MANILA - In December 2003, Prime Minister John Howard provoked criticism and protests around the region when he said that his country had the right to launch "pre-emptive strikes" against targets anywhere in Southeast Asia.
In July and August of the following year, Australian special forces and sailors trooped to the Philippines to hold joint training exercises with their Filipino counterparts. [1] Then, in October, 2005, a few months after it was reported that the Australian police were involved in "covert operations" in the country, the Australian press carried reports - subsequently denied by the government - that elite Australian troops had joined their US and Filipino counterparts in operations against alleged terrorists in the southern Philippines. [2]
If a Filipino had - for whatever reason - sued an Australian soldier participating in the above missions, the accused would have been treated in the Philippine justice system like any ordinary foreigner brought to court. With the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) signed by Manila and Canberra last week, however, Australian troops in the country have become no ordinary mates: as with the Philippines' only other such agreement - the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US, the SOVFA will accord Australian troops a different "status".
This, in essence, is what the agreement with Australia is all about. Though the agreement is expected to be presented to the public in a different light, it is basically a pact that would, to the extent negotiable, exempt Australian troops in the Philippines from being subject to the country's laws.
As Frank Stone of the US's Military Foreign Affairs office explains in a presentation posted on the Pentagon website, "status of forces" agreements (SOFAs) seek to apply the concept of the "Law of the Flag" or the idea that a country deploying military forces abroad should apply its own laws to its soldiers - and not that of the country where they are to be deployed. [3] This is the concept that has driven the US to negotiate a variety of such agreements with over 90 countries since 1951. [4]
The specific provisions of the SOVFA have not been revealed but, just like the VFA, it is expected to spell out in what cases and under what conditions Australian troops could be held legally accountable in the host country, which government will have jurisdiction over them, and who will pay for claims arising from lawsuits.
SOFAs vary because while the party deploying forces will seek to secure the maximum level of privileges for its troops in the host country, it is not always assured of getting everything it wants because host countries could - and have in fact - balked at some demands. While the US, for example, has proposed complete immunity for and jurisdiction over its troops, other governments have only been willing or are able to give only limited rights.
Contrary to how it has been portrayed in some accounts, the SOVFA is not a new security agreement of the sort that binds parties to new defense obligations; it merely governs existing ties. At the same time, however, the agreement is also not just a mere legal or judicial arrangement; its signing has political and geostrategic implications within and beyond the countries involved.
With mates like these
First, it is important to note that the two signatories to the agreement belong to the network of pro-US allies in the Pacific long described by US policy-makers and analysts as an "American lake" and which, after Europe during the Cold War, is now considered the "focus of strategic competition" by neo-conservatives. [5]
If being on the same side in war is to be an indication, Australia is perhaps the US's most reliable ally in the world. No other country - not even Britain - has fought side-by-side the US in all its major wars in the past century. In recent years, it sent sizeable contingents to join the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
While many other countries have since pulled out, the Australian troops remain part of the dwindling "coalition of the willing". Home to important US military bases and installations and the site of large-scale joint military exercises, Australia has also signed on to plans for developing the US's controversial anti-ballistic missile defense system in the region.
In the network of pro-US allies around the world, Australia stands out for the role it is carving for itself in its own backyard. For his unflinching support for US foreign policy, Howard has been called the "deputy sheriff" to the "global sheriff", President George W Bush.
Having urged Parliament to support his plans for expanding Australia's role in the region, Howard has presided over what the media have observed to be the largest expansion of the Australian military in years, with the new troops intended to be deployed for overseas missions. [6]
Itself a former colonial ruler of neighboring Papua New Guinea, Australia has recently sent troops to East Timor and the Solomon islands, prompting concerns regarding its regional interventions. Its role in policing the region is critical to US military strategy. As the influential American neo-conservative commentator Max Boot has pointed out, "We may be the global sheriff, but we need a posse to be effective, and Australia has been a stalwart member of that self-selected assemblage." [7]
With the US military overstretched, Washington may find more and more reason to share - if not outsource - some tasks to its deputy in Southeast Asia. The signing of the SOVFA signals that Australia is stepping up to the plate. As US troops get bogged down in the Middle East and Central Asia and as critical interests continue to be threatened in the US's own backyard, Latin America, more and more Australian combat boots will tread alongside - if not replace - those of the Americans in the Asia-Pacific.
Old friend
The Philippines under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on the other hand, is still - despite some very public spats - perhaps the US's most dependable ally in all of Southeast Asia. While most other governments in the region have publicly distanced themselves from Washington, Manila has bucked the trend and has even intensified its military cooperation with the United States since September 11, 2001.
At no point since the closure of its military bases in the country in 1991 has the US established a more visible presence: while Thailand, another close US ally, recently rejected an offer by the US to send troops to its violence-wracked southern provinces, between 300-500 US special forces have been indefinitely stationed in Mindanao since early 2002. Apart from them, a steady stream of US troops take part in up to 24 exercises held all year round in various places in the country. [8]
Under the Mutual Logistics Servicing Agreement with the US signed in 2001, the US is permitted to use military facilities and installations all over the country. Though officials deny that bases have been re-established in the country, the Philippines is listed as hosting "cooperative security locations" - a category of bases - by the Overseas Basing Commission, an official body tasked to review the US's basing abroad. [9]
Government officials and analysts suggest that there's nothing special with the SOVFA since the Philippines plans to sign similar agreements with Association of Southeast Asian countries. The ones with the US and Australia will just be one of many. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Philippines will actually grant non-US allied countries the same privileges as the ones it gives to fellow US allies.
The Pacific posse
If ratified, the SOVFA will further tighten the links between two pro-US allies in the region. By guaranteeing Australia that its troops will be well taken care of in the country, the SOVFA will usher in more Australian military deployments to the Philippines - whether for military exercises or for the kind of missions described by US special forces themselves as "counter-insurgency" or "unconventional warfare" operations in the southern Philippines. Such joint missions among allies will enhance what the military calls "inter-operability" as they share military doctrine, information, techniques and equipment.
In bringing together two close allies in the southwestern rim of the Pacific, the SOVFA will strengthen the chains of the pro-US bloc in the region and reinforce what one analyst calls the "new Pacific wall" [10]. This wall already spans South Korea and Japan to the north, Mongolia to the northwest, Guam in the center and Thailand and Singapore further west.
Incidentally, just six weeks before the signing of the SOVFA, Australia also inked what a report described as a "historic" security pact with Japan, a country that hosts over 90 US military bases and facilities housing over 30,000 US troops. [11] Australia had also earlier joined Japan and the US in forming the so-called Trilateral Security Dialogue in 2002.
While the threat of "terrorism" is often invoked to explain the growing cooperation between allies in the region, this explanation would only be accurate to the extent that so-called "Islamic terrorists" are actually seen as threatening larger and enduring security interests. This does not appear to be the case with groups such as the Abu Sayyaf - the supposed target of US military action in the Philippines - which, despite repeated projections to the contrary, arguably does not have the capacity to be considered a primary threat to US national security.
In contrast, the US's own 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, widely seen as articulating official government thinking, has unequivocally identified China as having "the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States" [12]. It is China which the new Pacific wall surrounds.
Without a common enemy
And, as with all alliances, it is on this, on the existence of a perceived common threat, where the pro-US bloc in the region could flounder. While the US under Bush, after vacillating for years on whether to walk the path of engagement or containment, may have now positively identified China as its potential enemy, the Philippines has not - and may not.
It is telling that just as Arroyo was inviting Howard to sign the SOVFA, Filipino generals were holding official talks with Chinese security officials in Manila and getting pledges of US$1.2 million in military engineering equipment from Beijing [13] - a pittance compared to the $96 million they stand to get from the US this year, [14] far from enough to tip the scale of allegiances for now.
But with exports to China growing five-fold between 2001 and 2005 and with investments from China recording a dramatic 122,000% increase between 2001 and 2006, [15] the Philippines' attitude toward its neighbor is now more ambiguous - if not more conciliatory - compared with the time just a decade ago when Manila had a diplomatic row with Beijing over the Spratly Islands.
Whether the Philippines' interests will be served more by being on the side of the US and Australia in a potential confrontation with China is expected to weigh heavily on the minds of the Philippine Senate as its members begin to debate whether or not to ratify the SOVFA.
For it is not China that is on Filipino leaders' minds. Arroyo herself has not been shy in saying that the benefits of closer ties with the mates from Down Under - including 28 high-speed gunboats and about $3.28 million in inducements for signing - will be unleashed on alleged communist rebels and Moro separatists in the south. [16]
Indeed, while the Philippine military consistently claims that the subjects of their foreign-assisted offensives in Mindanao are "al-Qaeda linked" members, it has repeatedly turned out that they have actually been targeting members of a separatist movement that forged a peace agreement with the government in 1996.
Defense Minister Brendan Nelson for his part has stated that Australia will support the Philippine Defense Reform Program, [17] known to be the partly US-drafted and US-funded long-term master-plan of the new drive to finally eradicate the state's internal enemies and which is blamed for the current spate of political killings and other human-rights violations.
For now, as it has been for a long time, the enemy in the minds of the Philippine ruling class and security establishment is within; the alliance, a commercial transaction with the highest bidder.
Notes
1. "Defense Strengthens Counter-Terrorism Cooperation with the Philippines," Australian Government Department of Defense media release, July 4, 2004; "Australia, Philippines to hold navy exercises," Agence France Press, August 19, 2004. 2. Charles Miranda, "Aussies target Philippines terror," The Daily Telegraph, June 20, 2005; "DFA says Aussie anti-terror forces in RP covered by "agreements," The Philippine Star, June 22, 2005; "Elite Australian troops join hunt for JI terrorists in RP," October 11, 2005; Greg Sheridan, "SAS in hunt for Asia's terrorists," The Australian, October 14, 2006. 3. Notes from a presentation delivered by Frank Stone, director of Military Foreign Affairs Office, April 10, 2002, Orlando, Florida. 4. "Status of Forces Agreements."
5. Project for the New American Century, Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century, September 2000. 6. Phil Mercer, "Australia beefs up military for action overseas," Voice of America, August 24, 2006; Esther Pan, "Australia's Security role in the Pacific," Council on Foreign Relations, June 18, 2006. 7. Max Boot, "Howard's end: Australia's prime minister no longer connects with voters," Weekly Standard, June 4, 2007. 8. "Unconventional warfare: Are US special forces engaged in an 'offensive war' in the Philippines?" Focus on the Global South special report, January 2007. 9. Overseas Basing Commission, report to the president and Congress, August 15, 2005. 10. Conn Hallinan, "The new Pacific wall," (Silver City, NM and Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, May 30, 2007.)11. "Howard signs historic security pact with Japan," ABC News Online, March 13, 2007.
12. Office of the Secretary of Defense (United States), Quadrennial Defense Review 2006, February 6, 2006; see also Office of the Secretary of Defense, "Military power of the People's Republic of China 2006: Annual Report to Congress." 13. AHN, "Philippine military to receive $1.2 million in equipment from China," May 27, 2007. 14. Philippines Center for Defense Information. 15. National Statistics Office (Philippines), "Direction of trade: 2001 to 2005"; Philippine Board of Investments, "Total FDI by country, 2001 and 2006."16. Phil Mercer, "Australia, Philippines sign landmark security pact," May 31, 2007, Voice of America; AP, "RP Australia sign security pact allowing joint counterterrorism," May 31, 2007. "Defense official said these will be used against Moro and communist leaders," Christine Avendano, "RP-Aussie war games expected next year," PDI, May 30, 2007. 17. Media release of the Australian Embassy in the Philippines, "Australia and the Philippines strengthen defense ties." (By Herbert Docena, reprinted from the Asia Times Online)
Herbert Docena (herbert@focusweb.org) is a Manila-based researcher with Focus on the Global South (www.focusweb.org), an international policy research and advocacy institute.
Showing posts with label Repost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Repost. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Pinoy Boy Bags Top Honors In Florida Spelling Bees
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 23 Mar) – A Filipino boy whose family has moved to the United States won top honors in one of the longest Central Florida spelling contest, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.
Here is the story written by Leslie Postal, of the Orlando Sentinel:
After one of the longest Central Florida spelling bees in recent history, 11-year-old Miguel Gatmaytan on Thursday won top honors -- and a trip to the nation's capital -- with the word cossack.
The Ocala boy smiled, shook runner-up Sophie Jupillat's hand, then sat down while his father and others rushed to take his photo. A few minutes later, the victory seemed to sink in.
"Yes!" he shouted, pumping his arms in the air.Miguel, a sixth-grader at Osceola Middle School in Marion County, survived 38 rounds of spelling challenges and beat out 13 other competitors to win the 48th annual Central Florida bee.
The youngest regional spelling champion in more than a decade, Miguel's victory earned him a spot in the National Spelling Bee in May.
"I feel awesome," Miguel said after he had been handed a trophy and prizes, which included $2,000 for travel expenses to Washington, D.C.After 24 rounds, Miguel and Sophie, the Lake County champion, were the last two spellers left, and they battled for the top spot.
Aplomb.
Basilica.
Fiefdom.
Pinnacle.
Adumbrate.
The two students took turns spelling them right, among other words, to go another 14 rounds.Then Sophie misspelled vagary.
She sat down, and Miguel returned to the microphone.
Miguel spelled vagary correctly, then won when he also aced the word for a Russian peasant who served in the Czar's cavalry: c-o-s-s-a-c-k.
Miguel said he had never entered a spelling bee before this school year but studied nightly once he decided to compete. His parents helped by drilling him on words they found in spelling books.
He won the Marion County bee, continued studying for Thursday's competition and said he plans to do even more for the national event.
The regional bee was held at the Orlando Sentinel, which sponsors the event. It featured winners and runners-up from eight Central Florida county spelling bees, though two contestants did not compete Thursday.It took 21 rounds to whittle the competitors to a final four.
Those four spellers included the youngest in the pack, 9-year-old Benjamin Rice from Port Orange Elementary in Volusia County. Benjamin spelled a long list of words correctly and brought smiles to the audience when one of them was precocious.
He was knocked out in the 23rd round by reticence.Kaitlyn Johnston, a student at The First Academy in Orange County, came in third. She tripped up on the word apparition in the 24th round.
Sophie, who is home-schooled, said the bee was "fun and nerve-wracking" and she hadn't expected to place as high as second in the regional competition.Miguel also said he was surprised by how well he did."I thought I was a good speller, but I never thought I'd win the district," he said.
Sophie had two chances to win when Miguel misspelled contrapuntal and, then in the next round, also missed plenary, but she also spelled both wrong.
Miguel's father, Carlos, described his son as a voracious reader and straight-A student who always seemed to have a gift with words. The family moved to Florida from the Philippines three years ago, and the trip to Washington for the 80th national spelling bee will be Miguel's first to the nation's headquarters.
The national bee, sponsored by the newspaper firm the E.W. Scripps Co., is scheduled May 30 and 31. Last year, it included 274 spellers, all winners from regional bees.
The 2006 national champion won with the word ursprache.Wendy's restaurants was a sponsor of the Central Florida bee, providing the contestants with prizes and giving $1,000 to the winner's school.
The Sentinel provides the travel money for the winner, among other gifts.
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently in its 130th year of publication. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel's president and publisher is Kathleen Waltz.
The Sentinel won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for John C. Bersia's passionate editorial campaign attacking predatory lending practices in Florida. In 1993, it won the Pulitzer for Jeff Brazil and Steve Berry work exposing the unjust seizure of millions of dollars from motorists -- most of them minorities -- by a sheriff's drug squad.
It 1988, it won the Pulitzer for Jane Healy's editorials on over-development in Orange County, Florida. (From the article “11-year-old Ocala boy becomes Central Florida's top speller by Leslie Postal, Sentinel Staff Writer)
Here is the story written by Leslie Postal, of the Orlando Sentinel:
After one of the longest Central Florida spelling bees in recent history, 11-year-old Miguel Gatmaytan on Thursday won top honors -- and a trip to the nation's capital -- with the word cossack.
The Ocala boy smiled, shook runner-up Sophie Jupillat's hand, then sat down while his father and others rushed to take his photo. A few minutes later, the victory seemed to sink in.
"Yes!" he shouted, pumping his arms in the air.Miguel, a sixth-grader at Osceola Middle School in Marion County, survived 38 rounds of spelling challenges and beat out 13 other competitors to win the 48th annual Central Florida bee.
The youngest regional spelling champion in more than a decade, Miguel's victory earned him a spot in the National Spelling Bee in May.
"I feel awesome," Miguel said after he had been handed a trophy and prizes, which included $2,000 for travel expenses to Washington, D.C.After 24 rounds, Miguel and Sophie, the Lake County champion, were the last two spellers left, and they battled for the top spot.
Aplomb.
Basilica.
Fiefdom.
Pinnacle.
Adumbrate.
The two students took turns spelling them right, among other words, to go another 14 rounds.Then Sophie misspelled vagary.
She sat down, and Miguel returned to the microphone.
Miguel spelled vagary correctly, then won when he also aced the word for a Russian peasant who served in the Czar's cavalry: c-o-s-s-a-c-k.
Miguel said he had never entered a spelling bee before this school year but studied nightly once he decided to compete. His parents helped by drilling him on words they found in spelling books.
He won the Marion County bee, continued studying for Thursday's competition and said he plans to do even more for the national event.
The regional bee was held at the Orlando Sentinel, which sponsors the event. It featured winners and runners-up from eight Central Florida county spelling bees, though two contestants did not compete Thursday.It took 21 rounds to whittle the competitors to a final four.
Those four spellers included the youngest in the pack, 9-year-old Benjamin Rice from Port Orange Elementary in Volusia County. Benjamin spelled a long list of words correctly and brought smiles to the audience when one of them was precocious.
He was knocked out in the 23rd round by reticence.Kaitlyn Johnston, a student at The First Academy in Orange County, came in third. She tripped up on the word apparition in the 24th round.
Sophie, who is home-schooled, said the bee was "fun and nerve-wracking" and she hadn't expected to place as high as second in the regional competition.Miguel also said he was surprised by how well he did."I thought I was a good speller, but I never thought I'd win the district," he said.
Sophie had two chances to win when Miguel misspelled contrapuntal and, then in the next round, also missed plenary, but she also spelled both wrong.
Miguel's father, Carlos, described his son as a voracious reader and straight-A student who always seemed to have a gift with words. The family moved to Florida from the Philippines three years ago, and the trip to Washington for the 80th national spelling bee will be Miguel's first to the nation's headquarters.
The national bee, sponsored by the newspaper firm the E.W. Scripps Co., is scheduled May 30 and 31. Last year, it included 274 spellers, all winners from regional bees.
The 2006 national champion won with the word ursprache.Wendy's restaurants was a sponsor of the Central Florida bee, providing the contestants with prizes and giving $1,000 to the winner's school.
The Sentinel provides the travel money for the winner, among other gifts.
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently in its 130th year of publication. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel's president and publisher is Kathleen Waltz.
The Sentinel won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for John C. Bersia's passionate editorial campaign attacking predatory lending practices in Florida. In 1993, it won the Pulitzer for Jeff Brazil and Steve Berry work exposing the unjust seizure of millions of dollars from motorists -- most of them minorities -- by a sheriff's drug squad.
It 1988, it won the Pulitzer for Jane Healy's editorials on over-development in Orange County, Florida. (From the article “11-year-old Ocala boy becomes Central Florida's top speller by Leslie Postal, Sentinel Staff Writer)
The CIA and Psychological Torture at SIU
A historian who specializes in CIA covert operations, the global drug trade, colonial empires in Southeast Asia and the modern-day Philippines will visit Southern Illinois University Carbondale to talk about how the CIA developed and has used psychological torture, according to the CrimProf Blog.
Alfred W. McCoy, J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will begin his free, public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in the auditorium of SIUC's Hiram Lesar Law Building.
A reception will follow.McCoy's talk draws on material from his most recent book, "A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror," published last year by Metropolitan Books.
He will be available from 4:30 to 6 p.m. the day of the lecture at Rosetta Stone Bookstore in the Campus Shopping Center, 214 W. Freeman St., to sign copies of that book.
The CIA tried to block publication of McCoy's first book, "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia," which explored links between opium and "The Company."
Translated into nine foreign languages and now in its third edition, it has become a standard in studies of worldwide drug trafficking. later work, "Closer Than Brothers," published in 1999, focused on CIA torture training within the Philippine military, a book which led directly to his exploration of what 50 years of spreading and practicing psychological torture have done to America.
McCoy maintains that so-called "no-touch" torture harms not just the victims but the perpetrators, too.In an article for the political newsletter "Counterpunch," McCoy notes that Congressional hearings on the CIA's use of torture took place four times between 1970 and 1988, with no noticeable results.
He hopes the photographs from Abu Ghraib and the widespread revulsion they engendered will at last force a change."Through these photographs from Abu Ghraib, we can see the reality of these interrogation techniques," he writes. "We have a chance to join fully with the international community in repudiating a practice that, more than any other, represents a denial of democracy."
Sponsors of McCoy's lecture include the SIUC departments of anthropology, cinema and photography, history, psychology, sociology and women's studies, the University's Global Media Research Center and School of Law, the Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, the Shawnee Green Party, the Unitarian Fellowship program committee and the Carbondale Friends Meeting.
Alfred W. McCoy, J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will begin his free, public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in the auditorium of SIUC's Hiram Lesar Law Building.
A reception will follow.McCoy's talk draws on material from his most recent book, "A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror," published last year by Metropolitan Books.
He will be available from 4:30 to 6 p.m. the day of the lecture at Rosetta Stone Bookstore in the Campus Shopping Center, 214 W. Freeman St., to sign copies of that book.
The CIA tried to block publication of McCoy's first book, "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia," which explored links between opium and "The Company."
Translated into nine foreign languages and now in its third edition, it has become a standard in studies of worldwide drug trafficking. later work, "Closer Than Brothers," published in 1999, focused on CIA torture training within the Philippine military, a book which led directly to his exploration of what 50 years of spreading and practicing psychological torture have done to America.
McCoy maintains that so-called "no-touch" torture harms not just the victims but the perpetrators, too.In an article for the political newsletter "Counterpunch," McCoy notes that Congressional hearings on the CIA's use of torture took place four times between 1970 and 1988, with no noticeable results.
He hopes the photographs from Abu Ghraib and the widespread revulsion they engendered will at last force a change."Through these photographs from Abu Ghraib, we can see the reality of these interrogation techniques," he writes. "We have a chance to join fully with the international community in repudiating a practice that, more than any other, represents a denial of democracy."
Sponsors of McCoy's lecture include the SIUC departments of anthropology, cinema and photography, history, psychology, sociology and women's studies, the University's Global Media Research Center and School of Law, the Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, the Shawnee Green Party, the Unitarian Fellowship program committee and the Carbondale Friends Meeting.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Kansas Folk Singer Barclay Martin To Produce Maguindanao Documentary
Barclay Martin
Barclay Martin Went From Thinking About Leaving Music To Fronting Two New Projects...
Sometime in the middle of a difficult tour last spring, Barclay Martin nearly left the world of music.
Martin, 28, a longtime and well-known folk singer/songwriter in Kansas City, confronted something personal and distressing: the realization that the path he was on was headed in a direction he didn’t want to take.
“I figured out that I was going at it all wrong,” he said. “I was trying to will something into being. I was forcing it: I thought the way to do the singer/songwriter thing was to go in and build a market where I didn’t have one.
“It was such a bad tour. It almost undid me. It shut off my internal sense of hearing.”
These days his instincts have found truer bearings. Martin is now the leader of his own group, the five-piece Barclay Martin Ensemble, a band that includes some well-known local jazz musicians.
He is also the sole creator of another music project: the soundtrack to a Third World documentary. Neither has anything to do with the other, but both have revived that internal sense of hearing he’d lost last year.
“I’ve been compared to James Taylor since I started,” he said. “For so long I’d just been grinding things out and asking questions later. Now I’ve learned to really listen to where I am as an artist and then act.”
His ensemble is pianist Mark Lowrey, bassist Rick Willoughby, percussionist Giuliano Mingucci and vocalist Erin McGrane of the local cabaret/rock band Alacartoona.
“I’ve always been a fan of jazz,” Martin said. “I don’t play it; I don’t have a theory background. … But I got into listening to jazz and really started to love the nuances, the musical intelligence, the raw honesty. When I heard Mark play, something resonated. I thought, ‘I need to see how I can make this work.’
Martin had known Lowrey through Willoughby, a former jazz student at UMKC and, like Mingucci, a member of the rock/fusion band Bixby Lane. When Lowrey came into the picture, Martin said, “he was like the missing piece to really help identify the next season of my songwriting.”
A few months ago the band brought in McGrane as a vocalist and auxiliary percussionist.
The ensemble’s music, Martin said, is all about spontaneity, about following instincts and trusting impulses.
“I’d already had some songs leaning toward jazzier stuff,” he said.
“As I got to know Mark’s playing styles, it has become more natural to write atypical songs that accentuate each member of the group. I don’t’ say ‘This is a samba,’ or whatever. I leave it up to them. No rendition of one song is ever identical, and I love that. The whole process has been very natural and organic.”
Martin will interrupt that process at the end of April for about a month so he can tend to that other project. Through a longtime friend who is the director for the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, he asked to help produce a documentary about people in the Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines.
CFCA is a lay Catholic foundation that fosters relationships between sponsors in the United States and children and elderly people in developing nations.
“They want to create a true documentary,” Martin said, “not an infomercial or advertisement but a true documentary of some of the communities in the southern Philippines … They sponsor around 50,000 kids in the Philippines alone.”
Martin’s role is to be the observer, the guy in front of the camera who will introduce his viewers into the lives and customs of the region, which is a mix of Catholics and Muslims.
“We’ll interact on a personal level with the citizens of the region,” he said. “We’ll visit people in their homes and get to know what a day in their lives is like.”
He will also write a soundtrack of about 20 songs. The music, he said, will employ “as many elements of Filipino music as I can.”
Sometime in January 2008 he will make his fourth trip to the Philippines. If all goes as planned, he will participate in a concert with Filipino musicians at a 3,000-person venue that is being built by the people of the province, which he calls a fascinating place. It can be exciting, too.
“There has been some terrorism there from a group of separatists who want the province to be controlled by Muslims,” he said.
“They’ve had bombings, kidnappings and beheadings and all sorts of wild things. They keep me pretty well protected when I’m there. There’s no real imminent danger; I never felt unsafe. But, you know, better safe than sorry...That’s an element I try to downplay with my parents a little bit.”
Less than a year ago he was pondering life without music. Now he is behind two significant music projects based in different hemispheres. How is he handling it all?
“It’s massively exciting,” Martin said. “You know when people ask you if you could make up your dream job, what would it be?
This is better than anything I could have come up with, and I’m pursuing it with a great sense of gratitude. The gifts I have will play out well with the opportunities I’ve been given.” (Timothy Finn/ The Kansas City Star)
Thursday, February 22, 2007
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Philippine Counterinsurgency Teams Make Gains
IT'S THE KIND OF ITEM that doesn't show up in defense budget audits: A $200 tin-roofed communal outhouse, or "comfort room," tucked behind the village market.
To US Army Capt. Steve Battle, who split the construction cost with his Philippine counterparts, it's money well spent.
Gaining the trust of residents in Panamao, a stricken village on the edge of a combat zone, is why US and Philippine troops are dug in here. In counterterrorism jargon, this Muslim community is a "center of gravity" that can be swayed with targeted projects - a new well, a school classroom, or a toilet. "It's not the amount of people that you affect. It's who you affect," says Captain Battle, a civil-affairs officer.
At a time when success stories in the US-led war on terror have been all but eclipsed by failures in Iraq, recent developments in the southern Philippines offer a degree of hope to Pentagon planners. But they also show the complexity of waging war in a contested, chaotic area, as well as the long slog needed to stand up a national army equal to sure-footed militants.
Five years after Philippine troops, supplied and advised by US soldiers, drove Islamic militants from the island of Basilan, a major offensive is under way on Jolo Island, where the militants regrouped.
The goal is to deny sanctuary to the remaining members of Abu Sayyaf, one of several insurgent groups who have been fighting for a separate Islamist state. Since August, elite Philippine units have killed or captured as many as half of an estimated 400 Abu Sayyaf on Jolo Island, including their slain leader Khadaffy Janjalani and several other senior operatives.
Philippine commanders on Jolo say they are confident their 7,000-strong troops can finish the job. "They lack ammunition, they're on the run, and we're continually pressuring them. They are in a position to be neutralized," says Army Gen. Ruperto Pabustan of the local militia.
If so, the Philippine military would end a reign of terror by a group that was founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the early 1990s. Abu Sayyaf later morphed into a kidnapping racket that became almost indistinguishable from the criminal gangs that plague the Philippines' remote regions. While that makes Abu Sayyaf something of a footnote to the global war on terror, it is no less a spoiler in the Philippine government's efforts to build a lasting peace on troubled Mindanao.
Shortly after 9/11, the southern Philippines was widely considered to be the global war on terror's "second front" after Afghanistan. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, a staunch US ally, invited American troops to assist in the fight against Abu Sayyaf, but ruled out any combat role for them. A joint US military taskforce was created to equip and train Philippine troops deploying on Basilan Island, where Abu Sayyaf then held sway.
At the same time, US and Philippine Army engineers fanned out across Basilan to build roads and bridges, trying to drive a wedge between Abu Sayyaf and local sympathizers. It largely worked, but tactical blunders allowed militant leaders to escape and regroup.
Today, the US military is using the same formula on Jolo, a kidney-shaped island convulsed by decades of Muslim rebellion against the Christian-dominated Philippine government. Advised by US Special Forces, Philippine troops have closed in on Abu Sayyaf, while naval patrols have cut off escape routes to other islands.
Even after five years of substantial military aid, US officers are quick to give credit to their allies for the victories.
"It's a Philippines success story. They're the one doing the heavy lifting and doing the fighting and helping the people and we're providing support," says Col. David Maxwell, commander of the joint taskforce, who led the 2002 Basilan operation.
Frontline troops have also won plaudits from their political masters in Manila, as well as pledges of more money and equipment. But similar promises have in the past failed to reach soldiers in the field, fuelling complaints of embezzlement by top brass. In 2003, junior officers serving in Mindanao staged a brief mutiny in Manila to protest such graft. Troops have also been accused of selling weapons and colluding with kidnappers and rebels, undermining trust among local residents.
Perhaps most acute is the need to channel funds into poor communities like Panamao, where schoolteachers say they haven't been paid for over a year. Analysts argue that without a strong focus on social development and civic leadership, any military victory on Jolo could be short-lived.
"Once the money and the Americans go, how far will the Philippines be able to keep up the community development?" says Scott Harrison, a security consultant and a former CIA officer.
"You can wipe out the entire leadership of Abu Sayyaf and [Jemaah Islamiyah], but unless you solve the underlying root problems like poverty and corruption, you've still got a witch's brew to create another generation of fanatics," he says. (Written by Simon Montlake, Christian Science Monitor correspondent. Originally published by the Christian Science Monitor on Feb 15, 2007/ON Point)
To US Army Capt. Steve Battle, who split the construction cost with his Philippine counterparts, it's money well spent.
Gaining the trust of residents in Panamao, a stricken village on the edge of a combat zone, is why US and Philippine troops are dug in here. In counterterrorism jargon, this Muslim community is a "center of gravity" that can be swayed with targeted projects - a new well, a school classroom, or a toilet. "It's not the amount of people that you affect. It's who you affect," says Captain Battle, a civil-affairs officer.
At a time when success stories in the US-led war on terror have been all but eclipsed by failures in Iraq, recent developments in the southern Philippines offer a degree of hope to Pentagon planners. But they also show the complexity of waging war in a contested, chaotic area, as well as the long slog needed to stand up a national army equal to sure-footed militants.
Five years after Philippine troops, supplied and advised by US soldiers, drove Islamic militants from the island of Basilan, a major offensive is under way on Jolo Island, where the militants regrouped.
The goal is to deny sanctuary to the remaining members of Abu Sayyaf, one of several insurgent groups who have been fighting for a separate Islamist state. Since August, elite Philippine units have killed or captured as many as half of an estimated 400 Abu Sayyaf on Jolo Island, including their slain leader Khadaffy Janjalani and several other senior operatives.
Philippine commanders on Jolo say they are confident their 7,000-strong troops can finish the job. "They lack ammunition, they're on the run, and we're continually pressuring them. They are in a position to be neutralized," says Army Gen. Ruperto Pabustan of the local militia.
If so, the Philippine military would end a reign of terror by a group that was founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the early 1990s. Abu Sayyaf later morphed into a kidnapping racket that became almost indistinguishable from the criminal gangs that plague the Philippines' remote regions. While that makes Abu Sayyaf something of a footnote to the global war on terror, it is no less a spoiler in the Philippine government's efforts to build a lasting peace on troubled Mindanao.
Shortly after 9/11, the southern Philippines was widely considered to be the global war on terror's "second front" after Afghanistan. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, a staunch US ally, invited American troops to assist in the fight against Abu Sayyaf, but ruled out any combat role for them. A joint US military taskforce was created to equip and train Philippine troops deploying on Basilan Island, where Abu Sayyaf then held sway.
At the same time, US and Philippine Army engineers fanned out across Basilan to build roads and bridges, trying to drive a wedge between Abu Sayyaf and local sympathizers. It largely worked, but tactical blunders allowed militant leaders to escape and regroup.
Today, the US military is using the same formula on Jolo, a kidney-shaped island convulsed by decades of Muslim rebellion against the Christian-dominated Philippine government. Advised by US Special Forces, Philippine troops have closed in on Abu Sayyaf, while naval patrols have cut off escape routes to other islands.
Even after five years of substantial military aid, US officers are quick to give credit to their allies for the victories.
"It's a Philippines success story. They're the one doing the heavy lifting and doing the fighting and helping the people and we're providing support," says Col. David Maxwell, commander of the joint taskforce, who led the 2002 Basilan operation.
Frontline troops have also won plaudits from their political masters in Manila, as well as pledges of more money and equipment. But similar promises have in the past failed to reach soldiers in the field, fuelling complaints of embezzlement by top brass. In 2003, junior officers serving in Mindanao staged a brief mutiny in Manila to protest such graft. Troops have also been accused of selling weapons and colluding with kidnappers and rebels, undermining trust among local residents.
Perhaps most acute is the need to channel funds into poor communities like Panamao, where schoolteachers say they haven't been paid for over a year. Analysts argue that without a strong focus on social development and civic leadership, any military victory on Jolo could be short-lived.
"Once the money and the Americans go, how far will the Philippines be able to keep up the community development?" says Scott Harrison, a security consultant and a former CIA officer.
"You can wipe out the entire leadership of Abu Sayyaf and [Jemaah Islamiyah], but unless you solve the underlying root problems like poverty and corruption, you've still got a witch's brew to create another generation of fanatics," he says. (Written by Simon Montlake, Christian Science Monitor correspondent. Originally published by the Christian Science Monitor on Feb 15, 2007/ON Point)
VOICE OF AMERICA: Abu Sayyaf Defectors Talk of Difficult Life in Jungles by Douglas Bakshian
One of Southeast Asia's most violent terrorist groups, Abu Sayyaf, is under siege in the southern Philippines. While its top leaders are being targeted and killed by the military, some of its rank and file members have begun to defect.
Recently, reporters escorted by Philippine Marines met several former guerrillas to hear their story.
Douglas Bakshian just visited the island of Jolo where the Abu Sayyaf is based and has this report on the defectors.
The defectors use fictitious names for their protection. Their background seems simple as told through military interpreters. They were middlemen in a fruit business in which they purchased produce from farmers and resold it to a retailer.
But a deal went bad and the retailer did not pay the nearly $6,000 he owed for the food. To get their money, they kidnapped him and after the ransom was paid, they let the businessman go.
Fearing retaliation from his relatives and the authorities, they fled their homes and joined Abu Sayyaf, a group in the hills that they had heard of.
The Abu Sayyaf has claimed it is fighting for a separate homeland for Muslims in the southern islands of Philippines, which has a mostly Christian population. But it is most famous for a series of bombings, brutal kidnappings and beheadings.
One of the former guerrillas, Brian, 29, a father of four, said he was not originally interested in jihad but after he became an Abu Sayyaf member he was indoctrinated. He said he never witnessed any atrocities such as beheadings, but he saw a lot of violence in battles with the Philippine Marines.
Brian spent three years with the Abu Sayyaf. He says life in the jungle became difficult because the guerrillas were on the run from the Marines and it was hard to get food. He says there were times when, if they were lucky, they would eat once a day, but the next day there would be no food. They also feared dying in clashes with the military.
Brian said he left Abu Sayyaf because it was doing un-Islamic things. One day he just had enough. He says the group was killing people, and stealing other's property, and some members stopped praying.
When he saw an opportunity to slip out of the group he fled for his life. He surrendered to the Marines last October. He says Abu Sayyaf was being poorly managed when he left, and more defectors could be coming.
Over the past several months, an aggressive military operation on Jolo by the Philippine Marines, using intelligence and equipment provided by the United States, has severely crippled the Abu Sayyaf. Two senior leaders have been killed and its activities have been curtailed.
The Abu Sayyaf is said to be harboring members from the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing that killed more than 200 people. Another former fighter, Adam, 25, says he saw JI member Dulmatin, the man behind the Bali attack, but he was heavily guarded.
He says he approached Dulmatin but was kept away by others because Abu Sayyaf leaders were afraid someone would get the word out that Jemaah Islamiah was on Jolo.
A third former rebel, Jordan, 26, who has three children, says he left Abu Sayyaf to return to his family. He also was afraid of the Marines, known for their overwhelming firepower.
The former fighters have rejoined their community and will be part of a militia to defend their neighborhoods if the guerrillas come back. The Marines also are on call if further protection is required.
Philippine Marine Lieutenant Colonel Nestor Herico, says he hopes more Abu Sayyaf members will give themselves up when they get the word that their former comrades are living peaceful lives with their families. He says over time, this process will weaken the Abu Sayyaf leadership, which he refers to as "the big fish."
"You are going to take out the water in a basin with a big fish in there," he said. "I consider them the water. If you are going to take out the water, the big fish will die. So not having a mass base I believe the hierarchy of Abu Sayyaf will just die a natural death, or most probably they will just leave the area."
About 200 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are thought to still be on Jolo. The Marines say they are willing to be lenient with those who surrender, because they want them to once again live harmoniously in their own communities. (Repost, Voice of America Bakshian report - Download 519k)
Recently, reporters escorted by Philippine Marines met several former guerrillas to hear their story.
Douglas Bakshian just visited the island of Jolo where the Abu Sayyaf is based and has this report on the defectors.
The defectors use fictitious names for their protection. Their background seems simple as told through military interpreters. They were middlemen in a fruit business in which they purchased produce from farmers and resold it to a retailer.
But a deal went bad and the retailer did not pay the nearly $6,000 he owed for the food. To get their money, they kidnapped him and after the ransom was paid, they let the businessman go.
Fearing retaliation from his relatives and the authorities, they fled their homes and joined Abu Sayyaf, a group in the hills that they had heard of.
The Abu Sayyaf has claimed it is fighting for a separate homeland for Muslims in the southern islands of Philippines, which has a mostly Christian population. But it is most famous for a series of bombings, brutal kidnappings and beheadings.
One of the former guerrillas, Brian, 29, a father of four, said he was not originally interested in jihad but after he became an Abu Sayyaf member he was indoctrinated. He said he never witnessed any atrocities such as beheadings, but he saw a lot of violence in battles with the Philippine Marines.
Brian spent three years with the Abu Sayyaf. He says life in the jungle became difficult because the guerrillas were on the run from the Marines and it was hard to get food. He says there were times when, if they were lucky, they would eat once a day, but the next day there would be no food. They also feared dying in clashes with the military.
Brian said he left Abu Sayyaf because it was doing un-Islamic things. One day he just had enough. He says the group was killing people, and stealing other's property, and some members stopped praying.
When he saw an opportunity to slip out of the group he fled for his life. He surrendered to the Marines last October. He says Abu Sayyaf was being poorly managed when he left, and more defectors could be coming.
Over the past several months, an aggressive military operation on Jolo by the Philippine Marines, using intelligence and equipment provided by the United States, has severely crippled the Abu Sayyaf. Two senior leaders have been killed and its activities have been curtailed.
The Abu Sayyaf is said to be harboring members from the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing that killed more than 200 people. Another former fighter, Adam, 25, says he saw JI member Dulmatin, the man behind the Bali attack, but he was heavily guarded.
He says he approached Dulmatin but was kept away by others because Abu Sayyaf leaders were afraid someone would get the word out that Jemaah Islamiah was on Jolo.
A third former rebel, Jordan, 26, who has three children, says he left Abu Sayyaf to return to his family. He also was afraid of the Marines, known for their overwhelming firepower.
The former fighters have rejoined their community and will be part of a militia to defend their neighborhoods if the guerrillas come back. The Marines also are on call if further protection is required.
Philippine Marine Lieutenant Colonel Nestor Herico, says he hopes more Abu Sayyaf members will give themselves up when they get the word that their former comrades are living peaceful lives with their families. He says over time, this process will weaken the Abu Sayyaf leadership, which he refers to as "the big fish."
"You are going to take out the water in a basin with a big fish in there," he said. "I consider them the water. If you are going to take out the water, the big fish will die. So not having a mass base I believe the hierarchy of Abu Sayyaf will just die a natural death, or most probably they will just leave the area."
About 200 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are thought to still be on Jolo. The Marines say they are willing to be lenient with those who surrender, because they want them to once again live harmoniously in their own communities. (Repost, Voice of America Bakshian report - Download 519k)
Monday, February 12, 2007
UN Probes Extra-judicial Killings in Philippines By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Feb 12 (IPS) - A 10-day visit by a United Nations investigator to the Philippines, starting Monday, is being welcomed in some quarters as a chance to expose an alleged campaign to ''exterminate left-wing activists'' in that South-east Asian nation.
Days ahead of the visit by Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, another victim was added to a grisly death toll of over 800 people since 2001 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo began her term in office.
Dalmacio Gandinao, provincial chairman of a left-wing farmers' movement, was gunned down on Thursday night in Salay, a town 750 km southeast of Manila.
He was having dinner at home with his wife and grandchildren when the assassins struck before getting away in a van.‘'We want the U.N. official to look at the systematic pattern of killings,'' Harry Roque, professor of international and constitutional law at the University of Philippines, told IPS over telephone from Manila.
‘'The U.N. human rights mechanism must be put into full use here to shame the Philippines.''The special rapporteur should also meet the countless people who have been threatened for their ‘'anti-capitalist'' views, added Roque, who has himself received six death threats for being part of the Philippines human rights community that is charging the Arroyo government with permitting a climate of impunity.
Concern that such violence may intensify is also growing, as the country heads for general elections in May for the 250-member House of Representatives, half of the 24-member Senate and hundreds of officials to fill the posts of mayors and governors.
In late January, a mayor of a town in central Philippines was killed by a gunman and in December a congressman was shot dead while standing at the entrance of a church in Manila.‘'The climate of impunity will not go away with the elections approaching,'' Red Constantino, managing director of the Foundation for Nationalist Studies, a Manila-based think tank, said in an IPS interview.
‘'I wouldn't be surprised if these killings increase because of the climate of impunity.''Human rights groups are hoping, however, that the killing of politicians will not pre-occupy Alston's agenda, since such political murders, they say, are different from the violent campaign being directed at individuals challenging the agenda of the government or of some multi-national companies.
Victims over the past six years have included trade unionists, farmers' rights activists, people from indigenous communities, lawyers, journalists, human rights campaigners and men of religion.
In October last year Bishop Alberto Ramento, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and a vocal critic of the Arroyo administration was murdered in his house in Tarlac.
The findings of the Australia-born Alston are expected to add to the damaging conclusions arrived at in January by a special commission appointed by Arroyo to investigate into the murder of the left-wing activists. A small group of soldiers was behind the death of the activists, said Jose Melo, a retired Supreme Court judge, who headed the commission.
The complete report, which is yet to be made public, does not fault the entire Philippines army for the violations, a charge that had dogged it as the murder of left-wing activists piled up. According to ‘Karapatan', a human rights group with which Ramento was closely associated, over 360 of the more than 800 people killed were left-wing activists.
Arroyo's decision to appoint the commission came after Manila faced pressure from international groups to investigate the murders. The global rights lobby Amnesty International is among them, accusing sections of the Philippines army last year for being involved in this bloody campaign.
In November, even multi-national companies in the Philippines joined ranks with those concerned about the escalation in extra-judicial killings. In January, the European Union urged Manila to take strong measures against the murders that are bad for the ‘'reputation of this country.''
Manila has also been criticized by environmentalists who have produced reports recently revealing that a number of people from indigenous communities in the northern Cordillera mountain ranges were among those killed for protesting against plans to expand the mining industry in their midst.
Alston is due to visit indigenous communities in some of the mountainous area during his mission.‘'He should take time to listen to their testimonies, for they (indigenous people) have lost many through this violent campaign,'' Jo Villanueva, executive director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre, an environmental lobby in Manila, told IPS.
‘'The victims were those who had been leading community resistance against encroachment by the mining companies.''The attacks on left-wing activists have lent an added dimension to the decades- long battle Manila's troops have been locked in with the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.
December marked 38 years since the NPA launched a guerrilla war against the Philippines government, a conflict that has resulted in over 40,000 deaths, including civilians, soldiers and rebels. (IPS, repost)
Days ahead of the visit by Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, another victim was added to a grisly death toll of over 800 people since 2001 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo began her term in office.
Dalmacio Gandinao, provincial chairman of a left-wing farmers' movement, was gunned down on Thursday night in Salay, a town 750 km southeast of Manila.
He was having dinner at home with his wife and grandchildren when the assassins struck before getting away in a van.‘'We want the U.N. official to look at the systematic pattern of killings,'' Harry Roque, professor of international and constitutional law at the University of Philippines, told IPS over telephone from Manila.
‘'The U.N. human rights mechanism must be put into full use here to shame the Philippines.''The special rapporteur should also meet the countless people who have been threatened for their ‘'anti-capitalist'' views, added Roque, who has himself received six death threats for being part of the Philippines human rights community that is charging the Arroyo government with permitting a climate of impunity.
Concern that such violence may intensify is also growing, as the country heads for general elections in May for the 250-member House of Representatives, half of the 24-member Senate and hundreds of officials to fill the posts of mayors and governors.
In late January, a mayor of a town in central Philippines was killed by a gunman and in December a congressman was shot dead while standing at the entrance of a church in Manila.‘'The climate of impunity will not go away with the elections approaching,'' Red Constantino, managing director of the Foundation for Nationalist Studies, a Manila-based think tank, said in an IPS interview.
‘'I wouldn't be surprised if these killings increase because of the climate of impunity.''Human rights groups are hoping, however, that the killing of politicians will not pre-occupy Alston's agenda, since such political murders, they say, are different from the violent campaign being directed at individuals challenging the agenda of the government or of some multi-national companies.
Victims over the past six years have included trade unionists, farmers' rights activists, people from indigenous communities, lawyers, journalists, human rights campaigners and men of religion.
In October last year Bishop Alberto Ramento, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and a vocal critic of the Arroyo administration was murdered in his house in Tarlac.
The findings of the Australia-born Alston are expected to add to the damaging conclusions arrived at in January by a special commission appointed by Arroyo to investigate into the murder of the left-wing activists. A small group of soldiers was behind the death of the activists, said Jose Melo, a retired Supreme Court judge, who headed the commission.
The complete report, which is yet to be made public, does not fault the entire Philippines army for the violations, a charge that had dogged it as the murder of left-wing activists piled up. According to ‘Karapatan', a human rights group with which Ramento was closely associated, over 360 of the more than 800 people killed were left-wing activists.
Arroyo's decision to appoint the commission came after Manila faced pressure from international groups to investigate the murders. The global rights lobby Amnesty International is among them, accusing sections of the Philippines army last year for being involved in this bloody campaign.
In November, even multi-national companies in the Philippines joined ranks with those concerned about the escalation in extra-judicial killings. In January, the European Union urged Manila to take strong measures against the murders that are bad for the ‘'reputation of this country.''
Manila has also been criticized by environmentalists who have produced reports recently revealing that a number of people from indigenous communities in the northern Cordillera mountain ranges were among those killed for protesting against plans to expand the mining industry in their midst.
Alston is due to visit indigenous communities in some of the mountainous area during his mission.‘'He should take time to listen to their testimonies, for they (indigenous people) have lost many through this violent campaign,'' Jo Villanueva, executive director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre, an environmental lobby in Manila, told IPS.
‘'The victims were those who had been leading community resistance against encroachment by the mining companies.''The attacks on left-wing activists have lent an added dimension to the decades- long battle Manila's troops have been locked in with the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.
December marked 38 years since the NPA launched a guerrilla war against the Philippines government, a conflict that has resulted in over 40,000 deaths, including civilians, soldiers and rebels. (IPS, repost)
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Philippine Bishop Resigns From Killings Probe Body After Submission Of Findings
MANILA - Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan has resigned from a government commission that recently tagged the military, communist rebels and politicians as among those responsible for extrajudicial killings, the Union of Catholic Asian News reported Tuesday.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who created the Melo Commission last Aug. 21, has stressed the need for continuing the commission's work to "strengthen" its report, which her office officially received on Jan. 30.
The same day, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the "initial" report is "not comprehensive," because commission members relied heavily on testimony from military men and Task Force Usig (prosecute), set up by the Philippine National Police to probe killings of media people and activists.
He said militant groups did not participate.Because of this, Ermita explained, the president's office will not publicize the commission's "first report," to keep it from overshadowing subsequent ones.
He also announced that all members of the Melo Commission, except for Bishop Pueblos, have agreed to extend their work.On Jan. 31, Bishop Pueblos told UCA News he had resigned from the commission and would not reconsider his decision, because he will be very busy in his diocese.
Butuan diocese is based in Butuan City, 820 kilometers southeast of Manila. It serves Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur provinces. Some extrajudicial killings have been reported in its territory.
Interviewed on television on Jan. 27, Bishop Pueblos said: "We have identified that there are killings really perpetrated by the military." The commission found the military responsible for a "majority" of the killings, while leftists, "goons of some politicians" and "hooded men in motorbikes" committed other killings, the bishop added.
The commission is recommending that military officers be held culpable for murders done by their soldiers, and is "encouraging the president to make a statement to stop killings in whatever form," he continued.
On Feb. 2, retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, who headed the five-member commission, told UCA News it could not publicize findings contained in the report submitted to the president.
"We want to tell everybody about our report, but not until it is released by the Office of the President," he said.
However, he confirmed that what has been reported in Philippine media is "essentially accurate."
The Jan. 30 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer had reported the 74-year-old justice as saying that the commission found a "majority of the victims were leftist, activists, militants," and that suspected perpetrators are military personnel. "But we don't want to tag the whole military establishment, only elements of the military who were allowed to do their thing without supervision from higher officers," a quotation read.
Melo reportedly specified that the commission has recommended that retired Major General Jovito Palparan Jr. be held accountable for killings done by soldiers serving with the Philippine Army's 7th Infantry Division in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, 90 kilometers north of Manila.
Palparan, who headed the army division from September 2005 until he retired in September 2006, has denied responsibility for the killings.During the television interview, Bishop Pueblos described the commission's interviews with Palparan as "irritating."
The bishop cited "irresponsible comments" by the general, such as his dismissal of data as "fabrication" by the NGPO Karapatan (rights), which he termed "left-leaning."
Since that televised interview, Bishop Pueblos has said he could not talk about the matter further "unless the nuncio gives the go signal."
The apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, the Holy See's representative to the country and the local Church, is Archbishop Fernando Filoni.
In an address on Jan. 30 for the Philippine National Police anniversary, Arroyo said there is much to think about and do with regard to the Melo Commission's report. Her government will work with the Church, activists, journalists, government officials, the international community and Melo to strengthen the committee's findings and "put teeth in the recommendations," she added.
The president said the government would invite international cooperation, protect witnesses, field special prosecutors and create special courts to try cases of extrajudicial killings.
The other Melo Commission members are National Bureau of Investigation Director Nestor Mantaring, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno and University of the Philippines Regent Nelia Torres Gonzales.
Karapatan lists 830 people as victims of extrajudicial killings since Arroyo became president in 2001. They identify 365 of those killed as activists. Three of the slain are from Butuan diocese, including a worker of the Good Shepherd Sisters' Tribal Filipino Ministry.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who created the Melo Commission last Aug. 21, has stressed the need for continuing the commission's work to "strengthen" its report, which her office officially received on Jan. 30.
The same day, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the "initial" report is "not comprehensive," because commission members relied heavily on testimony from military men and Task Force Usig (prosecute), set up by the Philippine National Police to probe killings of media people and activists.
He said militant groups did not participate.Because of this, Ermita explained, the president's office will not publicize the commission's "first report," to keep it from overshadowing subsequent ones.
He also announced that all members of the Melo Commission, except for Bishop Pueblos, have agreed to extend their work.On Jan. 31, Bishop Pueblos told UCA News he had resigned from the commission and would not reconsider his decision, because he will be very busy in his diocese.
Butuan diocese is based in Butuan City, 820 kilometers southeast of Manila. It serves Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur provinces. Some extrajudicial killings have been reported in its territory.
Interviewed on television on Jan. 27, Bishop Pueblos said: "We have identified that there are killings really perpetrated by the military." The commission found the military responsible for a "majority" of the killings, while leftists, "goons of some politicians" and "hooded men in motorbikes" committed other killings, the bishop added.
The commission is recommending that military officers be held culpable for murders done by their soldiers, and is "encouraging the president to make a statement to stop killings in whatever form," he continued.
On Feb. 2, retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, who headed the five-member commission, told UCA News it could not publicize findings contained in the report submitted to the president.
"We want to tell everybody about our report, but not until it is released by the Office of the President," he said.
However, he confirmed that what has been reported in Philippine media is "essentially accurate."
The Jan. 30 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer had reported the 74-year-old justice as saying that the commission found a "majority of the victims were leftist, activists, militants," and that suspected perpetrators are military personnel. "But we don't want to tag the whole military establishment, only elements of the military who were allowed to do their thing without supervision from higher officers," a quotation read.
Melo reportedly specified that the commission has recommended that retired Major General Jovito Palparan Jr. be held accountable for killings done by soldiers serving with the Philippine Army's 7th Infantry Division in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, 90 kilometers north of Manila.
Palparan, who headed the army division from September 2005 until he retired in September 2006, has denied responsibility for the killings.During the television interview, Bishop Pueblos described the commission's interviews with Palparan as "irritating."
The bishop cited "irresponsible comments" by the general, such as his dismissal of data as "fabrication" by the NGPO Karapatan (rights), which he termed "left-leaning."
Since that televised interview, Bishop Pueblos has said he could not talk about the matter further "unless the nuncio gives the go signal."
The apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, the Holy See's representative to the country and the local Church, is Archbishop Fernando Filoni.
In an address on Jan. 30 for the Philippine National Police anniversary, Arroyo said there is much to think about and do with regard to the Melo Commission's report. Her government will work with the Church, activists, journalists, government officials, the international community and Melo to strengthen the committee's findings and "put teeth in the recommendations," she added.
The president said the government would invite international cooperation, protect witnesses, field special prosecutors and create special courts to try cases of extrajudicial killings.
The other Melo Commission members are National Bureau of Investigation Director Nestor Mantaring, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno and University of the Philippines Regent Nelia Torres Gonzales.
Karapatan lists 830 people as victims of extrajudicial killings since Arroyo became president in 2001. They identify 365 of those killed as activists. Three of the slain are from Butuan diocese, including a worker of the Good Shepherd Sisters' Tribal Filipino Ministry.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Top Al Qaeda Financier Dead, Denied Links to Osama to His Dying Day By Zachary Abuza
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Dulmatin Still Holed Out In Jolo Jungle
A U.S. military convoy passes in a village in Maimbun town in Jolo island in the southern Philippines on Thursday 25 Jan 2007. Filipino security forces, assisted by U.S. troops, are pursuing two Jemaah Islamiya bombers, Dulmatin and Umar Patek, and Abu Sayyaf militants who are protecting the two men, tagged as behind the 2002 Bali bombinngs that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. (Mindanao Examiner Photo exclusive for The Australian)
JOLO ISLAND (Emma Kate Symons / 27 Jan) - ''THE Americans like to talk about the battle for hearts and minds. But you need to hold them by the balls. There has to be the threat of force.''
As the afternoon call to prayer echoes across the teeming port town of Jolo, the chain-smoking Filipino intelligence boss spits out his lewd warning to fugitive Bali bombers Dulmatin and Omar Patek.
The two Jemaah Islamiah leaders are holed up somewhere in the cloud-covered jungle only a few dozen kilometres from where we sit beneath the mango trees at Philippines army headquarters, shared with the assisting US special forces.
''We know where they are,'' the spy boss says of Dulmatin and Patek. ''But it's a matter of getting there in time. They could be inside Mount Dajo but to get there even with choppers, they would know we were coming and move on.''
From heavily fortified Camp Teodolfo Bautista, the American-backed local forces are waging an extraordinary, ''surgical'' military manhunt for some of the world's most wanted terrorists, believed to be hiding out on this 300sqkm volcanic island at the Philippines' southern tip.
It is an operation involving up to 8000 local troops and hundreds of US special forces and intelligence experts. Operation Ultimatum has ''liquidated'' a handful of ''high-value targets'' including Khadaffy Janjalani, the leader of local al-Qa'ida-linked Islamist terrorist outfit Abu Sayyaf, believed to now be under JI control.
But Dulmatin -- with his $US10 million ($12.9 million) US government bounty (double the reward offered for Janjalani), reputation for being the ''genius'' bomb technician behind the 2002 Bali attacks and responsible for a subsequent string of deadly attacks in the southern Philippines and possibly around Asia -- is enemy No1.
The wealthy Javanese was a protege of master JI bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a shootout with police in Indonesia in late 2005. Azahari's death left three Bali bomb masterminds on the run -- Dulmatin, Patek and fellow Indonesian Noordin Mohammed Top, who has narrowly evaded capture on several occasions.
Dulmatin -- also known as Mutkamar, Amar Usman, Djoko Supriyanto and Joko Pitono -- came to the southern Philippines some time in 2003. The region has been home to a violent Muslim insurgency, led by the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is now involved in official peace talks, for more than three decades.
Dulmatin's mission was to develop the southern Philippines chapter of JI and share bomb-making techniques with his Abu Sayyaf brothers, after he directed the 2002 Bali attacks that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Abu Sayyaf is a shadowy local kidnap-for-ransom group held responsible for killing hundreds through bombings, beheadings and abductions, targeting Christians and foreigners.
Now, after several years establishing bomb-training camps in central Mindanao funnelling technical expertise and al-Qa'ida-sourced money to their ideological brothers, Dulmatin and Patek are virtual prisoners on one of the world's most dangerous and isolated islands.
They are confined to Jolo, an autonomous 94 per cent Muslim region of Mindanao, where dense jungle and cloud cover can limit visibility to 1m.This week, as reported by The Australian, the military confirmed Dulmatin was wounded in a fierce gun battle that killed Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Solaiman.
Dulmatin escaped on foot, probably with Patek. Yet according to the top Philippines and US army commanders, the JI pair have been cornered.
In a series of exclusive interviews with The Weekend Australian, top Philippines and US commanders and intelligence officials offered unprecedented insight into their tactics, shared intelligence capabilities and conviction that on the frontline of the Southeast Asian war on terrorism, they are winning.
A group of deep penetration agents inside the Abu Sayyaf and JI cells on Jolo are funnelling prized intelligence about the location and activities of the Bali bombers and their 100 or so Abu Sayyaf cronies. The fugitives have been forced to change locations every six hours -- sometimes disguised by wigs and burqas -- in small groups to evade detection.
The army even knows that Dulmatin has hidden two of his sons away on nearby Basilan island, probably with the widow of Abu Sayyaf founder Abburajak Janjalani. ''This is a Philippines battle and the Philippines forces are winning,'' says US Colonel David Maxwell, the US commander of joint special forces operations in the southern Philippines.''
The Philippine navy has done a tremendous job with the ability for Dulmatin and Patek to move by water. They have really isolated Jolo so well and it is probably difficult for them to move off the island.''But where are they going to go? You look at what the armed forces of The Philippines is doing in central Mindanao. Are they going to go back after they were evicted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front? Basilan (island) is very secure these days, they can't go back there.''
They will have to leave The Philippines and right now their best hope is to continue to remain here on Jolo because they've got a low level of basic support network that has allowed them to survive. But it's only a matter of time.
The armed forces of The Philippines are going to win over all the sanctuaries and they are going to win over all the people and eliminate the ability for them to survive on the island.''The fight on Jolo is being keenly watched by the Australian armed forces and their bosses in Canberra, who are negotiating a status of forces agreement with The Philippines.
On Monday, Australian ambassador to The Philippines Tony Hely and defence staff will be in Zamboanga City, the closest mainland Mindanao city to Jolo, to meet with local officials.For now, Australia is limited to providing intelligence support and training in bomb detection, hostage rescue and maritime security. But once the defence pact is signed later this year, Australian forces could conduct large joint training exercises and potentially send forces to assist in Jolo.
General Eugenio Cedo, commander of Philippines forces in Western Mindanao, said he would warmly welcome Australian military support in the south. But he and a handful of top military brass are surprised that Australia has not joined the US and Philippines in offering generous rewards for the capture of Dulmatin and Patek.
This week they urged Canberra to join in.The Philippines military admits there have been some missteps in its hunt for Dulmatin. In October, it arrested Dulmatin's wife on Jolo, with two of the bomber's children. She offered valuable intelligence, including listing at least seven JI operatives in the south, before being deported to Indonesia.
''We shouldn't have arrested the wife,'' says army Captain Abdurassad Sirajan. ''He was probably with her the same day. You put the wives under surveillance and monitor them, then you come much closer to capturing the high-value targets.''Maxwell agrees that Dulmatin and Patek ''must be captured or neutralised'', despite the difficulties presented by the complex jungle terrain.
''The Philippines forces are trying to win the hearts and minds of the local population. But sometimes it's like chasing ghosts,'' he says.''Also, the culture on Jolo is very complex. The Abu Sayyaf group has strong family ties, and strong tribal ties (to the local warrior Tausug tribe). Where there are blood relations and religious connections, those ties remain.''
As a palpable sign of the intense US interest in winning this battle against terrorism, the Hawaii-based commander of American special forces in the Pacific, Major General David Fridovich, US President George W. Bush's special state department adviser on ''reaching out to the Muslim world'' Karen Hughes and US ambassador to The Philippines Kristie Kenney, all came to Jolo island this week.
The Americans are waging a costly fight against poverty, exclusion and discrimination on the island, with a host of multi-million-dollar aid projects, ranging from internet-equipped schools and roads to medical centres, ambulances and hospitals.
It is their calculated battle for hearts and minds on Jolo, a desperately poor community of 600,000 where fresh water, electricity and basic healthcare are rarities.Yet for all the aid and work to shield civilians from becoming ''collateral damage'', Islamist ideology and hatred of Christians, foreigners and particularly Americans, the Philippines former colonial masters, are still powerful forces on Jolo.
Gesturing towards Jolo's grand mosque, a persistent stronghold of radical Muslim muftis preaching violent jihadism, Sirajan, a Muslim and Jolo-raised former Moro Islamic Liberation Front commander, says ruefully: ''Even if we have killed Janjalani and all the terrorist leaders like Dulmatin and Patek, there will still be terrorism here.''It is an ideology, it is ingrained religious extremism, it is a part of life here.'' (The Australian)
Monday, January 22, 2007
Conjoined Filipino Twins Need Help
The names of the twins are Rezzia and Rezzie. They are both eight months old conjoined twins (thoraco-omphalopagus twins) who are joined in the chest and abdomen.
They are left by their 13 year old mother to the governments care, DSWD, since they were born at the Velez Hospital in Cebu City. Their mother was 12 years old when she was raped by a relative in Mindanao.
The smaller of the twins, Rezzie has a congenital heart defect and hydrocephalus. She required round the clock oxygen and heart medication.
A shunt (VPS) insertion is needed, This is a procedure to correct the hydrocephalus condition.
It might cost P100,000. Any small amount can go a long way in helping the twins.
Sponsors for an operation and adoption would help a lot to this kids.
How will we course the donations? Course it through te Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and look for Ms. Leah Colis. Phone Number (+63 32) 2330261.
Click here for more photos. (copy and paste it to the browser the link below)http://cebuonline.net/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=29&func=view&catid=19&id=44#44
Ref:http://www.writingup.com/jhexph/cebu_conjoined_twins_needs_help (This is a repost, please verify authenticity of report.Ed)
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Abdul Mari Asia Imao: Moro National Artist By Nasser Sharief
A 1984 painting by famed National Moro Artist Abdul Mari Asia Imao hangs inside the National Museum in Jolo Island in the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines. The inscription is Allah's name. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)There is no escaping destiny. “The carp and the pot will eventually cross path” as one Iranon proverb puts it. Yet the self-discovery of Abdul Mari, famed Moro National Artist, did not take a circuitous route. From the day he was born on January 14, 1936 on the seaside of Tulay in the island of Pata, Jolo, where his clan had lived as fisher folks for centuries, nature had endowed the future Filipino sculpture with a keen eye for details.
Abdul Mari was nine years old when he realized he was to be an artist without having any word for it yet. World War II was raging then but on this pendant of an island, everything—sights, sounds and smell—was magnified many times over to accommodate the senses of the lanky sun-burned boy.He could not pass by anything without having to muse on it. Abdul Mari found that many of nature’s beauty are fleeting. There must be some capsules in which to preserve this feeling.“Once I caught a fish I was so fascinated about—its shape, scales, pigment and its glossy snout. I brought it home but as soon as the aroma of cooking drifting from the kitchen skewered my nostrils, fat tears ran down my cheek.
I couldn’t bring myself to eat it, and Mother had to comfort me all night long.”Abdul Mari’s first attempt at serious work was etching trophies for the swimmers in Sulu with the shape of a swimmer atop a pedestal (Jolo swimmers were the best bet the country had for the Olympics at the time). His folks admired his talent but marooned on this small island, his future seemed bleak.
Deus ex machina
It was in 1956 when he finished high school that the LST, a floating exhibit of the Philippine Navy called on anchor. The enthusiasm of the lad on seeing the works of the likes of Fernando Amorsolo, Botong Francisco and Vicente Manansala did not escape the notice of one Tomas Bernardo, in-charge of the exhibit. He asked Abdul Mari if he does painting, and the boy was only too eager to show him his works.
When Bernardo took Abdul Mari to Manila, Abdul Mari made his first move by writing to President Ramon Magsaysay to seek a study grant. With the help of Jose Ma. Ansaldo, aide to the President, Abdul Mari entered college at the University of the Philippines as a pensionado of the Commission on National Integration.
He was popular in campus for he invariably won competitions in painting. Some of his prize-winning works as a student are now in private collections. Some found its way into the National Museum and at the Zobel collection of the Ateneo Museum.
His style was still evolving and he was fortunate to meet professors Guillermo Tolentino, Napoleon Abueva, Anastacio Caedo and Ambrosio Morales who guided him and encouraged him to take up sculpture. Tolentino (who did the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City) confirmed to Abdul Mari he was bound to do sculptures.
So Abdul Mari took the decision and in 1959 he graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Sculpture. Looking back, Abdul Mari said everything had build up to his becoming a sculptor. In his native home, there were just too many bolos, knives and chisels lying around their dockyards to tempt him.
Abdul Mari came from a long line of generations of boat makers called Tokang that dates back to the pre-colonial era. His ancestors supplied the Moro warriors their sturdy and swift prahus and joanggas for raiding forts and villages of the north in the continuing war with the Spaniards.
It was only in the last quarter of the 19th century when the Spanish got faster steamboats from Hong Kong that martial boat building waned among the Moro.
Kodachrome America
Abdul Mari’s zest to expand his horizon knew no bounds. Right after graduating he qualified for the top 20 slots of the Smith-Mundt and Fulbright Scholarship.
So in 1960 Abdul Mari went to the University of Kansas in Rhode Island School of Design where in the following year he finished his M.A. in Sculpture, major in Metal Brass Casting. While in the US, in 1962, Abdul Mari won yet another scholarship at the Rhode Island School of Design where he spent a year taking up Creative Sculptor in Ceramic Technology.
To extend his skills, Abdul Mari gained a Columbia Faculty Scholarship in the tuition of Dr. Lloyd Burden, who developed the first color processing for Kodak, he studied photography and documentary motion picture.
While in Columbia he also met the physicist Edwin Herbert Land, who in 1947 invented the Polaroid camera.
Why film making?
Abdul Mari threw back his head and laughed.“You see, everything goes back to my childhood. In my hometown the only movie house was owned by a kin, so I was allowed to peddle sodas, peanuts and whatnots inside the theater.
It must have been the countless hours of watching movies in-between peddling when I don’t stare at the star-holes of the dilapidated movie house that developed my sense for motion pictures.”
What did he do in the States when he was not studying? Abdul Mari gave a wink.“I’m a grapho-analyst and I moonlighted as an amateur palmist. I earned some $1800 doing palmistry. I didn’t leave America though without making my mark on this great country. One of my sculptures, ‘South Pacific Trail’ made in walnut wood in concave and convex dugouts was exhibited at the museums.”
To round up his stint abroad, in 1963 the New York Museum of Modern Art granted him a $12,000 travel grant to Europe that allowed him a leisure tour of the museums of the Old World. He would have liked to make a side trip to Islamic countries to examine the Topkapi mosques and the priceless Arabic calligraphies in their museums but his fund was exhausted and he had to travel back to the Philippines.
Full circle
Abdul Mari’s travel opened his eyes to the world, but it also made him realize how woefully ignorant he was on his native culture. As soon as he came back in 1963, Abdul Mari wasted no time and immersed himself in Moro culture and arts. Abdul Mari traveled to Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and other enclaves like the T’bolis to observe first-hand how things were.He conferred with local folks and taught the artisans the modern brass casting technique.But soon Imao had to earn a living so he went into full time sculpture. In mid-1960s he was already acknowledged as one of the forerunners in sculpting in the Philippines. Even then, Abdul Mari found time for research.
In 1965 he did ‘A Documentary Photographic Survey of the Sulu People’ for Ateneo. The following year he did a “Study on Sulu Art” under a CNI Research Grant. Later, he did “A Study of Sulu Tribes” with the UE Research Center for Sciences, Humanities and Cultural Research.
Gift of recognition
The year 1968 was a turning point when Abdul Mari became one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines. “But the best trophy I got that year is a gift from Allah in the shape of my first born, Abdul Mari Imao, Jr. As a matter of edict from my Arab forefathers, everyone in the clan has to be named Abdul. Although I have male children, four in all, I was later to break tradition and had to find other names for the rest of the kids.”
Abdul Mari is married to art dealer Grace de Leon of Santo Tomas, Pampanga. In June, 2005, Malacañang awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit to Dr. Abdul Mari Asia Imao, Sr. for his achievements in the field of Visual Arts. He is one of only two Philippine sculptors who had received the prestigious award, the other being his mentor National Artist Napoleon Abueva.
Sculpture is demanding as an art field which makes painting seem like a dainty work. Compare the hands of a painter and a sculptor and you will know why. A sculpture has no room for errors.
Unlike 3D modeling in computers where you can always resort to a backup, you cannot undo a mistake in the cruel world of sculpting. The imperfection would always show in the finished work. Yet at the ripe age of 70, Abdul Mari is very much active.
In 2004, he did the bust on Nicolasa P. Dayrit, a Filipina beauty who nursed the revolutionaries during the Filipino-American war some sixty-one years ago.
Classic answer
Abdul Mari Imao is a breath of fresh air in a world shimmering with mistrust and suspicions. It took three nominations for him to gain the coveted National Artist Award but he was not the least bit upset.
“It only validates our fortitude as a people, the best thesis yet that the Moro population in this country can knock in more to our gross domestic product given equal opportunity.”When Abdul Mari was asked which among his works he considers his best, his riposte was classic enough: it has yet to be done in the future.
At 70 Abdul Mari is looking forward to even finer achievements. His fingers may not be carved for the tactile keypad of a T92 Nokia, but they sure are the fine hands that molded the contour of priceless works that hark back to the days of his Tokang ancestors. (Sharief is a writer finishing his first novel “A Rumor of Peace”. This article is a repost from the Moro Times edition of the Manila Times newspaper)
Saturday, January 13, 2007
US Army, Marines Release Counterinsurgency Manual
WASHINGTON (Vince Crawley / The Washington File, AINA) - The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have published an updated field manual for fighting insurgencies that stresses cultural awareness, personal contacts, reconstruction strategies and close cooperation with nonmilitary agencies.
The manual, titled Counterinsurgency, updated for the first time in 20 years, includes new lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, as well as a historical overview spanning more than a century that calls attention to important aspects of past insurgencies.
Its publication was overseen by Army Lieutenant General David Petraeus, who recently was recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to replace General George Casey as senior coalition commander in Iraq.
The manual stresses that constant learning is the key to defeating an insurgency. "The side that learns faster and adapts more rapidly - the better learning organization - usually wins," says the new manual.
The field manual has been unusually popular for a military doctrine and training publication. Although packed into a bulky 14-megabyte computer file, it was downloaded 600,000 times in the first four days after its December 15, 2006, public release, said Conrad Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute. Crane was the manual's lead author and has done extensive research into the history of counterinsurgency missions and military reconstruction.
The field manual includes "significantly increased emphasis" on cultural awareness for U.S. troops, Crane said in an interview. For example, he said, the key author for the manual's Chapter 3, "Intelligence in Counterinsurgency," was a cultural anthropologist and includes in-depth discussions of how military staffs should map out the social structures of the country or location where they are working.
The manual's introduction warns that, throughout history, governments targeted by insurgents have been slow to recognize what is taking place, and their counterinsurgency actions typically have shown poor results at the beginning. The manual uses the acronym COIN for counterinsurgency.
"Western militaries too often neglect the study of insurgency," the manual says. "They falsely believe that armies trained to win large conventional wars are automatically prepared to win small, unconventional ones. In fact, some capabilities required for conventional success - for example, the ability to execute operational maneuver and employ massive firepower - may be of limited utility, or even counter-productive in COIN operations. Nonetheless, conventional forces beginning COIN operations often try to use these capabilities to defeat insurgents; they almost always fail."
The manual includes a detailed guide on how to plan and conduct counterinsurgency operations. It also includes historical vignettes and appendices on how to analyze social networks, working with linguists and interpreters and legal considerations.
"Counterinsurgency (COIN) is an intelligence-driven endeavor," the manual says at the beginning of Chapter 3. "Intelligence in COIN is about people. U.S. forces must understand the people of the host nation, the insurgents, and the host-nation (HN) government. Commanders and planners require insight into cultures, perceptions, values, beliefs, interests and decision-making processes of individuals and groups."
The manual includes lists of successful and unsuccessful practices. Successful practices include:
Emphasize intelligence. Focus on the population, its needs and its security. Establish and expand secure areas. Isolate insurgents from the populace. Conduct effective, pervasive and continuous information operations. Provide amnesty and rehabilitation for those willing to support the new government.
Place host-nation police in the lead as soon as possible. Expand and diversify the host-nation police. Train military forces to conduct counterinsurgency operations. Embed quality advisers and special operations forces with host-nation forces.
Deny sanctuary to insurgents. Encourage strong political and military cooperation and information sharing. Secure host-nation borders and protect key infrastructure. Unsuccessful practices include: Over-emphasize killing and capturing the enemy rather than securing and engaging the populace. Conduct large-scale operations as the norm. Concentrate military forces in large bases for protection. Focus special operations forces primarily for raiding. Place low priority on assigning quality advisers to host-nation forces. Build and train host-nation security forces in the U.S. military's image.
Ignore peacetime government processes, including legal procedures. Allow open borders, airspace and coastlines. In addition, the manual lists seeming paradoxes about counterinsurgency operations. For example, the manual says, "Sometimes, the more force is used, the less effective it is."
Also, "Tactical success guarantees nothing," the manual says, adding, "arguably, the decisive battle is for people's minds." The manual also stresses that even personnel at the lowest level of the chain of command must be prepared for decision-making responsibilities that can influence the outcome of the campaign.
"In many ways, the conduct of COIN is counter-intuitive to the traditional U.S. view of war," the manual says, "although COIN operations have actually formed a substantial part of the U.S. military experience." (With permission to repost from the Assyrian International News Agency http://www.aina.org)
The manual, titled Counterinsurgency, updated for the first time in 20 years, includes new lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, as well as a historical overview spanning more than a century that calls attention to important aspects of past insurgencies.
Its publication was overseen by Army Lieutenant General David Petraeus, who recently was recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to replace General George Casey as senior coalition commander in Iraq.
The manual stresses that constant learning is the key to defeating an insurgency. "The side that learns faster and adapts more rapidly - the better learning organization - usually wins," says the new manual.
The field manual has been unusually popular for a military doctrine and training publication. Although packed into a bulky 14-megabyte computer file, it was downloaded 600,000 times in the first four days after its December 15, 2006, public release, said Conrad Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute. Crane was the manual's lead author and has done extensive research into the history of counterinsurgency missions and military reconstruction.
The field manual includes "significantly increased emphasis" on cultural awareness for U.S. troops, Crane said in an interview. For example, he said, the key author for the manual's Chapter 3, "Intelligence in Counterinsurgency," was a cultural anthropologist and includes in-depth discussions of how military staffs should map out the social structures of the country or location where they are working.
The manual's introduction warns that, throughout history, governments targeted by insurgents have been slow to recognize what is taking place, and their counterinsurgency actions typically have shown poor results at the beginning. The manual uses the acronym COIN for counterinsurgency.
"Western militaries too often neglect the study of insurgency," the manual says. "They falsely believe that armies trained to win large conventional wars are automatically prepared to win small, unconventional ones. In fact, some capabilities required for conventional success - for example, the ability to execute operational maneuver and employ massive firepower - may be of limited utility, or even counter-productive in COIN operations. Nonetheless, conventional forces beginning COIN operations often try to use these capabilities to defeat insurgents; they almost always fail."
The manual includes a detailed guide on how to plan and conduct counterinsurgency operations. It also includes historical vignettes and appendices on how to analyze social networks, working with linguists and interpreters and legal considerations.
"Counterinsurgency (COIN) is an intelligence-driven endeavor," the manual says at the beginning of Chapter 3. "Intelligence in COIN is about people. U.S. forces must understand the people of the host nation, the insurgents, and the host-nation (HN) government. Commanders and planners require insight into cultures, perceptions, values, beliefs, interests and decision-making processes of individuals and groups."
The manual includes lists of successful and unsuccessful practices. Successful practices include:
Emphasize intelligence. Focus on the population, its needs and its security. Establish and expand secure areas. Isolate insurgents from the populace. Conduct effective, pervasive and continuous information operations. Provide amnesty and rehabilitation for those willing to support the new government.
Place host-nation police in the lead as soon as possible. Expand and diversify the host-nation police. Train military forces to conduct counterinsurgency operations. Embed quality advisers and special operations forces with host-nation forces.
Deny sanctuary to insurgents. Encourage strong political and military cooperation and information sharing. Secure host-nation borders and protect key infrastructure. Unsuccessful practices include: Over-emphasize killing and capturing the enemy rather than securing and engaging the populace. Conduct large-scale operations as the norm. Concentrate military forces in large bases for protection. Focus special operations forces primarily for raiding. Place low priority on assigning quality advisers to host-nation forces. Build and train host-nation security forces in the U.S. military's image.
Ignore peacetime government processes, including legal procedures. Allow open borders, airspace and coastlines. In addition, the manual lists seeming paradoxes about counterinsurgency operations. For example, the manual says, "Sometimes, the more force is used, the less effective it is."
Also, "Tactical success guarantees nothing," the manual says, adding, "arguably, the decisive battle is for people's minds." The manual also stresses that even personnel at the lowest level of the chain of command must be prepared for decision-making responsibilities that can influence the outcome of the campaign.
"In many ways, the conduct of COIN is counter-intuitive to the traditional U.S. view of war," the manual says, "although COIN operations have actually formed a substantial part of the U.S. military experience." (With permission to repost from the Assyrian International News Agency http://www.aina.org)
Monday, January 01, 2007
Four Reasons Why Smith Should Be In RP Custody
MANILA - The undersigned groups express their outrage over how the Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs have taken the cudgels for Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith who, we have learned, has been released to the custody of the US Embassy upon orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
These officials have forgotten that they represent the Filipino people and not an American serviceman.
Instead of deferring to the judiciary’s interpretation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), they have thwarted the legal import of the original provisions of the VFA and substituted their own meaning to justify the transfer of Smith’s custody to the United States.
This case is not only an issue of custody.
How the government conducts itself before a supposed co-equal sovereign will ultimately impact on the exercise of our sovereignty and will show how far the government is willing to abide by the provisions of the Constitution in upholding the dignity of the Filipino people, in respecting our human rights, and in protecting the rights of women against violence.
When the Philippines ratified the VFA, many nationalists feared the return of military abuses. Women’s groups were apprehensive since any heavily militarized area is a breeding ground for prostitution and acts of violence against women.
One critical aspect of the VFA is in the area of criminal jurisdiction. In construing these provisions, there should be no attempt at departing from their true import to unduly favor the United States.
Custody of Smith belongs to the Philippines for the following reasons:
1. It is very clear from Article V, Paragraph 6 of the VFA that the US obligation to make Smith available to Philippine authorities for any investigation or judicial proceedings ceases “(i)n the event Philippine judicial proceedings are not completed within one year.” Accordingly, “the one-year period will not include the time necessary to appeal.”
Logic and common sense dictate that the judicial proceedings contemplated in that paragraph refer only to the proceedings during the trial state.
A contrary interpretation would mean that the Philippines will lose the right to demand from the US the production of Smith once the judicial proceedings, which include the period to appeal, are not completed within one year.
Absurd situation
This would result in the absurd situation where Smith’s custody resides with the US, but without the corresponding obligation on their part to make him available to Philippine authorities because judicial proceedings were not completed within one year.
The VFA cannot be interpreted in a way that would leave the People of the Philippines without recourse or remedy against a US personnel charged with an offense.
2. The same paragraph clearly distinguishes between the period of conduct of judicial proceedings, when the US has exercised custody over Smith, and the period of appeal, during which he shall be detained in “facilities agreed on by appropriate Philippine and United States authorities.”
Clear distinction
Philippine law clearly distinguishes between the status of the liberty of an accused during the conduct of the judicial proceedings in the trial court and on appeal.
Pursuant to a Supreme Circular 4-92-A, judges are required to immediately issue orders of commitment after the conviction of national prisoners (those sentenced to three years and one day and above). This should be done once an appeal is filed.
However, in recognition of the VFA, Judge Benjamin Pozon ordered the commitment of Smith to the Makati City Jail pending the agreement on the appropriate facility for the latter between the Philippines and the US.
Article V, Sec. 10 speaks of “confinement or detention” in facilities agreed on by the two parties. The judge, however, correctly pointed out that the “facilities” under this paragraph should be those run by the Philippine authorities and not by the Americans, as the Philippines could not possibly exercise jurisdiction over such place.
Constitution is supreme
The judge correctly applied the appropriate provision considering that Smith has already been convicted.
The exercise of criminal jurisdiction should be construed strictly in favor of the Philippine government because of the nature of the VFA.
Allowing Smith to remain in US custody would constitute a violation of the principles of the Constitution insofar as there is an abdication of the right of the State to exercise sovereign power over Smith.
3. We should not forget that our Constitution is supreme law and not even treaty provisions can subvert its guarantees.
Smith is ‘national prisoner’
Unless Smith merits differential treatment, he must be treated in the same way as other “national prisoners” and be committed in a Philippine facility … where Philippine jurisdiction can be exercised at all times.
4. We should be equally mindful of our country’s other treaty obligations.
Signed:
– Sen. Leticia R. Shahani,
– Ateneo Human Rights Center, Women
– Gender Institute, Cedaw Watch, Contributors
(This is a repost from http://www.indybay.org Ed.mindanaoexaminer.com)
These officials have forgotten that they represent the Filipino people and not an American serviceman.
Instead of deferring to the judiciary’s interpretation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), they have thwarted the legal import of the original provisions of the VFA and substituted their own meaning to justify the transfer of Smith’s custody to the United States.
This case is not only an issue of custody.
How the government conducts itself before a supposed co-equal sovereign will ultimately impact on the exercise of our sovereignty and will show how far the government is willing to abide by the provisions of the Constitution in upholding the dignity of the Filipino people, in respecting our human rights, and in protecting the rights of women against violence.
When the Philippines ratified the VFA, many nationalists feared the return of military abuses. Women’s groups were apprehensive since any heavily militarized area is a breeding ground for prostitution and acts of violence against women.
One critical aspect of the VFA is in the area of criminal jurisdiction. In construing these provisions, there should be no attempt at departing from their true import to unduly favor the United States.
Custody of Smith belongs to the Philippines for the following reasons:
1. It is very clear from Article V, Paragraph 6 of the VFA that the US obligation to make Smith available to Philippine authorities for any investigation or judicial proceedings ceases “(i)n the event Philippine judicial proceedings are not completed within one year.” Accordingly, “the one-year period will not include the time necessary to appeal.”
Logic and common sense dictate that the judicial proceedings contemplated in that paragraph refer only to the proceedings during the trial state.
A contrary interpretation would mean that the Philippines will lose the right to demand from the US the production of Smith once the judicial proceedings, which include the period to appeal, are not completed within one year.
Absurd situation
This would result in the absurd situation where Smith’s custody resides with the US, but without the corresponding obligation on their part to make him available to Philippine authorities because judicial proceedings were not completed within one year.
The VFA cannot be interpreted in a way that would leave the People of the Philippines without recourse or remedy against a US personnel charged with an offense.
2. The same paragraph clearly distinguishes between the period of conduct of judicial proceedings, when the US has exercised custody over Smith, and the period of appeal, during which he shall be detained in “facilities agreed on by appropriate Philippine and United States authorities.”
Clear distinction
Philippine law clearly distinguishes between the status of the liberty of an accused during the conduct of the judicial proceedings in the trial court and on appeal.
Pursuant to a Supreme Circular 4-92-A, judges are required to immediately issue orders of commitment after the conviction of national prisoners (those sentenced to three years and one day and above). This should be done once an appeal is filed.
However, in recognition of the VFA, Judge Benjamin Pozon ordered the commitment of Smith to the Makati City Jail pending the agreement on the appropriate facility for the latter between the Philippines and the US.
Article V, Sec. 10 speaks of “confinement or detention” in facilities agreed on by the two parties. The judge, however, correctly pointed out that the “facilities” under this paragraph should be those run by the Philippine authorities and not by the Americans, as the Philippines could not possibly exercise jurisdiction over such place.
Constitution is supreme
The judge correctly applied the appropriate provision considering that Smith has already been convicted.
The exercise of criminal jurisdiction should be construed strictly in favor of the Philippine government because of the nature of the VFA.
Allowing Smith to remain in US custody would constitute a violation of the principles of the Constitution insofar as there is an abdication of the right of the State to exercise sovereign power over Smith.
3. We should not forget that our Constitution is supreme law and not even treaty provisions can subvert its guarantees.
Smith is ‘national prisoner’
Unless Smith merits differential treatment, he must be treated in the same way as other “national prisoners” and be committed in a Philippine facility … where Philippine jurisdiction can be exercised at all times.
4. We should be equally mindful of our country’s other treaty obligations.
Signed:
– Sen. Leticia R. Shahani,
– Ateneo Human Rights Center, Women
– Gender Institute, Cedaw Watch, Contributors
(This is a repost from http://www.indybay.org Ed.mindanaoexaminer.com)
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