Filipino Solon Warns U.S. On Jolo Island Combat

U.S. troops in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Aug) – A Filipino lawmaker on Wednesday warned the United States against participating in combat in the southern island of Jolo, where local troops are battling members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

Rep. Satur Ocampo said any U.S. participation in the conflict would violate the Philippines Constitution and further inflame the Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for the spate of bombings and kidnappings of foreigners and other rebel groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the communist New People’s Army.

“While the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Visiting Forces Agreement insofar as joint military exercises are concerned, it explicitly prohibits U.S. military forces from joining the Armed Forces of the Philippines in combat operations,” Ocampo said.

U.S. troops were frequently seen in the company of Filipino forces hunting down the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo island, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers are stationed in Jolo island and Zamboanga City and other areas in Mindanao and helping Philippine military defeat terrorism.

Major Eugene Batara, a regional Philippine Army spokesman, denied that U.S. troops were involved in combat operation in Jolo island.

“They are prohibited from participating in direct combat operation. Filipino troops are fighting the terrorists,” he said in Zamboanga City.

Nathaniel Santiago, leader of the militant Bayan Muna group, said Manila should take a very critical posture on U.S. meddling in Jolo, especially in view of efforts of the U.S. Congress to compel the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

“The U.S. is caught in a quagmire it created in Iraq and we should not allow the Americans to make a repeat of such a disaster in Mindanao,” he said, citing U.S. media reports that the opposition-controlled House and Senate are pressing the Bush government to bare Iraq withdrawal plans due to continued military casualties and the questions on the alleged reasons for waging war.

More than 5,000 Filipino soldiers are in Jolo and pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants and insurgents from the Moro National Liberation protecting two Jemaah Islamiya bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek, tagged as behind two deadly blasts in the resort island of Bali in Indonesia in 2002.

Officials as many as 40 militants were killed, including a senior MNLF leader, in fierce clashes last week on the island last, but 26 soldiers also died from that fighting. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 Muslim Boys Get U.S. Rewards For Discovery Of Sayyaf Bomb In Jolo Island

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Philippine military chief General Hermogenes Esperon, U.S. Ambassador to Manila Kristie Kenney and U.S. Pacific Command Admiral William Fallon in Jolo island in the southern Philippines on Monday 04 Dec 2006. (Mindanao Examiner)

JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 04 Dec) – The United States on Monday rewarded P80,000 to two Muslim families, whose sons had discovered a powerful Abu Sayyaf bomb planted on a road in the southern island of Jolo, where Filipino and American troops returning from a humanitarian mission were to pass.

Philippine military chief General Hermogenes Esperon accompanied American Ambassador Kristie Kenney and U.S. Pacific Command Admiral William Fallon, who led the awarding ceremony in Jolo.

Two boys discovered in March a 2-liter jug filled with TNT, ammonium nitrate and picric acid in the village of Tagbak in Indanan town. The discovery, Esperon said, prevented a possible deadly attack by the Abu Sayyaf.

“This heroic deed shows that civilians are now aware about the atrocities of the Abu Sayyaf and their allies and we commend the children and all those who are for peace,” Esperon told the Mindanao Examiner.

Security was tight during the visit, but Filipino troops had been scrambled after the US military alerted them of an unidentified man with a binocular on a building near where the ceremony was held.

Troops rushed to the building, but did not find the man. Jolo island is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for a string of bombings in the troubled region.

Fallon praised the locals, saying, they were friendly and are helping the Philippine military fight terrorism. “They are wonderful people, friendly and warm. The people really want peace and we are happy that we have people helping the Armed Forces of the Philippines combat terrorism,” Fallon told the Mindanao Examiner in a separate interview.

Fallon, Kenney and Esperon later visited American and Filipino troops on the island. (Mindanao Examiner)

Muslim Boy Hurt In Jolo Road Accident Airlifted To Zambo By U.S. Troops

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Oct) – A Muslim boy who was hit by a motorcycle in Jolo had been airlifted Tuesday to Zamboanga City on a military helicopter by U.S. and Filipino troops participating in a joint humanitarian mission in the southern island, a nurse here said.

The boy was hit while trying to cross a street near his school in Jolo island, the nurse, who was on duty at the emergency room of the private Western Mindanao Medical Center, told the Mindanao Examiner.

“They brought the boy here in the hospital and those soldiers had been very active in humanitarian missions. They had also airlifted and brought medical patients here in the past,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

She did not say what the condition of the boy was.

Private hospitals in Zamboanga City usually do not give information about its patients or details involving emergency cases.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are stationed in the southern Philippines and also involved in training Filipino soldiers under the so-called Kapit-Bisig, a codename for this year’s joint anti-terrorism warfare training in the southern Philippines.

But more than 500 U.S. Marines are also expected to arrive late Tuesday at the Subic Bay Free Port outside Manila on the WestPac Express, a U.S.-leased high-speed vessel, in preparation for another bilateral training exercises conducted annually by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. military as part of their long-standing partnership.

The service members from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, III Marine Expeditionary Force from Okinawa, Japan, and their equipment are part of an advance element of U.S. forces that will participate in two upcoming RP-U.S. bilateral exercises, Talon Vision and Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) FY 2007.

These forces are arriving to begin preparations for follow-on forces and the many civil-military operations they will conduct to benefit Filipino citizens living near the training areas, including holding free medical and dental programs and completing engineering and construction projects, according to a U.S. Embassy statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

“These routine bilateral exercises, being held from October 16-31, 2006, are designed to improve interoperability, increase readiness, and continue professional relationships between the United States and Philippine Armed Forces,” it said.