawadjaan
2) Mudzrimar Sawadjaan
3) Jihad Naymel
4) sub-Kumander Ninok Sappari
jumped out of the van waving 45 caliber pistols and physically picked Mr.Lim up off the ground before depositing him in the rear of the van. Ignoring Lim's hysterical wife the van then took off at a high rate of speed. As the kidnapping had taken place at 530PM on one of the barangay's most travelled streets more than one bystander had reported it to authorities. The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines scrambled MBLT-5, or Marine Battalion Landing Team #5 to the municipality of Patikul, the predicted destination of the kidnappers.
Jolo City's CPO, or City Police Office followed standard protocol and notified the Sulu PPO, or Police Provincial Office which in turn deployed an investigatory team to interview Mrs.Lim. In the interim though Mrs. Lim had callen her eldest son who as he rushed to the family home made sure that his mother would in no way co-operate with the authorities. As bad as a kidnapping can be, notifying the authorities only makes it so many times worse. If by some chance the police or military do find out about the kidnapping, totally ignoring them is the only sensible path.
MBLT-5 began scouring the town of Patikul with the assumption being that the victim had been abducted by one of two ASG factions, both operating within the borders of that municipality. Indeed the L300 van was found in that town's Barangay Sandah, having been abandoned. Quickly running a check on the vehicle it was found to be registered to a certain Laja Bagatsing. As in all other similar cases the van had been reported stolen shortly before the kidnapping although the owner is related to an ASG guerilla. After finding themselves unable to track the occupants of the van in the dark the Marines returned to their base at Camp Bautista. Meanwhile, Mr.Lim's kidnappers were joined by three other ASG guerillas who began marching their blindfolded victim uphill.
Eventually entering Barangay Tanum the group stopped for the night at the home of a fellow ASG guerilla. Early the next morning, before the sun appeared in the sky, the Abu Sayyaf guerillas led the still blindfolded Lim up country into that barangay's outermost sitio, Makayah, the last settlement before Mount Dahu. Resting a bit, they then continued upland and onto the slopes of the Abu Sayyaf controlled Mount Dahu. It was at various points on the mountain that Nelson Lim would spend the next three months, waiting and hoping to see his family again.
With the authorities out of the way the Lim family then went about negotiating a reasonable ransom. The man behind the kidnapping, sub-Kumander Jurim Hussin initially demanded P5 Million ($105,000) but by the end of June that figure had dropped to P3 Million ($62,000). Not satisfied with that amount the Lim family further whittled down the figure to P1.5 Million ($30,500) by mid-July. When, by July 19th they had failed to gain ground on a further reduction the family agreed to pay that amount and so final arrangements were made.
On Wednesday, July 20th the Lim family representative handed the cash to a middleman who relayed the sum, less his 10% commission, to sub-Kumander Hussin's representative. At 1PM the next afternoon, July 21st Nelson Lim was blindfolded and taken downhill off of the mountain, to a home in Patikul's Barangay Tanum where he was ordered to wash up and ready himself for release. By 9PM Mr.Lim was standing in Barangay Sandah waiting for Vice Mayor of Jolo City, Edsir "Eddie" Que Tan who finally arrived at 945PM to take custody of him and deliver Mr.Lim to his family.
As Mr.Lim and his wife left their store they were both looking forward to a relaxing evening at home. The next morning, Saturday, was the couples' turn at the family owned resturant Plaza Panciteria on Jolo City's Serantes Street. One of the island's oldest and most popular eateries it had been founded by Mr. Lim's late father in law. Upon his death shares in it were distributed amongst the extended family. Each share holder took a turn at managing its day to day operation. Still, th
at was tomorrow and for now the couple busied themselves with the long walk home to Barangay Bus Bus.
Concerned family members had tried to convince the elderly couple to ride to and from their downtown store but Mr.Lim would hear nothing of it. At the very least he argued, the walk provided him with a way in which to maintain the trim physique he took pride in. As for safety concerns, he maintained that noone would bother with such an old man. After all he reasoned, he had managed to survive nearly 70 years in Jolo without making a single enemy, no mean feat given local mores.
As the two walked through Barangay Bus Bus they failed to notice a navy blue Mitsubishi L300 van that had begun tailing them at a distance. Nearing their home in the barangay's Sitio Lambayong the van increased its speed to close the distance and just as the couple neared the front gate of their residential compound the van skidded to a stop beside them. Four ASG guerillas:
1) Asman Sawadjaan
2) Mudzrimar Sawadjaan
3) Jihad Naymel
4) sub-Kumander Ninok Sappari
jumped out of the van waving 45 caliber pistols and physically picked Mr.Lim up off the ground before depositing him in the rear of the van. Ignoring Lim's hysterical wife the van then took off at a high rate of speed. As the kidnapping had taken place at 530PM on one of the barangay's most travelled streets more than one bystander had reported it to authorities. The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines scrambled MBLT-5, or Marine Battalion Landing Team #5 to the municipality of Patikul, the predicted destination of the kidnappers.
Jolo City's CPO, or City Police Office followed standard protocol and notified the Sulu PPO, or Police Provincial Office which in turn deployed an investigatory team to interview Mrs.Lim. In the interim though Mrs. Lim had callen her eldest son who as he rushed to the family home made sure that his mother would in no way co-operate with the authorities. As bad as a kidnapping can be, notifying the authorities only makes it so many times worse. If by some chance the police or military do find out about the kidnapping, totally ignoring them is the only sensible path.
MBLT-5 began scouring the town of Patikul with the assumption being that the victim had been abducted by one of two ASG factions, both operating within the borders of that municipality. Indeed the L300 van was found in that town's Barangay Sandah, having been abandoned. Quickly running a check on the vehicle it was found to be registered to a certain Laja Bagatsing. As in all other similar cases the van had been reported stolen shortly before the kidnapping although the owner is related to an ASG guerilla. After finding themselves unable to track the occupants of the van in the dark the Marines returned to their base at Camp Bautista. Meanwhile, Mr.Lim's kidnappers were joined by three other ASG guerillas who began marching their blindfolded victim uphill.
Eventually entering Barangay Tanum the group stopped for the night at the home of a fellow ASG guerilla. Early the next morning, before the sun appeared in the sky, the Abu Sayyaf guerillas led the still blindfolded Lim up country into that barangay's outermost sitio, Makayah, the last settlement before Mount Dahu. Resting a bit, they then continued upland and onto the slopes of the Abu Sayyaf controlled Mount Dahu. It was at various points on the mountain that Nelson Lim would spend the next three months, waiting and hoping to see his family again.
With the authorities out of the way the Lim family then went about negotiating a reasonable ransom. The man behind the kidnapping, sub-Kumander Jurim Hussin initially demanded P5 Million ($105,000) but by the end of June that figure had dropped to P3 Million ($62,000). Not satisfied with that amount the Lim family further whittled down the figure to P1.5 Million ($30,500) by mid-July. When, by July 19th they had failed to gain ground on a further reduction the family agreed to pay that amount and so final arrangements were made.
On Wednesday, July 20th the Lim family representative handed the cash to a middleman who relayed the sum, less his 10% commission, to sub-Kumander Hussin's representative. At 1PM the next afternoon, July 21st Nelson Lim was blindfolded and taken downhill off of the mountain, to a home in Patikul's Barangay Tanum where he was ordered to wash up and ready himself for release. By 9PM Mr.Lim was standing in Barangay Sandah waiting for Vice Mayor of Jolo City, Edsir "Eddie" Que Tan who finally arrived at 945PM to take custody of him and deliver Mr.Lim to his family.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Kidnap for Ransom for the Second Quarter of 2011, Part IX: Camal Tocal
On June 11th, 2011 after spending a rewarding but tiring day visiting his clan in his boyhood home of Barangay Bacolod I in the municipality of Lumba-Bayabao in Lanao del Sur Province 37 year old businessman Camal Tocal was relieved to be heading home to Marawi City. Looking at his wife Rocma beside him and in the rear view mirror at his 12 year old son Jabber and 11 year old daughter Rohaima he must have marvelled at how far apart their lives in Marawi's Barangay Wawalayan Marinaut were from his own hardscrabble youth in a rural settlement beset by open warfare. Perhaps he also began to wonder if their 35 year old yaya, or nanny would be required for much longer. In another year both his children would be high school students.
As Tocal's red Mazda 6-7 sped down Narciso Ramos National Hiway and crossed into Marawi's Barangay Gadongan a battered white pickup truck quickly passed him before swerving in front of him and making him slam on his brakes. As he sat there in utter shock six men poured out of the truck with M16s and surrounded Tocal's vehicle. Brusquely opening the driver's side door two of the gunmen grabbed Mr.Tocal and dragged him into the cab of the pickup truck. The other gunmen then rifled through Tocal's Mazda and his wife's purse taking anything of value before running back towards the idling pickup truck and then speeding off in the opposite direction, back out of Marawi City and towards the municipality of Marantao.
Looking at the clock in the automobile's dashboard Mrs.Tocal saw that the attack had only taken minutes. Having glanced at the clock just before the car had screeched to a halt she remembered having seen it read 1228PM. Now it had barely passed 1232, in four minutes all their lives had changed forever. Collecting herself she borrowed the cellphone of a good samaritan who had stopped to help what he had first believed to be a stranded motorist. Doing what someone should NEVER do the shaken woman dialed the number of the Marawi City CPO, or City Police office and reported a kidnapping.
Recording the time received as 1240PM the CPO quickly alerted the town of Marantao's MPO, or Municipal Police Office and asked it to implement a Blocking Force in that municipality's Barangay Maul, both on the hiway and just off it on any access roads. Meanwhile the Marawi City CPO also scrambled its own chase cars for a hot pursuit. At just after 1PM a Marawi City CPO vehicle spotted the pickup truck crossing the cityline into Marantao and the chase was on. At about that same time the pickup truck carrying the gunmen and Mr.Tocal ran right through a Blocking Force checkpoint on the hiway and turmed down a side road. With both Marawi City AND Marantao police vehicles in high speed pursuit the kidnappers' truck made a run for it. Unfortunately for them though they clipped a Mitsubishi L300 passenger van as they attempted to pass it at a very high rate of speed.
Aside from superficially injuring all the van's passengers it almost sent the pickup truck careening into an irrigation canal. Regaining traction the truck again picked up speed but the near collision had allowed some of the pursuing police vehicles to close the gap quite a bit. Two of the kidnappers in the bed of the pickup truck then engaged their pursuers, intermittingly firing their M16s. Though no police were wounded the two gunmen themselves were not as fortunate:
1) Jonivy "Joni" Sarabia Diaz, age 20, of Iligan City in the neighbouring province of Lanao del Norte
2) Jamil "Mel Mel" Bubong Macadato, age 26 of Marawi City
were both moderately wounded by return fire. Though both men were far from death they were covered in blood and going into shock. Shortly after the exchange of gunfire the pickup truck was lost in the maze of jungle trails on the outskirts of Marantao. Thinking the two wounded men were close to dying their confederates dumped them onto the side of the road where police, later scouring the sector, recovered them and brought them to a hospital in Marawi City. On June 13th both men were charged both in the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom and Robbery as well as with the near collision with the Mitsubishi L300 passenger van and the injuries inflicted upon its passengers. However, whatever grain of intelligence both men MIGHT have produced was not forthcoming as neither one agreed to co-operate.
Having been counseled by those wiser than herself Mrs.Tocal broke off all contact with all law enforcement and the military and instead left it in the hands of her husband's clan. The Tocal Clan then employed the services of Mangombaya Mamasaranao to negotiate a reasonable ransom. On June 20th a ransom (undisclosed sum) was turned over to the representatives of the kidnappers and on June 21st Camal Tocal was released by his captors inside a courtyard on the Marawi City Campus of MSU, or Mindanao State University. That last fact is a bit ironic given the rash of KFRs targeting staff and students of the school. Though the university has made progress since the days when they hired KFR kingpings as Chiefs of Security the fact that a KFR group would be able to infiltrate campus security with a well publicised captive in tow is apalling to say the least. That they did so was a message to MSU brass, that they ought to finally pay the protection money long demanded.
As usual the authorities assume they are dealing with a retarded public by suggesting that the Kuratong Balaleng is behind this and other recent area KFRs. The Kuratong were a paramilitary formed by the Parijong Clan of Ozamiz City, in Misamis Occidental Province. Formed in the early 1980s as an anti-NPA force it was very quickly co-opted by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. When the NPA threat dissipated and its military patrons moved onto to other misery the group devolved into a score of unrelated criminal gangs all using the same name. However almost all operated outside of Mindanao. Moreover they were founded by and composed of Christian ethnicities, Cebuanos (Bisaya) and Ilonggo. Even if they were still in existence, and they aren't, they would never be able to operate in Lanao del Sur, let alone engage in KFR.
Just as in all other areas of Mindanao where KFR is endemic, Jolo, Basilan, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Central Mindanao the KFR Industry, and that is EXACTLY what it is, is tired directly into the local political structure slash powerbase. It is no secret that nothing moves in Marawi without the Mayor getting a taste. Of course then the powers that be, in this case Colonel Daniel Lucero of the AFP's 103rd Brigade has a highly vested interest in making up ridiculous stories. In this way people have a culprit to blame, even if that culprit really doesn't exist.
As Tocal's red Mazda 6-7 sped down Narciso Ramos National Hiway and crossed into Marawi's Barangay Gadongan a battered white pickup truck quickly passed him before swerving in front of him and making him slam on his brakes. As he sat there in utter shock six men poured out of the truck with M16s and surrounded Tocal's vehicle. Brusquely opening the driver's side door two of the gunmen grabbed Mr.Tocal and dragged him into the cab of the pickup truck. The other gunmen then rifled through Tocal's Mazda and his wife's purse taking anything of value before running back towards the idling pickup truck and then speeding off in the opposite direction, back out of Marawi City and towards the municipality of Marantao.
Looking at the clock in the automobile's dashboard Mrs.Tocal saw that the attack had only taken minutes. Having glanced at the clock just before the car had screeched to a halt she remembered having seen it read 1228PM. Now it had barely passed 1232, in four minutes all their lives had changed forever. Collecting herself she borrowed the cellphone of a good samaritan who had stopped to help what he had first believed to be a stranded motorist. Doing what someone should NEVER do the shaken woman dialed the number of the Marawi City CPO, or City Police office and reported a kidnapping.
Recording the time received as 1240PM the CPO quickly alerted the town of Marantao's MPO, or Municipal Police Office and asked it to implement a Blocking Force in that municipality's Barangay Maul, both on the hiway and just off it on any access roads. Meanwhile the Marawi City CPO also scrambled its own chase cars for a hot pursuit. At just after 1PM a Marawi City CPO vehicle spotted the pickup truck crossing the cityline into Marantao and the chase was on. At about that same time the pickup truck carrying the gunmen and Mr.Tocal ran right through a Blocking Force checkpoint on the hiway and turmed down a side road. With both Marawi City AND Marantao police vehicles in high speed pursuit the kidnappers' truck made a run for it. Unfortunately for them though they clipped a Mitsubishi L300 passenger van as they attempted to pass it at a very high rate of speed.
Aside from superficially injuring all the van's passengers it almost sent the pickup truck careening into an irrigation canal. Regaining traction the truck again picked up speed but the near collision had allowed some of the pursuing police vehicles to close the gap quite a bit. Two of the kidnappers in the bed of the pickup truck then engaged their pursuers, intermittingly firing their M16s. Though no police were wounded the two gunmen themselves were not as fortunate:
1) Jonivy "Joni" Sarabia Diaz, age 20, of Iligan City in the neighbouring province of Lanao del Norte
2) Jamil "Mel Mel" Bubong Macadato, age 26 of Marawi City
were both moderately wounded by return fire. Though both men were far from death they were covered in blood and going into shock. Shortly after the exchange of gunfire the pickup truck was lost in the maze of jungle trails on the outskirts of Marantao. Thinking the two wounded men were close to dying their confederates dumped them onto the side of the road where police, later scouring the sector, recovered them and brought them to a hospital in Marawi City. On June 13th both men were charged both in the KFR, or Kidnap for Ransom and Robbery as well as with the near collision with the Mitsubishi L300 passenger van and the injuries inflicted upon its passengers. However, whatever grain of intelligence both men MIGHT have produced was not forthcoming as neither one agreed to co-operate.
Having been counseled by those wiser than herself Mrs.Tocal broke off all contact with all law enforcement and the military and instead left it in the hands of her husband's clan. The Tocal Clan then employed the services of Mangombaya Mamasaranao to negotiate a reasonable ransom. On June 20th a ransom (undisclosed sum) was turned over to the representatives of the kidnappers and on June 21st Camal Tocal was released by his captors inside a courtyard on the Marawi City Campus of MSU, or Mindanao State University. That last fact is a bit ironic given the rash of KFRs targeting staff and students of the school. Though the university has made progress since the days when they hired KFR kingpings as Chiefs of Security the fact that a KFR group would be able to infiltrate campus security with a well publicised captive in tow is apalling to say the least. That they did so was a message to MSU brass, that they ought to finally pay the protection money long demanded.
As usual the authorities assume they are dealing with a retarded public by suggesting that the Kuratong Balaleng is behind this and other recent area KFRs. The Kuratong were a paramilitary formed by the Parijong Clan of Ozamiz City, in Misamis Occidental Province. Formed in the early 1980s as an anti-NPA force it was very quickly co-opted by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. When the NPA threat dissipated and its military patrons moved onto to other misery the group devolved into a score of unrelated criminal gangs all using the same name. However almost all operated outside of Mindanao. Moreover they were founded by and composed of Christian ethnicities, Cebuanos (Bisaya) and Ilonggo. Even if they were still in existence, and they aren't, they would never be able to operate in Lanao del Sur, let alone engage in KFR.
Just as in all other areas of Mindanao where KFR is endemic, Jolo, Basilan, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Central Mindanao the KFR Industry, and that is EXACTLY what it is, is tired directly into the local political structure slash powerbase. It is no secret that nothing moves in Marawi without the Mayor getting a taste. Of course then the powers that be, in this case Colonel Daniel Lucero of the AFP's 103rd Brigade has a highly vested interest in making up ridiculous stories. In this way people have a culprit to blame, even if that culprit really doesn't exist.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
MILF Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part I: The 106 Base Command Battles BIFF in Datu Piang
Datu Piang was a half Chinese, half Maguindanowan Tribesman who lived at the tail end of the 19th Century. Piang was more or less a self made man. Son of a Maguindanowan concubine to the Rajah of Buayan and a favoured Chinese merchant she was gifted to he gambled his future on an alliance with the Americans. As Datu Ali inherited what was left of Buayan Datu Piang moved down river into the Cotabato Basin, to a lowland site in what is today Maguindanao Province. Eventually becoming the richest man in the Southern Philippines his climb to riches and fame was made over the broken backs of countless enemies and more than a few innocent bystanders. Like its namesake, the municipality of Datu Piang, in Maguindanao Province has never enjoyed more than a few peaceful days. Datu Piang is perhaps the most violent town in an extremely violent province which itself exists on the Philippine's most violent island.
In early August of 2010 a clash took place in Datu Piang between sub-Kumander Ustadz Akas "Adzmie" Kasim of the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (the military wing of the MILF) and sub-Kumander Ustadz Abu Nuwas "Bayawak" Ibad Maniog of the BIAF's 104 Base Command (see my entry entilted "MILF Armed Contacts for the Second and Third Quarters of 2010"). Both men are natives of Datu Piang's Barangay Alonganen and in fact are related to one another as indeed are most villagers living in that barangay. At stake was a 6 hectare tract of arable land immediately adjacent to the Pulangi River (Rio Grande del Mindanao), situated directly on the border of Datu Piang's Barangays Alonganen and Liong and a stone's throw from the infamous Liguasan Marsh. The conflicting claims on the untitled tract first turned violent in 2009 but was largely ignored by the Philippine Government and world at large. After all, any armed conflict in Central Mindanao must automatically be connected to War of 2008, a larger conflict that continued unabated until July of 2009, or so goes the popular assumption.
The firefights lasted only as long as the rice harvest since most of that 6 hectare tract had been cultivated with rice. As soon as the paddy was plowed under life returned to normal, at least as "normal" as it ever gets in Mindanao. Just before New Year 2011 sub-Kumander Bayawak (Abu Nawas) tendered his formal resignation to the MILF Central Committe and almost immediately afterward joined Kumander Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato's Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or BIFF. Fast forward to July 20th, 2011. BIFF's Chief of Staff, sub-Kumander Karialan Indong personaly led an attack on BIAF 106 Base Command positions in Barangay Balanaken's Sitio Nimao after BIAF guerillas had been sighted on a security permiter established around that 6 hectare collection of rice paddies in Barangay Alonganen. As the BIAF responded by launching retaliattory strikes the wife of sub-Kumander Bayawak (Abu Nuwas) was critically wounded during a mortar volley.
After that initial attack in July both sides took a step back from that bloody abyss and orally agreed to resolve their differences in a non-violent manner, despite the wounds inflicted on sub-Kumander Adzmie. That agreement held fast for a little more than two weeks. On August 6th Abu Nuwas led his men on an attack against Adzmie's men in their camp in Barangay Alonganen. Even before the shooting began that morning hundreds of families had began fleeing. Quickly joining them were families from the adjacent barangays Liong and Balanaken. The town's Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School has long served as the municipality's IDP, or Internally Displaced Persons centre. By night fall on August 6th the official IDP tally stood at 482 families, of which 190 came from Balakaken, 180 from Liong, and 112 from Alonganen. In the Philippines a "family" is assumed to include five people but that figure borders on useless since demographers make no allowances for cultural, religious or even regional differences. A "family in Luzon will on average contain much less people than a socio-economically disadvantaged Tribal family whose head of household practices polygamy and whose religion commands a high reproductive rate. Moreover, the figures offered only take into account the number of heads of household that have managed to undergo the official registration process. Most IDPs take succor in other households and a fair number, distrustful of the Government or fearing disease and other negative aspects found in the state IDP centres make the best of it alongside hiways and in isolated jungle clearings. The displaced people themselves, known as "Bakwit" in the local dialect have had their daily lives disrupted every couple of months since 1972 and yet we have politicians in Manila asking why Maguindanao is the poorest province in the nation. Go figure
The day, August 7th, intermittent firefights took place in Barangays Alonganen, Liong, Balanaken with IDPs fleeing from the adjacent municipality of Guindulungan, home to the BIFF's main camp, the former-BIAF camp Omar ibn Khattab on Perez Hill. The resident of Barangay Muslim had received word that the BIAF was considering a direct attack on the camp and the news caused widespread apprehension that very quickly devolved into sheer panic. The day's fighting ended at nightfall with a finall tally (including the initial clash the day before) of five BIAF KIAs, or Killed in Actions with one known wounded. BIFF made out slightly better with three KIAs.
On August 8th BIFF launched the first attack with a moderate salvo of mortar shells against BIAF positions in Barangays Alonganen, now devoid of all civilians with the entire population having fled and Barangay Balanaken, itself nearly a carbon copy with the rest of its residents fleeing during a lull between salvos.
August 9th saw the heaviest fighting yet since this latest round commenced on August 6th. Fighting began at 630AM with the BIAF initiating a firefight and continued unabated until 330PM. At 700PM fighting began once again and only ended right before 11PM. During the morning exchanges fighting did finally spread to Guindulungan's Barangay Muslim although not related to any BIAF tactical strike against the main BIFF camp on Perez Hill. Most of Barangay Muslim's population had already fled in the preceding days but the remaining residents fled as the combatants entered the barangay with BIFF guerillas attempting to implement a Blocking Force there to deal more than 100 re-inforcements from the BIAF's 105 Base Command, co-incidentally the old command of BIFF leader Kumander Ustadz Kato. The IDPs from Barangay Muslim made their way into the ajoining municipality of Talayan's Barangays Binangga North, Tambunan, and Katibpuan. Gunidulungan's Barangay Damablak then fled en masse, totally emptying the barangay with most villagers taking shelter in Talayan's Barangay Katibpuan as well, along with the IDPs from Barangay Muslim.
August 10th FINALLY saw the Government respond. In cases of intercine conflict within the BIAF, or in this case between the BIAF and its recent offshoot BIFF, the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines almost always takes a hands off approach. This isn't an absolute rule as in last year's BIAF 104 Base Command throwdown with the MNLF/BMA's newest faction, MMSC, or Mainland Mindanao State Committee on the Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao Provincial borders. In that imbroglio the AFP entered the fray AGAINST the BIAF, but then BIAF on BMA (Bangsamoro Army, armed wing of the MNLF) isn't exactly an intercine affair. The AFP's 40IB (Infantry Battalion) implemented Blocking Force positions along the riverfront of Midsayap, in North Cotabato Province.
Midsayap sits directly parallel to Datu Piang, across the Pulangi River. It is also home to a camp of the BIAF's 105 Base Command, the Base Command most likely to re-inforce the 106th despite a bit of anomosity between the two Base Commands (after all, this anomosity led to the recent creation of the 118 Base Command, an episode I covered in a "MILF Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2011" entry). In addition PNP, or Philippine National Police's PRO-12, or Police Regional Office for Region 12 deployed its PSCs, or Public Saety Companies (aaaah, the Filipino penchant for acronyms, gotta' love it) in key entrances to all North Cotabato municipalities fronting the Pulangi River. Until August 10th the only AFP element involved was the 1st Mechanised Brigade (M 1st Bde), attached to 6ID (Infantry Division) from 1ID, tasked with aiding IDPs and providing security at the IDP centre at Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School.
The next day, August 11th, fighting finally spread across the river into North Cotabato Province's municipality of Midsayap when the predicted re-inforcement from the 105 Base Command began and their guerillas happened upon BIFF re-inforcements making their way into Maguindanao Province. Resident's of Midsayap's Barangay Damatulan fled as they witnessed BIAF guerillas from the 105 Base Command moving through their barangay en route. As night fell and fighting continued most residents living across the river in Puroks #4 and 5 in Guindulungan's Barangay Binangga North fled en masse with most IDPs ending up in that barangay's Purok #1.
On August 12th the AFP actually deployed non-lethal munitions as it dropped smoke in Datu Piang in an effort to separate both sides. On Mindanao smoke is used as a warning that should belligerents not heed the warning and cease and desist, the next munition will not be innocuous. The smoke did manage to soften the exhanges from incessant to sporadic but did not come close to shutting down the firefights raging in barangays Alonganen, Liong and Balanaken and just then spreading into Barangay Masigay. As fighting began in Barangay Masigay 170 of its families fled to Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School.
On the following day, August 13th fighting petered out shortly after re-commencing just after daybreak. Sub-Kumander Adzmie, leader of the BIAF forces in this nightmare finally paid heed to the MILF's Central Command directive issued on August 10th in which he was ordered to stand down "unless attacked." As for sub-Kumander Bayawak (Abu Nuwas), he was under no such orders with Kumander Kato brusquely telling the media that IF the BIAF doesn't want trouble IT should NOT attack BIFF guerillas. Aaah, can't you just feel the love?
In early August of 2010 a clash took place in Datu Piang between sub-Kumander Ustadz Akas "Adzmie" Kasim of the BIAF, or Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (the military wing of the MILF) and sub-Kumander Ustadz Abu Nuwas "Bayawak" Ibad Maniog of the BIAF's 104 Base Command (see my entry entilted "MILF Armed Contacts for the Second and Third Quarters of 2010"). Both men are natives of Datu Piang's Barangay Alonganen and in fact are related to one another as indeed are most villagers living in that barangay. At stake was a 6 hectare tract of arable land immediately adjacent to the Pulangi River (Rio Grande del Mindanao), situated directly on the border of Datu Piang's Barangays Alonganen and Liong and a stone's throw from the infamous Liguasan Marsh. The conflicting claims on the untitled tract first turned violent in 2009 but was largely ignored by the Philippine Government and world at large. After all, any armed conflict in Central Mindanao must automatically be connected to War of 2008, a larger conflict that continued unabated until July of 2009, or so goes the popular assumption.
The firefights lasted only as long as the rice harvest since most of that 6 hectare tract had been cultivated with rice. As soon as the paddy was plowed under life returned to normal, at least as "normal" as it ever gets in Mindanao. Just before New Year 2011 sub-Kumander Bayawak (Abu Nawas) tendered his formal resignation to the MILF Central Committe and almost immediately afterward joined Kumander Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato's Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or BIFF. Fast forward to July 20th, 2011. BIFF's Chief of Staff, sub-Kumander Karialan Indong personaly led an attack on BIAF 106 Base Command positions in Barangay Balanaken's Sitio Nimao after BIAF guerillas had been sighted on a security permiter established around that 6 hectare collection of rice paddies in Barangay Alonganen. As the BIAF responded by launching retaliattory strikes the wife of sub-Kumander Bayawak (Abu Nuwas) was critically wounded during a mortar volley.
After that initial attack in July both sides took a step back from that bloody abyss and orally agreed to resolve their differences in a non-violent manner, despite the wounds inflicted on sub-Kumander Adzmie. That agreement held fast for a little more than two weeks. On August 6th Abu Nuwas led his men on an attack against Adzmie's men in their camp in Barangay Alonganen. Even before the shooting began that morning hundreds of families had began fleeing. Quickly joining them were families from the adjacent barangays Liong and Balanaken. The town's Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School has long served as the municipality's IDP, or Internally Displaced Persons centre. By night fall on August 6th the official IDP tally stood at 482 families, of which 190 came from Balakaken, 180 from Liong, and 112 from Alonganen. In the Philippines a "family" is assumed to include five people but that figure borders on useless since demographers make no allowances for cultural, religious or even regional differences. A "family in Luzon will on average contain much less people than a socio-economically disadvantaged Tribal family whose head of household practices polygamy and whose religion commands a high reproductive rate. Moreover, the figures offered only take into account the number of heads of household that have managed to undergo the official registration process. Most IDPs take succor in other households and a fair number, distrustful of the Government or fearing disease and other negative aspects found in the state IDP centres make the best of it alongside hiways and in isolated jungle clearings. The displaced people themselves, known as "Bakwit" in the local dialect have had their daily lives disrupted every couple of months since 1972 and yet we have politicians in Manila asking why Maguindanao is the poorest province in the nation. Go figure
The day, August 7th, intermittent firefights took place in Barangays Alonganen, Liong, Balanaken with IDPs fleeing from the adjacent municipality of Guindulungan, home to the BIFF's main camp, the former-BIAF camp Omar ibn Khattab on Perez Hill. The resident of Barangay Muslim had received word that the BIAF was considering a direct attack on the camp and the news caused widespread apprehension that very quickly devolved into sheer panic. The day's fighting ended at nightfall with a finall tally (including the initial clash the day before) of five BIAF KIAs, or Killed in Actions with one known wounded. BIFF made out slightly better with three KIAs.
On August 8th BIFF launched the first attack with a moderate salvo of mortar shells against BIAF positions in Barangays Alonganen, now devoid of all civilians with the entire population having fled and Barangay Balanaken, itself nearly a carbon copy with the rest of its residents fleeing during a lull between salvos.
August 9th saw the heaviest fighting yet since this latest round commenced on August 6th. Fighting began at 630AM with the BIAF initiating a firefight and continued unabated until 330PM. At 700PM fighting began once again and only ended right before 11PM. During the morning exchanges fighting did finally spread to Guindulungan's Barangay Muslim although not related to any BIAF tactical strike against the main BIFF camp on Perez Hill. Most of Barangay Muslim's population had already fled in the preceding days but the remaining residents fled as the combatants entered the barangay with BIFF guerillas attempting to implement a Blocking Force there to deal more than 100 re-inforcements from the BIAF's 105 Base Command, co-incidentally the old command of BIFF leader Kumander Ustadz Kato. The IDPs from Barangay Muslim made their way into the ajoining municipality of Talayan's Barangays Binangga North, Tambunan, and Katibpuan. Gunidulungan's Barangay Damablak then fled en masse, totally emptying the barangay with most villagers taking shelter in Talayan's Barangay Katibpuan as well, along with the IDPs from Barangay Muslim.
August 10th FINALLY saw the Government respond. In cases of intercine conflict within the BIAF, or in this case between the BIAF and its recent offshoot BIFF, the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines almost always takes a hands off approach. This isn't an absolute rule as in last year's BIAF 104 Base Command throwdown with the MNLF/BMA's newest faction, MMSC, or Mainland Mindanao State Committee on the Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao Provincial borders. In that imbroglio the AFP entered the fray AGAINST the BIAF, but then BIAF on BMA (Bangsamoro Army, armed wing of the MNLF) isn't exactly an intercine affair. The AFP's 40IB (Infantry Battalion) implemented Blocking Force positions along the riverfront of Midsayap, in North Cotabato Province.
Midsayap sits directly parallel to Datu Piang, across the Pulangi River. It is also home to a camp of the BIAF's 105 Base Command, the Base Command most likely to re-inforce the 106th despite a bit of anomosity between the two Base Commands (after all, this anomosity led to the recent creation of the 118 Base Command, an episode I covered in a "MILF Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2011" entry). In addition PNP, or Philippine National Police's PRO-12, or Police Regional Office for Region 12 deployed its PSCs, or Public Saety Companies (aaaah, the Filipino penchant for acronyms, gotta' love it) in key entrances to all North Cotabato municipalities fronting the Pulangi River. Until August 10th the only AFP element involved was the 1st Mechanised Brigade (M 1st Bde), attached to 6ID (Infantry Division) from 1ID, tasked with aiding IDPs and providing security at the IDP centre at Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School.
The next day, August 11th, fighting finally spread across the river into North Cotabato Province's municipality of Midsayap when the predicted re-inforcement from the 105 Base Command began and their guerillas happened upon BIFF re-inforcements making their way into Maguindanao Province. Resident's of Midsayap's Barangay Damatulan fled as they witnessed BIAF guerillas from the 105 Base Command moving through their barangay en route. As night fell and fighting continued most residents living across the river in Puroks #4 and 5 in Guindulungan's Barangay Binangga North fled en masse with most IDPs ending up in that barangay's Purok #1.
On August 12th the AFP actually deployed non-lethal munitions as it dropped smoke in Datu Piang in an effort to separate both sides. On Mindanao smoke is used as a warning that should belligerents not heed the warning and cease and desist, the next munition will not be innocuous. The smoke did manage to soften the exhanges from incessant to sporadic but did not come close to shutting down the firefights raging in barangays Alonganen, Liong and Balanaken and just then spreading into Barangay Masigay. As fighting began in Barangay Masigay 170 of its families fled to Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School.
On the following day, August 13th fighting petered out shortly after re-commencing just after daybreak. Sub-Kumander Adzmie, leader of the BIAF forces in this nightmare finally paid heed to the MILF's Central Command directive issued on August 10th in which he was ordered to stand down "unless attacked." As for sub-Kumander Bayawak (Abu Nuwas), he was under no such orders with Kumander Kato brusquely telling the media that IF the BIAF doesn't want trouble IT should NOT attack BIFF guerillas. Aaah, can't you just feel the love?
Friday, August 19, 2011
Political Developments for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part I: Assasination Attempt on Governor Mangudadatu, Part 2
After Director Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac of the PPO, or Police Provincial Office of Maguindanao Province failed in his attempt to have the Provincial Board of Maguindanao censure Mayor Reshel Santiago Ampatuan of Datu Unsay, the Mangudadatu Clan sponsoring Pintac temporarily turned their attentions towards other more pressing problems.
Just two weeks later, on March 15th, 2011, at 4PM, Maguindanao's Provincial Prosecutor Akilali Balt was in the mood for a game of tennis. His driver slash bodyguard Dandan Balt Datu Dakula, a maternal relative was driving Prosecutor Balt to the tennis court near his home in Cotabato City, in the adjacent province of North Cotabato. As the Government owned black Isuzu Fuego pickup truck drove down Sinsuat Avenue in the city's Barangay Mother traffic slowed almost to a standstill. As the truck inched its way toward the corner of Pansacala Street a black and white Honda Wave motorcycle managed to thread its way through the stalled vehicles until it was nearly parallel with Balt's pickup truck. The man riding tandem on the back of the motorcycle slowly raised a 45 caliber pistol and squeezed off 5 rounds, 3 of which connected with the target, Prosecutor Balt. Shot in his lower right ear, lower right neck, and on his right forearm Balt slumped in his seat.
As the motorcycle began moving forward and turning slowly down Pansacala Street Balt's driver Dandan got out of the truck to give chase. Reaching the corner in time to see the motorcycle accelerate down Pansacala Street he stupidly endangered hundreds of people by squeezing off 7 rounds out of his own 45. Quickly returning to the truck Dandan stood vigil until Prosecutor Balt had been attended to and transported to the city's Notre Dame Hospital, before being transferred to Davao Doctors Hospital in Davao City later that night. Meanwhile, as luck would have it, a rookie police officer with the Cotabato City CPO, or City Police Office, gave chase as he saw the motorcycle roar past him on Pansacala Street. Most police on the island, certainly in Cotabato City, are wise enough to steer well clear of any professional killing. Two men tandem on a single motorcycle and utilising a 45 caliber pistol is a textbook case of "murder for hire." Gung ho rookies though see things very differently.
Finally coming upon the motorcycle abandoned on a deserted section of Pansacala Street, in Barangay Rosary Height #10, the rookie alerted his superiors who began scouring the barangay. A little more than 8 hours later a Barangay Tanod, or Barangay Guard heard a moaning sound emanating from a riverside culvert across the river from where the would be killer and his partner had ditched their motorcycle. Splitting up, the shooter, Acmad Makakena Maliga then swam across the Pulangi River (Rio Grande de Mindanao) before taking refuge in the aforementioned culvert. One of the rounds fired by Dandan Balt Datu Dakula had connected with Maliga's shoulder.
On March 18th Maliga authored a 5 page affadavit in which he named his driver, Marcelino S. Raguinot also known as James Tugaya or Noel Tugaya. Even more importantly Maliga revealed that Raguinot was employed as a bodyguard to a local politician. Most importantly, that politician had dispatched them with a strict order to kill Prosecutor Akilali Balt. Who was this local politician? Mayor Ibrahim "Diong" Mangudadatu of Buluan in Maguindanao Province. Shortly before the shooting took place Mangudadatu and Balt had almost come to blows when the Prosecutor had dropped weapons charges iniated by Director Marcelo Pintac against Datu Unsay's Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan. Mangudadatu naturally took umbrage and did his best to twist Balt's arm on the matter. Preoccupied with the much more pressing gang rape of a 21 year old volunteer nurse in the municipality of North Upi, a case that at the time had riveted the attention of the nation, Prosecutor Balt didn't have the time or energy to cater to petty political feuds. The Mangudadatu Clan though doesn't handle denial very well.
As Balt was being transferred to Davao Doctors Hospital his daughter Aminah began a personal crusade for justice. Jotting off an email to Secretary Leila de Lima of the DOJ, or Department of Justice Aminah outlined all that she knew, having been taken into her father's confidence shortly before the shooting. She told of the heated argument with Mayor Mangudadatu and the dropping of charges against Mayor Ampatuan. Aminah asked that her father be transferred to another hospital in a safer locale, one out of reach to the Mangudadatu Clan and its wide circle of supporters. Ms. Balt asked that confessed triggerman Acmad Makakena Maliga be transferred from the Cotabato City Jail to the custody of the NBI, or National Bureau of Investigation at its headquarters in Metro Manila. The nation's top law enforcement agency is generally viewed as being above the fray and unbeholden to any political patron. Of course this isn't the case but it is undeniable that an inmate in fear for his life in a Mindanowan prison is in much safer hands simply by virtue of being held in Metro Manila. For the Mangudadatus, killing him in the Cotabato City Jail is a trifling matter. Finaly, Aminah Balt asked Secretary de Lima to appoint a Special Prosecutor to the case knowing that in Cotabato City justice could never be served.
On March 21st Secretary de Lima signed Departmental Order #200 in which she empaneled three trusted subordinates:
1) Assistant State Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano
2) Prosecutorial Attorney Mark Roland Estepa
3) Prosecutorial Attorney Gerard Gaerlan
to cover the preliminary aspects of the investigation. The order also authorised Balt's transfer to Capital University Hospital in Cagayan del Oro City, though the location wouldn't be revealed for safety reasons. Located in Misamis Oriental Province on the islands northern coast it was considered far enough away from Central Mindanao as to be relatively assured of safety. Unfortunately Balt's condition wouldn't be able to withstand the rigours or an air evacuation to Manila, more than 900 kilometers to the north. The order also set in motion the petition for a Change of Venue which if granted by the Supreme Court would have any eventual trial transferred out of Cotabato City's jurisdiction and allow proceedings to take place in Metro Manila where personnel aren't tarnished by either the Mangudadatu OR Ampatuan Clan's influence. Finally, the order also called for the transfer of Acmad Makakena Maliga to NBI custody. Aminah Balt got all she wished for and more.
On March 24th Chief Presiding Judge of Regional Trial Court #14 in Cotabato City, Bansawan Ibrahim al Haj signed off on the Transfer of Custody Order on Mr. Maliga allowing the NBI to take custody of him and whisk him off to the relative safety of Manila. That same week the DOJ Panel arrived in Cotabato City and began collecting new affadavits. In fact, on the very same day that Judge Ibrahim (al Haj is merely an honourific) signed that Transfer Order, Mayor Mangudadatu had been scheduled to appear in person and render his counter-affadavit. In other words, this was the day when Mangudadatu would finally get to clear the air. Since the killing 9 days earlier he had told anyone who would listen that he was chomping at the bit to present HIS side of the story. On the 24th however Mangudadatu was nowhere to be seen. From that point on Mangudadatu refused all communication with the Panel and despite being summoned to appear on two subsequent occaisons, June 16th and June 23rd, he never said another word. Before he found himself mute however his theory revolved around jealous rivals upset about his stated intention to run for Governor of ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Why a jealous rival would then kill Prosecutor Balk however was never articulated. The story became even more ridiculous when his uncle, clan patriarch Pax Mangudadatu himself entered the race and sidelined Mayor Ibrahim's ambition.
Though Prosecutor Balk had showed some modest improvement he took a turn for the worse on of all days, March 24th. Slipping into a coma Prosecutor Akilali Balt passed away at 808PM on Sunday, April 3rd. I would love to be able to tell you that justice is being served in the case but this is Mindanao after all where political killings are a part of the local landscape. Though officialy still empaneled the DOJ investigative team isn't doing much these days, having reverted to their earlier duties. The driver of the motorcycle, Marcelino S. Raguinot is still missing and presumed to have been killed by the Mangudadatus. Likewise with the owner of the motorcycle, Asma Samaon, though he played no direct role in the killing.
At 830PM on July 1st loitering residents saw two men riding tandem on a black Honda XRM turn off of the Mamasapano P
Roundabout (traffic circle) and drive slowly past them in Barangay Poblacion in Maguindanao Province's municipality of Shariff Aguak. The dirt acess road off of Isulan-Cotabato National Hiway led to a large compound holding al Khariah Mosque, generally referred to as Shariff Aguak's "Grand Mosque." On the right side of the compound sits the modest but comfortable home of Bai Galema Ampatuan Olimpaya, who besides being a daughter of the infamous clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., is also a Municipal Councilor in the town of Shariff Saydona Mustapha. Those same residents saw the two men dismount from their motorcycle inside the mosque compound while carrying a burlap rice sack containing a bulky object before the two men hurried next door to the Ampatuan home.
The men then unsuccessfully tried breaking into Councilor Ampatuan Olimpaya's home before getting spooked and quickly returning to the compound. There they deposited the rice sack on the right side of the mosque's facade and left just as the mosque's caretaker had been alerted by one of the curious onlookers. 27 year old caretaker Aminodin Arsad Satal, originally from Lanao del Sur Province had recently assumed his position as a favour to his father, the mosque's Imam, or cleric. Imam Satar had grown apprehensive over having such a high ranking member of the Ampatuan Clan living next door to the mosque. As Aminodin Satar came upon the rice sack he approached it but when he was still within a meter of the sack the IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") inside it detonated. Fashioned from an 81MM mortar shell with a Nokia 5510 cellphone as the trigger it left a 30 centimeter deep crater in the asphalt in front of the facade and pockmarks all over the front exterior. Aminodin Arsad Satar was killed instantly.
At the heart of the aforementioned "weapons case" lodged against Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan was SWAT, or Saviour Weapons and Tactics Security, owned by Cotabato City's Jesus "J.V," Martinez. Martinez is the scion of one of Cotabato City's oldest Christian families, his ancestors having moved there in the middle of the 19th Century. Marrying into the Ampatuan Clan, with the mandatory conversion to Islam, he parlayed a small fortune inherited from his parents into a considerable one reliant upon political patronage. Centering his small empire on Cotabato City's De Mazenod Street he left the day to day affairs to his extended family and spent most of his time in Davao City.
On August 2nd a motorcycle rigged with a powerful IED was parked in front of Martinez's "SWAT Gun Store" on Quezon Avenue, just around the corner from De Mazenod Street. Unfortunately the 3 story building also housed a pharmacy and a number of other businesses as well. Even more unfortunately, when that IED detonated just after 8PM hapless passerby took the brunt of the explosion. 14 people were hit, including a 5 year old girl. One of those 14, photographer Jimmy Ali was killed instantly. The device consisted of a 60MM mortar shell and a Nokia 5510 cellphone trigger.
On August 6th the same attackers took aim at Martinez's "SWAT Security Agency," located inside a residential compound owned by Martinez on De Mazenod Street. At 740PM two men riding tandem on a single motorcycle pulled parallel to the compound's outer wall. The passenger then dismounted, threw an M67 fragmentation grenade into the compound, re-mounted and the two calmly rode off just as the grenade detonated with a thunderous blast. Fortuitously noone was hit in that explosion despite one of Martinez's brothers in law having been inside the security agency office just 2 meters from where the grenade made contact. Aside from all windows in the building being shattered there were no casualties as he had been in a back office and so emerged unscathed. Though Martinez doesn't live in the compound some of his extended family does and so the last attack literally hit closer to home.
Predictably the authorities are busy tripping over each other in the mad race to make fools of themselves. Cotabato City's CPO pinned the first attack on...Jemmah Islamiyyah, or JI. DIPO-West, or Directorate of Integrated Police Operations-Western Sector Director Senior Superintendant Felicisimo Khu concurred. The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, via the 6ID, or 6th Infantry Division Spokesperson put the blame on the "MILF SOG," or Special Operations Group and its bogeyman, the Afghan-trained Basit Usman. Within two days though they began inching away from their semi-retarded pronouncements as Cotabato City Administrator, attorney Cynthia Guiani Sayadi took to the airwaves and blamed it all on "personal grudges" against Mr. Martinez. However in her mind those "grudges" related to Martinez having recently sold tracts of land in Maguindanao Province and having failed to share in the profits with his large extended family.
When one realises that Ms. Sayadi herself has also married into the Ampatuan Clan (and converted to Islam as well though it isn't required of females) the story becomes clearer. Linking the attacks to the Datu Unsay weapons case against Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan and the feud with the Mangudadatu Clan will only bring closer scrutiny to the whole sordid affair and therefore prevent retaliatory action...like the August 15th assasination attempt against Maguindanao Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu via that powerful carbomb in Tacurong City.
Just two weeks later, on March 15th, 2011, at 4PM, Maguindanao's Provincial Prosecutor Akilali Balt was in the mood for a game of tennis. His driver slash bodyguard Dandan Balt Datu Dakula, a maternal relative was driving Prosecutor Balt to the tennis court near his home in Cotabato City, in the adjacent province of North Cotabato. As the Government owned black Isuzu Fuego pickup truck drove down Sinsuat Avenue in the city's Barangay Mother traffic slowed almost to a standstill. As the truck inched its way toward the corner of Pansacala Street a black and white Honda Wave motorcycle managed to thread its way through the stalled vehicles until it was nearly parallel with Balt's pickup truck. The man riding tandem on the back of the motorcycle slowly raised a 45 caliber pistol and squeezed off 5 rounds, 3 of which connected with the target, Prosecutor Balt. Shot in his lower right ear, lower right neck, and on his right forearm Balt slumped in his seat.
As the motorcycle began moving forward and turning slowly down Pansacala Street Balt's driver Dandan got out of the truck to give chase. Reaching the corner in time to see the motorcycle accelerate down Pansacala Street he stupidly endangered hundreds of people by squeezing off 7 rounds out of his own 45. Quickly returning to the truck Dandan stood vigil until Prosecutor Balt had been attended to and transported to the city's Notre Dame Hospital, before being transferred to Davao Doctors Hospital in Davao City later that night. Meanwhile, as luck would have it, a rookie police officer with the Cotabato City CPO, or City Police Office, gave chase as he saw the motorcycle roar past him on Pansacala Street. Most police on the island, certainly in Cotabato City, are wise enough to steer well clear of any professional killing. Two men tandem on a single motorcycle and utilising a 45 caliber pistol is a textbook case of "murder for hire." Gung ho rookies though see things very differently.
Finally coming upon the motorcycle abandoned on a deserted section of Pansacala Street, in Barangay Rosary Height #10, the rookie alerted his superiors who began scouring the barangay. A little more than 8 hours later a Barangay Tanod, or Barangay Guard heard a moaning sound emanating from a riverside culvert across the river from where the would be killer and his partner had ditched their motorcycle. Splitting up, the shooter, Acmad Makakena Maliga then swam across the Pulangi River (Rio Grande de Mindanao) before taking refuge in the aforementioned culvert. One of the rounds fired by Dandan Balt Datu Dakula had connected with Maliga's shoulder.
On March 18th Maliga authored a 5 page affadavit in which he named his driver, Marcelino S. Raguinot also known as James Tugaya or Noel Tugaya. Even more importantly Maliga revealed that Raguinot was employed as a bodyguard to a local politician. Most importantly, that politician had dispatched them with a strict order to kill Prosecutor Akilali Balt. Who was this local politician? Mayor Ibrahim "Diong" Mangudadatu of Buluan in Maguindanao Province. Shortly before the shooting took place Mangudadatu and Balt had almost come to blows when the Prosecutor had dropped weapons charges iniated by Director Marcelo Pintac against Datu Unsay's Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan. Mangudadatu naturally took umbrage and did his best to twist Balt's arm on the matter. Preoccupied with the much more pressing gang rape of a 21 year old volunteer nurse in the municipality of North Upi, a case that at the time had riveted the attention of the nation, Prosecutor Balt didn't have the time or energy to cater to petty political feuds. The Mangudadatu Clan though doesn't handle denial very well.
As Balt was being transferred to Davao Doctors Hospital his daughter Aminah began a personal crusade for justice. Jotting off an email to Secretary Leila de Lima of the DOJ, or Department of Justice Aminah outlined all that she knew, having been taken into her father's confidence shortly before the shooting. She told of the heated argument with Mayor Mangudadatu and the dropping of charges against Mayor Ampatuan. Aminah asked that her father be transferred to another hospital in a safer locale, one out of reach to the Mangudadatu Clan and its wide circle of supporters. Ms. Balt asked that confessed triggerman Acmad Makakena Maliga be transferred from the Cotabato City Jail to the custody of the NBI, or National Bureau of Investigation at its headquarters in Metro Manila. The nation's top law enforcement agency is generally viewed as being above the fray and unbeholden to any political patron. Of course this isn't the case but it is undeniable that an inmate in fear for his life in a Mindanowan prison is in much safer hands simply by virtue of being held in Metro Manila. For the Mangudadatus, killing him in the Cotabato City Jail is a trifling matter. Finaly, Aminah Balt asked Secretary de Lima to appoint a Special Prosecutor to the case knowing that in Cotabato City justice could never be served.
On March 21st Secretary de Lima signed Departmental Order #200 in which she empaneled three trusted subordinates:
1) Assistant State Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano
2) Prosecutorial Attorney Mark Roland Estepa
3) Prosecutorial Attorney Gerard Gaerlan
to cover the preliminary aspects of the investigation. The order also authorised Balt's transfer to Capital University Hospital in Cagayan del Oro City, though the location wouldn't be revealed for safety reasons. Located in Misamis Oriental Province on the islands northern coast it was considered far enough away from Central Mindanao as to be relatively assured of safety. Unfortunately Balt's condition wouldn't be able to withstand the rigours or an air evacuation to Manila, more than 900 kilometers to the north. The order also set in motion the petition for a Change of Venue which if granted by the Supreme Court would have any eventual trial transferred out of Cotabato City's jurisdiction and allow proceedings to take place in Metro Manila where personnel aren't tarnished by either the Mangudadatu OR Ampatuan Clan's influence. Finally, the order also called for the transfer of Acmad Makakena Maliga to NBI custody. Aminah Balt got all she wished for and more.
On March 24th Chief Presiding Judge of Regional Trial Court #14 in Cotabato City, Bansawan Ibrahim al Haj signed off on the Transfer of Custody Order on Mr. Maliga allowing the NBI to take custody of him and whisk him off to the relative safety of Manila. That same week the DOJ Panel arrived in Cotabato City and began collecting new affadavits. In fact, on the very same day that Judge Ibrahim (al Haj is merely an honourific) signed that Transfer Order, Mayor Mangudadatu had been scheduled to appear in person and render his counter-affadavit. In other words, this was the day when Mangudadatu would finally get to clear the air. Since the killing 9 days earlier he had told anyone who would listen that he was chomping at the bit to present HIS side of the story. On the 24th however Mangudadatu was nowhere to be seen. From that point on Mangudadatu refused all communication with the Panel and despite being summoned to appear on two subsequent occaisons, June 16th and June 23rd, he never said another word. Before he found himself mute however his theory revolved around jealous rivals upset about his stated intention to run for Governor of ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Why a jealous rival would then kill Prosecutor Balk however was never articulated. The story became even more ridiculous when his uncle, clan patriarch Pax Mangudadatu himself entered the race and sidelined Mayor Ibrahim's ambition.
Though Prosecutor Balk had showed some modest improvement he took a turn for the worse on of all days, March 24th. Slipping into a coma Prosecutor Akilali Balt passed away at 808PM on Sunday, April 3rd. I would love to be able to tell you that justice is being served in the case but this is Mindanao after all where political killings are a part of the local landscape. Though officialy still empaneled the DOJ investigative team isn't doing much these days, having reverted to their earlier duties. The driver of the motorcycle, Marcelino S. Raguinot is still missing and presumed to have been killed by the Mangudadatus. Likewise with the owner of the motorcycle, Asma Samaon, though he played no direct role in the killing.
At 830PM on July 1st loitering residents saw two men riding tandem on a black Honda XRM turn off of the Mamasapano P
Roundabout (traffic circle) and drive slowly past them in Barangay Poblacion in Maguindanao Province's municipality of Shariff Aguak. The dirt acess road off of Isulan-Cotabato National Hiway led to a large compound holding al Khariah Mosque, generally referred to as Shariff Aguak's "Grand Mosque." On the right side of the compound sits the modest but comfortable home of Bai Galema Ampatuan Olimpaya, who besides being a daughter of the infamous clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., is also a Municipal Councilor in the town of Shariff Saydona Mustapha. Those same residents saw the two men dismount from their motorcycle inside the mosque compound while carrying a burlap rice sack containing a bulky object before the two men hurried next door to the Ampatuan home.
The men then unsuccessfully tried breaking into Councilor Ampatuan Olimpaya's home before getting spooked and quickly returning to the compound. There they deposited the rice sack on the right side of the mosque's facade and left just as the mosque's caretaker had been alerted by one of the curious onlookers. 27 year old caretaker Aminodin Arsad Satal, originally from Lanao del Sur Province had recently assumed his position as a favour to his father, the mosque's Imam, or cleric. Imam Satar had grown apprehensive over having such a high ranking member of the Ampatuan Clan living next door to the mosque. As Aminodin Satar came upon the rice sack he approached it but when he was still within a meter of the sack the IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") inside it detonated. Fashioned from an 81MM mortar shell with a Nokia 5510 cellphone as the trigger it left a 30 centimeter deep crater in the asphalt in front of the facade and pockmarks all over the front exterior. Aminodin Arsad Satar was killed instantly.
At the heart of the aforementioned "weapons case" lodged against Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan was SWAT, or Saviour Weapons and Tactics Security, owned by Cotabato City's Jesus "J.V," Martinez. Martinez is the scion of one of Cotabato City's oldest Christian families, his ancestors having moved there in the middle of the 19th Century. Marrying into the Ampatuan Clan, with the mandatory conversion to Islam, he parlayed a small fortune inherited from his parents into a considerable one reliant upon political patronage. Centering his small empire on Cotabato City's De Mazenod Street he left the day to day affairs to his extended family and spent most of his time in Davao City.
On August 2nd a motorcycle rigged with a powerful IED was parked in front of Martinez's "SWAT Gun Store" on Quezon Avenue, just around the corner from De Mazenod Street. Unfortunately the 3 story building also housed a pharmacy and a number of other businesses as well. Even more unfortunately, when that IED detonated just after 8PM hapless passerby took the brunt of the explosion. 14 people were hit, including a 5 year old girl. One of those 14, photographer Jimmy Ali was killed instantly. The device consisted of a 60MM mortar shell and a Nokia 5510 cellphone trigger.
On August 6th the same attackers took aim at Martinez's "SWAT Security Agency," located inside a residential compound owned by Martinez on De Mazenod Street. At 740PM two men riding tandem on a single motorcycle pulled parallel to the compound's outer wall. The passenger then dismounted, threw an M67 fragmentation grenade into the compound, re-mounted and the two calmly rode off just as the grenade detonated with a thunderous blast. Fortuitously noone was hit in that explosion despite one of Martinez's brothers in law having been inside the security agency office just 2 meters from where the grenade made contact. Aside from all windows in the building being shattered there were no casualties as he had been in a back office and so emerged unscathed. Though Martinez doesn't live in the compound some of his extended family does and so the last attack literally hit closer to home.
Predictably the authorities are busy tripping over each other in the mad race to make fools of themselves. Cotabato City's CPO pinned the first attack on...Jemmah Islamiyyah, or JI. DIPO-West, or Directorate of Integrated Police Operations-Western Sector Director Senior Superintendant Felicisimo Khu concurred. The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, via the 6ID, or 6th Infantry Division Spokesperson put the blame on the "MILF SOG," or Special Operations Group and its bogeyman, the Afghan-trained Basit Usman. Within two days though they began inching away from their semi-retarded pronouncements as Cotabato City Administrator, attorney Cynthia Guiani Sayadi took to the airwaves and blamed it all on "personal grudges" against Mr. Martinez. However in her mind those "grudges" related to Martinez having recently sold tracts of land in Maguindanao Province and having failed to share in the profits with his large extended family.
When one realises that Ms. Sayadi herself has also married into the Ampatuan Clan (and converted to Islam as well though it isn't required of females) the story becomes clearer. Linking the attacks to the Datu Unsay weapons case against Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan and the feud with the Mangudadatu Clan will only bring closer scrutiny to the whole sordid affair and therefore prevent retaliatory action...like the August 15th assasination attempt against Maguindanao Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu via that powerful carbomb in Tacurong City.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Political Developments for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part I: Governor Mangudadatu Survives Assasination Attempt
August 15th, 2011 marked Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu's 43rd birthday. Because it took place during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, where adherants fast during daylight hours the Governor held a low key gift giving celebration that afternoon at his residential compound in the Mangudadatu Clan stronghold of Bualan, in Maguindanao Province, the municipality that now serves as the provincial capital. The main celebration though was set to be held after sundown at the Governor's Genalin Forest Garden Resort just across the provincial border, in Sultan Kudarat Province's Tacurong City, seat of clan patriarch, ex-Congressman Pax S.Mangudadatu.
The Governor was in great spirits having just that morning received word from his attorneys that the Department of Justice, or DOJ had just trashed the most pressing of three murder charges against him. The case in question revolves around the February 11th, 2010 shooting death of 41 year old Tomano Kagi Kamendan, a resident of Shariff Aguak, the former capital of Maguindanao Province. Kamendan, an Ampatuan Clansman had spent the afternoon at Gaisano South Citiland Mall [sic] on Ilustre Street in Davao City shopping with his wife Natividad de Arce Kamendan. The couple had made their way up to the mall's fourth floor in search of a dress for their 5 year old daughter. Mrs. Kamendan was four months pregnant and the day was wearing on fast her so that they agreed that they would leave after buying the dress.
Finally picking out a sundress the tired couple walked to counter #80 and prepared to pay for their purchase. Examining the dress Mrs. Kamendan only looked up when her usually talkative husband stopped abruptly in mid-sentence. Directly in front of them stood Esmael Mangudadatu, waiting to purchase clothes for his two daughters who together with him stood enveloped by four bodyguards, two of whom were uniformed policemen carrying sidearms. Tomano Kamendan had good reason to be nervous. Afterall, his uncle Andal Ampatuan Sr. And several other clan members were currently in jail for having killed Mangudadatu's wife Genalin along with his sister and other assorted family members less than 90 days earlier. As Mrs. Kamendan first noticed Mangudadatu he turned around slowly and locked eyes with her husband.
Mangudadatu, not missing a beat, asked Kamendan how his uncle Andal Sr. was adjusting to life on Luzon, an obvious dig at the clan patriatch's having been incarcerated over the killings. Kamendan nervously offered that he hadn't spoken to his uncle since December. Mrs. Kamendan tried to help her husband out of an extremely uncomfortable situation by interjecting light heartedly that they were exhausted having been shopping all afternoon. Being a convert to Islam Mrs. Kamendan had spoken in Tagalog, and not Maguindanowan, the tribal language of both her husband and Esmael Mangudadatu. Mangudadatu ignored her attempt at polite diversion and turned his back on the couple. None the wiser his bodyguards pretty much ignored the entire exchange.
Having finished his purchase Mangudadatu began moving away from the counter as the Kamendans gingerly approached. All of a sudden though, Mangudadatu stopped. The cashier, caught unawares, asked Mangudadatu if the Kamendans were with him. To that Mangudadatu repeated her question rhetorically before launching into a tirade about how degenerate and perverted each and every member of the Ampatuan Clan really was. Mrs. Kamendan grabbed her husband's elbow and steered him away from the counter, afraid he might respond and add fuel to the growing fire. She began walking with her husband, away from the embarrasing confrontation but suddenly her husband bolted and began running. It was then that she heard Mangudadatu order his bodyguards to, "Ten bak nu den!" Perhaps thinking that noone would understand Maguindanowan, after all Mrs. Kamendan had spoken in Tagalog, he had just ordered his men to shoot her husband. Now fearing for her own life and the life of her unborn child Mrs. Kamendan rushed towards the nearest door and begged a salesgirl to help her. The quick thinking store employee sheparded the distressed woman into a stockroom where Mrs. Kamendan hid in blind fear.
As Mangudadatu gave the order the two uniformed policemen turned and ran full speed after Tamano Kamendan before one officer, PO1 (Police Officer First Grade) Surab Lintukan Bantas cornered the fleeing man in the kitchenware section. As the police officer drew his 45 caliber pistol Kamendan grabbed the officer's wrist. As the two men wrestled for the pistol they shattered a glass display case spraying glass shards everywhere. As the second officer, PO1 Ibrahim Langalen came upon the melee Kamendan managed to extricate himself and once again tried to flee for his life. Both officers drew down. Musa's 9MM pistol fired three rounds, all failing to connect and all miraculously failing to harm any of the store's hundreds of customers. However Officer Bantas managed to connect with every one of his five rounds, four of which landed in Tamano Kamendan's back.
Naturally the case was reported with hundreds of eyewitnesses having seen it transpire, not to mention the store's CCTV (closed circuit television) having recorded it for posterity so that there was no way to avoid calling it in. The Davao City CPO, or City Police Office registered a report at 730PM. Not long after that then Mayor Duterte himself arrived on the scene. Even in non-election seasons malls are offlimits for weaponry. Guards armed with pump shotguns stand watch s their colleagues frisk each and every patron entering the mall (all malls) while a third guard uses a wand metal detector for redundancy. The only exceptions are uniformed police officers and soldiers who must show proper ID and then sign a special form, or logbook. Moreover, in election seasons COMELEC, the national electoral authority implements nation wide gun bans in which only uniformed personnel who are on duty may carry any manner of weaponry in an attempt to mitigate election related violence. Ergo, Mangudadatu's two civilian bodyguards:
1) James Musa
2) Arnell Alangkat
were unarmed, as mandated by law. The two police officers, attached to Mangudadatu's security detail were deployed out of the ARMM PRO, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Police Regional Office, were legally permitted to bear arms. Still, Mayor Duterte questioned just why the two police officers had felt it necessary to retain their sidearms inside the mall.
Mangudadatu and his four bodyguards reported that while they were at counter #80 they heard Mangudadatu's youngest daughter, age 11, scream. They turned and saw Tamano Kagi Kamendan with his arm wrapped around the girl's neck apprently trying to abduct her. Though Mangudadatu never said a word, much less instruct anyone to shoot, both police officers ran after Kamendan who after realising his attempted abduction would fail did his best to escape by running full speed for the escalator. PO1 Bantas reached Kamendan first, at the kitchenwares section immediately adjacent to the escalator. Kamendan, realising that the gig was up lunged for Bantas' sidearm, a 45 caliber pistol. As they wrestled for the weapon they smashed a display case. Kamendan was able to grab a large shard of glass and attempted to wrest the pistol away from his opponent by repeatedly stabbing the officer's wrist with the shard. Only when PO1 Langalen arrived on scene did Kamendan stop struggling and once again begin running for the escalator. Both officers drew down and fired on the fleeing assailant.
As one easily sees, there is quite a bit of discrepancy between the version supplied by Mangudadatu and his security detail and that offered by the widow and store sales people. Even if we forget that the store personnel have absolutely no vested interest in the outcome of the case we have to admit that the Mangudadatu version is just preposterous. If Tomano Kamendan planned to abduct Mangudadatu's daughter, why bring his pregnant wife? Why choose the fourth floor of an incredibly busy mall, the interior of which is monitored by CCTV and whose exterior entrances are all guarded by men holding pump shotguns? IF it was a crime of passion or an opportunistic crime why pick THAT moment? While the party is directly in front of a cashier? Why do it as the 4 bodyguards are with the girl? It is just too silly to fathom but this was Mangudadatu's response after the Davao City Prosecutor charged the two police officers, and later Mangudadatu himself with murder.
By March however, the Davao City Prosecutor had appointed a three person investigative panel to examine the case a lot more closely and render a recommendation on actual prosecution. The charge against Mangudadatu was then dropped with the Prosecutor's Office remarking that Natividad de Arce Kamendan's original affadavit made no mention of Mangudadatu having ordered his guards to shoot Mr. Kamendan. It was only after she had conferred with her own counsel that she chose to revise her affadavit. Furthermore, her choice in counsel happened to be none other than Philip Pantojan, house counsel for the Ampatuan Clan in local matters. Ergo her revised affadavit was suspect.
Mrs. Kamendan then filed a Motion for Partial Reconsideration with regard to Mangudadatu having been dropped from the case but was unsuccessful in this endeavour having had it denied at the end of April. Still, the case against the police officers remained as is. It wasn't until May of 2011 that Mrs. Kamendan finally submitted a formal withdrawal of her complaint against Mangudadatu, having received a generous "donation" from Mangudadatu, by then sitting as Governor, in her dear departed husband's name. It took the DOJ until August 15th to formally drop all initiatives against Governor Mangudadatu with regard to the murder case. It is assured that both police officers will also beat the case but that in the interim will have to go through the rigamorole of a trial. Philippine Law allows for Self Defense, which is what the two officers are utilising as their defence, but doesn't allow for prosecutorial latitude in such matters. In other words, in the American System after which the Philippine System was fashioned, a prosecutor can make a judgement call if Self Defense is tenable and decline to even present the case to a Grand Jury for indictment. The Philippine System is markedly different not least of all because of its lack of Grand Jury and Indictments. Because the Philippine System also lacks Trial by Jury Self Defense must be judged entirely by the trial judge. In this case the two officers will get their days in Regional Trial Court, or RTC #16, Davao City.
Returning to August 15th, at 330PM the guests at Governor Mangudadatu's compound piled into vehichles for the short ride across the provincial border to his resort in Tacurong City. Leaving in a convoy of 7 vehicles the Governor naturally rode at the head of the line in his armoured van. Entering Tacurong City along Tacurong -Koronadal National Hiway, generaly known as Alunan Hiway, the convoy had just passed Fitmart Department Store, the scene of a bombing just 3 weeks prior when a white Kia Avellana parked in front of the Cherubim Methodist Learning Center, next to the Land Bank of the Philippines and packed with a powerful IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") fashioned from multiple 105MM Howitzer shells detonated. All that remained of the Kia was its front axle and a partial front quarter, the rest had simply disintegrated.
The explosion took place 7 seconds after the Governor's lead vehicle passed the parked Kia. The third vehicle in the convoy, a black Toyota Fortuner owned by Maguindanao Provincial Board Member Datu Russman "Russ" Sinsuat Sr. took the brunt of the explosion. In fact it was Sinsuat himself who was the most seriously injured of the 5 people in that truck, all of whom sustained moderate to serious wounds. In addition, a triksiad (motorised tricycle used as a taxi) driver, Raffy Parenas of Tacurong City's Purok #9 was killed instantly. A sixth person was wounded as well while riding in the convoy's fourth vehicle. All six of the wounded were rushed to Tacurong City Doctor's Hospital. Sinsuat's son, Datu Russ Jr. had to have his right leg amputated. As the operation was being performed his father was being declared dead, having expired at 1217AM.
Just before the detonation an idling triksiad driver had witnessed a man leaving the Kia and running across the road at full speed. Just after the blast the witness informed a police officer on scene that a man had just gotten out of the Kia and run across the street. A dragnet was quickly thrown up and officers from the CPO, or City Police Office were able to quickly apprehend Datu Karim "Alibara" Masdal, a resident of Guindulungan in Maguindanao Province. After taking him into custody he was rapidly transferred to the custody of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group- Region 12, or CIDG-12. CDIG-12 then immediately implemented a news blackout until today, August 18th, on the arrest citing National Security concerns, hence my not being able to post on the event until today.
A second man, Jay R. Reyes of Cotabato City is listed on the Kia's bill of sale as having purchased the SUV from its previous owner, Maureen Ella Macasindil, of Davao City, a resident of Barangay Datu Luho in Maa District. Ms.Macasandil claims that two of her employees actually handled the transaction for her so that she never actually saw the person in question. CIDG is currently interrogating both employees while remaining cognisant that Ms. Macasindil spent a number of years living in Maguindanao Province. A warrant has been taken out on "Mr. Reyes" but the name is an alias. Searches at the LTO, or Land Transportation Office, Civil Registry, COMELEC Voter Registries, and the Social Security rolls have all failed to turn up anyone with that name or any variation on the name. Masdal, the man fingered as the man who had been sitting in the Kia meanwhile, denies any involvement and hasn't provided a shred of intelligence. Knowing the type of interrogation he would be subjected to I reckon he is merely a patsy hired to drive the Kia to Tacurong. The IED was triggered by cellphone so that the fact that Masdal ran across the hiway just before the detonation doesn't neccessarily relate to his having fore knowledge of the bombing. Co-incidentally, perhaps, an IED was recovered in Guindulungan this past Saturday, August 13th though its signature doesn't match the carbomb in Tacurong City.
For most people considering the matter the obvious culprit would be the Ampatuan Clan. Afterall, the Governor's late wife Genalin, namesake of that aforementioned resort in Tacurong City, was but one of 58 people murdered by the Ampatuans on November 23rd, 2009 when another Mangudadatu convoy was waylaid en route to the previous provincial capital, Shariff Aguak. That infamous act of violence, the so called "Maguindanao Massacre" is what caused then President Gloria M.Arroyo to declare the still extant State of Emergency (with nearly a week of actual Martial Law just after the incident). Though this latest act of violence IS related to the now two year old blood feud between the two clans it is NOT directly related to the Maguindanao Massacre.
The Massacre it should be recalled, took place because of Ampatuan paranoia in the face of Mangudadatu's insistence on fielding his candidacy in the May 2010 Gubneratorial Race in Maguindanao Province. The two clans had been firmly allied since the 18th Century when together they led a victorious raid on the Spanish Fort in the Cotabato Basin. Slaughtering all survivors the clans' alliance was literally sealed in blood. Since that time they have heavily intermarried with one another and rarely have not been in full agreement. Though rooted in the same province, Maguindanao, the Mangudadatus wisely chose to build their powerbase in the adjacent province of Sultan Kudarat and so avoided direct competition. At the beginning of 2009 Esmael, the current Governor, but then merely the Vice Mayor of Buluan convinced patriarch Pax, his paternal uncle, to back his run for Governor of Maguindanao.
With a bit of internal debate Uncle Pax gave his blessing and Esmael, accompanied by a few dozen well armed members of the clan paramilitary, known as the "Buayan sa Ranao," or Crocodiles of the Lake (their hometown Bualan sits on a lake of the same name), paid a visit to the residential compound of the Ampatuan Clan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., currently incarcerated at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, on Luzon, for the Massacre, but who at that point had just resigned as Governor of Maguindanao after the Supreme Court dissolved the province he had created out of a Maguindanowan Congressional District in 2008, the province of Shariff Kabansuan citing Constitutional issues. Though obstensibly out of office, he had son Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, then Governor of ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao but now jailed along with his father, appoint youngest son Sajid Islam Ampatuan as OIC, or Officer in Charge Governor of Maguindanao.
Andal Sr.'s endgame was to keep the seat warm for the May of 2010 Election when he would have his other son, and namesake, Andal Jr.run for election. The verb "run" is not quite apt since the clan controlled most municipalities in the province and so dictated who ran, and therefore who won. Andal Sr. wasn't so bothered that Esmael Mangudadatu dared to run for the Governor's seat as much as he was angered, neigh infuriated that he would dare to appear at his doorstep with dozens of men carrying long arms. THIS was the impetus for the Massacre.
Though in stir the clan's hold on the province, though surely not as firm as it had been prior to the Massacre was still strong. Under Andal Sr.'s direction clan members ran for key posts. One post retained was the mayoralty of the municipality of Datu Unsay. Named for Andal Jr.'s nickname, the town was specifically created for him by his father, Andal Sr. With Jr. in jail one of his wives, Bai Reshal Santiago Ampatuan ran in his stead. Not suprisingly she emerged victoriously. Almost from the start she dealt with a very small but vocal dissident faction backed by the Mangudadatus. With the shakeup in the local powerbase all PNP, or Philippine National Police serving in Maguindanao Province were transferred far and wide. Though most of the rank and file ultimately returned to their original positions the command structure was permanently disassembled. With new commanders Governor Mangudadatu was able to groom his own loyal following. One such commander who planted himself firmly in the Governor's camp was Director Senior Superintendent of the Maguindanao PPO, or Police Provincial Office, Marcelo Pintac.
On Janurary 10th, 2010 Director Pintac jotted off an official memorandum to the ARMM PRO, or Police Regional of the ARMM, is under the ARMM PRO AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "jurisdiction"). In this memorandum the Director accused Mayor Reshall Ampatuan of dereliction of duty for rank absenteeism. According to the Director the Mayor had not shown up for a single day's work since July 15th, 2010. The memorandum is extremely note worthy because such matterss are no concern at all of any police official though technically, any civil servant can formally complain about any other civil servant. Still, it was so unusual that the Director of ARMM PRO simply filed it away and did nothing more.
Curiously, two members of Datu Unsay's dissident faction:
1) Pata Usman, age 52
2) Abdulhamid Lumena, age 32
chose Janurary 13th as the day to make a stand, knowing that in doing so they would provoke a serious confrontation with either the Mayor or her supporters. The two men hung banners on the outside walls of the municipal compound on which they appealed to not only Governor Mangudadatu but President Aquino himself to intervene in the face of what they maintained was rank corruption in the October of 2010 Barangay and SK (Sangguniang Kabataan, or Youth Council) Elections. Mayor Ampatuan, who contrary to PPO Director Marcelo Pintac's claim WAS working quickly had municipal workers tear down the banners.
Having choreographed their actions with Mangudadatu's camp the two protestors immediately entered the compound and once inside the MPO, or Municipal Police Office reported the incident so that it would be officialy recorded. Having been notified before the protestors had even raised their banners PPO Director Pintac had already deployed two of his senior men:
1) Senior Inspector Greg Soliba, Commanding Officer of the PPO's PSCs, or Public Safety Companies (formerly known as PMGs, or Police Mobile Groups)
2) Senior Inspector Lino Capellan
who rendevouzed with a small detachment from the 45IB (Infantry Battalion), to use as armed backup. Speeding from Shariff Aguak, the former provincial capital which still houses most provincial government offices. Arriving at the municipal compound the two Inspectors and they military backup conferred with the two protestors. According to Senior Inspector Soliba they were then surrounded by eight well armed men and their commander, members of the Mayor's security detail.
According to Soliba he defused the tense situation by convincing the commander, Mayoral Aide Tungko Zakala, to accompany him inside the MPO so as to verify the eight armed guards' permits to carry weapons. Once inside the MPO Soliba claims that he was able to verify that in fact, the eight guards were all employed by SWAT (Saviour Weapons and Tactics) Security Agency in Cotabato City. Moreover Soliba says, he ascertained that the company's Temporary Liscence to Operate had expired exactly one week previously on Janurary 6th, 2011. At that point Soliba says, he had the soldiers from the 45IB confiscate two M653s (mini-M16s) and six MP5s. The eight guards, all local Maguindanowan Tribesmen under the employ of SWAT were then released to the town's Information Officer, Paisal Sulaik.
At the same time, the Ampatuans aren't the only group on the Governor's dancecard, the Mangudadatu paramilitary has entered into a conflict with the MILF and its military arm, the BIAF, otr the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces in the clan stronghold of Buluan. I covered this flare up in my entry, "MILF Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2011
Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan did not just roll over. On Janurary 20th she went to the media and complained of dirty politicking on the part of PPO Director Marcelo Pintac. When her guards were forcibly disarmed, at gunpoint she added, she formally submitted a request to Director Pintac to provide her with two uniformed and armed police officers. Pintac ignored her request. Mayor Ampatuan correctly noted that by law she is entitled to the two officers and that Pintac's actions, and conversely his lack of action thereafter prove that the Director is operating with a political agenda. Pintac's response? "Para sa akin pantay ako sa lahat. Sanay kasi yan sila na lahat ng gusto nila masusunod. Nung sila ba ang namahala sa Maguindanao naisip ba nila ang mga ginigawa sa tao di na maganda? Idiomatically translated, Director Pintac denied any unfair treatment saying that he treats all people fairly BUT then immediately followed with, "They (the Ampatuan Clan) are so used to getting what they want but when they were in power here in Maguindanao, what did they ever do for anyone?" Nah, no bias there, right?
Then Pintac promptly filed a formal complaint with Magiuindanao Provincial Board in which he charged the Mayor with Illegal Possesion of Weapons, Illegal Possesion of Ammunition, and Absenteeism. The Provincial Board, or Sangguniang Panlalawigan tossed the complaint in the trash and derided Pintac for wasting their time with it. Co-incidentally this move was the first open indication that the Mangudadatu alliance with Vice Governor Ibrahim "Dustin" Veloso Mastura had fractured, with Vice Governor Mastura steering the Board on that issue. At the birthday party on August 15th Mastura was not in attendance signalling that the rift is major.
I will continue with the conclusion of this entry in a subsequent post utilising the same title, with the addition, "Part 2."
The Governor was in great spirits having just that morning received word from his attorneys that the Department of Justice, or DOJ had just trashed the most pressing of three murder charges against him. The case in question revolves around the February 11th, 2010 shooting death of 41 year old Tomano Kagi Kamendan, a resident of Shariff Aguak, the former capital of Maguindanao Province. Kamendan, an Ampatuan Clansman had spent the afternoon at Gaisano South Citiland Mall [sic] on Ilustre Street in Davao City shopping with his wife Natividad de Arce Kamendan. The couple had made their way up to the mall's fourth floor in search of a dress for their 5 year old daughter. Mrs. Kamendan was four months pregnant and the day was wearing on fast her so that they agreed that they would leave after buying the dress.
Finally picking out a sundress the tired couple walked to counter #80 and prepared to pay for their purchase. Examining the dress Mrs. Kamendan only looked up when her usually talkative husband stopped abruptly in mid-sentence. Directly in front of them stood Esmael Mangudadatu, waiting to purchase clothes for his two daughters who together with him stood enveloped by four bodyguards, two of whom were uniformed policemen carrying sidearms. Tomano Kamendan had good reason to be nervous. Afterall, his uncle Andal Ampatuan Sr. And several other clan members were currently in jail for having killed Mangudadatu's wife Genalin along with his sister and other assorted family members less than 90 days earlier. As Mrs. Kamendan first noticed Mangudadatu he turned around slowly and locked eyes with her husband.
Mangudadatu, not missing a beat, asked Kamendan how his uncle Andal Sr. was adjusting to life on Luzon, an obvious dig at the clan patriatch's having been incarcerated over the killings. Kamendan nervously offered that he hadn't spoken to his uncle since December. Mrs. Kamendan tried to help her husband out of an extremely uncomfortable situation by interjecting light heartedly that they were exhausted having been shopping all afternoon. Being a convert to Islam Mrs. Kamendan had spoken in Tagalog, and not Maguindanowan, the tribal language of both her husband and Esmael Mangudadatu. Mangudadatu ignored her attempt at polite diversion and turned his back on the couple. None the wiser his bodyguards pretty much ignored the entire exchange.
Having finished his purchase Mangudadatu began moving away from the counter as the Kamendans gingerly approached. All of a sudden though, Mangudadatu stopped. The cashier, caught unawares, asked Mangudadatu if the Kamendans were with him. To that Mangudadatu repeated her question rhetorically before launching into a tirade about how degenerate and perverted each and every member of the Ampatuan Clan really was. Mrs. Kamendan grabbed her husband's elbow and steered him away from the counter, afraid he might respond and add fuel to the growing fire. She began walking with her husband, away from the embarrasing confrontation but suddenly her husband bolted and began running. It was then that she heard Mangudadatu order his bodyguards to, "Ten bak nu den!" Perhaps thinking that noone would understand Maguindanowan, after all Mrs. Kamendan had spoken in Tagalog, he had just ordered his men to shoot her husband. Now fearing for her own life and the life of her unborn child Mrs. Kamendan rushed towards the nearest door and begged a salesgirl to help her. The quick thinking store employee sheparded the distressed woman into a stockroom where Mrs. Kamendan hid in blind fear.
As Mangudadatu gave the order the two uniformed policemen turned and ran full speed after Tamano Kamendan before one officer, PO1 (Police Officer First Grade) Surab Lintukan Bantas cornered the fleeing man in the kitchenware section. As the police officer drew his 45 caliber pistol Kamendan grabbed the officer's wrist. As the two men wrestled for the pistol they shattered a glass display case spraying glass shards everywhere. As the second officer, PO1 Ibrahim Langalen came upon the melee Kamendan managed to extricate himself and once again tried to flee for his life. Both officers drew down. Musa's 9MM pistol fired three rounds, all failing to connect and all miraculously failing to harm any of the store's hundreds of customers. However Officer Bantas managed to connect with every one of his five rounds, four of which landed in Tamano Kamendan's back.
Naturally the case was reported with hundreds of eyewitnesses having seen it transpire, not to mention the store's CCTV (closed circuit television) having recorded it for posterity so that there was no way to avoid calling it in. The Davao City CPO, or City Police Office registered a report at 730PM. Not long after that then Mayor Duterte himself arrived on the scene. Even in non-election seasons malls are offlimits for weaponry. Guards armed with pump shotguns stand watch s their colleagues frisk each and every patron entering the mall (all malls) while a third guard uses a wand metal detector for redundancy. The only exceptions are uniformed police officers and soldiers who must show proper ID and then sign a special form, or logbook. Moreover, in election seasons COMELEC, the national electoral authority implements nation wide gun bans in which only uniformed personnel who are on duty may carry any manner of weaponry in an attempt to mitigate election related violence. Ergo, Mangudadatu's two civilian bodyguards:
1) James Musa
2) Arnell Alangkat
were unarmed, as mandated by law. The two police officers, attached to Mangudadatu's security detail were deployed out of the ARMM PRO, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Police Regional Office, were legally permitted to bear arms. Still, Mayor Duterte questioned just why the two police officers had felt it necessary to retain their sidearms inside the mall.
Mangudadatu and his four bodyguards reported that while they were at counter #80 they heard Mangudadatu's youngest daughter, age 11, scream. They turned and saw Tamano Kagi Kamendan with his arm wrapped around the girl's neck apprently trying to abduct her. Though Mangudadatu never said a word, much less instruct anyone to shoot, both police officers ran after Kamendan who after realising his attempted abduction would fail did his best to escape by running full speed for the escalator. PO1 Bantas reached Kamendan first, at the kitchenwares section immediately adjacent to the escalator. Kamendan, realising that the gig was up lunged for Bantas' sidearm, a 45 caliber pistol. As they wrestled for the weapon they smashed a display case. Kamendan was able to grab a large shard of glass and attempted to wrest the pistol away from his opponent by repeatedly stabbing the officer's wrist with the shard. Only when PO1 Langalen arrived on scene did Kamendan stop struggling and once again begin running for the escalator. Both officers drew down and fired on the fleeing assailant.
As one easily sees, there is quite a bit of discrepancy between the version supplied by Mangudadatu and his security detail and that offered by the widow and store sales people. Even if we forget that the store personnel have absolutely no vested interest in the outcome of the case we have to admit that the Mangudadatu version is just preposterous. If Tomano Kamendan planned to abduct Mangudadatu's daughter, why bring his pregnant wife? Why choose the fourth floor of an incredibly busy mall, the interior of which is monitored by CCTV and whose exterior entrances are all guarded by men holding pump shotguns? IF it was a crime of passion or an opportunistic crime why pick THAT moment? While the party is directly in front of a cashier? Why do it as the 4 bodyguards are with the girl? It is just too silly to fathom but this was Mangudadatu's response after the Davao City Prosecutor charged the two police officers, and later Mangudadatu himself with murder.
By March however, the Davao City Prosecutor had appointed a three person investigative panel to examine the case a lot more closely and render a recommendation on actual prosecution. The charge against Mangudadatu was then dropped with the Prosecutor's Office remarking that Natividad de Arce Kamendan's original affadavit made no mention of Mangudadatu having ordered his guards to shoot Mr. Kamendan. It was only after she had conferred with her own counsel that she chose to revise her affadavit. Furthermore, her choice in counsel happened to be none other than Philip Pantojan, house counsel for the Ampatuan Clan in local matters. Ergo her revised affadavit was suspect.
Mrs. Kamendan then filed a Motion for Partial Reconsideration with regard to Mangudadatu having been dropped from the case but was unsuccessful in this endeavour having had it denied at the end of April. Still, the case against the police officers remained as is. It wasn't until May of 2011 that Mrs. Kamendan finally submitted a formal withdrawal of her complaint against Mangudadatu, having received a generous "donation" from Mangudadatu, by then sitting as Governor, in her dear departed husband's name. It took the DOJ until August 15th to formally drop all initiatives against Governor Mangudadatu with regard to the murder case. It is assured that both police officers will also beat the case but that in the interim will have to go through the rigamorole of a trial. Philippine Law allows for Self Defense, which is what the two officers are utilising as their defence, but doesn't allow for prosecutorial latitude in such matters. In other words, in the American System after which the Philippine System was fashioned, a prosecutor can make a judgement call if Self Defense is tenable and decline to even present the case to a Grand Jury for indictment. The Philippine System is markedly different not least of all because of its lack of Grand Jury and Indictments. Because the Philippine System also lacks Trial by Jury Self Defense must be judged entirely by the trial judge. In this case the two officers will get their days in Regional Trial Court, or RTC #16, Davao City.
Returning to August 15th, at 330PM the guests at Governor Mangudadatu's compound piled into vehichles for the short ride across the provincial border to his resort in Tacurong City. Leaving in a convoy of 7 vehicles the Governor naturally rode at the head of the line in his armoured van. Entering Tacurong City along Tacurong -Koronadal National Hiway, generaly known as Alunan Hiway, the convoy had just passed Fitmart Department Store, the scene of a bombing just 3 weeks prior when a white Kia Avellana parked in front of the Cherubim Methodist Learning Center, next to the Land Bank of the Philippines and packed with a powerful IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") fashioned from multiple 105MM Howitzer shells detonated. All that remained of the Kia was its front axle and a partial front quarter, the rest had simply disintegrated.
The explosion took place 7 seconds after the Governor's lead vehicle passed the parked Kia. The third vehicle in the convoy, a black Toyota Fortuner owned by Maguindanao Provincial Board Member Datu Russman "Russ" Sinsuat Sr. took the brunt of the explosion. In fact it was Sinsuat himself who was the most seriously injured of the 5 people in that truck, all of whom sustained moderate to serious wounds. In addition, a triksiad (motorised tricycle used as a taxi) driver, Raffy Parenas of Tacurong City's Purok #9 was killed instantly. A sixth person was wounded as well while riding in the convoy's fourth vehicle. All six of the wounded were rushed to Tacurong City Doctor's Hospital. Sinsuat's son, Datu Russ Jr. had to have his right leg amputated. As the operation was being performed his father was being declared dead, having expired at 1217AM.
Just before the detonation an idling triksiad driver had witnessed a man leaving the Kia and running across the road at full speed. Just after the blast the witness informed a police officer on scene that a man had just gotten out of the Kia and run across the street. A dragnet was quickly thrown up and officers from the CPO, or City Police Office were able to quickly apprehend Datu Karim "Alibara" Masdal, a resident of Guindulungan in Maguindanao Province. After taking him into custody he was rapidly transferred to the custody of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group- Region 12, or CIDG-12. CDIG-12 then immediately implemented a news blackout until today, August 18th, on the arrest citing National Security concerns, hence my not being able to post on the event until today.
A second man, Jay R. Reyes of Cotabato City is listed on the Kia's bill of sale as having purchased the SUV from its previous owner, Maureen Ella Macasindil, of Davao City, a resident of Barangay Datu Luho in Maa District. Ms.Macasandil claims that two of her employees actually handled the transaction for her so that she never actually saw the person in question. CIDG is currently interrogating both employees while remaining cognisant that Ms. Macasindil spent a number of years living in Maguindanao Province. A warrant has been taken out on "Mr. Reyes" but the name is an alias. Searches at the LTO, or Land Transportation Office, Civil Registry, COMELEC Voter Registries, and the Social Security rolls have all failed to turn up anyone with that name or any variation on the name. Masdal, the man fingered as the man who had been sitting in the Kia meanwhile, denies any involvement and hasn't provided a shred of intelligence. Knowing the type of interrogation he would be subjected to I reckon he is merely a patsy hired to drive the Kia to Tacurong. The IED was triggered by cellphone so that the fact that Masdal ran across the hiway just before the detonation doesn't neccessarily relate to his having fore knowledge of the bombing. Co-incidentally, perhaps, an IED was recovered in Guindulungan this past Saturday, August 13th though its signature doesn't match the carbomb in Tacurong City.
For most people considering the matter the obvious culprit would be the Ampatuan Clan. Afterall, the Governor's late wife Genalin, namesake of that aforementioned resort in Tacurong City, was but one of 58 people murdered by the Ampatuans on November 23rd, 2009 when another Mangudadatu convoy was waylaid en route to the previous provincial capital, Shariff Aguak. That infamous act of violence, the so called "Maguindanao Massacre" is what caused then President Gloria M.Arroyo to declare the still extant State of Emergency (with nearly a week of actual Martial Law just after the incident). Though this latest act of violence IS related to the now two year old blood feud between the two clans it is NOT directly related to the Maguindanao Massacre.
The Massacre it should be recalled, took place because of Ampatuan paranoia in the face of Mangudadatu's insistence on fielding his candidacy in the May 2010 Gubneratorial Race in Maguindanao Province. The two clans had been firmly allied since the 18th Century when together they led a victorious raid on the Spanish Fort in the Cotabato Basin. Slaughtering all survivors the clans' alliance was literally sealed in blood. Since that time they have heavily intermarried with one another and rarely have not been in full agreement. Though rooted in the same province, Maguindanao, the Mangudadatus wisely chose to build their powerbase in the adjacent province of Sultan Kudarat and so avoided direct competition. At the beginning of 2009 Esmael, the current Governor, but then merely the Vice Mayor of Buluan convinced patriarch Pax, his paternal uncle, to back his run for Governor of Maguindanao.
With a bit of internal debate Uncle Pax gave his blessing and Esmael, accompanied by a few dozen well armed members of the clan paramilitary, known as the "Buayan sa Ranao," or Crocodiles of the Lake (their hometown Bualan sits on a lake of the same name), paid a visit to the residential compound of the Ampatuan Clan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., currently incarcerated at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, on Luzon, for the Massacre, but who at that point had just resigned as Governor of Maguindanao after the Supreme Court dissolved the province he had created out of a Maguindanowan Congressional District in 2008, the province of Shariff Kabansuan citing Constitutional issues. Though obstensibly out of office, he had son Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, then Governor of ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao but now jailed along with his father, appoint youngest son Sajid Islam Ampatuan as OIC, or Officer in Charge Governor of Maguindanao.
Andal Sr.'s endgame was to keep the seat warm for the May of 2010 Election when he would have his other son, and namesake, Andal Jr.run for election. The verb "run" is not quite apt since the clan controlled most municipalities in the province and so dictated who ran, and therefore who won. Andal Sr. wasn't so bothered that Esmael Mangudadatu dared to run for the Governor's seat as much as he was angered, neigh infuriated that he would dare to appear at his doorstep with dozens of men carrying long arms. THIS was the impetus for the Massacre.
Though in stir the clan's hold on the province, though surely not as firm as it had been prior to the Massacre was still strong. Under Andal Sr.'s direction clan members ran for key posts. One post retained was the mayoralty of the municipality of Datu Unsay. Named for Andal Jr.'s nickname, the town was specifically created for him by his father, Andal Sr. With Jr. in jail one of his wives, Bai Reshal Santiago Ampatuan ran in his stead. Not suprisingly she emerged victoriously. Almost from the start she dealt with a very small but vocal dissident faction backed by the Mangudadatus. With the shakeup in the local powerbase all PNP, or Philippine National Police serving in Maguindanao Province were transferred far and wide. Though most of the rank and file ultimately returned to their original positions the command structure was permanently disassembled. With new commanders Governor Mangudadatu was able to groom his own loyal following. One such commander who planted himself firmly in the Governor's camp was Director Senior Superintendent of the Maguindanao PPO, or Police Provincial Office, Marcelo Pintac.
On Janurary 10th, 2010 Director Pintac jotted off an official memorandum to the ARMM PRO, or Police Regional of the ARMM, is under the ARMM PRO AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "jurisdiction"). In this memorandum the Director accused Mayor Reshall Ampatuan of dereliction of duty for rank absenteeism. According to the Director the Mayor had not shown up for a single day's work since July 15th, 2010. The memorandum is extremely note worthy because such matterss are no concern at all of any police official though technically, any civil servant can formally complain about any other civil servant. Still, it was so unusual that the Director of ARMM PRO simply filed it away and did nothing more.
Curiously, two members of Datu Unsay's dissident faction:
1) Pata Usman, age 52
2) Abdulhamid Lumena, age 32
chose Janurary 13th as the day to make a stand, knowing that in doing so they would provoke a serious confrontation with either the Mayor or her supporters. The two men hung banners on the outside walls of the municipal compound on which they appealed to not only Governor Mangudadatu but President Aquino himself to intervene in the face of what they maintained was rank corruption in the October of 2010 Barangay and SK (Sangguniang Kabataan, or Youth Council) Elections. Mayor Ampatuan, who contrary to PPO Director Marcelo Pintac's claim WAS working quickly had municipal workers tear down the banners.
Having choreographed their actions with Mangudadatu's camp the two protestors immediately entered the compound and once inside the MPO, or Municipal Police Office reported the incident so that it would be officialy recorded. Having been notified before the protestors had even raised their banners PPO Director Pintac had already deployed two of his senior men:
1) Senior Inspector Greg Soliba, Commanding Officer of the PPO's PSCs, or Public Safety Companies (formerly known as PMGs, or Police Mobile Groups)
2) Senior Inspector Lino Capellan
who rendevouzed with a small detachment from the 45IB (Infantry Battalion), to use as armed backup. Speeding from Shariff Aguak, the former provincial capital which still houses most provincial government offices. Arriving at the municipal compound the two Inspectors and they military backup conferred with the two protestors. According to Senior Inspector Soliba they were then surrounded by eight well armed men and their commander, members of the Mayor's security detail.
According to Soliba he defused the tense situation by convincing the commander, Mayoral Aide Tungko Zakala, to accompany him inside the MPO so as to verify the eight armed guards' permits to carry weapons. Once inside the MPO Soliba claims that he was able to verify that in fact, the eight guards were all employed by SWAT (Saviour Weapons and Tactics) Security Agency in Cotabato City. Moreover Soliba says, he ascertained that the company's Temporary Liscence to Operate had expired exactly one week previously on Janurary 6th, 2011. At that point Soliba says, he had the soldiers from the 45IB confiscate two M653s (mini-M16s) and six MP5s. The eight guards, all local Maguindanowan Tribesmen under the employ of SWAT were then released to the town's Information Officer, Paisal Sulaik.
At the same time, the Ampatuans aren't the only group on the Governor's dancecard, the Mangudadatu paramilitary has entered into a conflict with the MILF and its military arm, the BIAF, otr the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces in the clan stronghold of Buluan. I covered this flare up in my entry, "MILF Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2011
Mayor Reshal Santiago Ampatuan did not just roll over. On Janurary 20th she went to the media and complained of dirty politicking on the part of PPO Director Marcelo Pintac. When her guards were forcibly disarmed, at gunpoint she added, she formally submitted a request to Director Pintac to provide her with two uniformed and armed police officers. Pintac ignored her request. Mayor Ampatuan correctly noted that by law she is entitled to the two officers and that Pintac's actions, and conversely his lack of action thereafter prove that the Director is operating with a political agenda. Pintac's response? "Para sa akin pantay ako sa lahat. Sanay kasi yan sila na lahat ng gusto nila masusunod. Nung sila ba ang namahala sa Maguindanao naisip ba nila ang mga ginigawa sa tao di na maganda? Idiomatically translated, Director Pintac denied any unfair treatment saying that he treats all people fairly BUT then immediately followed with, "They (the Ampatuan Clan) are so used to getting what they want but when they were in power here in Maguindanao, what did they ever do for anyone?" Nah, no bias there, right?
Then Pintac promptly filed a formal complaint with Magiuindanao Provincial Board in which he charged the Mayor with Illegal Possesion of Weapons, Illegal Possesion of Ammunition, and Absenteeism. The Provincial Board, or Sangguniang Panlalawigan tossed the complaint in the trash and derided Pintac for wasting their time with it. Co-incidentally this move was the first open indication that the Mangudadatu alliance with Vice Governor Ibrahim "Dustin" Veloso Mastura had fractured, with Vice Governor Mastura steering the Board on that issue. At the birthday party on August 15th Mastura was not in attendance signalling that the rift is major.
I will continue with the conclusion of this entry in a subsequent post utilising the same title, with the addition, "Part 2."
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part III: The Liberation of Dennis Rodinas and the Capture of 4 Prison Guards
Liberation Theology is far too rich a subject to attempt in even a series of entries, let alone two or three paragraphs. For the sake of brevity AND background though I will merely note that this facet of the Catholic Faith grew out of the awakened social consciousness of 1950s Latin America and the parallel phenomenon of rank nationalism only then just coming into vogue all over the under-developed world. By 1964 at a conclave in Brasil's Rio de Janeiro the philosopher Gustavo Gutierrez framed the nascent theological stratum as Catholicism serving as a "praxis of liberation," a guidebook for the socially aware. By 1968 the Medellin Confrence in Colombia articulated the emergent theological and political ideology quite well, in a manner that perfectly reflected the times. Clergy and laity outside of the Western Hemisphere quickly caught on so that even by 1970 Liberation Theology had become a worldwide phenomenon.
It was in the 1970s that other Christian Churches joined the fray. Most popular in under-developed nations the creed found a ready made home amongst Christian Filipinos of all faiths. At the head of the pack was the homegrown United Church of Christ in the Philippines, or UCCP. Rooted in the American Colonial Era when wholesome American Missionaries shouldered the White Man's Burden and began twisting arms of Catholics and Animists alike in the furious race to save Filipino souls. Officialy founded in 1948, by 1972 the UCCP was holding its Second Constitutional Convention. A child of the times no less than the Liberation Theology it espoused the Convention concentrated on UCCP's most pressing needs: A way in which to navigate the recently enacted Martial Law and the government excess that went along with it.
Just as in Latin America a decade before, the Philippines was undergoing a cultural awakening. Just as in other nations the Philippines had been seriously shaken up by the tumult of the late-1960s. Leftist intellectuals held sway in the nation's institutions of higher learning and forged a Leftist-nationalism imbued with social consciousness, in other words, Communism became the flavour of the month. From 1972 onward the UCCP sat at the forefront of the various religious organisations that collectively formed one of two major wings within the multi-sectoral front that itself served as a conduit between Philippine society and the Communist underground. The UCCP became an incubator of sorts for CPP/NPA inductees, one of several ways in which the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) seduced people into joining the "armed struggle."
If joining the UCCP was one of the most seductive of CPP/NPA avenues of recruitment, how much of a chance would someone born into the UCCP leadership have of NOT being sucked into the vortex? Dennis Paradero Rodinas was the son of a UCCP pastor from the municipality of Magpet in North Cotabato Province. Though reluctant to join his father Felixberto at the pulpit Rodinas did join UCCP as a layman working with one of the Church's environmentally-focused programmes. Assigned to a UCCP parish in Misamis Occidental Province in the Spring of 1998, at age 24, he was quickly recruited into the NPA's Western Mindanao Regional Committee, or WMRC. WMRC is the weakest of the five Regional Committees on Mindanao. Unlike the other four Committees WMRC commands only a single Front, or guerilla element, with an AOR (Area of Responsibility) encompassing all 3 provinces on the Zamboanga Peninsula:
1) Zamboanga del Norte
2) Zamboanga del Sur
3) Zamboanga Sibugay
as well as a sliver of Misamis Occidental Province immediately bordering the Zamboanga Peninsula. By the Summer of 1999 Rodinas had had enough of his day job, left the parish sponsoring the environmental programme he had worked with and joined his comrades in the jungles and mountains of Northwestern Mindanao, and adopted two noms de guerre, "Ka Dondon" and "Ka Demz." WMRC only maintains a single Front because the Zamboanga Peninsula lacks the large mass base of support seen in most other parts of the island. To better utilise its minimal manpower the single Front is divided into individual Sections, each with a given geographical AOR and thereby enabling the WMRC's small number of guerillas to operate over a vast amount of territory.
Eventually Rodinas proved himself capable enough that he was made Section Leader of Section Joji, with an AOR extending from WMRC's sliver of Misamis Occidental Province and into Zamboanga del Sur Province as far as the municipality of Molave. Indeed it was in Molave's Barangay Simata that Rodinas personally killed for the first time when he executed CAA, or Civilian Active Auxiliary Arnold Sacares on May 17th, 2009 (for an explanation about what a CAA is, please refer to my previous entry, "NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part II"). Almost a month to the day later, on June 15th, 2009 Dennis Rodinas led his Section on an attack of a CAFGU post in the municipality of Clarin's Barangay Penacio, in Misamis Occidental Province. During that firefight he is said to have personally killed CAA Ernesto Gumilid (CAFGU is also explained in that aforementioned entry).
The June 15th killing would be Rodina's last taste of battle for awhile. On June 29th, 2009 Rodinas was a passenger in a car driven by a fellow guerilla when they approached a PNP, or Philippine National Police checkpoint in Tagub City's Barangay Villaba in Misamis Occidental Province. Unfortunately for Rodinas the car's driver had failed to bring his driver's liscence. Even more unfortunate was the fact that the checkpoint was manned by the provincial PMG, or Police Mobile Group, the one entity benefiting from the arrest of unliscenced drivers. Most any other element couldn't be bothered to arrest someone for such a trivial offence. Upon searching the automobile the police found enough questionable materiel to perform more than the usual cursory search and proceeded to scour the car from top to bottom. According to the police they found IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") components as well as a laptop, a flashdrive, compact discs, and five cellphones. Virtually every confiscated item held a wealth of NPA intelligence corroborating the initial sucpicion of the officers on duty.
The officer in charge, Inspector Alwin Baclao allowed Rodinas to use the only one of the five cellphones devoid of intelligence to contact his wife Deanna Febra Rodinas and inform her of his arrest. After calling his wife Rodinas informed Inspector Baclao that his cousin was also a PNP officer. As courtesy dictates, Baclao asked Rodinas to call his cousin so that Baclao could inform him of his arrest. Not having that particular cousin's phone number Rodinas instead phoned his cousin Marilyn Jueves informing her of his circumstances and asked her to have their cousin call him immediately. When the second cousin called Inspector Baclao took the phone and informed him that he would be bringing Rodinas into the Tangub City CPO, or City Police Office for processing. Rodinas' cousin thanked Baclao for the information and informed him that he would meet them at the at the station.
The cousin, along with second cousin Marilyn Jueves and a Catholic priest she had picked up for good measure arrived at the Tangub City CPO only to find that Baclao and Rodinas had not arrived. Moreover, Shift Supervisor, Inspector Mumulgan informed the three that Baclao was still in the field and had made no arrangements to process Rodinas at the CPO. It was at this point that the three began worrying about Rodinas' safety. Extra Judicial Killings, or EJKs, known locally as "Salvagings" are not uncommon with regard to NPA guerillas and their supporters. Leaving the CPO the cousins dropped the priest off and joined Rodinas' wife Deanna in trying to locate her husband by telephone. It was there that Deanna received an SMS (text message) late that same afternoon from PPO, or Police Provincial Office Director, Senior Inspector German Doria, under whom Inspector Baclao served informing her that Inspector Baclao had in fact NOT taken Rodinas to the Tangub City CPO as he had originally intended but had instead turnred Rodinas over to the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines 55IB (Infantry Battalion) at its headquarters in the municipality of Calamba's Barangay Langub in Misamis Occidental Province for interrogation.
Quickly phoning 55IB Headquarters Deanna was told that her husband was not there and that the battalion had no record of him whatsoever. Still Deanna tried calling back every hour on the hour but without success. More determined than ever Deanna made her way to the Tangub City CPO the next afternoon, June 30th. As she approached the police station on foot though she was both shocked and relieved to spot her husband shackled in the rear of a PNP pickup truck, the sort with a cap on the bed and benches in it for the transport of prisoners. Relieved to find him in PNP custody after all her relief quickly changed to horror when she realised that the truck was being closely guarded by 4 AFP soldiers in full combat array. Desperate to speak with her husband Deanna asked one of the soldiers guarding him if she might have a quick word with the prisoner, explaining that she was his wife. The soldier on duty refused and advised her to ask his superior for permission. With no officer in sight and knowing that the truck might leave at any moment Deanna switched gears and began demanding the opportunity to at least ascertain her husband's condition. As she bordered on hysterics the beleagured soldier relented and finally granted Deanna her wish. Finally face to face with her husband Deanna had barely managed to ask him how he was before the truck's engine sprang to life and soldiers brusquely moved past her to climb into the back of the truck with the prisoner.
Returned to 55IB headquarters Rodinas was held another night before being brought to the Tangub City Jail, on July 1st after 36 hours in military custody. Spending barely a day in Tangub City Rodinas was quickly transferred to the more secure Ozamiz City Jail in the same province of Misamis Occidental. Here he would spend nearly two years as his case wound its way through the lethargic Philippine Courts. Shedding both murder charges for the killings of the two CAAs in 2009, he was convicted in July of 2011 of Possesion of Explosives Components and bound for transfer to the Davao Penal Colony. Recently re-named the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, or DPPF, the facility is located within the municipality of Santo Tomas in Davao del Norte Province.
Late at night on July 20th, 2011 the Warden of the Ozamiz City Jail, Inspector Murphy Tudyog joined 8 of his staff members on the jail's van to transport 9 prisoners, including Dennis Paradero Rodinas on the long ride to Davao del Norte Province. Along for the ride was Warden Tudyog's colleague, Inspector Erico Llamazares, a senior staffer from the Cagayan del Oro City Jail in Misamis Oriental Province, returning home by way of DPPF.
By 330AM, July 21st the van was on Davao-Bukidnon National Hiway, in Bukidnon Province but still several hours away from its destination. In the municipality of Kitaotao's Sitio Maloos in Barangay Sinuda the van reached yet another AFP checkpoint. In a line of 6 vehicles the van slowly inched its way forward until finally, it was their turn. As the van driver lowered his window to show his credentials but before he could open his mouth two well armed men drew down their M16s. Quickly the van was surrounded by equally well armed NPA guerillas dressed in AFP uniforms. After divesting the jail jail staff of its weaponry and capturing four M16s, seven 9MM pistols, one 38 revolver, and one 45 caliber pistol the lead guerilla asked for Dennis Rodinas by name. Rodinas answered himself and asked if they were here for him at which point the lead guerilla instructed jail staff to unshackle and release Rodinas. Not bothering with any other inmates the lead guerilla then demanded IDs from all 10 staff members. Quickly examining their ID cards he instructed Warden Inspector Tudyog, his colleague Inspector Llamazares, and two low level guards:
1) Senior Jail Officer 2 (SJO2) Rogelio Begontes
2) Jail Officer 1 (JO1) Rolando Bajuya
to move to the side of the road where the 4 disappeared along with Dennis Rodinas and 70 other NPA guerillas. The van was then divested of its ignition keys and left on the hiway's shoulder as the remaining guerillas disassembled the checkpoint and disappeared into the jungle.
On August 8th the NPA announced that the 4 prisoners were being granted POW, or Prisoner of War Status. While the Government has loudly screamed bloody murder, the move actually benefits the 4 captives. By affording them this status the NPA has publicly vowed to uphold the Geneva Convention with regard to POWs as well as all other applicable International Humanitarian Law and Law of Armed Conflict statutes. Of course it also allows the NPA to milk the situation for propaganda value by correctly noting that its members in the custody of the PNP, AFP, and BJMP, or Bureau of Jails and Management of Prisons never come close to gaining reciprocal recognition. The Government miserably fails to even consider awarding that same status to NPA prisoners in ITS custody.
It was in the 1970s that other Christian Churches joined the fray. Most popular in under-developed nations the creed found a ready made home amongst Christian Filipinos of all faiths. At the head of the pack was the homegrown United Church of Christ in the Philippines, or UCCP. Rooted in the American Colonial Era when wholesome American Missionaries shouldered the White Man's Burden and began twisting arms of Catholics and Animists alike in the furious race to save Filipino souls. Officialy founded in 1948, by 1972 the UCCP was holding its Second Constitutional Convention. A child of the times no less than the Liberation Theology it espoused the Convention concentrated on UCCP's most pressing needs: A way in which to navigate the recently enacted Martial Law and the government excess that went along with it.
Just as in Latin America a decade before, the Philippines was undergoing a cultural awakening. Just as in other nations the Philippines had been seriously shaken up by the tumult of the late-1960s. Leftist intellectuals held sway in the nation's institutions of higher learning and forged a Leftist-nationalism imbued with social consciousness, in other words, Communism became the flavour of the month. From 1972 onward the UCCP sat at the forefront of the various religious organisations that collectively formed one of two major wings within the multi-sectoral front that itself served as a conduit between Philippine society and the Communist underground. The UCCP became an incubator of sorts for CPP/NPA inductees, one of several ways in which the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) seduced people into joining the "armed struggle."
If joining the UCCP was one of the most seductive of CPP/NPA avenues of recruitment, how much of a chance would someone born into the UCCP leadership have of NOT being sucked into the vortex? Dennis Paradero Rodinas was the son of a UCCP pastor from the municipality of Magpet in North Cotabato Province. Though reluctant to join his father Felixberto at the pulpit Rodinas did join UCCP as a layman working with one of the Church's environmentally-focused programmes. Assigned to a UCCP parish in Misamis Occidental Province in the Spring of 1998, at age 24, he was quickly recruited into the NPA's Western Mindanao Regional Committee, or WMRC. WMRC is the weakest of the five Regional Committees on Mindanao. Unlike the other four Committees WMRC commands only a single Front, or guerilla element, with an AOR (Area of Responsibility) encompassing all 3 provinces on the Zamboanga Peninsula:
1) Zamboanga del Norte
2) Zamboanga del Sur
3) Zamboanga Sibugay
as well as a sliver of Misamis Occidental Province immediately bordering the Zamboanga Peninsula. By the Summer of 1999 Rodinas had had enough of his day job, left the parish sponsoring the environmental programme he had worked with and joined his comrades in the jungles and mountains of Northwestern Mindanao, and adopted two noms de guerre, "Ka Dondon" and "Ka Demz." WMRC only maintains a single Front because the Zamboanga Peninsula lacks the large mass base of support seen in most other parts of the island. To better utilise its minimal manpower the single Front is divided into individual Sections, each with a given geographical AOR and thereby enabling the WMRC's small number of guerillas to operate over a vast amount of territory.
Eventually Rodinas proved himself capable enough that he was made Section Leader of Section Joji, with an AOR extending from WMRC's sliver of Misamis Occidental Province and into Zamboanga del Sur Province as far as the municipality of Molave. Indeed it was in Molave's Barangay Simata that Rodinas personally killed for the first time when he executed CAA, or Civilian Active Auxiliary Arnold Sacares on May 17th, 2009 (for an explanation about what a CAA is, please refer to my previous entry, "NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part II"). Almost a month to the day later, on June 15th, 2009 Dennis Rodinas led his Section on an attack of a CAFGU post in the municipality of Clarin's Barangay Penacio, in Misamis Occidental Province. During that firefight he is said to have personally killed CAA Ernesto Gumilid (CAFGU is also explained in that aforementioned entry).
The June 15th killing would be Rodina's last taste of battle for awhile. On June 29th, 2009 Rodinas was a passenger in a car driven by a fellow guerilla when they approached a PNP, or Philippine National Police checkpoint in Tagub City's Barangay Villaba in Misamis Occidental Province. Unfortunately for Rodinas the car's driver had failed to bring his driver's liscence. Even more unfortunate was the fact that the checkpoint was manned by the provincial PMG, or Police Mobile Group, the one entity benefiting from the arrest of unliscenced drivers. Most any other element couldn't be bothered to arrest someone for such a trivial offence. Upon searching the automobile the police found enough questionable materiel to perform more than the usual cursory search and proceeded to scour the car from top to bottom. According to the police they found IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") components as well as a laptop, a flashdrive, compact discs, and five cellphones. Virtually every confiscated item held a wealth of NPA intelligence corroborating the initial sucpicion of the officers on duty.
The officer in charge, Inspector Alwin Baclao allowed Rodinas to use the only one of the five cellphones devoid of intelligence to contact his wife Deanna Febra Rodinas and inform her of his arrest. After calling his wife Rodinas informed Inspector Baclao that his cousin was also a PNP officer. As courtesy dictates, Baclao asked Rodinas to call his cousin so that Baclao could inform him of his arrest. Not having that particular cousin's phone number Rodinas instead phoned his cousin Marilyn Jueves informing her of his circumstances and asked her to have their cousin call him immediately. When the second cousin called Inspector Baclao took the phone and informed him that he would be bringing Rodinas into the Tangub City CPO, or City Police Office for processing. Rodinas' cousin thanked Baclao for the information and informed him that he would meet them at the at the station.
The cousin, along with second cousin Marilyn Jueves and a Catholic priest she had picked up for good measure arrived at the Tangub City CPO only to find that Baclao and Rodinas had not arrived. Moreover, Shift Supervisor, Inspector Mumulgan informed the three that Baclao was still in the field and had made no arrangements to process Rodinas at the CPO. It was at this point that the three began worrying about Rodinas' safety. Extra Judicial Killings, or EJKs, known locally as "Salvagings" are not uncommon with regard to NPA guerillas and their supporters. Leaving the CPO the cousins dropped the priest off and joined Rodinas' wife Deanna in trying to locate her husband by telephone. It was there that Deanna received an SMS (text message) late that same afternoon from PPO, or Police Provincial Office Director, Senior Inspector German Doria, under whom Inspector Baclao served informing her that Inspector Baclao had in fact NOT taken Rodinas to the Tangub City CPO as he had originally intended but had instead turnred Rodinas over to the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines 55IB (Infantry Battalion) at its headquarters in the municipality of Calamba's Barangay Langub in Misamis Occidental Province for interrogation.
Quickly phoning 55IB Headquarters Deanna was told that her husband was not there and that the battalion had no record of him whatsoever. Still Deanna tried calling back every hour on the hour but without success. More determined than ever Deanna made her way to the Tangub City CPO the next afternoon, June 30th. As she approached the police station on foot though she was both shocked and relieved to spot her husband shackled in the rear of a PNP pickup truck, the sort with a cap on the bed and benches in it for the transport of prisoners. Relieved to find him in PNP custody after all her relief quickly changed to horror when she realised that the truck was being closely guarded by 4 AFP soldiers in full combat array. Desperate to speak with her husband Deanna asked one of the soldiers guarding him if she might have a quick word with the prisoner, explaining that she was his wife. The soldier on duty refused and advised her to ask his superior for permission. With no officer in sight and knowing that the truck might leave at any moment Deanna switched gears and began demanding the opportunity to at least ascertain her husband's condition. As she bordered on hysterics the beleagured soldier relented and finally granted Deanna her wish. Finally face to face with her husband Deanna had barely managed to ask him how he was before the truck's engine sprang to life and soldiers brusquely moved past her to climb into the back of the truck with the prisoner.
Returned to 55IB headquarters Rodinas was held another night before being brought to the Tangub City Jail, on July 1st after 36 hours in military custody. Spending barely a day in Tangub City Rodinas was quickly transferred to the more secure Ozamiz City Jail in the same province of Misamis Occidental. Here he would spend nearly two years as his case wound its way through the lethargic Philippine Courts. Shedding both murder charges for the killings of the two CAAs in 2009, he was convicted in July of 2011 of Possesion of Explosives Components and bound for transfer to the Davao Penal Colony. Recently re-named the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, or DPPF, the facility is located within the municipality of Santo Tomas in Davao del Norte Province.
Late at night on July 20th, 2011 the Warden of the Ozamiz City Jail, Inspector Murphy Tudyog joined 8 of his staff members on the jail's van to transport 9 prisoners, including Dennis Paradero Rodinas on the long ride to Davao del Norte Province. Along for the ride was Warden Tudyog's colleague, Inspector Erico Llamazares, a senior staffer from the Cagayan del Oro City Jail in Misamis Oriental Province, returning home by way of DPPF.
By 330AM, July 21st the van was on Davao-Bukidnon National Hiway, in Bukidnon Province but still several hours away from its destination. In the municipality of Kitaotao's Sitio Maloos in Barangay Sinuda the van reached yet another AFP checkpoint. In a line of 6 vehicles the van slowly inched its way forward until finally, it was their turn. As the van driver lowered his window to show his credentials but before he could open his mouth two well armed men drew down their M16s. Quickly the van was surrounded by equally well armed NPA guerillas dressed in AFP uniforms. After divesting the jail jail staff of its weaponry and capturing four M16s, seven 9MM pistols, one 38 revolver, and one 45 caliber pistol the lead guerilla asked for Dennis Rodinas by name. Rodinas answered himself and asked if they were here for him at which point the lead guerilla instructed jail staff to unshackle and release Rodinas. Not bothering with any other inmates the lead guerilla then demanded IDs from all 10 staff members. Quickly examining their ID cards he instructed Warden Inspector Tudyog, his colleague Inspector Llamazares, and two low level guards:
1) Senior Jail Officer 2 (SJO2) Rogelio Begontes
2) Jail Officer 1 (JO1) Rolando Bajuya
to move to the side of the road where the 4 disappeared along with Dennis Rodinas and 70 other NPA guerillas. The van was then divested of its ignition keys and left on the hiway's shoulder as the remaining guerillas disassembled the checkpoint and disappeared into the jungle.
On August 8th the NPA announced that the 4 prisoners were being granted POW, or Prisoner of War Status. While the Government has loudly screamed bloody murder, the move actually benefits the 4 captives. By affording them this status the NPA has publicly vowed to uphold the Geneva Convention with regard to POWs as well as all other applicable International Humanitarian Law and Law of Armed Conflict statutes. Of course it also allows the NPA to milk the situation for propaganda value by correctly noting that its members in the custody of the PNP, AFP, and BJMP, or Bureau of Jails and Management of Prisons never come close to gaining reciprocal recognition. The Government miserably fails to even consider awarding that same status to NPA prisoners in ITS custody.
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