Sulu holds peaceful Hari Raya celebration

Muslims pray outside the Sulu Capitol building in the southern Philippines as Governor Sakur Tan led the celebration the Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 11, 2010) – Tens of thousands of Muslims took to the streets in Sulu province to celebrate the Hari Raya which marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, police said Saturday.

Police said the Eid’l Fitri celebration passed on Friday without any incidents as Muslims prayed in mosques and filled the streets across Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

“People ended the Ramadan and celebrate the Eid with prayers across Sulu. The celebration is peaceful and joyous. There was no report of any violence, nothing, but peaceful celebration of the Hari Raya,” said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, operations chief of the Sulu police force.

He said the governor of Sulu, Sakur Tan, led thousands of Muslims in the Hari Raya prayers held at a vast field in the town of Patikul. “The governor – as he did in the past - led thousands of Muslims in the prayers to mark the end of the holy month and the Eid celebration,” Baanan said.

Baanan said Tan later met with various business and civil groups in Sulu and also held a meeting with security commanders and government officials.

The Philippine Air Lines also opened its regular 3 times-a-week flights from Zamboanga to Sulu on Friday and further boosting trade and commerce in the province.

Last year, the Hari Raya celebration was disrupted by drastic military operations in Sulu after Marine General Benjamin Dolorfino, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, ordered the bombings of rebel targets in the province.

The military offensive triggered deadly attacks against security targets from rebel forces and widespread criticisms from conservative Muslims in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police arrest suspect in failed assassination of Philippine governor

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 26, 2010) – Police have arrested one of the suspects in the failed assassination of a Philippine governor in a raid in the southern province of Sulu, officials said Thursday.

Officials said commandos raided a hideout and captured Abner Tahil alias Abs in the village of Kasangyangan in Jolo town. Tahil, who was implicated by the police in the roadside bombing which targeted Sulu Governor Sakur Tan last year in Patikul town.

Police said ten people were injured in the attack, including a town mayor, after a motorcycle rigged with explosives, was remotely detonated as Tan convoy was passing by.

Tahil was surprised by the raid and did not resist arrest, said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, operations chief of the provincial police force. “The arrest of Tahil is part of a long intelligence operation,” Baanan said.

He said Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, the Sulu police chief, ordered security forces to intensify the hunt for other suspects in the bombing following the capture of Tahil in Jolo town.

Tahil is also being investigated for his role in a suicide bombing that also targeted Tan in Zamboanga City last month.

Tan was among more than two dozen people injured in the bombing outside the Zamboanga International Airport.

The bomber, Reynaldo Apilado, and Hatimil Haron, one of his cohorts, were killed in the blast. Police also implicated at least three more men – Allan Sabudin, Muamar Astali and Adong Salahuddin – in the attack after they were seen in a hotel security video in Zamboanga City together with Apilado and Haron before the bombing. The three men remain at large.

National police chief Jesus Versoza said the attack was connected to the failed assassination of Tan last year. “This is connected to the failed assassination of Governor Tan last year. We are looking into all angles and motives of the attack,” he said.

Police said blamed last year attack on Tan to the militant group Abu Sayyaf, saying, two of the bombers were captured in a firefight with police commandos and they pointed to Tan’s political foes as the mastermind in the failed assassination.

Tan said more witnesses to the latest bombing have come out in the open and implicated several people as behind the attack. “Witnesses are coming out now and telling authorities that some people are also involved in the bombing,” he said, adding, authorities are now investigating the reports.

Regional police chief Edwin Corvera said they have received information from people claiming to have knowledge or were involved in the failed assassination of Tan. He said most of the information was passed to them through a police hotline they put up after the bombing.

He said information they received allegedly tagged a defeated congressional aspirant in Sulu province as behind the airport bombing while another implicated two defeated town mayors who are known political foes of the governor, and several policemen and that a bounty was put up by the mastermind to assassinate Tan. A third politician in Sulu, who lost in the May elections, was also implicated in the bombing. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippine security forces search for kidnapped Japanese man

Muslim children dive from a boat anchored off Pangutaran Island in the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines. Police and military say a Japanese citizen was abducted by 10 armed men on the island Friday, July 16, 2010. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 17, 2010) – Security forces continue to search for a Japanese national who was abducted by gunmen on a remote island in the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday.

The foreigner, who officials identified as Amer Katayama Mamaito, was taken by at least 10 armed men on Friday on a fishing village called Bangkilay on Pangutaran Island. “We have no reports yet about the Japanese, or where he was taken or who were behind the abduction, but the military is gathering more information about the incident," said Army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command.

Police forces were also gathering intelligence about the abduction.
“Our forces are still out and searching for the foreigner. We still have no reports about his whereabouts,” said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, the deputy chief for operations of the Sulu police force.

He said little was known about the background of the Japanese, but other reports said Mamaito has been searching for treasure on the island, north of Sulu province.

No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the regional police chief, said they would form a task force to handle latest abduction. “We will activate the crisis management committee and form a task force to give the background of the victim and also to monitor the incident,” he said.

Last year, Abu Sayyaf militants abducted three international aid workers in Sulu and freed them one after the other in exchange for ransoms. It was unknown whether the Abu Sayyaf was involved in the latest abduction, but authorities have linked the group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya to previous kidnappings for ransom in the restive southern region.

In 1998, militants also abducted two Hong Kong and a Malaysian fishery workers on an island in the Sulu archipelago and freed them months later after their employers paid huge ransoms. Two years later, the Abu Sayyaf also raided a Malaysian resort island off Sabah and kidnapped 10 European holidaymakers and 10 resort workers and released them in batches months later in exchange for millions of dollars in ransoms. (Mindanao Examiner)

Japanese national abducted in southern Philippines

Pangutaran group of islands in the Sulu archipelago in southern Philippines. (Wikipedia locator)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 16, 2010) – Philippine authorities said a Japanese man was abducted Friday by gunmen on a remote island in the Sulu archipelago.

Police and military said at least 10 armed men seized Amer Katayama Mamaito in the village of Bangkilay in Pangutaran Island. “No other details are yet available,” said Army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command.

Police forces were also sent to the island to gather more information about the foreigner.

“Our forces are still in the area and gathering more information about Amer Katayama Mamaito. We don’t if he is fisherman or what, but reports stated that he was abducted by ten armed men at around 1.30 in the morning on an island off Pangutaran,” said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, the deputy chief for operations of the Sulu police force.

No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the regional police chief, said they would form a task force to handle the latest abduction. “We will activate the crisis management committee and form a task force to give the background of the victim and also to monitor the incident,” he said.

Last year, Abu Sayyaf militants abducted three international aid workers in Sulu and freed them one after the other in exchange for ransoms.

It was unknown whether the Abu Sayyaf was involved in the latest abduction, but authorities have linked the group, tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya, to previous kidnappings for ransom in the restive southern region. (Mindanao Examiner)

Rebels ambush 3 in southern Philippines

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 9, 2010) – Suspected Moro rebels killed three people on suspicion they were military spies in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, police said Friday.

Police said the rebels ambushed the trio on Thursday afternoon in the village of Bayog in Talipao town. Those killed were identified as Alvin Angeles, 36, Jayson Paah, 29, both natives of Zamboanga City, and a local villager Omar Birin, 30.

The three victims – riding on a motorcycle - were delivering t-shirts to a military camp in Talipao town when rebels ambushed them.

“We are still investigating this incident, but initial reports suggested that rebels were behind the ambush after suspecting that the victims were military intelligence agents,” said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, of the Sulu provincial police force.

He said Angeles and Paah operated a small souvenir and arts shop inside the 3rd Marine Brigade headquarters in the capital town of Jolo.

The bodies of the two men arrived on a military helicopter in Zamboanga City on Friday. Their families appealed to authorities to give justice to the killings.

Security forces have been fighting Moro rebels who are opposing infrastructure projects being carried out by military engineers near their bases in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sulu cops bring home from US applicable ideas on community policing

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / April 3, 2010) - Nine police officers from the southern Philippines’ Mindanao region said their recent visit to the US showed them how “community policing” could be implemented more widely and systematically in a locality and how additional facilities and modern technology could enhance the partnership between the local police and the members of a community to maintain peace and order, the US Embassy website reported.

The police officers, all of whom were from Mindanao’s Sulu Province, visited the US on February 21-March 6 to observe the implementation of “community policing,” an approach to ensuring the safety of the community through active partnership between the local police and the residents and civic organizations in the community.

“We have been applying the concept of community policing in the Philippines for a long time now,” said Chief Inspector Amil Banaan, of the Sulu Provincial Police Office, in describing the approach to community policing that he and eight other officers observed in Virginia and New York. “But compared to the police in the US, we in Mindanao have less in terms of facilities and modern technology.”

Other members of the group noted that each police team in the U.S. community they visited has a vehicle available for their use, and U.S. patrol cars are provided laptop computers so that police officers could send or receive data even while on the road. Connection to the Internet as in the U.S., another member of the group noted, would be particularly useful in Sulu, where the province’s residents and police units are spread out in several islands. “With e-mail, it would be a lot easier for us to coordinate with other units in the island. We could even hold meetings through e-mails,” said Pakhar Mawan, chief of the Sulu Police Provincial Investigation and Detection Management Section.

Mawan and Banaan were the senior members of the group Sulu police officers who visited the US under the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. The program seeks to build mutual understanding between the US and other nations through professional visits to the US for current and emerging foreign leaders. Each year over 4,500 IVLP participants from all over the world are selected by US embassies to travel to the US to meet and confer with their professional counterparts.

Baanan said the governor of Sulu province, Dr Sakur Tan, was supportive of the recent trip and pledged to continue further other programs that would largely help the police improve its services in the province. "The Governor is very supportive of this program and he pledged to continue other programs that would enhance more the police services in Sulu," he told the Mindanao Examiner in a separate interview.

The other members of Banaan and Mawan’s group were: Ednahar Hambali, chief of administration, Indanan Police Station; Russell Elenzano, chief of the Pata Police Station; Francisco Panisan, chief of the Patikul Police Station; Kris Conrad Gutierrez, chief of the Panglima Estino Police Station; Aida Banaan, assistant investigator of the Jolo Police Station; Ferusa Asiri, women and children desk officer of the Indanan Police Station; and Norhara Haiber, personnel officer of provincial police radio/communication logistics.

In an interview March 9 on the nationally broadcast “Pulis ng Bayan” program on Philippines’ radio station Veritas, all members of the group concluded that their visit to the US has been very useful.

Indanan town’s Hambali said that what the group learned from the visit is “relevant and applicable not just in Sulu but to the whole Mindanao.” Panglima Estino Police Station’s Gutierrez, meanwhile, noted that in the communities they visited, “there was no discrimination” and “Christians and Muslims work together” to maintain peace and order in their localities.

Pata Police Station chief Elenzano moreover observed that to establish closer ties between the law enforcers and the community, “it is the police that approaches the community.” (Leandro Llave. With a report from the Mindanao Examiner.)

Abducted driver of poll bet freed; Lanao trader kidnapped in South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 15, 2010) – A driver of a vice mayoralty candidate abducted in the southern Filipino province of Sulu was freed unharmed on Monday by his captors, police said.

Police said the victim Uluh, who works for Pando Mudjasan, was released on a village near Maibung town. Uluh was seized over the weekend by unidentified armed men, said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, of the Sulu provincial police office.

“Mr. Pando Mudjasan accompanied the driver to the police office to say that the victim was freed unharmed this morning. We are investigating this case to determine the motive of the abduction – whether it was a family feud or not,” Baanan told the Mindanao Examiner.

Police said the victim’s employer, Mudjasan, is a vice mayoralty candidate in Maimbung.

Earlier reports said Mudjasan himself was also abducted, but police said only his driver was seized in Maibung on Sunday. Sulu is one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

A trader Yusof Lidangan was also abducted at the weekend in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte province on Mindanao Island.

No groups or individual claimed responsibility for the abductions. And it was not immediately known if the Abu Sayyaf group or criminal syndicates was behind the abductions or not.

Authorities have previously blamed Abu Sayyaf militants in kidnappings in Sulu and Mindanao, although Moro rebels and criminal groups also prey to wealthy traders.

Kidnappings for ransom have virtually become a lucrative business for rebels and crime syndicates with the money they get as a source of funding for the purchase of illegal weapons and to finance future terror attacks. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sulu Guv Hit By Black Propaganda

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 8, 2010) – The Philippine National Police denied Monday a published report linking Sulu governor Sakur Tan to a grenade explosion last year at a carnival in the province’s Luuk town.

The September grenade attack killed three 3 people and wounded several others.

Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, of the Sulu Provincial Police Office, said the attack was triggered by a business rivalry between two amusement game operators at the carnival.

“Doon sa peryahan ay mayroon mga magka-kumpetensya sa amusement games, siyempre malaki ang kita nuong nasa kabila, yun sa kabila mahina so pumunta yun sa kabila doon at hinulog nila, hinagis ang granada sa mga tao doon na nanunuod.”

“Yun pangyayari eh talagang sinadya, business rivalry ito. Mayroon na tayong isang suspek pero at-large, pero na-file na natin yun case. Pinaghahanap na rin natin ang suspek,” Baanan said.

A local newspaper, the Daily Zamboanga Times, on Monday published the report. It said at least 6 people filed the case against Tan, a known philanthropist and a religious man. The newspaper did not get either the side of Tan or the Philippine National Police about the incident.

Tan’s supporters branded the report as black propaganda and politically motivated. “Who else would do that but those people with evil motives, those who cannot speak about their accomplishments because they have done nothing to improve the lives of the Tausugs or bring peace and development to Sulu just as what Governor Sakur Tan brought us since winning by a landslide the 2007 elections,” one supporter, Hajji Usman, said.

He said Tan’s political foes have been pestering the governor with incredible accusations and various lies. (Mindanao Examiner)