Philippine military gets Australian boats

Philippine soldiers train in Maguindanao province in the southern region of Mindanao where security forces are fighting Muslim and communist insurgents. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 23, 2010) – Australia has donated more than a dozen air boats and trailer trucks to the Philippine military as part of a bilateral accord between the two countries, officials said on Saturday.

Officials said the airboats are flat-bottomed vessels propelled in a forward direction by an aircraft-type propeller and mostly used in marsh lands because of its high maneuverable capability. The donation is worth over 7 million Australian dollars.

Australia is a known ally of the Philippines in its fight against terrorism and has in the past sent military advisers in Mindanao where Filipino troops are fighting Muslim and communist insurgents.

On Friday, local troops have begun training in Maguindanao province, an area where Muslim rebels and al-Qaeda affiliates are actively operating. Troops learned how to maneuver the air boats and also engaged in simulated combat mission using armored infantry vehicles.

Canberra and Manila are also expected to sign a bilateral military agreement that would pave the way for Australian forces to train Filipino troops. (Mark Navales)

2 killed in Mindanao rebel attack

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 22, 2010) – Two people were killed after Muslim rebels attacked a military convoy in the troubled region of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said on Friday.

Officials said the attack triggered a 15-minute firefight Thursday night between army soldiers and rebels in the village of Salvo in Maguindanao’s Datu Saudi Ampatuan town and left one infantryman wounded.

“The attack occurred as troops were heading back to camp after attending the signing of a peace covenant among village leaders in the area. A village chieftain and another official who were behind the convoy were killed and one of our soldiers was also wounded in the attack perpetrated by Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hao, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division.

He tagged MILF leader Mohiden Karialan as behind the attack. “At least 15 rebels were involved in the attack,” he said.

Hao identified those killed as Salik Guimba, village chieftain of Liab in Mamasapano town, and Nasser Mapangal, a village councilor.

But the MILF denied its commander was involved in the attack and spokesman Von Al Haq blamed Guimba’s political foes for the ambush. “The MILF has nothing to do with the attack and reports we gathered pointed to Guimba’s political enemies as behind the attack,” he said.

The motive of the attack was unknown, but it occurred ahead of village elections next week in the Philippines.

Elections in Mindanao are traditionally bloody with candidates and their followers attacking each other, especially in areas where politicians maintain private armed goons.

Monday’s elections are expected to be violent and the military have already deployed troops to guard polling areas and protect the voters.

The rebel group, which is fighting for decades for self-determination, has previously warned its members to stay away from elections, saying, it does not recognize the country’s political exercise.

The 12,000-strong MILF is currently negotiating peace with Manila in an effort to end bloody Muslim insurgency in the country’s restive, but mineral-rich southern region. (Mindanao Examiner)

6 suspek sa Maguindanao gang-rape ng nurse, laya na!

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 14, 2010) – Pinalaya ng pulisya ang anim na lalaki na unang isinangkot nito sa gang-rape ng isang nurse sa bayan ng South Upi sa magulong lalawigan ng Maguindanao.

Ito’y matapos na sumuko ang isang dating militiaman na si Melchor Fulgencio at umamin na siya at isa pang kasamahang may alias na Edwin ang tunay na nasa likod ng krimen. Naganap ang pangagagahasa nuong nakaraang buwan matapos na matagpuan ang walang malay at duguang nurse sa likod ng isang pagamutan.

Sa ulat ng pulisya ay matindi ang pinsalang tinamo ng 21-anyos na biktima dahil sinasabing binagsakan ito mabigat na bagay sa mukha at posibleng tinangka pang patayin sa pamamagitan ng sakal at sa akalang wala na itong buhay ay saka iniwan.

Nasa isang pagamutan na sa Davao City ang nurse at bagamat napinsala ng husto ang kanyang ulo sa mga tinamong sugat ay dahan-dahan naman itong naka-recover sa malagim na sinapit. Subali’t hindi pa rin makausap upang mabatid kung sino ang lumapastangan sa kanya.

Sinabi ng korte sa Maguindanao na walang matibay na ebidensya laban sa anim na suspek kung kaya’t pinalaya ang mga ito. Nakatulong rin umano ang paglutang ng tunay na suspek, ngunit Isinailalim pa rin sa masusing imbestigasyon upang mapatunayang hindi ito fall guy.

Naunang lumabas sa mga ulat na isang anak na maipluwensang pulitiko ang diumano’y utak sa gang-rape. Ntgunit Iginiit naman ni Fulgencio na siya ang gumahasa at binabagabag umano ito ng kanyang kunsensya kung kaya’t sumuko sa pulisya kamakailan lamang, ngunit at-large pa rin ang kasamahang nito. (Mindanao Examiner)

Peace dividends emerge as Mindanao IDPs go home

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Rapists ng Maguindanao nurse, hinahanting!

Ang larawan ng grupong Suara at Gabriela sa rally ng mga ibat-ibang organisasyon sa Cotabato City bilang pagkondena sa gang rape ng isang nurse sa Maguindanao province.

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 29, 2010) – Patuloy kahapon ang paghahanap ng mga awtoridad sa mga natitirang suspek sa panghahalay sa isang nurse sa Maguindanao province matapos na madakip ang 6 sa kanila sa bayan ng South Upi.

Ayon sa pulisya ay 4 na iba pa ang pinaghahanap kaugnay sa panggagahasa na naganap nuong Setyembre 25 sa isang nurse, 21 taong-gulang na volunteer naman ng pamahalaang lokal.

Nabatid na karamihan sa mga suspek ay mayayaman at pulos Kristiyano, ngunit hindi naman inilabas ng pulisya ang identipikasyon ng mga suspek.

Ang biktima ay natagpuan walang saplot at may sugat sa katawan at hinihinalang iniwan sa akalang patay na ito di-kalayuan sa pagamutan ng South Upi. Gang rape umano ang naganap sa biktima.

Mariing kinondena rin ng grupong Gabriela ang panggagahasa. “Nananawagan kami sa mga awtoridad at lokal na pamahalaan ng South Upi na maglunsad ng isang masinsing imbestigasyon at gawaran ng kaukulang parusa ang mga perpetrators na gumawa nito kay Florence,” ani Jaquelane Billiones, tagapagsalita ng Gabriela sa Cotabato City.

Kamakalawa ay isang malaking indignation rally naman ang isinagawa ng mga ibat-ibang grupo bilang pakikiisa sa pagkondena sa panggagahasa.

Ayon kay Billiones ay nakapagtala ang Gabriela noong 2009 ng 9,585 na kaso ng pang-aabuso laban sa mga kababaihan at kabataan at sa pagtatantya nito ay mayroong nagagahasa na dalawang kababaihan bawat araw sa nakalipas na taon.

Nalulungkot naman ang Gabriela sa sinapit ng biktima dahil wala umanong malinaw na seguridad at proteksyong tinatanggap ang mga health workers lalo na nag mga kababaihan laban sa iba’t-ibang porma ng pang-aabuso lalo na sa mga rural area. (Mindanao Examiner)

Gunmen seize 7 people in Muslim Maguindanao

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 24, 2010) – Gunmen seized at least 7 people in the Muslim province of Maguindanao in the restive region of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

Officials said the victims were in two passenger vehicles bound for Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province when gunmen seized them on a road block in the village called Bayanga Norte in Matanog town.

At least 15 gunmen were involved in the abduction, said Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a regional army spokesman. He said the abduction was believed to be in connection to the September 13 kidnapping of Aris Lidasan in Lanao del Sur’s Lumba Bayabao town.

“The motive of the abduction is believed to be in retaliation to the kidnapping of Lidasan,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Lidasan is still being held hostage by his captors.

It was unknown whether those abducted are family members of relatives of the kidnappers, Cabangbang said troops were sent to the province to track down the perpetrators and their hostages.

Last year, gunmen abducted and murdered at least 57 people, more than half of them were journalists accompanying a political caravan of town official in Maguindanao.

The governor of the Muslim autonomous region, Zaldy Ampatuan; his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr. and brother Andal Ampatuan Jr. and other relatives have been accused of masterminding the killings.

Ampatuan’s deputy governor Ansaruddin Adiong and a staunch ally now sits as the acting governor of the troubled Muslim autonomous region. (Mindanao Examiner)

Bomb explodes in Southern Philippine town

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 6, 2010) – An improvised bomb exploded early Monday at a market in the restive province of Maguindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said there were no reported casualties in the attack which occurred at around 3:45 a.m. in the village of Bulalo in Sultan Kudarat town. “We are investigating this explosion and the motive of the attack,” said Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hao, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

He said an 81mm mortar bomb was believed used in the attack. It was the second bomb explosion since last week after an improvised explosive also went off at a bus depot in Maguindanao’s Cotabato City on Thursday night, although no casualties had been reported.

The latest bombing came a day after police and military tightened security in the southern Philippines following the killing in Sulu province of an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Gafur Jumdail and two other militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists.

Jumdail, brother of a key militant leader, Umbra Abu Jumdail alias Dr Abu, was fatally shot by police commandos. Hao said troops were told to stay alert for possible retaliatory attacks by the Abu Sayyaf in civilian areas in Mindanao.

It was unknown whether the Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword,” has anything to do with the attack. The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed by authorities to the spate of terrorism in the volatile region, where security forces are battling Muslim and communist insurgencies the past four decades. (Mindanao Examiner)

Gunmen attack house of Maguindanao official

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 3, 2010) – Armed men lobbed a grenade at the house of a provincial lawmaker in the restive southern Philippine region, but authorities reported no casualties in the daring attack blamed on hired assassins.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional army spokesman, said the attack, carried out by two men on a motorcycle late Tuesday, targeted Talib Abo Jr, who belongs to the 1st Congressional district of Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.

The blast tore through the garage of Abo’s house in Cotabato City.

No group or individual clamed responsibility for the blast, but police and military suspected hired assassins were behind the attack. It was not immediately known if Abo was in the house at the time of the attack.

“Members of the (military's anti-terror) Task Force Tugis of the 6th Infantry Division responded at the scene of the incident and conducted pursuit operation against the suspects, but they were able to escape,” Cabangbang said.

He said authorities were still investigating the motive of the attack. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippines to investigate possible syphillis among displaced Mindanao women

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2010) - Health experts in the Philippines will launch a six-month study to ascertain the presence of syphilis among displaced pregnant women in Mindanao, according to the United Nation's Integrated Regional Information Networks.

"This will conclude whether we are dealing with syphilis, yaws, or a combination of the two," Gerard Belimac, manager of the country's national AIDS/STI prevention and control programme, told IRIN.

The move follows a report by Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland last year that 25.5 percent of women undergoing antenatal and post-natal care had tested positive for treponematosis, a group of non-venereal infections, as well as the bacterium Treponema pallidum, which causes syphilis.

The study will focus on priority areas of Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces where high rates were reported. Participants - including 900 pregnant women and 200 of their husbands - will be provided with syphilis screening, counselling and treatment if necessary, Belimac said.

Scheduled to begin next month, the study is a joint effort of the Department of Health, the UN Population Fund, the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund.

Maguindanao has new justice advocates

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - As an indication of its active pursuit of sustaining justice and peace in the province, Maguindanao has recently mobilized 24 new Barangay (village) Justice Advocates or BJAs in the Municipality of Datu Abdullah Sangki.

BJAs are community volunteers trained in mediation and counseling who help in the resolution of petty conflicts that could possibly escalate into violence. These new BJAs completed the Basic Certification Course and graduated in Marbel City on July 22.

These BJAs from DAS are among the 244 other trained BJAs in Maguindanao to date. The training was conducted by the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies and supported by DILG Director Isa Romancap and DAS Mayor Datu Akmad S. Sangki, who was represented by Vice Mayor Samsodhen Sangki during the BJA graduation ceremonies.

After a rigorous community selection process, the new BJAs became recipients of the basic certification training under the Barangay Justice for Peace Project funded by USAID and implemented by the Gerry Roxas Foundation.

The project aims to promote community justice and peace by helping de-clog the KP and court dockets of petty issues through mediation and counseling. BJAs will work side by side with the Katarungang Pambarangay, barangay captains and other local officials, as well as tribal, traditional and religious leaders in their respective communities.

The project was successfully launched in the province last November 2009 at the height of the controversial "Maguindanao Massacre". It has steadily gained support from a growing peace constituency at the community level, spurred by the active involvement of the barangay captains of Banaba, Guinibon, Mao and Talisawa in the project.

This basic certification training is also being conducted simultaneously on 14 other municipalities in Maguindanao, which will have 500 trained BJAs by the end of September 2010. The project also aims to produce a total of 3,000 new BJAs with seven other provinces in Mindanao by the end of the year.(Abhoud Syed M. Lingga)

Ampatuan Loyalist!

A villager in the town of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao province in Mindanao wears a shirt with a photo of Zaldy Ampatuan, the jailed governor of the Muslim autonomous region, who along with his father Andal Ampatuan Sr., and several brothers were implicated in the mass murder of 57 people, including at least 31 journalists, in November last year. The Ampatuans denied all accusations against them. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

MILF, Army trade accusations as fighting flares up in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 9, 2010) – Philippine Muslim rebels on Friday accused the military of attacking them near Maguindanao province where a three-year old boy was killed in mortar fires.

Von Al-Haq, a spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said troops fired mortars on MILF targets in Datu Piang town, but one of the missiles hit a civilian area and killed the boy and wounded six others.

“Government troops fired mortars on MILF targets, but it landed on a civilian area and killed a three-year old boy. Six other children were wounded in that attack,” he said.

Al-Haq said military attack on Thursday was triggered by fighting between two Muslim clans after troops sided with one of the clan leaders. “It was a clan war, but the military sided with one leader and that started it all. The other clan leader had relatives in the MILF and fighting flared up,” he said.

But the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command on Friday blamed rebel forces for the killing of the boy. It said some 50 gunmen attacked members of the 29th Infantry Battalion, sparking a firefight.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional army spokesman, said gunmen fired two rounds of mortar bombs hitting a village that killed the boy. He said six others were wounded in the attack. There were no reports of military or rebel casualties in the latest fighting.

Last week, the MILF also accused the military of launching mortar attacks in the villages of Lagitan and Meti in Maguindanao’s Datu Blah Sinsuat town.

Peace talks between the MILF and Manila was suspended after President Gloria Aquino ended her term last month, but new Filipino leader Benigno Simeon Aquino III said he would soon resume the negotiations with Muslim rebels in an effort to end bloody fighting in Mindanao.

The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, is fighting for decades for self-determination. (Mindanao Examiner)

Flash flood trapped Maguindanao villagers

Thousands of residents evacuate and commuters stranded from their flooded villages in the town of Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao province in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Mark Navales).

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 1, 2010) – Flash floods have trapped villagers in many areas in Maguindanao province and nearby areas after heavy rains flooded rivers the past days.

Hundreds of families, mostly farmers, were trapped in the province and so were villagers in nearby Cotabato City. Many roads in Cotabato City were underwater.

There were no reports of injuries or deaths, but the floods damaged crop lands in the province.

Last week, thousands of people were also trapped in Sultan Kudarat town after flood waters submerged many villages. Rivers also overflowed and submerged low-lying areas in the town.

There was no immediate statement from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Muslim autonomous region to where the province belongs.

It was also unknown whether the regional governor Ansaruddin Adiong ordered food packs and social workers to look into the plight of those affected by the rampaging flood water in Maguindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

New Maguindanao governor to work hard for province

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 24, 2010) – Newly elected Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife and sister were among 57 people brutally killed last year in the province, said he would not exact revenge to those accused in the mass murders, but called on authorities to pursue the cases against more than 100 people linked to the slayings.

Police and military have linked the patriarch and senior members of the influential Ampatuan clan to the grisly murders.

“I am very lucky because the sympathy of the people and the almighty God is with me now, I am stronger than ever. It is time to work with the people and give them all for the good of the province,” Mangudadatu told reporters.

Mangudadatu said he plans erect a memorial marker in Maguindanao to pay tribute to all those killed, including at least 32 journalists, who were accompanying the convoy of the politician’s wife when attacked in November 23 by more than 100 gunmen allegedly led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.

“I want to give tribute to the 57 people – heroes - who shed their lives in order to bring peace not only in Maguindanao but to the whole country. The November 23 had awakened the Filipino people and the whole nation, to the abuses of those who wield power and influence and money over those who had nothing but the truth,” Mangudadatu said.

The Department of Justice has released P55 million to the families of those killed through the Mangudadatu Foundation. (Becky de Asis)

War refugees return home after 2 years in poor Mindanao shelters

Some 360 families return to their homes in the village of Pagatin in Datu Salibo town from the refugee evacuation sites in Makir village in Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Piang towns in Maguindanao province after authorities assured their safety. The refugees, who escaped the fighting between security and rebel forces, return after two years from miserable conditions in temporary shelters. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 21, 2010) – Hundreds of Muslim war refugees have returned to their homes in the restive province of Maguindanao in the southern Philippines after spending two years in miserable life in government shelters in Mindanao, officials said Friday.

Police and military authorities assured the safety of some 360 families. Those who returned homes were also given food packs. Many of them returned to the village of Pagatin in the town of Datu Salibo.

Most of the villagers came from evacuation sites in Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Piang towns, all in Maguindanao province, scene of bloody clashes between government forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels.

Security officials said the situation had returned to normal allowing the safe return of the refugees to their homes. (Mark Navales)

Maguindanao has new leaders

Governor-elect Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu wins in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. His wife and sister were among 57 people, including at least 32 journalists, brutally killed in November last year after political rivals attacked their convoy. Filipino election officials headed by lawyers Renault Macarambon, left, and Akilali Balt, right, proclaimed Mangudadatu and his running mate Ismael Mastura as vice governor of Maguindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Mark Navales)

Convoy ng Toto Mangudadatu, nakaligtas sa pambobomba

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / April 30, 2010) – Isang roadside bomb ang sumabog kahapon sa bayan ng Ampatuan sa Maguindanao ilang minuto lamang ang nakalipas ng dumaan ang convoy ni provincial gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu.

Hindi naman agad mabatid kung sino ang nagtanim ng bomba, ngunit ang nasabing bayan ay kuta ng angkan ng mga Ampatuan na siyang itinuturong nasa likod ng pagpatay sa 57 katao sa Maguindanao nuong nakararang taon.

Kabilang sa mga nasawi ay ang asawa, tiyuhin at kapatid ni Mangudadatu, gayun rin ang 32 journalists na sumama sa convoy ng pulitiko.

Hindi naman agad makunan ng pahayag ang 6th Infantry Division at hindi rin sinasagot ng mga tagapagsalita at opisyal nito ang tawag ng mga journalists upang makakuha ng karagdagang ulat sa pambobomba.

Ngunit Kinumpirma naman ng pulisya ang pagsabog at sinabing naganap ito sa Barangay Kauran at halos 15-20 metro ang layo sa highway na dinaanan ni Mangudadatu.

“It so happen that Toto Mangudadatu was passing near the area to attend a political rally and apparently there was an explosion about 15 to 20 meters from the main road in Ampatuan (town),” ani Senior Supt. Alex Lineses, ang Maguindanao police chief.

Sinabi ni Lineses na iniimbestigahan ng pulisya ang pagsabog. (May karagdagang ulat ni Mark Navales)

LP supporter killed, 13 others wounded in Mindanao blast

A grenade attack late Wednesday, April 14, 2010 killed a supporter of Liberal Party mayoralty and vice mayoralty candidates Montasir and Abdulwahad Sabal in Maguindanao's Datu Odin Sinsuat town. At least 13 people are wounded in the explosion. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / April 15, 2010) – A mayoralty candidate and his brother escaped death, but one of their supporters was killed and more than a dozen injured after a grenade attack at a beach resort in the southern Philippines.

Police is investigating the attack late Wednesday on the Hill Park Resort owned by brothers Montasir and Abdulwahad Sabal in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao province.

Montasir Sabal is running for mayor and his brother as vice mayor in the town under the Liberal Party in next month’s general elections. The two brothers, who came from a political campaign, were talking to their supporters when the attack occurred at around 9.15 p.m.

“The two brothers are lucky because people were around them. They were talking to their supporters when the attack occurred, unfortunately one of their own was killed in the blast and many more wounded, at least 13 people were injured in the explosion,” Kram, one of the brothers’ follower, said by phone.

“Police is investigating the blast and the brothers Montasser and Abdulwahad Sabal are for sure the target of this attack, it is election time and the two are favorites to win in the polls,” he added.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but elections are traditionally violent in the southern Philippines, particularly in the Muslim autonomous region to which Maguindanao belongs.

Last year, members of the powerful Ampatuan clan were accused of murdering at least 57 people, including 32 journalists, in Maguindanao.

Authorities blamed politics in the murders after Buluan town vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu sent his wife, sister and supporters accompanied by journalists to file his candidacy for governor in Maguindanao against Andal Ampatuan Snr, the clan’s patriarch and the provincial governor.

Mangudadatu’s convoy was intercepted in Shariff Aguak town by more than 100 gunmen allegedly led by the patriarch’s son and namesake and herded all 57 people to a hill in the next town of Ampatuan where they were shot and hacked and buried in two mass graves.

Both father and son and some family members, including the regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan and relatives were eventually arrested and jailed in connection to the slayings. The Ampatuan clan denied all charges against them. (Mindanao Examiner)

ARMM bids to replicate Subic Free Port’s feat

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is bidding to replicate in its infant free port facility the success and progress of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority following the recent visit of regional officials to the former American military naval base in Olongapo City in Luzon Island.

Acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, leading a 20-man ARMM team, visited the SBMA last week to learn about its successful transformation into a special economic zone.

The ARMM delegation sought the assistance of the SBMA to provide insights on the premier free port’s operations as the Adiong administration set launched massive efforts to establish a replica in the village of Polloc in Maguindanao's Parang town.

“We are overwhelmed in terms of the organization and the development of the SBMA - from a former military base to what it is now,” said David Ali, executive director of the ARMM Official Development Assistance Office.

Ali added: “Before we came to SBMA, we had zero knowledge on how to establish our own free port. We made the visit to gather information on how to start the process, and yet we now have some knowledge on long-term operations.”

He said ARMM officials have agreed to make Subic the model for the Polloc port in terms of management and structure.

It may be recalled that Adiong declared on March 15 the development of the port of Polloc as a free port, and of the host village of Polloc as a special economic zone.

SBMA officials led by Chairman Feliciano Salonga and Administrator Armand Arreza welcomed and briefed the ARMM delegation on the administrative and technical requirements in the operation and management of a free port, and the establishment of a one-stop shop center, as well as marketing strategies.

“Of course, we’ve had our ups and downs in running the Subic Bay free port, but then again, we managed to bounce back each time and regain our momentum,” Arreza told the ARMM officials.

“And I’m glad that people continue to look up to Subic whenever they need to hear some success story,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ali expressed reservations on whether the ARMM team could adopt all that it learned in Subic where ”enormous development” has taken place since 1992.

“But we always keep in mind what Governor Adiong tells us — if we don’t start to move, we will not accomplish anything,” Ali said. “Fortunately for us, we don’t have to fumble in the dark, because we have Subic as our template.”

Ali said the ARMM free port project would basically focus on starting up economic activities in Polloc, and then marketing the area in both the national and the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asian Growth Area) levels.

The Adiong-led team was joined by Ali, ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo; Polloc Port Administrator Moharrim Mohammad; among others.

Mohammad said that after their visit, the members of the ARMM management and technical group will meet to plot activities for the project launch set tentatively on April 19.

Polloc is one of the 24 villages in Parang, a first-class municipality.

The area’s main access to trade is the Port of Polloc, which was built by the Korean firm Nam Kwang Construction, Ltd. in the 1970’s through a P150-million funding from the Asian Development Bank.

The port of Polloc was then described by the Philippine Ports Authority as the “most modern facility outside Metro Manila” because it was equipped with a main wharf, lighter docks, transit sheds, and wide back-up areas fit for medium industries and processing plants.

ARMM is among the country's top producers of fish and marine resources, particularly seaweed, which is used in manufacturing toothpaste, cosmetics and paints. It also has large mineral deposits, including copper and gold.

Before the ARMM delegation, several foreign groups have visited Subic to learn about its conversion process. These included groups from Panama, South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and just recently, Brunei. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Worlds apart: The Ampatuans and cry for justice for murdered journalists in Mindanao

Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr, left, sits at a thatched hut with relatives and family members inside the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City in the southern Philippines.

(Mindanao Examiner Photo)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 15, 2010) –

Wearing a pair of signature sunglasses, he quietly sits in one corner, puffs his cigarette and stares at the open sea, unmindful of the armed soldiers and military nurses gathered near a thatched hut overlooking the Davao Gulf at the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command base in southern Philippines.

The man, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., is facing rebellion charges, along with his sons, who were all accused in the mass murder of 57 people, at least 30 of them journalists accompanying a political caravan of rival Esmael Mangudadatu, the vice mayor of Buluan town in Maguindanao province in Mindanao.

The Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus are no ordinary men—they belong to powerful and wealthy Muslim clans that have ruled the province for the past decade or so.

The 70-year-old Andal, the governor of Maguindanao, is being held by the military at a hospital inside the base in Davao City after his blood pressure shot up and his diabetes, among other illnesses, prevented him from being put in jail instead.

“I am a little okay now, but my arthritis is still a big problem. I could hardly walk and this is the only place inside the military base that I am allowed because it is in this small corner that I can smell and feel the cold breeze of the sea,” the clan’s patriarch said. Relatives who were visiting him listened. They nodded their heads and some just stared at the old man as if they wanted to cry because of what had become of him.

They seemed to pity him so much that they swear justice would be served.

The former strongman of Maguindanao and those who surrounded him did not speak about the massacre of November 23, 2009. They just spoke about his health condition and praised the military nurses and doctors for taking care of the old man.

“The nurses and the doctors are taking care of Datu Andal and we appreciate it so much,” said a relative and Ampatuan agreed. “Yes, that is true. The military is taking care of me and I have nothing to say, but [we] wanted to thank the nurses and doctors and others who are helping me get well,” Ampatuan said.

He was arrested in December last year and together with his sons Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, the governor of the five-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Datu Unsay town who was tagged by authorities as the alleged mastermind of the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao’s Ampatuan town.

Zaldy Ampatuan and his two brothers are locked up in jail in General Santos City and, like their father, facing rebellion charges. Andal Ampatuan Jr. is in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila and facing multiple murder charges after being implicated by witnesses in the killings.

Among those murdered were the wife, sister and relatives of Mangudadatu, who is running for governor in Maguindanao in the May 10 elections. The Ampatuans denied all accusations against them and insisted that they were innocent.

Supporters of the politicians, many of them from Shariff Aguak, the hometown of Ampatuan Sr., continue to send him letters, some from children whose families he had supported financially and telling him to be strong and firm and always pray to God for him to overcome all problems besetting the clan.

Back home, volunteers take turns in cleaning his mansion. His servants say that he is innocent. “I am always in tears. I always pray that no harm shall befall Datu Andal and the others. They are kind people. My heart aches every time we hear bad things about them because they are all good people, good masters,” said 28-year-old Sandra Lakim, who volunteers her services along with a few dozen others in cleaning the old man’s sprawling mansion.

Villagers said Ampatuan Sr. should be freed immediately.

“Datu Andal should be released by the military and also his sons and others they arrested. They are all innocent. Now we are scared here. The rebels may attack our town and steal our cattle. There is looting every day and hooded men barge in houses and steal our things,” said Mustapha, a farmer in Shariff Aguak, the capital town of Maguindanao and a former stronghold of the Ampatuan clan.

But for the victims of the massacre, justice is just as elusive. They cry for justice and the slow progress of the investigation of the gruesome murders is also “killing” them slowly.

“We are crying for justice. Where is justice? They killed innocent people and they should pay for their crimes. We will not stop until justice is served,” said Myrna Reblando, whose husband Alejandro Reblando, a veteran journalist, was among those killed in the massacre.

Myrna added that the slow progress of the cases against the suspects in the murders is putting a heavy toll on the families of the slain journalists who are seeking justice.

“We are not rich. We don’t even know where to get our next meal. I am only praying to God to give us the strength so we may continue to carry on with this fight. Justice is all we ask for,” she said. Her daughter stopped going to school after the death of her husband.

Myrna now has to struggle to support a big family in Mindanao and the only means of livelihood for her is a small Internet café, which is being managed by her two sons and the boyfriend of her daughter.

Outside the Internet shop hangs a huge photo of the murdered journalist that reminds the family of the elusive justice they are seeking. (Mindanao Examiner)