7 Moro rebels killed in South RP clash

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Army troops manning check point in Mindanao take a break

Government troops from the Army's 64th Infantry Brigade manning a check point in the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao province in the Muslim autonomous region take a break and read the Mindanao Examiner newspaper on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. Troops are battling the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in the province the past months. The Army says MILF

rebels on Tuesday bombed the Lintokan Bridge and raided a village in Datu Piang.

(Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

Lack of food, medicines hound Mindanao refugees

Evacuees in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 26, 2009) - Imagine if you used to eating canned sardines the whole week, perhaps the entire month without feeling satiated or if you have nothing else for dinner, but rice and salt. And imagine a food ration card used as collateral to pay for hospital bills.

This is now the dilemma of refugees now housed in temporary shelters in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region and they are left with no choice, but depend on food rations by the World Food Program and International Committee of the Red Cross.

Worse, many have resorted to selling their food rations. They sold everything - cooking oil, sardines, noodles and even coffee for half of its original price - to buy a descent food for the family and children.

“Every day and every meal are the same – sardines, noodles, etc. That’s the reason why we sell our ration so we can buy fresh eggs or fish at the market for the children. What are we going to do with cooking oil if we can’t even buy an egg or fish,” one refugee told the Mindanao Examiner.
The situation in refugee shelters is getting worse, they said. “With no support from local governments or no medicines for the children, how can we survive here and we cannot go back to our village because of the fighting between rebels and soldiers,” another refugee said.

Many traders, some from as far as Sultan Kudarat province, have taken advantage of the situation, buying food rations distributed to refugees at bargain prices. And these rations find its way to small stores; their labels peeled off or painted to hide markings that they are not for sale and they sell at grocery prices.

One refugee rushed their malnourished child to hospital and was forced to use their food ration card as collateral for the medical bills. Tens of thousands of refugees are still in different evacuation shelters in Datu Piang.

The MILF said some 600,000 people were displaced by the war in Mindanao. (Ferdinandh Cabrera)

MILF rebels bomb bridge, torched houses in Mindanao

Philippine Army armored personnel carriers and trucks move down a highway of the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao province after separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels bombed a bridge in the village of Lintokan on Tuesday May 26, 2009. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 26, 2009) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels on Tuesday bombed a bridge and raided a village Maguindanao province in the restive Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the attack on the bridge occurred before dawn in the village of Lintokan in Datu Piang town. Rebels also torched houses on a nearby village of Reina Regente forcing residents to flee the rampage.

There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties, but the military blamed the attacks on a senior MILF leader, Ameril Kato, who also led a series of deadly attacks last year in the region.

“Troops are clearing the area,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

He said security forces were tracking down the rebels. “The rebels are desperate and even Muslim communities are being attacked, especially those which are not sympathetic to their cause. This is a clear manifestation of terrorism in the region,” Ponce told the Mindanao Examiner.

The MILF said the bombing of the bridge was part of a counter-attack. It denied rebels burned houses of civilians.

“We have nothing to do with the burning of the houses, but rebel forces bombed the bridge – it was part of a counter-attack against the military, which have targeted the innocent Muslims in their offensives,” said Eid kabalu, a senior MILF leader.

Kabalu said rebels forces also attacked Tuesday morning another military target in Datu Saudi Ampatuan tow, also in Maguindanao province.

He said the military launched a series of offensives that targeted the MILF, but Ponce said the attacks were aimed at capturing Kato’s group.

Security forces were also tracking down two other MILF leaders, Abdurahman Macapaar and Sulayman Panglian, who were blamed by the military and police for the string of attacks in Mindanao since last year after the seven-year old peace talks between the rebels and the government collapsed.

On Sunday, MILF rebels fired anti-rockets at the positions of the Army’s 54th Infantry Battalion in the village of Datu Gumbay in Datu Piang town.

The MILF said it was targeting the 105mm cannons and munitions storage of the soldiers.

Rebel forces also attacked government troops earlier in the day in the village of Teren-Teren in North Cotabato’s Alamada town and three other areas in the towns of Banisilan, Aleosan and Midsayap.

There was no immediate statement from the governor of Maguindanao, Datu Andal Ampatuan, or his brother Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, who is also the governor of the autonomous region. Both are fierce rivals of the MILF.

Last month, two civilians were wounded at market bombing blamed to the MILF in Sultan Kudarat’s Lebak town and another bombing of a bridge in Iligan City.

Manila opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001, but the negotiations collapsed in August after government negotiators reneged on a deal that would grant some four million Muslims a separate homeland across more than 700 villages in Mindanao. The Supreme Court said the deal was unconstitutional. (With a report from Ferdinandh Cabrera)

Troops clash with MILF rebels in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 18, 2009) – Government troops clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in the troubled region of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said on Wednesday.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday afternoon in the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. The clash broke out after troops caught up with some 50 rebels headed by Commander Rambo in the village of Andavit.

There were no reports of casualties from both sides, but officials said government soldiers recovered a small cache of weapons left behind by retreating MILF gunmen.

Officials said among the weapons recovered were mortar bombs and anti-tank rockets.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the soldiers were in the area to check on the presence of gunmen. “Villagers reported to the military about the presence of gunmen and soldiers were sent to the area, but they were attacked by the armed group,” he said.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for self-determination in Mindanao. Manila suspended peace talks with the MILF after rebel forces attacked civilian targets in Mindanao over the failed Muslim homeland deal in August last year.

Since then, sporadic fighting continues in many parts of the region and the military blamed the MILF for the spate of bombings in the southern Philippines, an accusation that rebel leaders strongly denied. (Mindanao Examiner)

US Spy Plane Shot Down By Rebels In Southern Philippines

A photo released by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Friday, November 14, 2008 shows rebels with a US spy drone they shot down inside their territory in the southern Philippines.

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 14, 2008) – Philippine Muslim rebels shot down a US spy drone flying inside their territory in the restive region of Mindanao, where American forces are aiding local troops in fighting insurgencies.

Mohagher Iqbal, a senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the drone was captured by rebel forces in the hinterlands of Talayan town in the province Muslim autonomous province of Maguindanao.

He said the spy plane was shot down on the night of October 31 and recovered by rebels the next day. The MILF announced the capture of the spy drone only on Saturday after rebels finished examining the aircraft.

He did not say whether the drone was armed or had a thermal and infrared video camera, but claimed the air craft has a wing span of eight feet. He said the rebels opened fire on the drone with automatic weapons.

“The spy plane is still in good condition and intact and we will not give it back to the US military. It is now the property of the MILF,” Iqbal told the Mindanao Examiner.

There were no immediate statement from either the Philippine or US military officials about the shooting down of the drone, but it exposed the involvement of American forces in local anti-insurgency operation, which is a violation of the Constitution.

A US military spy plane also crashed in North Cotabato province near Maguindanao on October 18 after hitting a row of coconut trees. The news of the crash was kept secret by Filipino and US authorities until the local media reported about it a week later.

The air craft, whose wing span was about 8 feet, crashed at night on a civilian neighborhood in Pikit town. Policemen quickly recovered the wreckage and returned the next morning to collect debris of the drone.

The drone is one of many spy planes used by US forces in surveillance operations in the southern Philippines. It is capable of performing a surveillance and destructive mission.

There are three basic types of drones: the preprogrammed, the smart, and the remotely piloted drone.

A preprogrammed drone responds to an on-board timer or scheduler and has no sensor contact with the ground. The drone follows a set routine of maneuvers, altitude changes, speed changes, and course changes that are programmed through an autopilot to the drone's control surfaces and engine throttle. The drone is usually recovered by a parachute at the end of the mission.

A smart drone carries various sensors and is equipped with an on-board computer. The ability of a smart drone to make decisions governing course and altitude changes is limited only by its computer and sensor capacity. A smart drone could take off on its own from a given airport, navigate a circuitous route, make decisions en route based on weather or enemy radar action, fly to a second airport, and make a safe landing.

The remotely piloted vehicle, probably the most common type of drone, is under the constant control of an operator or pilot through radio links. The pilot or pilots can be located on the ground, in other aircraft, or on ships.

Typical missions for remotely piloted vehicles include reconnaissance or surveillance of enemy activities, target acquisition, relay of friendly communications, and jamming of enemy communications.

Advanced remotely piloted vehicles are equipped with low-light-level television and infrared sensors that allow over-the-horizon reconnaissance imagery to be transmitted to ground commanders as it is being acquired.

It was not the first time that a US military unmanned aerial vehicle had crashed in the southern Philippines. In 2006, villagers in Sulu province held for ransom a crashed unmanned US drone used by the military in tracking down Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.

The remote-controlled spy plane crashed February 10 in the mountain enclave of Marang in Indanan town. Local television news showed footage of a villager holding the ill-fated UAV, whose wing span was about one meter long and has a slim body and a video camera mounted on its belly. The villagers demanded P100, 000 in exchange for the unmanned aircraft.

Another US unmanned spy plane also crashed in November 2007 during a practice flight in Mount Tumatangis in Sulu. It was unknown if the drone was found or not, but the crash was never reported to the press. In March 2002, a US spy drone called Predator also crashed into the sea off Zamboanga City. The UAV went down for a still unknown reason and was also recovered.

The US military has a fleet of various unmanned spy planes, from a palm-size remote-controlled aircraft, to bigger and sophisticated high-altitude; long-range remotely piloted vehicles designed for long-endurance photographic reconnaissance and electronic surveillance missions, and as attack air crafts.

The US military had used a Philippine Air Force base in Mactan Island in Cebu province in central Philippines as station of its fleet of Orion spy planes. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops disarm roadside bombs in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 14, 2008) – Philippine soldiers disarmed Tuesday two powerful roadside bombs planted by suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in the restive Muslim autonomous province of Maguindanao, officials said.

Officials said the explosives, assembled from 90mm and 81mm mortar bombs, were left on a highway near the village of Magaslong in Datu Piang town where military patrols frequently pass.

“Members of the army’s explosive ordnance team disarmed the improvise explosives believed planted by MILF rebels,” said Major Armand Rico, a regional army spokesman.

He said the mortar bombs were connected to radio transceivers used as a firing device to trigger explosion. “This technology the rebels are using must have come from the New People’s Army which is notoriously known in using landmines in attacking military targets,” he said.

Rico was referring to the NPA, the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, accused by the military of using anti-personnel landmines which is banned around the world under the Geneva Conventions, in carrying out attacks against security forces.

”The use (of landmines) is banned around the world, but the NPA continue to use such explosives, and now the MILF rebels which threatens the safety of innocent civilians,” he said.

Aside from the Geneva Conventions, the 1997 Ottawa Convention, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty prohibits of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer or anti-personnel mines and on their destruction.

Rico said the MILF rebels got its technology in the manufacture of landmines from the NPA, which has been fighting the government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.

The Philippine Army said the MILF have forged an alliance with the NPA as early as 1999. The alliance covers among others the exchange of information, sharing of training, manufacture of arms and ammunition, particularly rocket-propelled grenades.

Colonel Daniel Lucero, commander of the Army's Civil-Military Operations Group, said this explains why the Mindanao-based NPA rebels were reported to have used anti-tank rockets, loaned by the MILF, in battling government soldiers.

He said there were many occasions that MILF forces had disrupted military operations against the NPA in the past.

“What is more revealing in this alliance is the deafening silence and refusal of the CPP-NPA-NDF and its allied organizations to condemn the terror acts perpetrated by the MILF rebels (in recent attacks in Mindanao),” he said.

The MILF, which is fighting for a separate Muslim homeland, admitted forging an alliance with the NPA, which has been waging a secessionist war for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Killed Civilians Are Victims Of Air Strike In Datu Piang

Accompanied by a team from an International NGO (Non Violent Peace Force), I managed to interview one of the survivors today (September 10), a 13 year old boy, at the hospital. Multiple shrapnel wounds on both legs. Also proceeded to the place where the incident happened and managed to interview the boy's mother who, all in all, lost her husband and 5 of her children, the youngest being 3 years old. One of her children who died was pregnant.

The latest statements from the government military (AFP) say that the airplanes were fired at from the victims' boat and that the military was only retaliating. Here's the version of the civilian survivors and witnesses.

The Manungal family were on board two boats. They had just returned to their home in Barangay Tee, Municipality of Datu Piang, Maguindanao when they noticed that there was a lull in the military offensive and bombing.

However, once they saw planes and helicopters hovering again and bombs started to fall around their village, they hurriedly boarded the boats and made their way along the marsh towards the bank that was straddling the highway. Other residents in the village also boarded their own boats and thus a convoy of boats made their way to the safety of the highway. The Manungal boats were at the rear of the convoy.

When they were around 200 meters away from the bank of the marsh right next to the highway, they were forced to stop to prevent the boat from sinking. Besides the seven passengers (the father and 6 of his children), the front of the boat was also loaded with rice. At that point, helicopter were seen hovering overhead. Soon thereafter, another aircraft (a plane) shot a rocket at the boat which exploded around a meter from the boat.

It was that rocket which led to the immediate deaths of the father and 4 of his children. The fifth one died at the town hospital. Only one child survived. The passengers of the other boat at the rear of the convoy of boats tried to rescue the passengers of the boat that got hit and brought them to the bank next to the highway.

The incident happened around 10 a.m. There were people on the highway right beside the bank of the marsh who were witnessing the event as it was transpiring.

Barangay officials and a member of the civilian militia tried to appeal to the military officials stationed along the bank to tell the air force men not to fire at the boats because on board were civilians trying to escape the military offensive. However, moments later, an order was overheard on the radio "birahin na yan" ("fire at them").

The witnesses along the highway said that it was impossible for the pilots or the military men on the highway not to notice that the passengers of the boats were civilians. Most of the victims were young and small children. Besides, the boats were only 200 meters away from the highway when they were fired upon.

Both the survivors and civilian witnesses say that there were no boats in the vicinity of the victims that were firing at the military air crafts. This is to belie the military's claim that they were merely retaliating upon receiving fire from one of the boats in the convoy.

After we visited the mother to interview her, we proceeded to conduct an ocular inspection of the portion of the highway from which the place of incident could be clearly seen. However, we noticed the arrival of the military personnel at the house of the mother. When we inquired later on what the military men told her, she said they gave her P5 thousand plus three bags of rice. A day earlier, they gave her P10 thousand.

Incidentally, the military initially claimed that it did not fire any ordinance or ammunition at the boats. But one of the attending physicians at the hospital where the survivor is confined said on TV tonight that his wounds are shrapnel wounds, meaning, it came from military ordinance.

On the way back to Cotabato City, we passed by several refugee encampments. It seems the civilians have occupied whatever public place available. From the very nature of their temporary structures, it does not seem to offer any protection from the elements. It is now monsoon season and there's heavy rain everyday, particularly late in the afternoon and in the evening.

I inquired if and how they are able to observe fasting during Ramadan while staying in the refugee centers. Their response was that some of them can no longer observe it due to the difficult conditions at the centers.

The interviews of the survivors of the bombing incident were videotaped although they were conducted in the vernacular (Maguindanon).

Again, law groups are reiterating their earlier appeals to both sides of the conflict to respect and uphold Protocol II of the Geneva Convention on Non-International Armed Conflicts, particularly as it relates to the protection of civilians.

Again, we reiterate that the humanitarian crisis we see now is a direct offshoot of the scuttling of the peace process. We therefore call on everyone, particularly those who have been very vocal in their opposition to the peace process to be more circumspect about the consequences of their opposition to the MOA. The cavalier attitude of many people towards the peace process may proceed from the fact that it is not they who bear the brunt of such consequences.

Rather, it is the people residing in the conflict affected areas. The least that we owe them is to educate our self about the conflict and its roots and how the peace process is trying to provide a long-term and sustainable solution. Knee-jerk reactions without such self-education all too often leads to rash decisions, all too often provide a fertile ground to foment and perpetuate the
conflict.

Atty. Zainudin Malang

From http://morolaw.blogspot.com/2008/09/initial-findings-deaths-of-moro.html

Children's Group Releases Images Of Air Strike Casualties In Southern Philippines

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 11, 2008) – The independent Kabiba Alliance for Children's Concerns in Mindanao has released Wednesday photos of civilian casualties during a military air strikes in the Maguindanao town of Datu Piang where security forces assaulted Moro rebels.

The air strikes on Monday killed seven civilians, including children, according to local officials and President Gloria Arroyo has ordered an investigation into the incident.

The Philippine military blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the fighting, saying, rebels attacked a chopper in the village of Tee, an allegation denied by the group.

CHR Pumasok Na Sa Datu Piang Air Strike!

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / September 9, 2008) – Sinimulan na kahapon ng Commission on Human Rights ang isang masusing imbestigasyon sa pagkamatay ng 7 katao dahil sa air strikes na inilunsad ng militar sa Mindanao.

“Narito na ngayon yun mga taga-CHR at nagiimbestiga tungkol doon sa namatay na mga sibilyan,” ani Mosib Tan, ang municipal administrator ng Datu Piang, isang bayan sa Maguindanao.

Napatay diumano ang mga sibilyan matapos na mahagip ng air strike ang kanilang banca ng mga eroplano ng Philippine Air force, ayon sa ulat ng mga residente kay Tan.

Kinilala ni Tan ang mga nasawi na si Daya Manunggal Mandi at ang kanyang mga anak na sina Aida, 17; Faiza, 1; Bai Lyn, 10; King, 8; at Dayang, 6. At ang kanilang ina na si Vilma Mandi. Sugatan rin ang isa pang anak na si Jamaludil Mandi, 17, at nasa pagamutan ngayon sa Cotabato City.

Sinabi ni Tan na nagpatawag na rin ng immbestigasyon si Datu Piang Mayor Samir Uy. “Magpa-file rin ng kaso ang mga pamilya at naulila ng mga nasawi,” ani pa ni Tan.

Nagkapili-pilipit naman ang mga statement ng militar sa Maynila at Mindanao ukol sa naganap. May nagsasabi na pawang mga rebelde ang napatay at mayroon rin nagpahayag na ang mga sibilyan ay naipit sa cross-fire sa pagitan ng militar at rebelde. Mayroon naman na humingi ng paumanhi dahil sa pagkakapatay sa mga sibilyan.

Umani naman ng mga batikos mula sa mga ibat-ibang human rights groups sa Mindanao ang pagkakapatay sa mga sibilyan.

“Many civilians have already been killed and hundreds of thousands more have been forcibly displaced by the military operations. Every time the government declares war, the civilians are the first to be killed and be displaced rather than be the first to be put to safety,” ani Maria Esmeralda Macaspac, executive director ng Children’s Rehabilitation Center, isang non-government organization na tumutulong sa mga batang naiipit sa kaguluhan.

Maging ang Suara Bangsamoro at Kawagib human rights groups ay kinindena rin ang naganap.

“We condemn the inhumane actsand indiscriminate aerial bombing by the Armed Forces that killed the innocent civilians. The military should be held accountable for violating human rights and disrespecting the holy month of Ramadan,” wika ni Bai Ali Indayla, ang tagapagsalita ng Kawagib.

“There is no justification for the military to attack innocent civilians. The Philippine military must be held responsible for the killings of the civilians,” sabi naman ni Amirah Lidasan, ng Suara Bangsamoro.

Tinutugis pa rin ng militar sina MILF commanders Ameril Kato at Abdurahman Macapaar na sabit sa mga serye ng atake sa Mindanao na ikinamatay ng maraming sibilyan. (Mindanao Examiner)

Human Rights Commission Begins Probe Of Military Raid That Killed 7 Civilians In Midnanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 9, 2008) – Philippine human rights investigators on Tuesday began a probe into the killings of seven civilians during a military air strike in the restive southern region of Mindanao.

Mosib Tan, municipal administrator of Datu Piang town, said members of the Commission on Human Rights are currently investigating the killings of a farming couple and their five children.

“The CHR people are here and have begun their investigations into military air strike that killed innocent civilians. We want justice here and nothing else,” Tan told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said villagers reported that government planes attacked a small civilian boat at the Pawas River in the village of Tee in Datu Piang town on Monday, killing passengers, including a baby and pregnant woman.

The attack on the boat coincided with fresh government offensive against Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels that military claimed fired on a helicopter in the village.

The Philippine military gave conflicting statements about the deaths of civilians and attempted to cover up the killings. Security spokesmen in Mindanao and Manila also issued conflicting statements, saying, those killed were either rebels or civilians killed in the cross-fire.

The military launched offensive during Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month and blamed the MILF for the fighting. It said rebel forces attacked government aircrafts conducting reconnaissance missions in the town.

But Tan said military planes targeted the wooden boat. “They (planes) hit the boat and seven innocent people are dead and that's the report we received,” he said.

A survivor said a Philippine Air Force OV-10 bomber attacked them. “I saw the plane, an OV-10, dropped the bomb,” he said.

Television pictures also showed OV-10 planes targeting supposed MILF positions in the town and ran blurred images of mangled bodies of children hit by the aircraft.

Tan identified those who were killed as Daya Manunggal Mandi and his children Aida, 17; Faiza, 1; Bai Lyn, 10; King, 8; and Dayang, 6 and their mother Vilma, whose body has not been found. He said Jamaludil Mandi, 17, was wounded in the air strike.

Datu Piang Mayor Samir Uy also ordered a separate investigation into the killings of the civilians, he said.

“The Mayor also ordered a separate investigation into this military attack and relatives of those killed are also filing criminal charges against those involved in the attack,” Tan said.

The attack on civilians also drew widespread condemnation from different human rights groups.

The Children’s Rehabilitation Center, a non-government organization helping children in armed conflict cope with trauma, on Tuesday also deplored the military’s aerial attack on civilians.

“Many civilians have already been killed and hundreds of thousands more have been forcibly displaced by the military operations. Every time the government declares war, the civilians are the first to be killed and be displaced rather than be the first to be put to safety,” Maria Esmeralda Macaspac, CRC executive director, said.

The Suarabangsamoro and the Kawagib human rights groups in Mindanao also issued separate statement condemning the killings of civilians.

“We condemn the inhumane actsand indiscriminate aerial bombing by the Armed Forces that killed the innocent civilians. The military should be held accountable for violating human rights and disrespecting the holy month of Ramadan,” said Bai Ali Indayla, Kawagib’s spokesperson.

Amirah Lidasan, of the Suarabangsamoro, said: “There is no justification for the military to attack innocent civilians. The Philippine military must be held responsible for the killings of the civilians.”

Security forces have been pursuing two MILF commanders, Ameril Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, blamed by the police and military for the series of deadly attacks on civilian villages last month in Mindanao.

Manila demanded the MILF to surrender the two rogue commanders and has suspended the peace talks with the rebel group because of the attacks that left dozens of people dead in North Cotabato, Lanao de Norte, Maguindanao and Sarangani provinces.

The MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, said it would not surrender Kato and Macapaar. The rebels warned that hostilities could erupt in Mindanao if the peace talks fail.

President Gloria Arroyo, which opened peace negotiations with the MILF in 2001, already scrapped the Muslim territorial deal with the rebels and abolished the government team talking peace with the MILF because of the attacks.

Arroyo insisted the rebels to lay down their arms before peace talks could resume, but the MILF flatly rejected this, saying, it should settle first the issue on the ancestral domain deal.

The rebels said it would not return to the negotiating table unless Manila honors it commitment to the accord that would grant about four million Muslims their own homeland in more than 700 villages across the troubled, but mineral-rich region on Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

7 Sibilyan Patay Sa Air Strikes Ng Militar Sa Mindanao!

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Ramadan Offensive: Philippine Military Planes Blast Small Boat, Kills 7 Civilians In Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 8, 2008) – Seven people were killed Monday, including five children, after government planes blasted a small civilian boat in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines, where fighting erupted between Moro rebels and military forces, officials said.

The Philippine military insisted those killed in the air strikes were rebels, but Mosib Tan, the municipal administrator of Datu Piang, said the victims were all innocent civilians.

“The hit the wooden boat and five children and their father were killed. Their mother’s body is still missing. Another victim who survived the air strike is now in the hospital – they are all innocent civilians,” Tan told the Mindanao Examiner.

Tan said villagers reported the planes bombed the boat at the Pawas River in the village of Te.

He identified those who were killed as Daya Manunggal Mandi and his children Aida, 17; Faiza, 1; Bai Lyn, 10; King, 8; and Dayang, 6 and their mother Vilma, whose body has not been found. He said Jamaludil, 17, was wounded in the air strike.

The air strike coincided with the Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month.

There were no immediate statement from provincial or regional government officials, but Tan condemned the military attack, saying, it has displaced more than 700 families from the village. “Our refugee shelters are packed. How can we feed all these poor people who fled their homes,” he said.

Security officials said the fighting broke out after Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels fired on the chopper near the village.

“The MILF rebels attacked our chopper and this triggered the fighting,” Army Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said.

He did not say whether anyone was wounded in the attack on the helicopter or if the aircraft sustained any damage. “We are still awaiting reports about it, but the attack sparked fresh fighting between rebels and our troops,” he said.

The helicopter, Ando said, was transporting troops when it was fired upon by rebels.

Security forces have been pursuing two MILF commanders, Ameril Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, who were blamed for the series of deadly attacks on civilian villages in Mindanao.

Peace talks between Manila and the MILF were stalled because of the attacks that left dozens of people dead and forced more than 200,000 to flee their homes. The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, said it would not surrender Kato and Macapaar despite the government repeated demands.

The rebels threatened to launch a jihad should the government abandons the seven-year old peace talks.

President Gloria Arroyo has already scrapped the Muslim territorial deal that peace negotiators initially signed in July and disbanded the government team talking peace with the MILF because of the rebel attacks.

Arroyo insisted the rebels to lay down their arms before peace talks could resume, but the MILF flatly rejected this, saying, it should settle first the issue on the ancestral domain deal.

The rebels said it would not return to the negotiating table unless Manila honors it commitment to the accord that would grant about four million Muslims their own homeland in more than 700 villages across the troubled, but mineral-rich region on Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

Rebels Attack Military Base In Southern Philippines

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Killing Of Muslim Girl Sparks Fire Fight In South RP

MAGUINDANAO (Juan Magtanggol / 27 Nov) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front soldiers clashed with government forces after a militia commander allegedly attacked three people, killing a six-year old girl in the southern Philippines, a rebel spokesman said Monday.

Eid Kabalu said the fighting broke out late Sunday in the farming village of Dapiawan in Datu Piang town, where government militias earlier attacked a Muslim woman, Faiza Adam, and her six-year old daughter. “The girl was instantly killed,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Prior to the attack, militias also ambushed a rebel leader, Ibrahim Kanapia, wounding his baby, in the neighboring village of Matia. “The attacks were obviously planned and these triggered the fighting,” Kabalu said, adding, Kanapia and Adam are relatives.

He said Kanapia’s group attacked the militias under Taib Munca and torched their detachment in Dapiawan village in retaliation to the killing. He said the fighting may have been triggered by clan war between militias and rebels.

The Army’s 6th Infantry Division said five people were wounded in the rebel attack and they also burned and ransacked more than a dozen houses owned by farmers in the village.

It protested the MILF raid on the village, saying, it was a violation of the six-year old truce between the government and the rebel group. “The attack is a violation of the cease-fire agreement. We have submitted to the government peace panel our reports about this incident,” an army spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando said in a separate interview.

He said the Malaysia-led truce observers should investigate the rebel attack.

Manila opened up peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group fighting for independence in the southern Philippines.

Malaysia is brokering peace talks between the Filipino government and the MILF, but negotiations ended in September in Kuala Lumpur with both sides failing to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue -- ancestral domain -- which refers to the rebel demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.

It is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement.

Government peace negotiators previously offered the MILF the Muslim autonomous region, which is composed of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi which are among the poorest in the country torn by strife and clan wars since its creation in 1989.

The ancestral domain covers the whole of Muslim autonomous region and other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And even Palawan Island in central Philippines.

Peace talks between the government and MILF started in January 1997 but the absence of a neutral third party bogged down the initiative. It was only on March 24, 2001, after the all-out war against the MILF declared by former President Joseph Estrada that Malaysia, at the behest of the Philippine government, facilitated the talks.

However, in February 2003, despite the avowed all-peace policy of President Arroyo, an all-out war was again declared against the rebels, but both sides later agreed to resume peace talks. Just this year, President Arroyo said that 80% of the peace talks have been completed and that permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach. (Mindanao Examiner)