Rebels Boast Successful Raid In South RP

COMPOSTELA VALLEY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 19 Sept) – Communist rebels have killed a militia and disarmed several others working for a veneer factory in Compostela Valley province in southern Philippines, a spokesman for the New People’s Army said on Wednesday.

The rebels, from the NPA's Armando Dumandan Command, carted four automatic rifles and a handgun during the weekend raid. The militias are working for the Li Chiang Veneer Plant in Montevista town.

The NPA branded the firm as “despotic” and accused it of actively supporting the military operations against innocent farmers in the town.

“The NPA disarming operation was a punitive action against the company which uses its goons to harass and intimidate residents. One paramilitary element who attempted to open fire was neutralized during the operation,” Marcella Valiente, of the Armando Dumandan Command, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner on Wednesday.

Rubi del Mundo, NPA spokesman for southern Mindanao, also accused the Philippine military of arresting innocent civilians in North Cotabato’s Pigcawayan town on mere suspicion they were sympathizers of the rebel group.

“In its desperate move to crush the revolutionary forces within the regime's three-year delusion, the fascists Armed Forces of the Philippines has only accumulated more crimes against the people, isolating them further from the masses and causing more disgruntlement from their own ranks,” he said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been fighting for decades to establish a Maoist state in the country.

The Philippine government opened peace talks with the rebels, but the negotiations collapsed in 2004 after the United States listed the CPP and the NPA and its political arm, the National Democratic Front, as foreign terrorist organization on Manila’s prodding. (Mindanao Examiner)

Malaysia Detains 84 Filipinos In Sabah

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 19 Sept) – Malaysian authorities arrested dozens of Filipinos for illegally entering northern Sabah, reports said on Wednesday.

Police arrested 84 people, including 17 children, after they were intercepted in two boats during a special three-day operation at the Sungai Kanibungan river mouth in Sabah's northern Pitas district, Malaysia’s The Star reported.

It said police also seized from one of the Filipino skippers of the boats 5,500 turtle eggs and 335 boxes of cigarettes believed smuggled from the Philippines.
With the arrest, police said it uncovered a new landing point for illegal immigrants in northern Sabah.

“They have come into a very remote area to avoid detection,” said Deputy Superintendent Mohd Isa Yusoff, chief of the Kota Marudu police force.

Tens of thousands of illegal Filipinos have been arrested in Sabah the past years and many of them had illegally crossed the oil-rich Malaysian state by boat from Tawi-Tawi island to work in construction sites despite a strict government campaign.

Others were duped by illegal recruiters who promised them work in hotels and resorts in Malaysia, but ended up without jobs and money and had been forced to work in palm oil plantations under constant fear of being arrested.

Malaysia began a crackdown on up to 500,000 illegal foreign workers since 2005 and conducting searches that extended from construction sites in Kuala Lumpur to oil palm plantations in Sabah. The round-up usually involved police, immigration and volunteer squads.

Kuala Lumpur had previously given amnesty that allowed illegal immigrants to leave the country with a promise they could return as legal workers once they received proper documents. The government's tough action has enjoyed popular support in Malaysia, where illegal workers, who had numbered more than a million in a country of 24 million people, have been blamed for crime and other social ills.

Malaysia said the illegal workers do not pay tax and put a heavy burden on state services, such as education and health care, increasing pressure on an already high budget deficit. Some Filipino deportees said they were herded into overcrowded detention camps before being expelled and others reported tales of abuses inside Malaysian jails. (Mindanao Examiner)

OPINION

Respect Our Religion By Amirah Ali Lidasan

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro should listen to UN Rapporteur on Racism about the danger of Islamophobia.

I wish that the UN report delivered by Doudou Diene, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism, will strike at the heart of Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro who announced earlier gave signal to the military to continue their offensives despite of the Ramadhan.

In his speech at the UN Human Rights Council this month, the UN Rapporteur commented that media and political leaders in Europe ‘were equating Islam with violence and terrorism’ and some were even seeking to ‘silence religious practices.’

It is so insensitive of the defense secretary not to think about the plight of the Moro people and not to respect our religion and culture. If military operation would push through, it would be difficult for some Muslims to fully observe fasting, as military operation would mean displacement of people, a very strenuous activity for a person who is supposed to refuse food and water the whole day. Not to mention the tension brought about by constant reminder that war is at hand and that a day or so a bomb would fall in their communities or hit people.

More than 24,000 residents of Basilan and Sulu have been displaced because of the military operation directed against Abu Sayyaf men who were accused of beheading ten elements of the Philippine Marines on July 10, 2007.

In the past, the military operations always involve the displacement of families and individuals, sometimes the whole population of one village. Displacement would mean, families expecting their crops to be harvested will find it difficult to come back to their communities, or they risk being hit by shrapnel of bombs. That’s precisely what happened to Sarah Lumandog, a mother of ten-month old baby who was hit on the leg on August --- while trying to harvest her crops in Ulangkaya Pukan town in Basilan, the site where the marines were supposed to find the presence of the Abu Sayyaf.

A Muslim in fasting has to have his or her community with him or her. It is not just about fasting for the whole day but also a community gathering in the evening and a gathering for congregational prayers in the evening until dawn.

Moros in Manila and elsewhere in the Philippines even go home to their provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao just so they could be with their families on September 12, the first evening before the day of fasting, the day that we Muslims cleanse ourselves and pray for our intention to fast for the month of Ramadhan.

Fasting is supposed to cleanse oneself of impure thoughts. Imagine what all the Moro integrees of the Philippine Army are thinking when they are ordered to attack their fellow Moro communities while in fasting? I wonder if Secretary Teodoro and AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon would issue the same war directives during Christmas time.
In the Philippines, it is easy to use the Abu Sayyaf menace and terrorism to mask religious intolerance of some political leaders of our country when it is very clear that most of the anti-terror policies have affected the Muslim’s observance of Islam.

It is still fresh in our minds how the military bombarded a mosque and the houses in Buliok and Pikit in North Cotabato during the Eid’l Adha on February 11 in 2003 as a way to flush out the the Moro Islamic Liberation Front whom then defense secretary Angelo Reyes accused as terrorists. And the eating of roasted in pigs inside a mosque in then Camp Abubakar during a military operation in May 2000 which was supposedly participated in by no less than former President Joseph Estrada.

Our fellow Filipinos are becoming wary of our Mosques and madrasahs (madaris) which are being tagged as terrorist training camps with their ustadz (asatadiz) being accused as terrorists. It is unfair that with the warrant of arrest issued to catch those who beheaded the ten marines, the 15 ustadz who were included could not come forward and clear their names.

It is unfair for Ustadz Tuan Yang in Talipao, Sulu whose face was put in place of the real Abu Sayyaf leader Yasser Igasan in a booklet released by the US troops.

I do hope that Secretary Teodoro and the AFP would give the Moro people a pause in the military operation, even for the duration of Ramadhan. This would mean a lot for our Muslim brothers and sisters, that for a time we were seen first as Muslims than as terrorists here in our country.

Ramadhan Kareem and Ramadhan Mubarak to all!

US Deploys Troops In Southern RP Island

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 19 Sept) – About a dozen US soldiers have been deployed to the southern Philippine island of Basilan to help troops defeat terrorism, officials said Wednesday.

“At the request of Western Mindanao Command a small number of US forces have moved to Basilan to support Task Force Thunder in their efforts against the Abu Sayyaf Group,” Maj. Eugene Batara, a Filipino army spokesman, said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) created the task force to crush growing Abu Sayyaf presence in Basilan island, where militants decapitated ten Marines in Al-Barka town in July.

He said the American troops, assigned to the Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines, are part of the ongoing U.S. support in operations against terrorist organizations throughout Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.

“This support includes the sharing of information as well as the planning and execution of Civil Military Operations. U.S. troops have commonly supported AFP operations on Basilan going back to 2002, and have worked with the AFP most recently to conduct medical clinics and participate in engineering projects,” Batara said.

He said the presence of U. S. advisors in Basilan is similar to what American forces are doing in Sulu. “They are helping us defeat terrorism and at the same time working with AFP to carry out humanitarian activities,” he said, adding, the U.S. troops would not be involved in combat operations.

More than a thousand U.S. troops were previously sent to Basilan five years ago to train Filipino soldiers in anti-terrorism exercises dubbed as Balikatan 2002.

The Balikatan, which means “shoulder-to-shoulder”, is a series of annual trainings aimed at improving combined planning, combat readiness, and interoperability while enhancing security relations and demonstrating U.S. resolve to support the Philippines against aggression and assist the local military to build capacity to counter terrorism. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 Muslim Groups Clashed, 10 Killed In South RP

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 19 Sept) – Ten people were killed in a firefight between two warring Muslim groups in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said supporters of former Pagalungan town vice mayor Norodin Matalam and village chieftain Daitug Guima clashed at bridge in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province, killing 10 people.

Among those killed were Guima and six of his followers, two civilians and one from Matalam’s side. The former governor was also wounded in the fighting, said Army Col. Pedro Soria, commander of the 602nd Infantry Brigade.

Other reports said Matalam’s wife was also wounded, but this could not be independently confirmed.

“Ten people are dead and police authorities are still investigating the fighting, but apparently the two sides were long political opponents. We appeal to followers of both sides to stay calm,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said Matalam’s group was heading to a village in North Cotabato to visit his farm while Guima and his companions were on their way to a gathering when they caught each other at the bridge.

“The fighting broke out after supporters of the two warring groups suddenly fired at each other on top of the bridge in the village of Lumayong,” Soria said.

Matalam ran for mayor in Pagalungan in elections this year, but lost to Uto Montowal, however, he contested his defeat. He said elections in Pagalungan were allegedly marred with cheating and fraud and that one of those who exposed poll irregularities, Musa Dimasidsing, the Maguindanao Schools District chief, was shot dead inside an Islamic school. (Mark Navales and Juan Magtanggol)

Philippine Rebels Target Miners, Foiling Drive for $6.7 Billion: Bloomberg

MANILA, Philippines - Jasper, a 28-year-old medic in the New People's Army, says he's been fighting Philippine government forces since he was 13. Now he has a new enemy: international mining companies.

The military wing of the Philippine Communist Party last month vowed to increase armed and unarmed efforts to prevent miners such as Xstrata Plc from "plundering" the country's resources. Last week, the communists rejected President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's offer of an amnesty for the rebels.

"Companies or even military detachments that are attacked deserve to be punished," said Jasper, who asked to be identified only by his nickname for fear of being arrested. "They are all guilty of violating human rights."

Rebel defiance may stall efforts by overseas miners such as Xstrata and OceanaGold Corp. to develop copper, gold and nickel deposits the government has valued at as much as $1 trillion.

Safety concerns in communist-held areas have helped limit foreign investment in 23 mining projects to a 10th of the $6.7 billion Arroyo targeted in 2004, according to Bloomberg calculations.

"Those businesses that are intending to set up mining operations will be in serious trouble,'' said Rey Trillana, a political scientist at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. "The New People's Army has the capability to stage attacks. They can disrupt investments, threaten businesses."

In April, about 50 rebels attacked a gold mine being developed by CGA Mining Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based company, in central Masbate province. A policeman who chased them was killed.

The rebels set fire to old building equipment and planted home-made bombs, later cleared by military, said Johan Raadsma, regional manager at Philippine Gold Ltd., a CGA unit.

The attack was "a wake-up call for us," Raadsma said in April. "We have not been diligent in communicating to all of the Masbate people the various things we've done for the community."

CGA will invest 10.6 billion pesos ($226 million) in the mine, including 169 million pesos for community projects, said Chief Executive Officer Michael Carrick.

The rebels "seem to not believe that the mining industry can make a difference in the development of the countryside and alleviating poverty," said Nelia Halcon, vice president of the Philippine Chamber of Mines, which represents more than 100 companies.

Overseas miners abandoned Philippine exploration projects in the 1980s because of declining metals prices. Arroyo vowed to lure them back in 2004 after the Supreme Court upheld a law that allows foreigners to own 100 percent of mining companies.

So far, seven of the government's 23 priority mining projects are being developed by international companies. Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata and OceanaGold, a Melbourne gold miner, are the only two with market values of more than $130 million.

Xstrata hired experts to assess security risks to employees before buying 63 percent of the country's biggest copper and gold mine on southern Mindanao island in December, said Neal O'Connor, general counsel at Xstrata Copper in Brisbane, Australia.

"The bottom line is, we were aware of the region we were going into," O'Connor said.

A Maoist group, the New People's Army has 27 battalions of full-time fighters, according to the Communist Party's Web site. The U.S. State Department, which in 2004 named the Communist Party and the New People's Army as terrorist groups, estimates the rebel forces at 10,000.

Philippine authorities blame them for 40,000 deaths, mostly of soldiers, since the rebellion began in 1969. The Communist Party says 60,000 have died during military and police campaigns.

The rebels aim to protect Filipinos from exploitation by "foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism," according to the Web site.

Fighters move between small camps in the mountains, where the Philippine army can't penetrate, Trillana said. The rebels flourish among the poor in a country where 40 percent of the 87 million people live on less than $2 a day, he said.

"The NPA was founded on a legitimate ideology," Trillana said.

"Some segments of the movement have resorted to extortion and kidnapping, but it's hard to label them a terrorist group."

Jasper said he was trained from age 13 to provide medical care to the poor. Four years after he was captured by the military, Jasper is heading back to the mountains. Rebel spokesmen didn't respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Wherever overseas miners start operations, the New People's Army emerges, said Jogy Fojas, deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Members charge a "revolutionary tax" to let companies operate without interference, Fojas said. Demands are accompanied by bomb threats.

"Terror is the nature of their activities," Fojas said.

The best weapon against the rebels is to let local residents share the benefits of mining, said Leuvino Valencia, a vice president in the Philippines of Gatwick, England-based G4S Plc, the world's second-largest security company.

"The higher your spending on community development, the lower the risk of an attack and the less you need to spend on security," said Valencia, whose company advises some miners in the Philippines.

"That's what we always tell clients."(LuziAnn Javier/Bloomberg.com)

Top NPA Leader Yields In Southern Philippines

DAVAO DEL NORTE, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 18 Sept) – A communist rebel leader has surrendered to Philippine authorities in the southern province of Compostela Valley, officials said on Tuesday.

Officials said Raymond Subla, of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, surrendered to the Army’s 60th Infantry Battalion on Monday in the village of Bugdangan in Laak town. Subla, 22, joined the New People's Army when he was ten years old and officials said his surrender was a big blow to the rebel group.

Subla, a member of the indigenous Lumad tribe, also surrendered an M60 machine gun, an M16 rifle and an anti-tank weapon, including assorted munitions and a claymore mine.

Officials said Subla decided to yield after a successful negotiation with the military.

Army Lt. Col. Perfecto Rimando said the military will help Subla get an amnesty from the government so he could live peacefully with his family.

Manila is offering amnesty to rebels under the so-called Balik Baril program Under the Balik-Baril, which means "Bring a Rifle Improve your Livelihood," the government pays as much as P25, 000 for weapons surrendered by rebels, aside from at least P18,000 in initial aid.

Those who surrender also undergo livelihood training of their choice. The amnesty program aims to convince the rebels to abandon their armed struggle and return to the fold of the law.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), is fighting the past three decades to topple the government and install a Marxist state in the country.

The United States and the European Union blacklisted the CPP and NPA, including its political wing, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, on Manila's prodding and froze their assets abroad. (Merlyn Manos)

Photo: City Works

Workers in Zamboanga City clean up canals on Tuesday September 18, 2007. Zamboanga City in southern Philippines continues to attract local and foreign investors because of improved peace and order and a sound economy. Former congressman, Celso Lobregat, is now the mayor of Zamboanga City branded as Asia's Latin City because of its dialect which is a mixture of Spanish and other local dialects. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Postpone Village Polls And Then Blame High Prices Of Crude Oil

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 18 Sept) – With prices of crude oil soaring, Filipino lawmakers now have reasons to postpone next month’s village polls in what they say would be a big savings for the government.

Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said the fresh surge in crude oil prices to new highs above $80 per barrel drove the House of Representatives to finally pass a bill seeking to reset the Oct. 29 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to May 2009.

“This is not just about the modest government savings. This is about stopping some P8 billion in election-related spending by candidates from being needlessly pumped into the system at a time when oil prices are hovering at or near record highs,” Gullas said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Gullas is the author of the bill that seeks to postpone the polls despite a strong protest from many groups to cancel the elections.

He insisted that the P8-billion spending would come barely six months after bets in the May 14 mid-term elections swamped the system with tens of billions of pesos.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said there is a potential new inflationary pressure on consumer prices that may be brought about the recent surge in oil prices.

"High oil prices are becoming a concern. Definitely, it will have an impact on inflation, not immediately this September because the oil companies here still have inventory," BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said.

Guinigundo said the adverse impact of the recent surge in oil prices would likely be felt starting October, right around the time election-related spending in connection with the Barangay and SK polls is expected to heighten.

Crude oil futures touched record highs above $80 per barrel last week.

"If we unnecessarily stir inflation in a big way, we're afraid this might force the BSP to eventually raise interest rates, or keep them at current levels, at a time when other countries are already lowering rates," Gullas said.

The high lending rates in turn could dampen the country's strong economic expansion, and set back the debt-laden government's financial recovery, Gullas warned.

"We know how indebted the National Treasury is, despite the favorably strong peso that has allowed the government to lessen its dollar-denominated liabilities. The government is thus extremely vulnerable to rising interest rates, just like the private sector," Gullas said.

Excessive money supply tends to put upward pressure on consumer prices as people are induced to spend more when they have more cash in their pockets.

Raising interest rates is one of the options available to the BSP to curb excessive money supply and fight any added inflationary risks.

The polls have been previously reset many times and maybe postponed in 2009 because of the Presidential and national polls in 2010. (Mindanao Examiner)

Commuter Bus Bombed In South RP

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 18 Sept) – A homemade bomb exploded Tuesday inside a commuter, the second in three days in the restive region of the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the blast occurred at around noontime in South Cotabato’s Marbel town, but there were no reports of injuries or casualties, said Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“A cell phone was used to detonate the bomb left inside the bus. There were no reports of casualties,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

The bomb was detonated shortly after passengers disembarked at a bus depot.
No individual of group claimed responsibility for the blast and police and military authorities are still investigating the motives of the attack.

Moro rebels and communist insurgents, blamed for previous attacks, are actively operating in the province.

On Saturday, a bomb planted underneath a Coca-Cola delivery truck also exploded in nearby Cotabato City and wounding one person. No group owned up to the attack.

Last week, Australia banned its citizens from traveling to southern Philippines, particularly in Zamboanga peninsula in Mindanao island, because of a possible terror attacks.

“We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines because of the high threat of terrorist attack. We continue to receive credible reports that terrorists are planning attacks against a range of targets, including places frequented by foreigners,” the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned.

Security forces were tracking down Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants, including Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both tagged by Jakarta as behind the Bali bombings; and Zulkifli bin Hir, who are hiding in the southern Philippines. (Juan Magtanggol)

Abu Sayyaf Loses Foreign Funding

BASILAN ISLAND, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 18 Sept) – The Abu Sayyaf group has stopped receiving funding from abroad and its members are on the run as security forces continue hunting down militants in the troubled southern Philippine region.

Abu Kahlid, an Abu Sayyaf militant, in a clandestine interview with Al-Jazeera television in Basilan island, said his group has lost capability in launching large scale attacks similar to the firebombing of a ferry off Manila Bay in February 2004 that killed over 100 people.

Khalid is a cousin of a senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who is wanted both by the Philippines and the United States for the killings of two American citizens kidnapped in 2001.

Al-Jazeera reported Monday that Khalid admitted the Abu Sayyaf now has no more capabilities to launch large scale attacks.

He also said the Abu Sayyaf stopped receiving funding from abroad and that training its fighters have move to other region.

It was unclear who was funding the Abu Sayyaf, but Filipino and U.S. authorities have linked the group to Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya terror network.

The Abu Sayyaf last month published excerpts of a recruitment film on YouTube where the video is spoken in Arabic and was appealing for funding to Middle Eastern donors so it can carry out jihad in the Philippines.

It was taken out by YouTube after Philippine military officials said the video was promoting terrorism.

During the interview, Khalid, his face covered to hide his identity, warned that: “We will spare no one, whether they are Christians or Muslims.”

However, he said his conscience has bothered him and asked for forgives to those victimized by the Abu Sayyaf atrocities. “My conscience did bother me that why I laid low for a while. I feel bad for those who were victimized so I ask forgiveness for what I have done.”

“I have a family now and swear to God if I die and go to hell; there is nothing more I can do. I am so tired and I don’t want to go hiding anymore, I don’t want to be tired anymore,” he said.

Khalid was with another Abu Sayyaf militant, Abu Karim, said to be involved in attack on government soldiers in Basilan’s Al-Barka town in July 10. Ten Marines were beheaded in that fighting.

“It’s not always an order from Hapilon,” Khalid said, adding, younger men are coming in and acting on their own, like Abu Karim, 25, who rebelled against his parents to prove that he is a man.

Like Khalid, the young militant’s face was also covered.

Al-Jazeera reported that Karim joined the Abu Sayyaf along with young recruits in Basilan island, but wanted to leave the group because of the intense government operation.

“Abu Karim, who also joined the Abu Sayyaf and is said to be among those who decapitated ten Marines in Basilan island’s Al-Barka town, now wanted out of the group,” Al-Jazeera said in its English report now also in the popular video website YouTube.

The Al-Jazeera report ended with this: “For many of the island’s younger generation, it is the Abu Sayyaf not the military that remains the symbol of bravery regardless of leadership in a culture where guns equal power and Abu Sayyaf young recruits are waiting for their next mission to prove themselves, for them that is their only cause it could just be a matter of time before these recruits return.”

The Philippine military on Tuesday said the hunt for the Abu Sayyaf continues in Basilan island. “The operation is going on. Security forces are hunting down the Abu Sayyaf and their supporters,” Army Maj. Eugene Batara, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, told the Mindanao Examiner.

“We are also tracking down Abu Khalid and Abu Karim and we will arrest those who are coddling the two terrorists,” he said.

The Abu Sayyaf is in the U.S. list of international terrorist organizations and Washington offered as much as five million dollars bounties for the capture of Isnilon and other known terror leaders.

Many of the Abu Sayyaf senior leaders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani have been killed the past years and the group is now in disarray. But despite the government offensive the Abu Sayyaf group remains a top security concern for Manila and Washington.

Just last month, a suspected Abu Sayyaf bombing in Zamboanga City injured at least 16 people.

The Abu Sayyaf is believed to be coddling two of Indonesia’s most wanted terrorists, Jemaah Islamiya militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek in southern Philippines. Jakarta tagged both men as behind the 2002 Bali resort bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. (Mindanao Examiner)

Photo: Philippine Soldiers Clean Zamboanga Beach

Dozens of government soldiers join a recent clean-up drive along a beach in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines as part of the celebration of the National Clean-Up month. The campaign, headed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, is joined by the Western Mindanao Command, the Philippine Air Force, the Army and the Navy.(David Las Marias)

2 Dead As Groups Clashed In South RP Over Jobs At Sea Port

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 17 Sept) – Two people were killed and four others wounded in a firefight between two Muslim groups on a remote island town of Pangutaran in southern Philippines, officials said Monday.

Officials said the firefight erupted at the weekend after an altercation between the two groups and that one of the dead was Darwin Nanoh, son of the town’s mayor, Ahmad Nanoh.

Nanoh’s son clashed with the group of Basit Ismael, who was appointed as new port collector by the Regional Ports Authority of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Ismael was also killed in the fighting, said Maj. Gen. Reuben Rafael, commander of military forces in the area.

“Apparently the group of Basit Ismael arrived in the town and wanted to take over immediately as port collector, a position held by Darwin Nanoh and there was an altercation which ended in a firefight,” Rafael told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said Ismael arrived with armed companions. “Both Darwin Nanoh and Basit Ismael are dead and four others wounded in this unnecessary incident,” he said.

It was unknown why Ismael brought armed companions. Rafael said troops were sent to Pangutaran to prevent further clashes between supporters of the two groups. (Mindanao Examiner)

Drawing The Line On Foreign Troops: The Manila Times Editorial

MANILA, Philippines - ABS-CBN has reported that the US military approved last week a $6.25-million contract to beef up support services for the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. The task force serves not only as an advisory group that determines how best to assist the Philippine Armed Forces in its war against Islamic extremists in Mindanao. It also gathers intelligence using unmanned surveillance planes and passes it on to the Philippine military.

The contract was awarded to Global Contingency Services, a company based in Irving, Texas. It is the same outfit that had bagged a six-month, $14.4-million contract to provide “operations support” for the task force in June.

Last month The Times ran an exclusive story about the American military building a host of projects in Jolo, Tawi-Tawi and Maguindanao. Global Contingency Services is very much involved in those projects, The Times learned.

The Times story hinted that the flurry of construction activity points to the growing US military presence in conflict areas in Mindanao. It also suggested that the facilities being built were not temporary camps but the initial stages of permanent bases. If they are structures for bases, then Washington has a lot of explaining to do. The US lost its basing rights in the Philippines almost two decades ago.

A US Embassy official quickly denied the facilities were permanent bases. They were temporary structures for the “medical, logistical and administrative services” of American troops, the official explained.

The ABS-CBN report dovetails with The Times story and, at the same time, injects a new dimension to it. ABS-CBN quotes Adm. Thomas Fargo, former commander of the US Pacific Command, as saying: “The global force posture we seek is about places and not bases.” What Fargo espouses are “rapidly deployable, flexible forces to meet our national defense needs.”

A sizeable portion of those forces would definitely be deployed in Mindanao, which Washington considers as a “frontline” in the global war on terror.

The construction projects can only mean that US troops are in the Philippines for the long haul. But for how long? There is no definite timetable, although Ernesto Carolina, defense undersecretary for Philippines Defense Reform, told ABS-CBN American troops could be here at least until 2014. That is when the 10-year Philippine Defense Reform program ends. The program aims to improve the capabilities of the AFP with guidance and financing from the US.

The growing American military presence must be viewed against the backdrop of today’s realities. Terrorism knows no borders, as 9/11and the subsequent attacks in Bali, Madrid and London painfully illustrated. Defeating it calls for coordinated action, nations closing ranks and working as a tight-knit force. The Philippines needs all the help it can get, and US assistance is most welcome. But the line must be clearly drawn.

Arroyo Inaugurates Government Projects In Southern Philippines

PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Sept) - President Gloria Arroyo is expected to visit Pagadian City in the southern Zamboanga del Sur province on Monday to lead officials in the inauguration of government projects.

Arroyo’s arrival coincides with the 55th anniversary of the province where she will inaugurate the Agro-Tourism and Heritage Complex and also unveil the Megayon marker at the provincial government complex, according to the Philippine News Agency.

She will also announce a P32.5 million rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads and a P25 million communal irrigation system in the province under the Mindanao Rural Improvement Project.

Arroyo will also give a speech on the launching of the 3rd Biyahe Na Zambo Sur, an annual exposition showcasing the tourism attractions in the province and the Megayon Festival, a celebration of peace and solidarity which features the age-old traditions and customs of the local people. (Joseph Danda)

Mindanao Examiner Sept. 17-23, 2007

Mindanao Examiner Front Page and Back Page for September 17-23, 2007. For advertising, please contact our Sales Department at 062-9925480.

Diarrhea Kills 2 In South RP

A man holds his child Sunday September 16, 2007 as a medical technologist gets a rectal swab sample and a mountain spring where villagers get their water for food in North Upi town in Shariff Kabunsuan province in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)

SHARIFF KABUNSUAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Sept) – Two people had died and five dozens more were infected with a still unknown disease in two remote villages in the southern Philippines, health officials said Sunday.

Health workers and doctors rushed to North Upi town in the province of Shariff Kabunsuan where at least 47 villagers fell sick.

Doctors on Sunday put up temporary emergency stations in the village of Tubuan and Lahangkup to treat the sick.

“Those who are sick were suffering from diarrhea, bloody diarrhea and two people have already died, a girl and an adult and at least 57 others are also infected,” Julie Villadolid, of the Department of Health in the Muslims autonomous region, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Health workers suspect contaminated water was the culprit in the outbreak of diseases in the two villages. Villagers get their water from springs, Villadolid said.

“We have taken rectal swab from the sick and water samples from mountain springs to determine the cause of the outbreak of diseases and diarrhea,” she said.

Escherichia coli bacteria are a leading cause of bloody diarrhea. The symptoms are worse in children and older people, and especially in people who have another illness. Most E. coli infections come from drinking contaminated water and milk from animals such as goats and buffaloes.

Just this year, at least 18 people had died from viral gastroenteritis in Zamboanga City and Basilan island. Gastroenteritis is an acute infectious syndrome of the stomach lining and intestines and health experts said the symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps.

Villadolid said they are still awaiting the results of laboratory tests to determine whether E. coli or other bacteria is the cause of the outbreak of diseases in the town. (Mark Navales)

Sulu To Become Like RP's Boracay Resorts Or Thailand's Phuket

One of the many white sands beach in Sulu province. Sulu is embarking on an ambitious tourism program that will make it like world-famous resorts similar to Phuket in Thailand. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Sept) – Sulu province in the southern Philippines may soon become an island resort similar to Boracay in central Philippines or even Phuket in Thailand as part of a new tourism plan to lure Filipino and foreign visitors.

Governor Sakur Tan said they would convert some of Sulu’s islands and pristine beaches into resorts, complete with amenities and business centers and land and water vessels to transport holiday-makers.

“We wanted to develop Sulu into one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines and we are pursuing an ambitious program to promote tourism and also trade and investments,” Tan told reporters.

Tan said the plan to put up world-class resorts in Sulu would probably begin in 2008 and would take between one to two years to finish. “We are now working on this project,” he said.

Aside from Sulu’s white-sands beaches, Tan said the province also boasts of dive sites and is rich in marine resources.

Tan said Sulu would also begin shipping live marine products, such as groupers and lobsters and abalone to buyers in Manila and Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

He said that there is plan to put up an air cargo and passenger airlines in Sulu to further help local fishermen and cooperatives sell their products, from coffee beans to live marine animals.

“This is a long-term plan that will help many people and cooperatives in Sulu and eventually the province will become a center of marine trade in the southern Philippines. We can supply huge marine products to buyers,” Tan said.

He said the province is also abundant in copra and exotic fruits, such as durian and mangosteen berries and has a steady supply of high-grade abaca ropes.

Just this month, Sulu shipped out about six tons of durian and mangosteen to markets in Manila as part of the so-called “Invest in Peace and Prosperity - Fruits of Hope program.”

The international nongovernmental organization, Asia-America Initiative, headed by Albert Santoli, has supported the program and promised to help even more by tapping other NGOs to help support the peace and development in Sulu.

Sen. Richard Gordon said the government is putting more efforts in Sulu and other areas in Mindanao to help farmers sell their products.

President Gloria Arroyo in August ordered a "humanitarian and development offensive" in Jolo island.

Sen. Loren Legarda has filed a bill proposing the creation of a special economic zone and free port in Jolo island to promote and hasten the industrial and economic development of the area.

The SSEZA shall be provided with transportation, telecommunication, and other facilities needed to attract legitimate and productive foreign investments, generates linkage with industries and create employment opportunities for the people of the province, she said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Indon JI Militant, Hawak Ng Militar Sa Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Sept) – Hawak ng Western Mindanao Command ngayon ang isang Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya militant na umano’y kasamahan ni Bali bomber Dulmatin.

Ito ang kinumpirma sa Mindanao Examiner ni Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, hepe ng Western Mindanao Command, at sinabi nito na kasalukuyang iniimbestigahan ang dayuhan na kasama sa anim na umano’y Abu Sayyaf na nadakip sa lalawigan ng Palawan nitong buwan lamang.

“Iniimbestigahan pa naming ito at may operation kasi eh kaya hindi kami puwedeng magbigay ng anumang impormasyon ukol sa nahuli,” wika nito.

Ngunit sa kabila ng mahigpit na pagbibigay nito ng impormasyon ay kinumpirma naman ni Allaga na may koneksyon kay Dulmatin ang nadakip na dayuhan.

Alarmado naman ngayon ang mga taga-Palawan dahil sa sunod-sunod na huli doon ng mga terorista. Matindi ang operasyon ng militar sa Midnanao at Sulu at maraming mga Abu Sayyaf ang nagsisitakas at hinihinalang nagtatago ang mga ito sa Palawan, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi at Zamboanga.

Nitong buwan lamang ay 3 hinihinalang Abu Sayyaf na siyang nasa likod ng pagpapasabog sa Zamboanga City nuong Aug. 21 ang nahuli at isa pa ang nadakip sa General Santos City.

Si Dulmatin, na isa rin Indonesian, ay kasama sa mga Jemaah Islamiya militants na nagpasabog ng mga bomba sa Baili island resort nuong 2002 na ikinamatay ng 202 katao, kabilang ang 88 Australians.

Bukod kay Dulmatin ay nasa Mindanao rin ang kasamahan nitong sina Umar Patek at Zulkfli bin Hir, na pinuno naman ng Kumpulan Malaysia, isang radical na grupo na kaalyado ng Jemaah Islamiya. (Mindanao Examiner)

Case of LTTE’s Arms Smugglers–In–Chief: Curiouser & Curiouser - Lanka Guardian

Has a similar thing happened in the case of KP? Have the Americans whisked him out of Thailand without his being formally arrested in order to question him on the LTTE's links with Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda jihadi organisations such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Pakistan and Abu Sayyaf of the Philippines?

In its official web site, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry announced on September 11,2007, that the Thai authorities arrested at Bangkok on September 10,2007, the LTTE's chief arms procurer, Shanmugan Kumaran Tharmalingam, also known as Kumaran Pathmanathan or "KP".

However, Mr.Piyira Khempon, a spokesman of the Thai Foreign Ministry ,was quoted as saying that the Government was not aware of any such arrest. Dismissing the report, Thai police spokesman Lt General Narong Yangyern was quoted as saying that a thorough check showed that the last time Thai police arrested any LTTE member was in 2003 and he was extradited on August 15, 2007 to Sri Lanka. In a report datelined Colombo, the "Asia Tribune", an online newspaper, claimed that KP had obtained Thai citizenship and was married to a Thai woman.

The denial by the Thai Police of the " arrest" of K.P. did not mean that they had not informally picked up a person with a Thai passport, believed to be identical with KP, for questioning. It is known that the police forces in South and South-East Asia generally avoid formally arresting a terrorist suspect before investigation is complete because a formal arrest means he has to be produced before a court within a certain period of time.

The majority of Al Qaeda suspects informally picked up by the Pakistani intelligence and handed over to the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were never formally arrested and hence there are no records with the Pakistan Police regarding their arrest.
The relatives of these persons have filed habeas corpus petitions before the Pakistan Supreme Court.

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has denied that they were "arrested" and any knowledge of their whereabouts. Some of them are alleged to be in the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.

In September,2003, the Thai Police informally picked up Hambali, the then operational chief of Indonesia's Jemmah Islamiyah, at Ayuthya and handed him over to the FBI, which flew him out to Diego Garcia for questioning. He was then reportedly shifted to Guantanamo Bay.

The Thai Police have not so far officially admitted his arrest. The Americans did not confirm for a long time that he was in their custody. They did not allow the Indonesians to join in his interrogation. They did not hand him over to the Indonesian Police.

Has a similar thing happened in the case of KP? Have the Americans whisked him out of Thailand without his being formally arrested in order to question him on the LTTE's links with Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda jihadi organisations such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Pakistan and Abu Sayyaf of the Philippines?

In the last two years, two operations of the LTTE to procure and smuggle arms and ammunition, including surface-to-air missiles, from the US have been neutralised by the FBI, which would be interested in questioning KP about them. KP is of interest not only to India and Sri Lanka, but also to the US.(B.Raman/the writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai)