ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 27, 2010) – A pedicab driver was shot and seriously wounded in an attack Wednesday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said.
The motive of the attack is still unknown, but a police officer said the man was shot in the head and body in the village of Talon-Talon and rushed to hospital.
The attack occurred shortly before 6 p.m.
“He was shot twice – one in the head and another in the body – and we have rushed him to the hospital,” the officer said.
Gun attacks are not uncommon in Zamboanga City with police blaming family feud and clan war in most of the shootings. (Mindanao Examiner)
Angry villagers kill ex-convict Felin Mateo who barged into a school and stabbed dead 3 people in an attack Friday, October 22, 2010 in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Four students and two teachers are also wounded in the attack that killed one Grade 6 student, a teacher and a grandfather who tried to save his niece from the man. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Jung Francisco).ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 22, 2010) - A man armed with a machete barged Friday into a school in the southern Filipino city of Zamboanga and killed three people, police said.
Police said 6 school children ages 10-12, were also wounded in the attack which occurred in the village of Talisayan, about 20 kilometers west of Zamboanga. The attacker, Felin Mateo, was himself killed after angry villagers, armed with knives and machetes, overpowered the man and killed him.
Police said those killed were a Grade 6 student, a teacher and a grandfather who tried to save his niece were killed in the attack. Those wounded – four children, mostly Grade 5 students from Talisayan Elementary School, and two teachers – were rushed to hospital.
“It was horrible. The man was attacking the children and we were able to grab the knife and overpowered him. He stabbed the teacher first and then ran on the second floor of the school building and barged in on class room and started knifing the poor kids,” one villager said.
The motive of the attack was unknown, but the village chieftain Pinpin Pareja said the attacker was an ex-convict. “We rushed to the school after receiving the report. We still don’t know what triggered him to attack the children,” she said.
“I saw the man stabbed our teacher and we all ran upstairs and hid inside the rest room,” one of the children who escaped the attack told reporters.
An armed school guard tried to fight off the attacker, but could not do anything as he was only armed with a stone. “He cannot do anything. He just threw stones at the man,” another pupil said. (With a report from Jung Francisco)
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 18, 2010) – The Philippine Army’s 55th Engineer Brigade renewed its commitment to serve the people and country and support the government’s peace and development efforts in Mindanao.
The brigade, now based in Zamboanga City, recently celebrated its 18th anniversary with various activities, including a medical mission that benefitted some 200 villagers here.
With the theme “55E: Rendering the Best of Service for Peace, Unity and Progress across Western Mindanao,” civil-military officer, Major Alfonso Enriquez, said “the anniversary celebration renews our commitment to vanguards of freedom, peace and development by serving God, protecting our country and people.”
He said Lieutenant General Arturo Ortiz, commander of the Philippine Army, graced the occasion and spoke during the program attended both by soldiers and civilians. He also congratulated the awardees of this year’s Unit Best and those behind 55th Engineer Brigade headed by Brigadier General Michaelo Salvaleon.
The engineer brigade was largely credited for many infrastructure projects in Western Mindanao, among them were the rehabilitation and concreting of roads, electrification and water system, construction of health centers and school buildings and hospitals and the rehabilitation of the Basilan circumferential road. (Jung Francisco)
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ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 26, 2010) – Malaysia has praised efforts by private sectors in Sabah and Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines to improve bilateral trade between the two neighbors.
Malaysia and the Philippines are part of the East ASEAN Growth Area to which Indonesia and Brunei are also members. The four countries have forged an agreement to achieve certain objectives, which include facilitating the free movement of people, goods, and services; share common infrastructure and natural resources; and pursue economic complementation.
While ASEAN is an acronym of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an alliance of 10 countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Its aims include the acceleration of economic growth, social progress, cultural development among its members, the protection of the peace and stability of the region, and to provide opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.
Malaysia’s State Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah said this was crucial to face changes and challenges in the global business. He said the private sectors in Sabah and Zamboanga have agreed to find the right mechanism to boost bilateral trade under the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area.
“The move will pave the way for higher bilateral trade volume,” Malaysia’s Bernama news agency quoted him as telling reporters after discussions with the private sectors, consultant companies and Manila-based Asian Development Bank involved in the Sandakan-Zamboanga bilateral trade.
It said among matters discussed during the meeting were the upgrading of customs, immigration and port services and increasing the number of ferries plying between Sandakan and Zamboanga.
“The improvements would facilitate higher two-way trade volume and woo more traders from neighboring countries to do business in this district,” Tan said referring to Sandakan, the second largest city in Sabah whose harbor is an inlet of the Sulu Sea.
He said the main focus was to upgrade services at Sandakan and Zamboanga ports as they were the gateways between Sabah and the southern Philippines. He said the Asian Development Bank also appointed a consultant company that would conduct a study and provide suggestions to improve services at the two ports.
“This is a positive development to boost bilateral trade between the private sector here and in Zamboanga. I hope after the study has been completed will be followed up with implementation of the ways recommended to improve services. This is crucial because of the keen competition in the global business environment,” he added.
Zamboanga City which lies on the tip of western Mindanao is the center of trade of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, all part of the Muslim autonomous region. It is also why Zamboanga remains one of the wealthiest cities in Mindanao.
In Sulu, Governor Sakur Tan is also pursuing efforts to hasten trade and commerce between Sabah and his province. He said the recent renovation of the Sulu airport would boost domestic trade and in return increase the flow of commerce in the provinces and Zamboanga City.
“We have trade and various programs that aim to attract investments and we are linking up with our neighbors to help in pursuing the mission and vision of the BIMP-EAGA,” Tan said.
The airport in Sulu, whose renovation was funded by the US and the Philippine governments, can accommodate larger aircrafts. And Sulu’s bustling ports are also gateway to Malaysia and Indonesia. (Mindanao Examiner)
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 21, 2010) – Government troops rescued Monday a kidnapped Chinese-Filipino trader in a daring raid on a hideout in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said four gang members were captured in the raid in Talon-Talon village where Vinton So was recovered at around 3:30 p.m. The raiders, led by Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of an anti-terror task force, swooped down on the gang’s hideout and rescued the 47-year old junk shop owner without firing any shots.
“It was quick. The kidnappers were surprised by the raid and we rescued Vinton So without any shots fired,” Baluyot said, adding, the rescue was part of an intelligence operation with the police.
He said the four kidnappers – two of them women – were being investigated if they have links with the Abu Sayyaf rebels, whose group is tied with the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya, blamed for the spate of kidnappings and terrorism in the restive region.
“Most of the kidnappers are from Jolo (town) in Sulu (province) and we still don’t know if they have links or members of the Abu Sayyaf. They are still being interrogated,” Santiago said.
Gunmen abducted So inside his junk shop in the village of Santa Maria on Sunday afternoon, but his family only reported the incident later in the day.
So was among several prominent people kidnapped this year in Zamboanga City where suspected Abu Sayyaf militants also seized Vicente Barrios, a fish pond operator; and Charlie Reith, a land owner. Both had been freed in exchange for ransoms.
Dozens of traders and businessmen in Zamboanga said they have also received threats from kidnappers and urged authorities to put efforts in protecting them.
Several people were also kidnapped in Zamboanga City in recent years and were released after their families paid huge ransoms.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf kidnappers are also holding two Malaysian seaweed farmers and have demanded two million ringgits in exchange for their safe release.
The duo - Tsen Vui Chung, 42, and his cousin Lai Wing Chau, 33, - were seized in February from their farm in the island of Pulau Sebangkit in Sabah and were taken to Tawi-Tawi province in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 24, 2010) – The commander of the elite SWAT team of the local police has denied Tuesday extortion charges made by a group of Muslim traders against them.
The accusers, who buy and sell second-hand cell phones, accused members of the SWAT team of extorting money from them. They said the SWAT team seized their phones after they failed to pay seven thousand pesos the policemen were demanding from them every week. “They raided our places and seized all our phones and this came after we failed to pay seven thousand pesos they were asking from us,” one trader told TV 11, a local television station.
But the allegations was denied by Inspector Noel Nosa, commander of the local SWAT force, said the accusations were aimed at maligning them.
“There is no truth to the allegations. They are just maligning us because of the campaign that we are conducting against illegal vendors, especially those that sell stolen phones,” he told the TV 11.
It was unknown why the SWAT is undertaking such operations against illegal vendors in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 23, 2010) – Muslim traders selling second-hand cell phones in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines have accused local members of the police elite SWAT team of extortion.
They said the SWAT team seized their phones after they failed to pay seven thousand pesos the policemen were demanding from them every week. “They raided our places and seized all our phones and this came after we failed to pay seven thousand pesos they were asking from us,” one trader told TV 11, a local television station.
Another trader also showed text messages purportedly from one of the officers who warned that police would raid their place if they fail to pay up. “We are seeking help from the government to stop these nefarious activities. We are poor, we want justice,” he said.
There was no immediate statement from the authorities on the allegations, but unscrupulous policemen had been accused in the past of protecting illegal gambling in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
A pet shop worker cleans a bird cage on the side of a busy road in Zamboanga city in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
Philippine soldiers recover Wednesday, August 18, 2010 the wreck of a navy Bolkow chopper that crashed off Zamboanga City. Security officials say three passengers were rescued, but the two chopper pilots are still missing. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Jung Francisco)
The two were among a group of armed men who killed six fishermen last week during an attack on a trawler near Eleven Islands in the eastern coast of Zamboanga, said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the local police chief.
He said the two men had been identified by a lone witness who hid on one of the trawler’s rooms during Thursday attack. The witness said the gunmen intercepted their trawler and told the crew to jump off the boat and were later shot and hacked with machetes.
“We have filed criminal charges against the two suspects and there is an operation to track down the others involved in the attack,” he said.
The attack was only discovered on Friday after the witness - son of one the victims - who feared the gunmen were still around, managed to sail the trawler back to the fish port of Sangali in Zamboanga.
De Ocampo said attack was connected to a family feud.
Clan war or locally known as “rido”, is common in many parts of the southern Philippines. The U.S. Agency for International Development and think -tank Asia Foundation have said more than 3,000 people have been killed over the past seven decades in family feuds in the southern Philippines.
In Zamboanga City, more than two dozen vengeance killings occurred in recent months in three villages involving Christian and Muslim families. And this is also common in Basilan, Sulu, Maguindanao and other parts of the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Rido can involve disputes among family members or among two or more rival families, pitting neighbors or different ethnic groups against each other. The disputes center on issues of land, money, marriage or political power and involve revenge killings.
The violence increases with each act of retaliation, broadening to include those not directly involved in the dispute, including women and children, according to the Asia Foundation, adding, some feuds lasted for decades. (Mindanao Examiner)
