Category: Mindanao

In the name of drugs again

Published by Ellen on October 27, 2017

President Duterte is simplifying the root cause of five-month war in Marawi by attributing it to drugs.

There’s a problem in this version because it does not address the age-old and complex issue of the tension in Mindanao which security experts say is mutating into a more dangerous terrorist movement.

In his speech at the Commemorative session of Asean Law Association Governing Council Wednesday, Duterte said, “How did the Marawi siege start? If I may ask you,’Do you know?’ It was started because the police went there to serve a warrant of arrest of one of the Mautes, for drugs. When they went there to serve the warrant, they were met with a volley of fire, they had to call in the Marines.”

Duterte tells how the government misread Maute threat

Published by Ellen on June 18, 2017

Pres. Duterte’s first public appearance after five-day absence at the 4th Infantry Division in Bancasi, Butuan City. Malacañang photo.

In his re-appearance speech five days after he was not seen in public, President Duterte gave an explanation for the military’s “mis-appreciation” of intelligence report that has been blamed for the difficulty being encountered by government forces in the ongoing war against the Islamist militants in Marawi city.

It will be recalled that Solicitor General Jose Calida said that the military had received intel reports about possible Maute- Abu Sayyaf attack in Marawi five days before May 23, when the fighting started sparked by the serving of warrant of arrest to ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon. The fierce fighting was the basis of the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao by Duterte on May 23 .

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who was in Moscow with the President together with other high-ranking security officials said there was no lapse in intelligence monitoring. “It’s just appreciation of the intelligence that was lacking there,” he said.

Prayers for Marawi as we celebrate 119th Independence Day

Published by Ellen on June 11, 2017

The announcement of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año that by today, as we celebrate our country’s 119th anniversary of independence, the Philippine flag will be flying in Marawi City, tells us of the challenges in keeping our country safe while maintaining a vibrant democracy. That a part of our country is not in the control of government shows how serious the challenges are.

“The chief of staff made an announcement hoping that by Monday, we can freely wave our flags in every corner of Marawi and we are working feverishly to do that, to ensure we are able to do to a big extent what was announced by the chief of staff,” Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said in a Malacañang briefing last Friday.

Next day, we got the devastating report that 13 Marines were killed in action and 40 other soldiers were wounded in a 14-hour ferocious battle with Islamic militants to liberate the city.

SAF44 stirred public interest on BBL

Published by Ellen on February 10, 2015

Norwegian William Hovlan, operations chief of the International Monitoring Team,

There was something amusing in the narration of Mamasapano Mayor Tahirodin Benzar A. Ampatuan that reflects a trait common to many Filipinos.

Mayor Ampatuan (yes, the Ampatuans of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre are still very much a force to reckon with in Maguindanao) said that at about 1:30 in the afternoon of Jan. 25, members of the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) arrived to stop the battle between the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police on one side and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters on the other side.

The fighting had been raging since dawn. The SAF were on their way out of the area after they accomplished killing one of their targets, Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir alias ”Marwan”, high in the terrorists list of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. Marwan had a $5 million price of his head.
Their other target, Basit Usman, a bomb expert was able to escape.

Confronted with brutal realities, what do Filipinos do?

Published by Ellen on January 27, 2015

A most painful task: Retrieving your dead comrades

Forty-four members of the Special Action Force, the elite group of the Philippine National Police, were killed by the rebel Muslim group the Aquino government has signed a peace agreement with. Yet, social media denizens are in an impassioned discussion over Philippine Miss Universe pageant candidate MJ Lastimosa’s “cake gown.”

Last Monday, Direk Joey Reyes posted this in his Facebook wall: “Dear Janet, Now you can be at ease. There is another woman more hated than you in the Philippines.Take care.”

Janet, of course, is Janet Napoles, the pork barrel queen through whom senators and congressmen robbed billions of the people’s money.

Thinking it was Social Services Secretary Dinky Soliman, who rounded up almost 500 destitute families in Pasay and Manila and brought them away from the sight of Pope Francis and the foreign press during the Papal visit two weeks ago, I commented, “Korek, Direk.”

I’d like to think Lacierda was just acting stupid

Published by Ellen on September 19, 2013

The President's spokesman — The President’s spokesman

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda probably thought the Filipino people are stupid or else why would he say that the reason why the President has not made statements on other national issues was because he has no access to Manila newspapers.

In this day and age of internet and cellphones!

Lacierda said Wednesday: “You know, the problem in Zamboanga is that no planes are flying there. They’re not getting news there. No newspapers are being flown there.”

Lacierda thinks we will believe that? I’d rather think he was not in the mood to think up of excuses why the President has not made a statement on the filing of charges against three senators and 34 other persons in connection with the pork barrel scam operated by Janet Lim Napoles who surrendered to him last Aug. 28. He even brought her to Camp Crame to make sure she is safe and well taken care of, remember?

Una, MNLF. Sunod, MILF. Ngayon, BIFF.

Published by Ellen on July 9, 2013

Noong Sabado ng gabi, ayon sa report ng military, inatake ang ng sabay sabay ang mga sundalo sa maguindanao at North Cotabato ng mga 100 na rebelled. Limang sundalo at 18 na rebelde ang patay.

Nangyari itong pag-atake dalawang araw bago mag-usap ulit ang mga representatives ng pamahalaan ng Pilipipinas at ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front sa Kuala Lumpur para ipagpatuloy ang naantalang peace talks para sa Mindanao.

Ang mga umatake daw sa mga sundalo ay miyembro ng Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters o BIFF.

Ano naman itong BIFF?

‘A Framework with missing Agreements’

Published by Ellen on October 20, 2012

By Raul C. Pangalangan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

One more not rise to a standing ovation for a trailer even before the movie is made, lest unrealistic expectations spoil the actual viewing. Similarly, the Framework Agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a milestone for sure, but unrestrained hype may well derail peace in the end. The Framework says little but the public has been conditioned to believe it says everything. What will happen when our people check under the hood and discover what’s not there?

Most importantly, the key Framework provisions each refer to an “Annex” that does not exist. This is not about missing footnotes but goes to the heart of a peace pact: What will be in the “Annex on Power Sharing,” “Annex on Wealth Sharing,” and “Annex on Transitional Arrangements”? How exactly will power and wealth be shared in the future? There can be no “just and lasting peace” unless we agree on these.

When the Framework was first published online, I thought the missing annexes would soon follow. After all, the Supreme Court struck down the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in 2008 because, among other grounds, it lacked transparency. But the Framework signing has come and gone, and it is clear that those annexes still do not exist.

Trapped

Published by Ellen on August 9, 2012

It’s not only in Metro Manila that people are trapped.

While flood and landslide due to the monsoon rains the past days have confined people to certain places and access to them difficult in Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon, it’s a more worrisome situation in Muslim Mindanao.

Reports from Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur said people are caught in the middle in the latest clash between government troops and the breakaway Moro rebel group headed by Ameril Umbra Kato.

Here’s yesterday’s report by Mindanews’ Froilan Gallardo:

Watching Mindanao and monitoring ARMM

Published by Ellen on July 12, 2012

Two Mindanao related online sites up as voters registration get underway in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, the most controversial area during elections.

Last Monday, the U.S. Embassy launched a new blog: “Peace, Prosperity, and Partnership in Mindanao.” (http://blogs.usembassy.gov/mindanao)

The U.S. Embassy release quoted Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr. saying, “Every time I visit Mindanao I am impressed with its rich cultural diversity, the enthusiasm of its youth, and its tremendous potential.

We are trying to do our part to help create opportunities, foster understandings, and promote good governance and human rights.”