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)

Moro Group Urges Govt To Educate Public On Bangsamoro Juridical Entity

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (August 7, 2008) - Moro militant group said government has the responsibility to explain and educate the public on the issue of Moro people's claim to ancestral domain.

Amirah Lidasan, national president of Suara Bangsamoro said in a statement that it is the responsibility of the government to correct the pervading notion that the Moro people are out to forcibly take the lands of the Christian settlers and the Lumads.

Lidasan said government should provide venue to the people to discuss the issue of ancestral domain and land rights of the people of Mindanao before the Memorandum of Understanding-Ancestral Domain signing.

She said the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) is the Moro people's way of correcting historical injustice mentioning the decades of massive forcible evacuation and various human rights violations against the Moro people wrought by the government policies such as all-out wars, military operations and the accumulation of lands by the few business and landed elite families affecting Christians, Lumads and Moros alike.

Lidasan also stressed that even the settlers and lumads in Mindanao also lost their lands due to the same reasons.

Lidasan sees the importance of including the people to the peace process or any agreement that government entered into.

"The decision of which and how many villages should be included in the Moro people's territorial claims should not solely be at the hands of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or be limited at the negotiating table of the GRP-MILF peace talks," Lidasan said.

However, the Supreme Court's issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) impedes the signing of MOA-AD scheduled today at Putrajaya, Malaysia. This development is a victory to the opposing groups on the inclusion of the 735 predominantly Moro areas on the BJE.

Protesters against the BJE in Iligan and Zamboanga City and North Cotabato are gaining confidence to win the battle. But Cotabato vice-governor Emmanuel Pinol said that their victory is just a temporary therefore, the battle against the inclusion of expanded ARMM continues.

Mohager Iqbal said in MILF website Luwaran, they do not consider the TRO as "setback" that could hinder the signing of the already initialed agreement today. He added that the MOA-AD is a done deal. (Sittie Monato)

Photo: Anti-Arroyo Rally In Mindanao

Photos sent to the Mindanao Examiner by Kawagib and Suara Bangsamoro groups show Muslim villagers and political activists during an anti-Arroyo rally in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines Monday, July 28, 2008 which coincided with President Gloria Arroyo’s 8th State of the Nation Address. The demonstrators accused Arroyo of various charges, from human rights violations to the current poverty situation in the country.

Security Forces Break Up Anti-Arroyo Rally In Zamboanga, Elsewhere In Mindanao Successful

Photos released to the Mindanao Examiner by the Suara Bangasamoro and Liga ng Kabataang Moro show its members before they were dispersed by government soldiers and policemen and City Hall personnel in Zamboanga City on Monday, July 28, 2008.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 28, 2008) – Soldiers and policemen broke up Monday an anti-Arroyo rally in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga, which coincided with President Gloria Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address, organizers said.

Amira Lidasan, of the human rights group called Suara Bangasamoro, said policemen dispersed dozens of students and political activists who were holding a rally to protest the high prices of basic commodities and the poverty situation of the country under Arroyo’s seven-year rule.

“We are just expressing our sentiments, but apparently there is no freedom of expression and speech in Zamboanga City. City Hall ordered the police to break up the rally,” Lidasan told reporters.

Police said the rally had no permit and students were obstructing traffic near the Western Mindanao State University. Lidasan said the local government previously rejected their application to hold peaceful rallies in Zamboanga.

“How can we have a permit when City Hall is not granting us such permission? We were threatened with arrest by soldiers and policemen. They threatened to seize our vehicles if we do not disperse or stop our rally,” Lidasan said.

She said Elmer Apolinario, a senior City Hall official, led the dispersal of the rally.
Prior to the dispersal, Apolinario told a local radio station DXRZ Radyo Agong that the rally had no permission and ordered security forces to disperse the protesters.

Lidasan said they had been holding rallies in Zamboanga City every time Arroyo delivers her State of the Nation Address and it was the first time local authorities stopped them.

One protester, Abdel Abdulkarim, said only anti-Muslim or anti-ARMM protests or pro-government rallies are allowed in Zamboanga. “This is unfair. We have our rights too,” he said.

Abdulkarim was referring to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Local officials in the past had opposed any conference of the ARMM in Zamboanga City and would tell organizers to bring their meeting elsewhere, like in Cotabato City or areas covered by the autonomous region.

The ARMM is composed of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao and Maguindanao provinces. Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi which are near Zamboanga City have contributed largely to the bulk of the local economy.

Most of the elected officials in Zamboanga City were former members of the opposition party Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, but have allied themselves with Arroyo’s own Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino party after a merger last year.

Militant groups led by Bayan and other farmers’ organizations also held simultaneous protest rallies in key cities in Mindanao.

“President Arroyo should think twice before letting out promises that are already nailed even before she even finishes her SONA. Since 2001, she has promised cheap rice, prosperous farmers, and rice self-sufficiency. Now we dare her to look at the landless farmers eating root crops, bananas or nothing at all.”

“Look at the paupers in the street as they are made to beg for two kilos of rice which has tripled in cost,” said Tony Salubre, acting spokesperson of the Farmers Association of Davao City.

Pedro Arnado, deputy chairman of the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Southern Mindanao, said more than 4,000 protesters held a rally in North Cotabato province to protest Arroyo’s failure to improve the country’s poverty situation.

“Under GMA, this country has gone through the worst economic and political tragedy that this nation has never experienced before. The immorality, corruption, militarism and puppetry that have become the central policy of this regime, has made us the sick man of Asia that we are today,” Arnado said.

The Kawagib Moro Human Rights group also assailed Arroyo’s pro-poor program and her failure to stop the rising cost of fuel and rice in the country.

“Arroyo’s so-called pro-poor programs such as ‘Ramdam ang Kaunlaran’ and ‘Katas ng VAT’ as well as the mushrooming of foreign capitalists in the country, will again be the frontage of her rhetoric in the pretext of helping the Bangsamoro and Filipino people.”

“But the truth continues to hunt the poor people. In a survey of Social Weather Station, 50% of the 88.9 million Filipinos are ‘self-rated poor’ and 14.9 million experiences hunger everyday while prices of oil and basic commodities continue to skyrocket. Cases of human rights violations are also continuing while the Bangsamoro people’s right to self-determination is not recognized,” it said.

Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said Arroyo has such a long record of lying that no one expects her to describe the real state of the nation and indicate the solutions to the problems that have grown terribly worse under her regime.

“She is ever more determined to lie in a vain attempt to evade responsibility for the extremely aggravated suffering of the Filipino people. But reality cries far louder and clearer than her lies. These add insult to injury. And the outraged people become ever more resolute and relentless in their struggle.”

“Arroyo is poised to claim that she has nothing to do with the crisis of the domestic ruling system and that this is simply the result of external factors that would soon blow away. She is likely to repeat her lie that the economy continues to grow and that she has already laid the basis for the Philippines to become a "first world country" in the next twenty years, even as she has not undertaken any program of national industrialization and land reform,” he said in a statement released on Monday.

The New People’s Army, CPP’s military wing, have been fighting the democratic government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the Philippines.

It broke off peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after rebel leaders accused Manila of reneging on previous agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners and to put a stop on the extra-judicial killings of political activists in the Philippines.

Arroyo, accused by opposition politicians of cheating and electoral fraud in 2004 Presidential elections and whose administration has been involved in many corruption scandals, is extremely unpopular in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Human Rights Forum Held In Basilan Island

Photos sent to the Mindanao Examiner by the Suara Bangsamoro show students listen to human rights speakers during a forum Monday, July 14, 2008 in Basilan island. And Marie Enriquez, of the human rights group Karapatan, gives out a phamplet on human rights to students.

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 15, 2008) – Human rights advocates and former victims of military abuses held a forum in Basilan province and urged citizens to stay vigilant and protect their rights.

The forum, sponsored by the Liga ng Kabataang Moro, also commemorated the military crackdown on local Muslims in 2001 in Basilan during an all-out campaign against the militant Abu Sayyaf group.

The forum, attended by students and teachers, became a reunion for human rights activists, who in 2001, sought families of human rights victims and help them get justice through a fact-finding mission that led to a congressional inquiry into military abuses in Basilan.

More than 500 mostly innocent Muslims were arrested and tortured by soldiers on suspicion they were supporters or members of the Abu Sayyaf group during the crackdown.

Amirah Ali Lidasan, national president of the human rights group Suara Bangsamoro, said ten people were summarily executed and more than 70,000 more displaced by the military operation.

Marie Enriquez, a veteran human rights fighter and also the chairperson of Karapatan, told the students of Basilan State College and families of the victims on how her group reported the cases of abuses to the United Nations and different human rights organizations abroad.

Enriquez also described how Basilan became a laboratory for the military as a precursor to the implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya I and II, a codename used in military operations against insurgents in Mindanao, which became a crackdown against activists and human rights defenders nationwide.

Philippine Muslims Hold Peace Rallies In Troubled South

Photos released to the Mindanao Examiner by the human rights group Suara Bangsamoro and the Mindanao Alliance for Peace, show Bai Ali Indayla, the group’s national secretary-general, speaks before a huge crowd during a peace rally Saturday, June 28, 2008 in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines. An estimated 300,000 Muslims join peace rallies across Mindanao.

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 28, 2008) – Ten of thousands of Muslims held a series of rallies Saturday in the southern Philippines to urge President Gloria Arroyo to resume stalled peace talks with Muslim rebels.

“This is a show of unity among Muslims who are for peace,” said Amirah Lidasan, of the human rights group called Suara Bangsamoro, one of several organizations under the Mindanao Alliance for Peace, which organized the rallies.

Lidasan said the rallies were held in the cities of Cotabato, Iligan, and General Santos and in the provinces of Basilan and North Cotabato. She also criticized Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat for flatly rejecting their application for a permit to hold a peace rally here.

Zamboanga City was a former Muslim province and part of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, but many of its original inhabitants were forced out by Christian settlers.

Lidasan said government troops also prevented about a thousand Muslims on board six trucks en route to General Santos City from North Cotabato.

Bai Ali Indayla, Suara Bangsamoro secretary general, said more than 300,000 people attended the peace rallies across Mindanao.

Peace talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were stalled over the issue of the ancestral domain, which the rebels demanded. The ancestral domain is the most important aspect in the seven-year old negotiations before the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, can sign a peace deal with the Arroyo government.

The MILF, an army of about 12,000 mujahideen, accused the government peace panel headed by Rodolfo Garcia of reneging on a deal that would grant more than four million Muslims in the Philippines’ troubled south a separate homeland.

The talks were stalled since last year and since then sporadic clashes between soldiers and rebels continue in several provinces in Mindanao, including Basilan Island in the Sulu Archipelago which left dozens of people dead and wounded on both sides.

Just this week, rebel forces attacked power pylons and military posts in Basilan, Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sarangani provinces. And government troops are waiting for orders to strike hard on the MILF and launch fresh offensives if the peace talks fail.

On Friday night, MILF forces attacked several army detachments in the towns of Pikit, Aleosan and Midsayap in North Cotabato province, although there were no reports of military casualties, according to Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division.

“We have been attacked again by the MILF and rebels continue to harass government forces despite a cease-fire agreement,” he said.

Col. Daniel Lucero, chief of the Philippine Army’s Civil Affairs, said the MILF should stop attacking military forces and instead support government calls for ppeace and unity in Mindanao.

“It is apparent that the MILF is not interested in supporting the nation’s call for peace in Mindanao. The atrocities committed by rebels against peace-loving communities only manifest their rogue attitudes which block out path towards an everlasting peace in Mindanao,” Lucero said.

The MILF has warned that the peace talks may collapse unless the government honors its commitment to grant Muslims their ancestral lands. Manila has previously blamed the MILF as behind the spate of bombings in Mindanao and accused rebel leaders of coddling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants, including suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists.

The Mindanao People’s Coalition for Peace and Development, which is composed of civil society groups and non-government organizations in the southern Philippines, also appealed to both the MILF and the Arroyo government to resume stalled peace talks.

But Lidasan said the fighting in Mindanao was triggered by military intrusion in areas where the MILF is actively operating. She said the fighting already displaced more than 3,000 people in Sarangani province alone and several thousands more in North Cotabato and Basilan Island.

“We challenge President Gloria Arroyo to be sincere in the peace negotiations and stop its declarations of all out war in response to the impasse in the peace negotiations,” Lidasan said.

Manila opened up peace talks with the MILF in 2001 and signed a truce agreement with the MILF, a breakaway faction of the larger Moro National Liberation Front which signed a peace deal with the government in 1996. (Mindanao Examiner)

Heir To Powerful Muslim Clan Tag In Rape Of Student In Mindanao

Students march in Kabacan town in North Cotabato as a show of support to 17-year old rape victim. (Photos by Suara Bangsamoro/Mindanao Examiner)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 08, 2008) – Hundreds of students and women rights advocates condemned marched in North Cotabato province to seek justice and condemn the rape of a 17-year old student by an heir to one of the most influential clan in central Mindanao.

The protesters also appealed to the Department of Justice and local provincial officials to resolve immediately the case. They also urged the National Bureau of Investigations and the Philippine National Police to arrest the suspect and his cohorts.

They said the student was forcibly taken by three people from her dorm in Kabacan town on February 25 and returned later in the day and said she was raped at a lodging house. The victim is a student of the University of Southern Mindanao (USM).

Bai Ali Indayla, national secretary-general of Suara Bangsamoro, said that they have received reports of numerous rape cases and sexual harassments inside the USM campus, but “it is only now that a victim courageously speaks out and file a legal case against the well-known perpetrator.”

Indayla said various human rights organizations, including Gabriela Women’s Party and lawyers and North Cotabato 1st District Rep. Emmylou Mendoza have already expressed support to the victim and her family get justice.

She said USM students marched in Kabacan and lighted candles in support to the victim.

She said Kabacan Mayor George Tan and the town’s councilors, including university professors are also supporting the students.

“We dare the administration of USM to stand for justice especially for their student. The victim’s courage as well as the witnesses is commendable. We appreciate so much the bravery of the victim’s family to cope with their daughter's ordeal and took legal action to search justice and prosecute the perpetrators. We appeal to all victims of sexual violence to speak out and fight. Silence will tolerate the horrible and devilish act of these perpetrators," Indayla said in a statement. (With a report from Mark Navales)

Muslims Remember Bud Dajo Massacre

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Moro groups commemorate the 102nd Bud Daho massacre in Sulu and Basilan on Thursday.

The commemoration through simultaneous forum in Sulu and Basilan gathered more than three hundred participants from the academe, civil society and communities.

In Sulu, the forum was initiated by the Suara Bangsamoro and BangsaMoro Youth Association (BMYA) held in Mindanao State University in Jolo, Sulu.

In Basilan, the forum was held in Basilan State College (BSC). It was sponsored by the Political Science Club of BSC and the Liga ng Kabatang Moro (LKM-Basilan).

Participants from the state college, professors and civil society have also expressed disappointment over the government’s decision regarding the holding of Balikatan in the country despite protests from different sectors.

The horrific incident that claimed thousands of lives of Tausug Moro men and women including children in Bud Daho was perpetrated by the American soldiers under US Major General Leonard Wood.

According to Sittie Rajabia Sundang, Kawagib Moro Human Rights Secretary General, the massacre showed that US troops have been violating the rights of the Bangsamoro people for century now.

“The presence in Mindanao of US troops in Mindanao through joint RP-US Balikatan exercises only repeats the history and showing how easy for them to take lives of the Bangsamoro people with the permission of the Philippine government,” she said in a statement.

Last month, US soldiers again were involved in the killings of seven innocent civilians, including two children, a pregnant woman and an off-duty soldier in Maimbung town in Sulu.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines absolved their soldiers linked to so-called Maimbung massacre despite report from Commission on Human Rights that they were involved.

Moro Human Rights Group Assails AFP Probe Of Sulu Massacre

Muslims hold rally to demand justice for eight people killed by government soldiers in Sulu province. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 28, 2008) – A Muslim human rights group on Wednesday accused the Philippine military of covering up soldiers accused of killing 8 people in Sulu province.

The Philippine military absolved dozens of members of the Army Light Reaction Company and Navy Special Warfare Group in the murder of seven civilians and an off-duty soldier during a raid on the village of Ipil in Maimbung town on February 4.

The Western Mindanao Command's Judge Advocate General's Office absolved all the soldiers involved in the killings and said the attack in the village was a legitimate operation. "It was a legitimate encounter with the Abu Sayyaf and that is according to the report and findings of the JAGO," Army Major Eugene Batara, a regional military spokesman, said.

Colonel Fred Lleosa headed the JAGO team which investigated the killings, he said.

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan said among those killed in the raid were two children, two teenagers and a pregnant woman, including a seaweed farmer and a village councilor. He also accused soldiers or murdering innocent villagers.

He said a fact-finding board was created Wednesday to study and file appropriate criminal charges against the soldiers and their commanders implicated in the killings.

“There should be no cover-up to the killings. We want justice and justice we will get. We will file criminal charges against those involved in the killing of innocent people,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) which held separate investigations into the raid also accused the soldiers of killings innocent civilians.

But the Philippine Commission on Human Rights said was no Abu Sayyaf in the village and that seven of those slain in the military attack were innocent civilians.

“None of them was an Abu Sayyaf member. Seven civilians and a government soldiers were killed in that attack,” CHR Regional Director Jose Manuel Mamauag said in a separate interview.

The Suara Bangsamoro, an umbrella organization of Muslim human rights groups, urged the Philippines Congress and the Senate to investigate the killings and reports that four US soldiers were spotted on a navy boat just off the village of Ipil as local troops were firing on civilians they mistook as Abu Sayyaf militants.

Amirah Ali Lidasan, national president of Suara Bangsamoro, her group has long expected that the military will absolved the soldiers. “We believe the CHR’s findings because they were based on testimonies of survivors and the whole seaweeds-farming community of Ipil. We have long feared that the Western Mindanao Command investigation will want to whitewash the investigation and absolve their soldiers for the crimes,” Lidasan said in a statement.

“The Philippine should be concerned in giving the Moro people the long-awaited justice that the military deployed in our communities have time and again have been absolved. This cycle of injustice is only one of the many reasons why the Moro people cannot stomach the Arroyo administration and her anti-terror and militaristic policies,” she said.

The Western Mindanao Command had previously said, even before the start of investigations, that those killed in the raid were either members of the Abu Sayyaf members or coddlers of the group and in several occasions claimed the victims were killed by the Abu Sayyaf or hit in the cross-fire.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, also criticized the findings of the military investigation.

"The findings are sanitized aimed at lessening the burden of responsibility to members of the elite troops under the Light Reaction Company and the navy's Special Warfare Group. Acting as judge for itself will lead to nowhere and no justice is expected forthcoming," the MILF said.

The MILF also praised Mamauag for his unbiased report of the CHR investigations into the killings. "Conscience-guided men, like Mamauag, deserved to be commended by everyone, despite differences of loyalties and orientations," Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the MILF Secretariat, said.

The CHR findings detailed how troops attacked the village and plundered houses owned by civilians.

Mamauag has recommended the filing of criminal charges against the soldiers involved in the raid.

Survivors of the carnage testified in investigations that soldiers opened fired on villagers as they pleaded for their life. Four of those killed were shot at sea as they fled for safety on boat.

One of the survivors Rawina Wahid, wife of the slain soldier, Pfc. Ibnul Wahid, said her husband was hogtied and tortured by soldiers before being shot at the back of his head.

"My husband told the soldiers that he is a member of the Philippine Army, but they never listened and dragged him out of the house, bound his hands behind his back and then shot him. They did not listen to our pleading and they killed my husband," she said.

She said she also saw four US soldiers on a navy boat where the body of her husband was brought. "I saw four American soldiers on the boat before Filipino troops blinded folded me," she told reporters. Wahid said she boarded the boat that took her husband's remains to a military base in Jolo town.

One of the victims had been shot at close range in the forehead, his right eye was gorged out and right ear missing. One had a missing finger while another had burns on his body and legs.

The slain civilians were identified as Marisa Payian, 4; Wedme Lahim, 9; Alnalyn Lahim, 15; Sulayman Hakob, 17; Kirah Lahim, 45; Eldisim Lahim, 43; Narcia Abon, 24. Two of the raiders were also killed and five others wounded when they mistook each others as enemies and traded gun fires, according to the CHR report.

Reps. Yusop Jikiri, of Sulu province and Mujiv Hataman, of Basilan have separately called for a congressional investigation into the killings in Maimbung town.

Muslim religious groups and human rights advocates are reportedly planning to hold a series of street rallies to demand justice for the victims. But many are worried that Muslims, angered by the cover-up of the military into killings, may mount sympathy attacks targeting government soldiers in Sulu.

Dozens of Christian soldiers had been killed in Sulu in random machete and gun attacks the past years by angry villagers because of atrocities and human rights abuses of the military on the island of over half a million Muslims. (Mindanao Examiner)

Muslims March In Sulu To Protest Killings Of Civilians

Hundreds of Muslims join a rally Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, on Sulu province in the southern Philippines, calling for justice for seven civilians killed during a military operation. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called for a thorough military investigation into the killings of the seven civilians and an off-duty soldier during an operation against al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines, the Defense chief Gilbero Teodoro said Saturday. Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan vows to give justice to the victims. The human rights groups Suara Bangsamoro and Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society also denounce the killings. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 09, 2008) – Thousands of people marched in Sulu province Saturday condemning the killings of seven innocent Muslims by government soldiers during an operation against the militant Abu Sayyaf group.

Filipino troops trained by US forces were blamed for the killing of 8 people during a military operation early Monday in the town of Maimbung in Sulu province. Among the dead were two children and two teenagers, including a pregnant woman and an off-duty army soldier.

Many marchers were chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) while others took turn in criticizing the military for the death of the civilians.

“We hate them. We hate the soldiers and we don’t want them here,” one protester, Jul Ismael, said. “Those soldiers are Muslim killers and blood is now on their hands.”

The military insisted the operation targeted the Abu Sayyaf and that two soldiers and three militants were also killed in the fighting. But the Commission on Human Rights which investigated the killings said there were no Abu Sayyaf militants in the village and that the soldiers were probably killed by their companions when they surrounded and attacked houses in the village.

Mayor Hussin Amin, of Jolo town, joined the marchers, composed mostly of civil society groups, non-governmental organizations and Muslim religious sector, and said they were demanding justice for the killings. “We want justice for killings of innocent people. We want those involved in the murder to pay for their crimes. We want them lock up in jail,” he said.

The soldiers who raided the village were members of the Army's Light Reaction Company, trained by US forces, and Navy's Special Warfare Group.
Two of the largest Muslim human rights groups, the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and the Suara Bangsamoro also joined the protests. “We want justice. There should be no cover up of this barbaric and dastardly act,” said Amira Lidasan, national president of the Suara Bangsamoro.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro also arrived in Sulu on Saturday and met with Gov. Sakur Tan and assured that there will be no cover up in the ongoing investigation into the killing of the civilians. He said President Gloria Arroyo ordered a probe into the incident.

“The instruction of President Arroyo is to have a credible investigation,” he said. “I am here today to reassure of a factual investigation into the incident. I am here to convey that we will be cooperating full with the investigations.”

Teodoro met with families of those killed in the raid and heard the testimony of Rawina Wahid, wife of the slain soldier, Pfc. Ibnul Wahid, of the 6th Infantry Division.

She said the raiders dragged her husband out of their thatched house in the village despite his plea. “My husband told the soldiers that he is a member of the Philippine Army, but they never listened and dragged him out of the house, bound his hands behind his back and then shot him. They did not listen to our pleading and they killed my husband,” she said.

The woman said there were no Abu Sayyaf militants in the village, but civilians. “People in our village are just seaweed farmers. We are all civilians and there is no Abu Sayyaf in the village,” she said.

“I saw four American soldiers on the boat and Filipino blinded folded me,” she told reporters. Wahid said she boarded a Philippine Navy boat that took her husband's remains to a military base in Jolo town.

ABS-CBN television reported that other villagers also noticed the presence of US soldiers on the boat. It quoted reports by the human rights groups Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and the Suara Bangsamoro that the presence of the US forces in the area raised concerns about its involvement in local military operations, which violates the Philippine Constitution.

Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, commander of an anti-terror task force in Sulu province, denied the reports and said US soldiers were not involved in the operation. "No US soldiers were involved in the operation and they were not even near the town when the fighting broke out," Rafael said.

Other who survived that carnage said soldiers took their animals and ransacked their houses, but three villagers said the raiders, many wearing night vision goggles, torched three thatched houses.

Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said he ordered soldiers involved in the operation to cooperate with the ongoing investigations. “I have ordered the troops to be open in the investigation and to tell the truth,” he said.

Tan said the police will also investigate the killings of the civilians. He branded the killings as “barbaric and dastardly.” One of the victims was shot at close range in the forehead, his right eye was gorged and right ear missing. One had a missing finger while another had burns on his body and legs.

Those killed were identified as Marisa Payian, 4; Wedme Lahim, 9; Alnalyn Lahim, 15; Sulayman Hakob, 17; Kirah Lahim, 45; Eldisim Lahim, 43; Narcia Abon, 24; all civilians and Pfc. Ibnul Wahid, of the Army's 6th Infantry Division.

Tan has condemned the killings of the innocent civilians and vowed to file criminal charges against the soldiers. He said many of those killed were shot in the head.

"Innocent civilians were killed. The children were shot in the head. We condemned the killings and those soldiers involved in the murder of innocent people must be charged in court and pay for their crimes," Tan said.

Philippine flags around Sulu were flown at half-mast since Tuesday as Muslims mourn the deaths of innocent civilians.

On Thursday, the SALINLAHI Alliance for Children's Concerns, an umbrella organization of child rights and welfare groups, strongly condemned the killings and urged for an independent probe of the incident.

"The usual casualties in this campaign are innocent civilians, particularly women and children. The incident again proved that the anti-terrorism campaign as well as the counter-insurgency program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines directed against the handful Abu Sayyaf and other armed groups is absorbed more by the civilian population rather than their real targets," Alphonse Rivera, the group's spokesman, said.

"Every incident involving military personnel as perpetrators is dismissed by the military top-brass as casualties of "legitimate encounters" to justify their acts and escape culpability. The next thing we will hear is that the military will insist that these children are also Abu Sayyaf members as if that will justify the killing," Rivera said.

Reps. Yusop Jikiri, of Sulu province and Mujiv Hataman, of Basilan have separately called for a congressional investigation into the killings in Maimbung town.

Jikiri, a former rebel leader of the Moro National Liberation Front, said the off-duty soldier killed along with seven civilians was shot in front of his wife.

"Wahid was reportedly hogtied first before he was shot in front of her. The wife, in fact, showed the military uniform of her husband, but the soldiers merely ignored the plea of Mrs. Wahid. Later, Mrs. Wahid was taken by the soldiers to the rubber boat allegedly driven by an American soldier," Jikiri said in a privilege speech in Congress on Wednesday.

Hataman also filed a resolution on Thursday seeking for an urgent investigation of the killings, which he described as "despicable, loathsome and ruthless."

"There is no valid reason, especially for the soldiers who are supposed to be the protector of the people, to kill innocent civilians, particularly children," he said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Anti-US Rally, Nagbabanta Sa Mindanao

SULU (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 03, 2008) – Habang papalapit ang joint RP-US Balikatan sa Mindanao at Sulu ay palakas ng palakas naman ang sigaw ng mga ibat-ibang militanteng grupo sa pagprotesta sa patuloy na pamamalagi ng mga Kanong sundalo sa rehiyon.

Inaasahang magsisimula ang Balikatan sa Pebrero 18 sa lalawigan ng Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan at Lanao, na pawang mga lugar ng mga Muslim. Sinabi ng Suara Bangsamoro na nakaumang na ang malawakang protesta ng grupo na sasamahan rin ng Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society at iba pa.

Mahigit sa 6,000 mga sundalo mula sa Estados Unidos at Pilipinas ang inaasahang sasabak sa Balikatan, ngunit iginigiit naman ng lokal na militar na pawang mga humanitarian at medical mission lamang ang isasagawa sa Mindanao at Sulu Archipelago at ang military training ay sa Luzon idaraos.

“Wala naman problema ang Balikatan eh. Pulos medical mission at humanitarian activities lamang ang isasagawa natin sa Mindanao at Sulu,” ani Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, hepe ng Western Mindanao Command, sa panayam ng Mindanao Examiner.

Subalit lumalakas ang reklamo ng kabastusan at human rights violations ng mga Kano sa mga lugar na kung saan sila naka-base.

Sa Sulu ay ipinasara ng mga aroganteng Kano ang isang pagamutan sa bayan ng Panamao sa tuwing sasapit and dilim. Sa Zamboanga City ay isang lalaki na sakay ng kanyang motorsiklo ang binangga ng isang sundalong Kano na matapos ng insidente ay iniwanan lamang nito ng isang card ang biktima at iniwang dugaan sa kalsada nuong nakaraang lingo lamang.

Sa Basilan ay may nabaril diumano ang mga Kano at hindi lamang ito ang una dahil sa Zamboanga City ay isang binatilyo rin ang ginawang target ng mga Kano habang namumulot iyo ng kahoy di-kalayuan sa isang firing range.

Matindi na umano ang galit ng mga Muslim sa mga Kano at ayaw ng karamihan na manatili ang mga ito sa Mindanao at Sulu, subali’t napipilitan na lamang dahil sa mga humanitarian at medical mission na isinagawa ng Armed Forces katuwang ang mga dayuhan.

Kapit sa patilim ang nangyayari sa mga kaawa-awang mga Muslim dahil sa hindi naman maibigay ng pamahalaan ang mga bagay na ito sa kanilang komunidad sa kabila ng matinding bigayan ng salapi ng Malakanyang sa mga kaalyadong pulitiko ng Pangulong Gloria Arroyo sa tuwing mga mga isyu ukol sa lider ng bansa. (May ambag na ulat si Nickee Butlangan)

Moro Groups Lead Rights Day, Assail RP's Violation Records

Suara Bangsamoro's Amira Lindasan speaks during a human rights forum and Muslim women put their handprints on a sign which reads "Stop Attacking The Moro People." (Photos by Suara Bangsamoro)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - The Suara Bangsamoro and the Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization led the commemoration of the 59th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in different cities in Mindanao.

Suara Bangsamoro also presented a report on violations of human rights against the Bangsamoro people in Cotabato City on Dec. 4; Davao City on Dec. 6 and held a simultaneous forum Dec. 10 in Iligan, Zamboanga and General Santos cities.

Despite of the on-going peace negotiations between the Arroyo government and the two Moro liberation fronts in Mindanao, there is still no atmosphere of peace in Mindanao.

The combined anti-terror policies of the US and the Philippine governments virtually give license for state agents to disregard the civil and political rights of the Moro people, it said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner on Wednesday.

Suara Bangsamoro added the Moro people continue to face a militarized community, most of them becoming more vulnerable with the deployment of massive government forces and foreign troops in their communities. According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, three marine brigades were deployed only in pursuit of “Muslim militants”.

Combined with four marine battalions, three infantry battalions, a scout ranger battalion, a special force battalion and a light reaction company, roughly more than ten thousand government troops are dispersed in the Moro communities. Kawagib Moro Human Rights, on the other hand, documented at least 20 human rights violations committed by the Philippine government against the Moro people.

Almost 78,000 Moro individuals were displaced due to indiscriminate bombings and strafing in their communities as a consequence of President Gloria Arroyo's declaration of full-launch war in the Moro areas.

According to Kawagib, Moro civilians bear the brunt in the military operations against the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Children also fall prey to the hot pursuit operations against Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants.

Following the high profile case of Almujayal Padiwan, a Tausug boy, who survived the massacre of his family in Maimbung town in Sulu province in February 2005. Eight kids were also reported to have been psychologically tortured by the army in Indanan town in Sulu last August.

A 14-year old boy was also shot and killed in April in the same municipality. Hakim Abilul’s cousin was the only survivor in the shooting and told the family that he and Hakim went past a military unit that mistook them for being an Abu Sayyaf and started shooting at them.

Abilul’s mother then visited all military camps in Jolo and Indanan but the military denied they had the boy in custody. They found the remains of the boy in a morgue with bite marks and a big hole in the shoulder.

Disruption of school activity also resulted due to intense military operations in Basilan this year. Eleven schools became non-operational for five months in the municipalities of Al-barka, Unkaya Pukan and Tipo-Tipo as more than four hundred schoolchildren fear going back to their communities because or the military operations.

Kawagib has documented several cases of extrajudicial killing, death due to indiscriminate firing, frustrated killing, massacre, torture, physical assault or injuries as a consequence of the military operations.

The violation to the civil and political rights of the Moro people are often disregarded because of the impact of the "war on terror" on the views and opinions of the public on the Moro people. There were several cases of illegal arrests, detention and search and seizure documented by Kawagib in their report on the violations on the human rights of the Moro people.

Threat, harassment and intimidation on Moro activists and religious leaders were also part of the violations on the Moro people. On December 10 last year, the names of Moro activists belonging to Suara Bangsamoro, Kawagib ang Lira ng Kabataan Moro were written in streamers displayed in the main roads and highways of Cotabato City and Misdeal, North Cotabato calling them terrorists and their organizations as communist fronts.

Religious leaders in Basilan and Sulu are often targeted as possible Abu Sayyaf or MILF members and sympathizers. Fifteen Ustadz (religious leaders) were included in the warrant of arrest issued last July against those who were suspected of beheading 10 elements of Marines in Basilan.

A leader of the Ulama Council for Peace and Development in Sulu, Ustadz Yahiya Sarahadil Abdullah, protested upon seeing his picture on Rewards for Justice Recognition Handbook being distributed by Filipino and American troops in Talipao, Sulu.

His picture was used to identify Yassir Igasan, which according to intelligence reports was the chosen leader of the ASG after Khadaffy Janjalani's death last year.

The leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were also tagged as local criminals as warrants of arrests were issued against them for the cases of unresolved bombings in Mindanao this year.

According to Suara Bangsamoro, implicating Ustadz Khabier Malik of the MNLF and Al-Hajj Murad of the MILF is undermining the current peace negotiation and makes the people question the sincerity of the Arroyo administration in the peace talks.

Suara Bangsamoro laments the conditions of the Moro people and also added that the presence of foreign troops will worsen their conditions. There are an undetermined number of US soldiers from the air force, marines and the army doing a medical mission and other civic activities program in public but also involve themselves in covert combat operations that often affects the areas of the MNLF and the MILF.

Next year another round of Balikatan military exercises will resume in different parts of Moro provinces. Added to this is the possible training of Australian troops as a commitment of the Arroyo administration in the Status of Forces Agreement it signed this year with the Australian Government.

Suara Bangsamoro lambastes the government form turning Moro communities into a den of live targets for the "war on terror" military exercises of local and foreign troops. It also accuses the government of disregarding the lives of the Moro people and reiterates that her administration is no bringer of peace to the Moro community, only death.

300 Poll Candidates Attend Forum In South RP

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 28, 2007) – At least 300 candidates running for the local village and youth council elections attended a forum in the southern Filipino town of North Upi as the Church calls for a peaceful polls on Monday.

The forum, sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Philippines (EDSP), was dubbed as “Boto Mo, Kinabukasan Mo! Lumahok sa halalan at iboto ang magtataguyod sa kapakanan ng mamamayan” under the Philippine Episcopalians Action for Clean Elections” (PEACE) program.

“Despite the issue of corruptions and anomalies enfolding the country, we are hopeful that through our renewed and committed youth and barangay (village) officials, we can make a change,” Rev. Fr. Francis Imperial, parish priest of North Upi, said.

The forum, held recently, paved the way for interactive and responsive governance for the people of North Upi, the priest said.

One of the forum’s resource people, Bai Ali Indayla, national secretary-general of the non-government organization, Suara Bangsamoro, gave ample and valuable insights on the role of youth on politics of change.

She also discussed the present situation of the Filipinos on politics, economic and cultural aspect.

Indayla also challenged youth candidates to prove that the Sanguniang Kabataan is no haven for corruption, but a venue to explore and substantiate that youth has a significant function to promote good governance.

OPINION

THE MORO PEOPLE HAVE HAD IT WITH ALL-OUT WARS! By Amirah Ali Lidasan

Make Room for Peace, Pull-out troops in Basilan province.

For most of us Muslims who are observing the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, we are saddened by what is happening in Basilan for the past few weeks.

According to the provincial administrator of Basilan, more than 900 families have been displaced as a result of the added deployment of marines in Basilan in response to the beheading of 10 members of the Philippine Marines who were slain in an encounter with the MILF in Al-Barka town.

Who committed the beheading and why did the perpetrators committed such act is a very controversial and sensitive issue that should have been responded with discretion rather than warmongering. For weeks, it is as if every Muslim has to answer for the act of beheading and Islam is once again put in the limelight and debate.

While the MILF owned their responsibility over the death of the 14 elements of the Philippine Marines. They qualified this as a legitimate one for it was a consequence of the Marines’ forced entry in their recognized political territory in Basilan.

For those who are not familiar with the on-going GRP-MILF peace negotiations, it might be difficult to understand why such territories exist? In previous agreements, the two groups have come to terms about respecting MILF camps and presence to avoid conflicts in these areas – an agreement that is prone to violation.

Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the Philippine government under President Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has called a series of all-out wars against the MILF that resulted to thousands of displaced Moro people in Mindanao: the all-out war directed at Camp Abubakar in 2001, the Buliok War and “selective attack” on MILF areas in 2003, and the on-and-off skirmishes between the GRP and the MILF as a result of the military’s “hot pursuit” operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

In the case of the beheading of the marines, series of investigations have been conducted by both the MILF and the local government of Basilan, and both have unearthed previous atrocity of the Marines that might lead to the answers on who and why such beheadings took place: that the military operation did not take place only on July 10 but days before it and that these created “fear and chaos” among the community.

But nobody from the military and the Arroyo administration wants to hear what the MILF or the people in Basilan has been shouting for almost two weeks now -that the MILF is not responsible for the mutilation of the bodies of the marines.

Secretary Norberto Gonzales and the Armed Forces of the Philippines would hear none of these results and the calls of non-government organizations for a stop to the pursuit operations. The bloodthirsty cabinet members and hawks in the AFP are whipping up the public’s sympathy over the beheaded marines and using it as a take-off point in calling for an all-out war against the MILF.

Had Fr Giancarlo Bossi not surfaced in Karomatan town in Lanao del Norte province, the AFP would surely pursue relentlessly the MILF for what they believed was “coddling” Fr Bossi’s kidnappers.

Now, Basilan is once again hostage by more than 5,000 marine soldiers. The 103rd Infantry Brigade of the Army, naval and air forces are also being readied for strike.

Most of the people in Basilan are reminded of the 2001 intensive military crackdown, where 14 battalions from the AFP were deployed and in 2002, a US-RP joint military exercise also took place in Basilan.

Basilan had been black and blue from previous military operations and exercises. Numerous human rights violations were reported: cases of torture, extra-judicial killings and disappearance against what the Arroyo administration believed to be Abu Sayyaf sympathizers and members in Basilan.

The people in Basilan fear this will again escalate into an all-out war. And we people of Mindanao fear that this will spill-over the whole of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Moro people have had it with the all-out wars! If the government is true with peace negotiations then it should prioritize its peace agenda in Mindanao. Even the future of peace negotiations was not tackled by the government in the SONA. Her praise for the Philippine Marines obscured the human rights violation record of the marines and the rest of the Philippine military in Basilan.

The Suara Bangsamoro reiterates its call for pull-out of the military in Basilan. Let the cool heads and the peacemakers (if there are still left) in the cabinet come forward and listen to the people’s call for peace and not military operations in Basilan. (SUARA Bangsamoro)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Suara Bangsamoro

Undermining the party list system.

The right to vote and the right to run for office are innate rights allowed to every citizen in the constitution of any democratic nation.

In this country, these democratic rights are vulnerable to the maligned schemes of the state, which as the most corrupt country in Asia, is flanked by elected officials majority of whom acquired political power through the three G's: guns, goons and gold – and all of which were done through the systematic thievery from the nation's coffers.

An apt illustration of this is the recently exposed Malacanang memo which leaked the Arroyo-clique's funding of pro-administration party lists in the 2007 elections, in the aim of frustrating progressive party lists' victory.

This is another glaring proof that the highest branch of government is involved in an act that mocks and undermines the party list system and the electoral system as a whole.This, hence, deserves a thorough investigation and just retribution. Bogus partylists so named in the Malacanang memo must be disqualified by the COMELEC and the Malacanang should answer for the consequences.

Although the party list system may seem as a mere loose change or a mere token that the ruling elite has spared for the dis-empowered sectors, this system has allowed genuine peoples' organizations in advancing the rights of the people in the halls of legislation.

These few party list groups have indeed carried the peoples' voice on anti-people issues such as the e-vat, unjust wage, 2004 electoral fraud, dubious contracts with foreign investors and state-endorsed policies that violate human rights in congress.

Thus, this act by the Malacanang aims to deprive the true marginalized sectors genuine representation in congress. So vigilance on the peoples' end must not falter; for we should not allow more puppets of the office of the president, of the military, of business tycoons, or of warlords to be added to the majority of lower house representatives who milk public office of pork barrel funds and use their political positions to enact laws that undermine the welfare of the people.


Zaynab Ampatuan
Secretary General


SUARA BANGSAMORO PARTYLIST
Davao City

suarabangsamoro@gmail.com

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Suara Bangsamoro

In order to begin restoring peace and justice in Sulu and in Mindanao, it’s high time to let go of the hen that lays golden eggs.

The killing of innocent and helpless civilians is un-Islamic and anti-people and we strongly condemn the brutal slaying of our brothers in Sulu.

Indeed, this is a tragedy that poses a crucial question on the state of ‘unpeace’ and injustice in Mindanao and in the whole country. We grieve with their families and unite with the Moro and Filipino people in demanding for justice over their brutal deaths.

We sincerely hope that the military and the Arroyo government will truly “root out” the Abu Sayyaf this time, and that its media statements are not mere lip service.

It is frustrating that while the government has been allotting a huge bulk of the country’s resources in its so-called fight against terrorism, the ASG or the Abu Sayyaf Group has remained seemingly formidable and elusive.

In its many media projection opportunities, the Arroyo government has always made a trophy out of dead or captured high-ranking ASG leaders, and yet the number of ASG members keeps growing.

To the extent of violating the constitution, Mrs. Arroyo has opened up Philippine territory to US military forces on the justification that the ASG must be fought.

Still, none of these were enough to wipe out the ASG? Sadly, the people have always been made to absorb the horror purportedly created by the Abu Sayyaf; and the consequences of the government’s being inutile in curbing terrorism.

At this point, we are reminded of an issue that remains unresolved: The collusion between the military and the ASG, to which even military elements (Magdalo soldiers) have attested to.

Still the other side of the coin presents a likely explanation: “The ASG is a hen that lays golden eggs,” such that it is too precious to lose. In the face of the battle between the government and its so-called enemies in the arena of the fight against terrorism, the people deserve to know the truth.

For in the course of the government’s annihilative operations against the Abu Sayyaf, then and now, thousands of civilians, especially the Moro people, have suffered deaths and displacements and countless human rights violations such as terror-tagging, community crackdowns and massive illegal arrest and detention.

The victims of the Abu Sayyaf’s crimes deserve justice. The Filipino and Moro people deserve to be governed by a government which can ensure that life, liberty and peace is upheld and protected. This government of ours right now surely does not live up to this.


Abubakar UySecretary General
SUARA Bangsamoro - Southern Mindanao

suarabangsamoro@gmail.com

302 2nd Mabelen Building, Suazo St. corner Quezon Boulevard, Davao City

RP Troops Kill MNLF Rebel In Jolo Clash

Muslim children play at an empty military checkpoint in Tagbak village in Jolo island in southern RP.(Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 17 Apr) – Government soldiers clashed Tuesday with Moro National Liberation Front rebels in the restive southern Filipino island of Jolo, killing one gunman, officials said.

Officials said one rebel was also captured and that he is being interrogated at a military base on the island.

“One rebel was killed in the clash and a second gunman has been taken alive and is under interrogation. Troops also recovered an M203 automatic rifle from the area,” Army Maj. Eugene Batara, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command headquarters, told the Mindanao Examiner in Zamboanga City.

He said the fighting erupted in the village of Bitan-ag in Indanan town, scene of fierce clashes since April 13. There were no military casualties, he said.

But previous clashes had already killed three marine soldiers and wounded at least 53 others, according to Army Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan said.

Pabustan said 17 rebels had been killed and that 50 more were wounded in the fighting since last week.

Police on Tuesday also confirmed that Abu Sayyaf militants allied with the MNLF rebels have kidnapped seven people on the island. Other reports said nine soldiers were killed when rebels attacked a military truck with bazookas in Parang town and that two more soldiers had been seized by Abu Sayyaf militants at a checkpoint, but these could not be independently confirmed.

The military blamed MNLF leader Ustadz Habier Malik for the fighting, but he said troops started the skirmishes when they strayed inside rebel strongholds in the guise of pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants.

The government also put up one million pesos bounty on the head of Malik.Thousands of civilians gave fled their homes on the island because of the fighting and many are now housed at temporary shelters in safer areas.

A militant party list group, Suara Bangsamoro, on Tuesday condemned the reward offer and said the military was covering up its role in the skirmishes.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines is resorting to bounty to cover up its actual role in provoking Ustadz Habier Malik to declare a jihad," Amirah Ali Lidasan, the group’s national president, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

She said Malik has declared a holy war on the island. “Most likely the people in Sulu will heed Ustadz Habier Malik’s call for a jihad because of the long list of human rights violations and the intensifying military offensives against MNLF camps hiding under the pretext of running after Abu Sayyaf and Jeemayat Islamiya.”

“We believe that the call for a jihad was a response to the long list of injustices and violations to the peace accord that the AFP has committed against the MNLF and the people of Sulu,” said Lidasan.She said the fighting displaced as many as 50,000 civilians on Jolo island.

“We fear for the lives of those fleeing military operations and their lives once inside cramped makeshift evacuation centers. For the sake of the evacuees, we call for an end to the military’s pursuit operations. We urge AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon to heed the calls of the civilians,” Lidasan said.

Lidasan said the government offensives have affected residents in eight towns -- Luuk, Panamao, Panglima Estino, Patikul, Kalinggalan Caluang, Talipao, Indanan and Parang. (Mindanao Examiner)

Militant Moro Group Demands Troops Pull Out In Jolo Island

JOLO ISLAND – The party list group, Suara Bangsamoro, on Wednesday demanded the pull out of government soldiers on the island of Jolo in southern Philippines following a shoot out inside a military base that killed 10 people.

It said the presence of soldiers does not guarantee peace on the island, about 950 km south of Manila.

But the shooting left 9 soldiers and a civilian dead and security officials said investigations into the killing are still going on. Reports said a soldier, from the Army’s 35th Infantry Battalion, went berserk and killed 9 of his companions and a civilian. Two other people were injured in the shooting.

“The soldiers should immediately pull out in order to give space for peace and time for the Moro to recover from effects of wars. The presence of soldiers does not and cannot end the ‘terror’ they’ve long been hunting but has and would continue to sow fear to communities,” Amira Ali Lidasan, national president of Suara Bangsamoro Party List, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

She said among the victims of the shooting were two civilians, an errand boy and a female guest who was with the soldiers during their drinking spree.

Lidasan said the shooting incident was a manifestation of a psychological war distress. “This particular effect of war does not only afflict military men but above all this reeled the minds of civilians living in a well-militarized community,” she said.

“Nothing significant is happening to government's intensified campaign against terrorism here, it is so clear that military operations breed more violations to Human Rights than putting halt to terror,” she said.

AFP May Bagong Ebidensya Na Naman Sa Mga Kaliwang Party List Groups!

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 23 Mar) - Muli na namang nakadiskubre ang militar ng mga sinasabing panibagong ebidensya na magpapatunay ng malinaw na ugnayan ng New People's Army (NPA) sa ilang party list groups sa bansa.

Sa nakuhang bag mula sa rebeldeng si Allan Villare na napatay sa engkuwentro sa bayan ng Juban sa Sorsogon noong Marso 20 ay nakapaloob diumano ang mga dokumento ng campaign plan para sa partylist groups na Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Kabataan, Anakpawis at Suara Bangsamoro.

"We have strong evidence that the NPA and these party list groups are connected," diin ni Lieutenant Colonel Benigno Antonio, pinuno ng Army's 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Magugunitang natisod naman ng militar sa Davao del Sur noong nakaraang buwan anng mga campaign posters at calendars ng Bayan Muna matapos ang sagupaan.

Ayon sa buod ng dokumento, ang campaign plan ay binubuo ng tatlong bahagi: una, isinakatuparan ng Pebrero 13 hanggang Marso 13 ang house to house campaign, paglalagay ng mga campaign posters, pagbuo ng alyansa sa mga lokal na opisyal ng gobyerno, pagtukoy ng mga poll watcher, at pagtatayo ng municipal headquarters.

Kasama rito ang pagtukoy ng mga kandidato at tagasuporta ng party list groups na kaalyado ng Malakanyang tulad ng Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD), Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP), Akbayan, Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), Akap, at Aksa.

Ikalawa, mula Marso 14 hanggang Abril 14, ang deployment ng propaganda teams sa mga dyip at tricycles, paglulunsad ng party congress municipalities at pagpapadala ng mga delegado para sa provincial conventions ng Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Kabataan, Anakpawis at Suara Bangsamoro.

Ikatlo, mula Abril 14 hanggang May 14, magpapadala ang rebeldeng grupo ng mga delegado para sa miting de avance na sasabayan rin ng mga protesta.

Ang mobile propaganda teams ng NPA ay bubuo ng caravan na maglilibot sa Sorsogon sa isang araw at sa mismong halalan ay agad na iuulat ang resulta ng eleksyon.

TInatayang 15,000 boto buhat sa Bulan, 7,000 sa Gubat at 3,000 sa Prieto Diaz ang minimum votes na makukuha ng mga partylist. Hindi naman agad makunan ng pahayag o reaksyon ang mga nabanggit na party lists. (Juley Reyes)

Muslim Group Urged North Cotabato To Release Refugee Aid

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 22 Mar) – A Muslim party list group on Thursday urged the release of funds to help feed thousands of villagers displaced by hostilities between security and rebel forces in the southern Philippines.

The Suara Bangsamoro party said the funds are important to aid the refugees in at least 8 villages in North Cotabato’s Midsayap town, where troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels clashed last month.

The group urged the North Cotabato provincial council to release the funds.

“If the local government has become so helpless in ending the wars in Mindanao, we are, at the least, hoping that they do not, at this point, prolong the agony of the displaced families by coming short in releasing such fund,” Zaynab Ampatuan, who chairs the Suara Bangsamoro party list group, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

Ampatuan appealed to the Provincial Development Coucil of Cotabato to allocate more funds to help the refugees. The province has 120.8 million pesos supplemental budget. (With a report from Mark Navales)