45 injured as truck falls into ravine in South RP

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 27, 2009) – At least 45 people were injured after a truck carrying wedding guests plunged into a ravine Tuesday in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police said the driver lost control of the wheel while trying to negotiate a curve road in the village of Bulatukan in the town of Makilala and rolled over before plunging down the cliff.

The truck, which came from South Cotabato, was heading to Digos City to attend a wedding when the accident occurred, police said.

The injured passengers were rushed to hospitals. (Geo Solmerano)

Blast hits Cathedral in the southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 27, 2009) – A grenade exploded Tuesday at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the largely Muslim province of Sulu in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the grenade was hurled at the back of the cathedral in the capital town of Jolo at around 10.45 a.m. There was no report of casualties from the blast and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, said Marine Major Ramon David Hontiveros, a regional military spokesman.

“Post-blast investigation reveals that the explosion was caused by an M72 grenade thrown from the back of the cathedral over the rear wall. Nobody was hurt,” Hontiveros said, adding the attack could be a test by terrorists to see the reaction of the police and military forces in the area.

Church officials in Sulu could not be contacted to comment on the attack, but soldiers and policemen have been guarding the cathedral in years because of threats of Abu Sayyaf attacks against priests and nuns.

Early this year, suspected Abu Sayyaf militants also detonated a homemade bomb in front of the cathedral. The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed by the police and military for the spate of kidnappings for ransom and terrorism in the southern Philippines.

In 1997, militants shot dead Sulu Bishop Benjamin de Jesus as he was walking in front of the cathedral. (Mindanao Examiner)

Roll back oil prices, House Speaker tells gas firms

MANILA, Philippines - Even with the recent consensus of the country's oil firms to heed with the directive of President Gloria Arroyo to restore their pump prices to the October 15 level of oil prices, Speaker Prospero Nograles said the rollback should take place immediately as he noted that the so-called Big 3 - Shell, Caltex and Petron - might try to use dilatory tactics to prolong the implementation of the president's order.

“It should just be a phone call away and the roll back can take effect immediately. However, the representatives of the so-called Big 3 are raising some concerns before their compliance to the president's directive. This, to me, is just a dilatory tactic,” Nograles said, as he lauded President Arroyo for her swift action to stop the oil firms from further punishing the millions of Filipinos who were devastated by typhoons.

“The last thing we want is another increase in oil products. Everybody is affected, especially those in the lower income groups,” Nograles said.

Nograles added that now is a most timely opportunity for these big companies to help alleviate the pains being suffered by Filipinos. “Anyway, when times are good, profits come flowing like water from springs,” Nograles noted.

The House leader also lauded the decision of Unioil on Sunday to cut diesel prices by P2/liter; gasoline by P1.25/liter; regular gasoline by P0.85/liter and kerosene by P1.50/liter.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued last Friday an Executive Order to keep pump prices at their October 15 levels. The other oil players have yet to announce if they will comply with the President’s directive and follow Unioil’s move.

Thinking aloud, the Speaker expressed concern why the Big 3 have not responded to the President's directive as quickly as Unioil.

“I would like to believe that they could be studying how much they can reduce their pump prices,” Nograles said, adding that “if Unioil can do it, why not the big players?” (With a report from Gil Bugaoisan)

NPA Rebels Own Up Killing Of Soldier In Davao City

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 26, 2009) – Communist rebels on Monday have claimed responsibility for the killing of a government soldier in the southern Philippines.

Security officials said two young gunmen attacked Corporal Orly Pedregoza while talking to friends in the remote village of Malabog in Paquibato District. The weekend attack also wounded a motorcycle taxi driver and a farmer, said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Simon Santiago, a spokesman for the New People’s Army, said the soldier was killed after he fought off rebels who were sent to arrest him because of his involvement in the rape-slay of Rebelyn Pitao, whose father Leoncio Pitao, is a senior NPA leader in Mindanao.

Pitao, 20, was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her family said the body bore torture marks and was believed raped before she was stabbed in the chest.

NPA spokesman Simon Santiago said Pedregoza, a member of the 10th Infantry Division's Military Intelligence Battalion, was ordered arrested to face trial by a rebel court.

“He was armed, dangerous and gave battle to the NPA arresting team that resulted to his death. Corporal Pedregoza was one of the 21 respondents indicted by the People's Court for the rape-slay of civilian Rebelyn Pitao,” Santiago said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

He said rebels seized from the soldier three hand grenades, intelligence documents, a .357-caliber pistol and a counterfeit 1,000 peso bill.

He said Pedregoza's arrest order along with several others was issued by the People's Court following an indictment against 21 others, including 11 military intelligence members, on March 29 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law in the abduction, torture, rape and brutal murder of the woman.

“The different units and commands of the New People's Army shall continue to effect the arrest order of the People's Court to individuals, persons and fugitives who are facing serious cases being lodged before the People's Court. With the boundless support from the oppressed masses to the strong determination of the people's army, the revolutionary movement shall pursue the ends of justice,” Santiago said.

In May, communist rebels also gunned down Ruben Bitang, a suspect in the brutal murder of Pitao, in Panabo City in Davao del Norte province.

The NPA said Bitang was the driver of the van used in the abduction of the rebel leader’s daughter. Bitang’s nephew, Army Sergeant Helvin Bitang who is assigned with the Military Intelligence Group, was also among those accused by the rebels in the killing of Pitao.

The army spokesman said Pedregoza was unarmed at the time of the attack.
“Corporal Orly Pedregoza, a resident of Paquibato and assigned with the 10th Infantry Division, died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds on his head. He was practically defenseless as he was attending a religious festivity of Filipinista of the Philippine Independent Church, a local Christian religious sect, when simultaneously attacked by at least two youthful gunmen while talking to some friends and acquaintances,” Garcia said.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, the army division commander, also condemned the rebel attack, saying, the killing shows the true nature of the NPA.

“We condemn the killing perpetrated by this atrocious group and pray that the wheel of justice grind in the interest of truth and of the people. We commiserate with the families of the many victims of these terrorists as we appeal for sobriety in the pursuit of legal remedies so that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes could be brought before the bar of justice and ultimately serve the punishment due them,” the general said.

Mapagu said the attack was a total disregard to the safety of civilians and contempt to a peaceful gathering in the community. He said rebels last week also killed a 71-year old tribal leader, Datu Intoy Baguio and his 72-year old brother Pablo Ebero, and Silvano delas Alas, a 50-year old farmer in Boston town in the nearby province of Davao Oriental for a still unknown reason.

The NPA has been waging a secessionist war the past four decades and had broken off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after accusing government negotiators of reneging on several agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners. (Mindanao Examiner)

Mindanao Examiner TV Week in Review October 11-17, 2009

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Kidnapped Irish priest in Philippines is alive, Muslim rebels say

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 26, 2009) – The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group helping the government recover a kidnapped Irish clergy in the volatile southern region of Mindanao said the ailing 79-year old missioner is still alive.

Eid kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, said the ailing Columban priest, Michael Sinnott, is being held in Lanao del Sur, a Muslim province in central Mindanao. The Wexford native was kidnapped October 11 from his missionary house in Pagadian City in western Mindanao by a group of pirates led by Guingona Samal.

Media reports last week said Sinnott had died in captivity after suffering from a massive heart attack. The Missionary Society of St. Columban where Sinnott belongs said the priest, who had multiple heart surgeries in the past, is alive, but weak.

“As far as we know, Father Sinnott is alive and being held somewhere in Lanao del Sur. We are coordinating closely with the Philippine authorities to help recover the priest,” Kabalu told the Mindanao Examiner.


“This report that the priest had died could be all part of the kidnappers’ strategy to confuse the authorities or put pressure to Sinnott’s family,” Kabalu said without elaborating further.

Police had previously linked the priest’s kidnapping to a rebel commander Jamat Latip, whose group is operating in Lanao del Sur, but this was denied by the MILF.

At least 2 Irish and three Italian priests had been kidnapped by Moro rebels in Mindanao the past decade and most of them were freed in exchange for huge ransoms. (Mindanao Examiner)

Soldier killed, 2 others wounded in Davao City attack

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 26, 2009) – Suspected communist insurgents killed a government soldier and wounded two civilians in a broad daylight attack in the southern Filipino city of Davao, security officials said Monday.

Officials said two young gunmen attacked Corporal Orly Pedregoza while talking to friends in the remote village of Malabog in Paquibato District. The weekend attack also wounded a motorcycle taxi driver and a farmer, said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

The motive of the attack was unknown, but Garcia blamed the New People’s Army rebels for the killing.

“Corporal Orly Pedregoza, a resident of Paquibato and assigned with the 10th Infantry Division, died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds on his head. He was practically defenceless as he was attending a religious festivity of Filipinista of the Philippine Independent Church, a local Christian religious sect, when simultaneously attacked by at least two youthful gunmen while talking to some friends and acquaintances,” Garcia said.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, the army division commander, also condemned the rebel attack, saying, the killing shows the true nature of the NPA. “We condemn the killing perpetrated by this atrocious group and pray that the wheel of justice grind in the interest of truth and of the people. We commiserate with the families of the many victims of these terrorists as we appeal for sobriety in the pursuit of legal remedies so that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes could be brought before the bar of justice and ultimately serve the punishment due them,” the general said.

Mapagu said the attack was a total disregard to the safety of civilians and contempt to a peaceful gathering in the community.

He said rebels last week also killed a 71-year old tribal leader, Datu Intoy Baguio and his 72-year old brother Pablo Ebero, and Silvano delas Alas, a 50-year old farmer in Boston town in the nearby province of Davao Oriental for a still unknown reason.

The NPA has been waging a secessionist war the past four decades and had broken off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after accusing government negotiators of reneging on several agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners. (Mindanao Examiner)

5 kidnapped forest rangers freed in Southern Philippines

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 25, 2009) – Five forest rangers kidnapped in the southern Philippines had been freed Sunday after a series of government negotiations, reports said.

Government negotiations began Friday after two of the seven captives - Emeliano Gatillo Jr. and Efren Sabuero - had been freed in the town of Sibagat in Agusan del Sur.

The remaining captives - Gabriel Arlan, Rito Espinido, Teofredo Pujadas and two others identified only as Clar and Abogatal – were released unharmed in the province. It was unknown whether the release of the hostages was connected to the demands of the kidnappers.

The seven were abducted by tribesmen who demanded the government to cancel all forest agreements with commercial loggers in areas where there are presence of indigenous communities.

Chief Inspector Martin Gamba, a spokesman for the police task force handling the case, said the negotiation was spearheaded by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

The NCIP is the primary government agency that formulates and implements policies, plans and programs for the recognition, promotion and protection of the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples with due regard to their ancestral domains and lands, self-governance and empowerment, social justice and human rights, and cultural integrity.

Gamba said the kidnappers are believed members of a local indigenous tribe, adding the negotiations were held in the hinterland village pf Padiay in Butuan City in Agusan del Norte province.

The seven men rangers, who are all employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, were kidnapped on October 21 near a forest checkpoint in Butuan City.

The military said the kidnappers have made four demands in exchange for the freedom of the hostages after a man who claimed to be the leader of the gang holding the foresters contacted the DENR.

Major Michelle Anayron, a spokesman for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Mindanao, said the kidnappers demanded the cancellation of the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the town of Sibagat; the awarding of the Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title; government approval of customary farming and the cancellation of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement with commercial logging companies in their area.

The Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the town of Sibagat had already been canceled Friday by the government. (Mindanao Examiner)

No news on kidnapped Irish priest in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 25, 2009) – Kidnappers of an elderly Irish clergy have not contacted authorities in the southern Philippines as the crisis entered its second week.

Reverend Father Michael Sinnott, who will turn 80 in December, was taken at gunpoint October 11 by six men from his missionary home in the western Mindanao city of Pagadian. And the military, which is tracking down the Columban missioner, said the kidnappers are holed out in the hinterlands of Lanao del Sur, an area in central Mindanao where Moro rebels are actively operating.

Authorities said Sinnott, from County Wexford, has had several heart surgeries and badly needs his medicines, but there have been no contact with the kidnappers and making it difficult for his family or the Missionary Society of St. Columban where the ailing priest belongs.

Last week, authorities have offered P200,000 for any information about Sinnott’s whereabouts. Allan Molde, the spokesman for provincial crisis group handling Sinnott’s case, there have been no contacts with the kidnappers, one of them has been identified by the military as pirate leader Guingona Samal.

Police also said that Samal handed the priest to a Moro rebel commander Jamat Latip in Lanao del Sur. Latip denied the allegations, according to Army Colonel Benito de Leon, who contacted the rebel leader by phone last week.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is negotiating peace with Manila, also denied that Latip was involved in the kidnapping and ordered its forces to help recover Sinnott.

Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said the order came from the group’s chieftain Murad Ebrahim after ambassadors from the European Union sought its assistance.

“We are helping the Philippine government recover Father Sinnott and this after EU ambassadors sought the MILF help in recovering the Irish priest,” he said on Sunday.

Kabalu said Spanish ambassador Luis-Romero led a delegation last week and met with Ebrahim in Mindanao. Among those who attended the meeting were ambassadors from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania, Finland and Greece among others.

He said the MILF has formed a task force that will handle Sinnott’s case.

“As a matter of policy, the MILF is obliged to exert its best efforts to help for the safe and immediate recovery of Father Sinnot,” Ebrahim was quoted as saying. “His kidnapping requires all conscience-guided people and those with true faith in God to extend every help for his immediate freedom.”

The Missionary Society of St. Columban has appealed to US President Barack Obama to help secure the safe release of Sinnott, who is the third Irish missioner to be kidnapped in Mindanao since 1997. Fr Des Hartford was held by Moro rebels for 12 days, and in 2001, Fr Rufus Hally, a missioner from Waterford, was shot dead during an attempted abduction in the volatile region. (Mindanao Examiner)

Is the US forces winning hearts and minds in Sulu?

Sulu, one of five provinces under the restive Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 25, 2009) – US forces helping Filipino troops defeat terrorism in Sulu thought it is winning the hearts and minds of Muslim in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, but it is not.

It may have won little in the so-called America’s war on terror in Sulu with the killings of some of the leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

But the public support on the US role in the local insurgency is small despite its massive humanitarian and infrastructure projects over the years in an effort to win hearts and minds of the locals and as a cover for the continued stay of some 600 American troops deployed in the volatile southern region as part of the campaign called “Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines.”

The US troops are under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, composed mostly of Special Forces and Marines and have been operating in Sulu since 2006, although the American forces have been staying at tightly guarded base in Zamboanga City since 2001 after the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped dozens of European, Asian and US tourists in Malaysia and the Philippines.

In Sulu, support for the continued stay of US troops have evaded the Pentagon, although press handouts from American and Filipino military spokesmen say the public clamor for the presence of the foreign troops is overwhelming.

Anti-US rallies and accusations of human rights violations are not uncommon in Sulu and also in other areas where there are presence of US troops – Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines where local military is battling communist and Muslim insurgents, and is also fighting al-Qaeda-linked militants and members of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya which have been blamed for the spate of bombings that had killed three US Special Forces soldiers since 2002.

The only pro-US rally held in Sulu was headed by Sultan Mohd Pulalun in 2006 where some 300 Muslims welcomed the arrival of hundreds of American soldiers participating in the “Balikatan-06,” which means “shoulder-to-shoulder,” a codename for the joint military exercises on the province. But it was staged to get the Washington to support Pulalun, who is one of dozens claiming to be the real leader of the Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo.

Muslims in Sulu accused US troops of being arrogant. Filipino journalists covering the US presence in Mindanao were chased away by American soldiers in public places for taking their pictures; some seized equipment of cameramen while others had been threatened with bodily harm and arrested for photographing US military planes and patrols.

Many locals in Sulu said they felt as if they are terrorists by how American troops looked at them. Others think US troops are paranoid who looked at Muslims as suicide bombers or rebels. In the past, US troops deployed in Muslim areas in Mindanao undergo seminars and briefing on the traditions of Islam, but not anymore.

Some looked at US troops with suspicions and hatred. Many thought the US troops are digging for treasures left behind by the Japanese forces during World War 2, while others think they are securing American interests and oil exploration in the Sulu Sea.

But the elders still recall the US counter-insurgency campaign in Sulu in 1906 where hundreds of Muslims – women and children and old men – were mercilessly killed in what is now called Bud Dajo Massacre during the Philippine-American War.

Historians said that during this battle, 790 US soldiers under the command of Colonel J.W. Duncan, assaulted the volcanic crater of Mount Dajo, which was populated by some 1000 Muslim villagers. Although the battle was a victory for the US forces, it was also an unmitigated public relations disaster. Only six Muslim villagers came out alive from the crater of Bud Dajo, an extinct volcano some 2,100 feet above sea level.

According to the Wikipedia, the first battle at Bud Dajo happened during the final days of General Leonard Wood's term as governor of the Moro Province.

Following the American victory, President Theodore Roosevelt sent Wood a congratulatory cablegram, but reporters stationed at Manila had cabled their own somewhat imaginative account to the press. The March 9, 1906 New York Times headlines read, “WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED IN MORO BATTLE PRESIDENT WIRES CONGRATULATIONS TO TROOPS.”

The press' lurid account of the "Moro Crater Massacre" fell on receptive ears. There were still deep misgivings among the American public about America's role during the Spanish-American War and the stories of atrocities carried out during the Philippine Insurrection. The public had also been largely unaware of the continuing violence in the Moro Province, and were shocked to learn that killing continued.

Under pressure from Congress, Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, cabled Wood for explanation of the “wanton slaughter” of woman and children. Despite not being in command of the assault, Wood accepted full responsibility. By the time the scandal died down, Wood had assumed his post as Commander of the Philippine Division, and General Tasker H. Bliss had replaced him as governor of the Moro Province. (Mindanao Examiner)

Groups unite to clean Kidapawan City's Nuangan River

City officials and civil servants join representatives of various nongovernmental organizations, students and environmentalists during a recent clean-up drive of the Nuangan River in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Boy sells candies, cigarettes in Digos City to help poor family

A boy helps his family by selling candies and cigarettes in front of a Catholic church in Digos City in Davao province in Mindanao. Many children in the Philippines skip school to help their family earn a living. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Troops search for kidnapped architect in Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 24, 2009) – Security forces on Saturday mounted an operation to trace a Filipino architect kidnapped in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said Pablo Mercado, 45, was seized at noon Friday after gunmen, clad in police uniform, flagged down a passenger van on a highway in the village called Bubong in Saguiran town in Lanao del Sur in the volatile Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.

The van was carrying eight passengers, but gunmen singled out Mercado and dragged him to a waiting get-away car with markings “Councilor’ on its front bumper.

The armed men fled toward Marawi City along with Mercado, said Marine Major Ramon David Hontiveros, a regional military spokesman.

“Our units are tracking down the armed men and their captive. We still don’t know the motive of the abduction,” Hontiveros told the Mindanao Examiner.

It was not immediately known whether the gunmen were policemen or not, but kidnappers and criminal syndicates also use police and military uniforms which can easily be bought in gun shops and tailoring in the Philippines.

In 1998, Moro rebels clad in police uniform stormed a laboratory on an island off Tawi-Tawi and seized three Hong Kong fishery experts and ransomed them off to government negotiators.

Early this week, at least 11 robbers who posed as members of a police bomb squad walked past a security gate at the posh Greenbelt mall near Manila and stormed a Rolex shop. One of the gunmen was killed after a shootout with two policemen who were in the area, while the rest of the gang escaped.

Gunmen wearing police uniform were also behind the series of bank heist in Manila. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippine Air Force Reservist Command Holds Disaster, Rescue Training In Mindanao

The logo of the Philippine Air Force and the participants to the first-ever training on disaster and rescue operations conducted in Davao City in Mindanao by the Philippine Air Force’s 7th Reservist Command in coordination with the Office of the Civil Defense Disaster Team, 911 Medical Team, 911 Search and Rescue Team, Philippine Air Force 505th Search and Rescue. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales).

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 23, 2009) – The Philippine Air Force’s 7th Reservist Command ended Friday a four-day training on disaster and rescue operations in Mindanao.

Major Adolfo dela Torre, chief of the 7th Reservist Command, said some 50 active air force members and reservists have participated in the training which began on Tuesday in Davao City.

“We are overwhelmed by the number of those who participated in the first-ever disaster and rescue operations training and we hope to duplicate this in other areas in Mindanao,” dela Torre said.

The training, which was also participated by policemen and village officials, was held in Sasa village. “The training included land and sea rescue operations,” dela Torre said.

Dela Torre’s command covers the cities of Cotabato, Davao, General Santos, Tagum and Compostela Valley province. “We hope to conduct a similar training in those areas and probably to include civilian volunteers, among others, and that they may also train other people,” he said. (Mark Navales)

Negotiations begin for safe release of 5 kidnapped forest rangers in Mindanao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 23, 2009) – Government negotiations began Friday for the safe release of five kidnapped forest rangers in Mindanao.

Police said kidnappers have earlier freed two hostages - Emeliano Gatillo Jr. and Efren Sabuero in Sibagat town in Agusan del Sur province, but the gang held on to the other captives - Gabriel Arlan, Rito Espinido, Teofredo Pujadas and two others identified only as Clar and Abogatal.

The kidnappers were demanding the government to cancel all forest agreements with commercial loggers in areas where there are presence of indigenous tribes.

“There is an ongoing negotiation spearheaded by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples for the safe release of the remaining five hostages,” said Chief Inspector Martin Gamba, a spokesman for the police task force handling the case.

But Gamba said the progress of the talks is still unknown. “We still don’t know what transpired, but we are hoping this crisis would end soon through peaceful negotiations,” he told regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

The NCIP is the primary government agency that formulates and implements policies, plans and programs for the recognition, promotion and protection of the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples with due regard to their ancestral domains and lands, self-governance and empowerment, social justice and human rights, and cultural integrity.

Gamba said the kidnappers are believed members of a local indigenous tribe, adding the negotiations were held in the hinterland village pf Padiay in Butuan City in Agusan del Norte province.

The seven men rangers, who are all employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, were kidnapped on Wednesday near a forest checkpoint in Butuan City.

The military said the kidnappers have made four demands in exchange for the freedom of the hostages after a man who claimed to be the leader of the gang holding the foresters contacted the DENR.

Major Michelle Anayron, a spokesman for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Mindanao, said the kidnappers demanded the cancellation of the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the town of Sibagat; the awarding of the Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title; government approval of customary farming and the cancellation of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement with commercial logging companies in their area. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippines offers reward for info on kidnapped Irish clergy

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Sayyaf bombs another bridge in South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 23, 2009) – Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants bombed a bridge in Sulu province in the southern Philippines in a wave of attacks that had already killed and wounded dozens of soldiers since last month.

Security officials said there were no reports of casualties in the latest bombing in the village of Taung in Patikul town. The attack which occurred late Thursday, damaged half of the Tangan-Tangan Bridge, but it remains passable, said Marine Major Ramon David Hontiveros, a regional military spokesman.

“Civilians at the locality disclosed that the blast caused partial damage to half of the bridge, but still passable to any vehicle. We have deployed combat units to pursue the bombers,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Hontiveros blamed Abu Sayyaf militants tagged as behind the spate of bombings and terrorism in the troubled southern region.

Early this week, militants also bombed a bridge a communication relay tower in Parang town and cutting off phone services in Sulu. The Abu Sayyaf also detonated a roadside bomb and killing a patrolling marine soldier and wounding two others in Patikul town.

The Abu Sayyaf also tried, but failed to bomb another bridge on Tuesday in Indanan town after troops recovered two improvised explosives.

Security forces were battling Abu Sayyaf and Moro rebels in the province since September and had so far left dozens of casualties from both sides, including two members of the US Special Forces aiding the military in defeating terrorism in Sulu.

Fighting broke out after the military aided by US intelligence, mounted fresh offensives against the Abu Sayyaf and Moro rebels in Indanan town. The offensive coincided with the Muslim celebration of the Eid al Fit’r, which started on the day after Islam’s holiest month of Ramadan.

Rebel forces also attacked a major military base in the capital town of Sulu. It was the second time in eight years that rebels attacked the camp, where US troops have put up a small forward base. Some 600 US troops under the Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines are aiding the Philippine military in defeating terrorism in the region. (Mindanao Exasminer)

Abductions and Disappearances in the Philippines

Beset by natural disasters like the devastating typhoon Parma, an ever-widening poverty gap, stumbling efforts at much-needed land reform, and two ongoing conflicts resulting in the death and displacement of thousands of people, the Philippines finds itself in a dark time. Set against this, the shocking legacy of human rights violations which plague the country while drawing little international scrutiny are a damning indictment against the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Philippine human rights group Karapatan estimates that more than 900 activists, journalists, street children, petty thieves and outspoken clergy have been the victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings while the Arroyo regime has been in office, a tally that is rightfully pushing the notion that - while in international notoriety it is nowhere near its equal - in the sheer number and horror of crimes committed against the populous and, in the words of European Commission envoy Alistair MacDonald, the 'culture of impunity' that has developed at the highest levels of the political and military establishments, the Arroyo administration is beginning to best that of Ferdinand Marcos.

Many admirable, campaigning Filipino organizations consistently draw attention to the issue, alongside Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, yet little criticism is heard from the West. At the G20 meeting in London, the British Government seized the opportunity to highlight the human rights records of Russia and China; the Philippines was conspicuous by its absence from the UK foreign office's list of offenders. Only last month, Philippine leader Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was treated to a red carpet welcome in London, with a slavering Peter Mandelson re-enforcing the message of growing trade and investment and enhanced political relations between the two countries. No mention was made of the extraordinary human rights situation in the Philippines.

This month, an altogether different visit to the UK by a Filipina will take place: that of Dr Edita Burgos, mother of Jonas Burgos, one of many unaccounted for desaparecidos (disappeared) who have come to be a hallmark of the Arroyo regime.

The case of Jonas Burgos has drawn significant media attention in the Philippines, in no small part due to the fame of his late father, Joe Burgos Jr - publisher of the newspaper Malaya - who in the words of late former president Corazon Aquino "lit our paths in the dark, long years of martial rule".

The Burgos case shows many of the disturbing patterns of what has become a 'style' of abduction: dragged from a busy restaurant with two of his friends in a metropolitan shopping mall in broad daylight, his masked and armed abductors claimed they were policemen and warned against interference. His 'crime,' Burgos helped peasant farm workers learn organic agricultural techniques and was affiliated with Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), which aims to help farmers fight for their rights through peaceful means.

Since that day in April 2007 there is still no one, least of all his family, who can confirm where Jonas is. Although President Arroyo personally called Dr Burgos to give her assurances that the police would aggressively pursue the case, little progress has been made since.

Dr Burgos has testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva that she believes the military took and still hold her son. However, all the implicated men have denied involvement. Witnesses have come forward claiming that the abductors were seen driving into to nearby military bases, and, in 2007, a confidential military memo surfaced which showed Burgos' name in the army's 'order of battle', a list of communist insurgents targeted for arrest or elimination. Next to his name was the word "neutralized". The three officers implicated in the abduction have all since been promoted.

Thankfully, the case has not completely escaped the international spotlight. Alistair MacDonald highlighted the plight of Burgos in a speech in 2007, saying that, "Just this week we've seen the appalling case of the abduction of Jonas Burgos and two companions...frankly I am shocked about what this suggests about the culture of impunity in this country."

Prof Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said in a statement given to the UN General Assembly that, "The Supreme Court's decision to establish a writ of amparo [protection] to facilitate the prompt resolution of alleged extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances is also encouraging...whether the judiciary will use its powers to overcome the military's resistance to clarifying the case of Jonas Burgos - a missing activist who may have been disappeared or killed - will be an important test."

What has the government done in the face of this relentless tide of extrajudicial killings and abductions? While publicly endorsing human rights and denying involvement, the all too obvious lack of successful prosecutions tells its own story.

In 2006, a special police unit named ‘Task Force Usig' was established by Arroyo. Since then, its main concern seems to be a pre-occupation with discrediting statistics in favor of pursuing prosecutions. The Melo Commission was set up in the same year to investigate all killings since 2001. Human rights groups pointed to a biased panel on the Commission which would favor the incumbent administration, and refused to take part and advised witnesses to do the same. Upon producing its findings, Arroyo attempted to keep the information secret, even though the Philippine constitution provides for the "right of the people to information on matters of public concern".

When its findings saw the light, the conclusion was stark: "Killings of activists and media personnel is pursuant to an orchestrated plan by a group or sector with an interest in eliminating the victims, invariably activists and media personnel...there is certainly evidence pointing the finger of suspicion at some elements and personalities in the armed forces, in particular General Palparan, as responsible for an undetermined number of killings, by allowing, tolerating, and even encouraging the killings."

Yet, in spite of the findings Human Rights Watch has stated that it has, "Failed to find any cases where prosecutions of commanding officers have been pursued based upon the principle of command responsibility...Instead, there is a perception that military officers who at the least condone killings...however unlawful, are rewarded."

When Dr Burgos arrives in the UK later this month in a visit organized by Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines with Amnesty International UK and UNISON, she will hope that at least in some small way her presence and push for publicity will, if not directly lead to the release of her son, alert people to the dire state of affairs in her home country.

But to bring an end to the chains of impunity something more may be needed. The Arroyo regime is notable for its 'trapos democracy' style of government, wherein it courts the historically powerful local clans, showing little care for a disenfranchised working class whose campaigners are often prominent victims of disappearances; little hope resides in change coming in this term of office.

As Dr Edita Burgos says: "I want us to elect honest people who will help end disappearances. If we do not put people there who will be sincere in dismantling all the institutions used to abduct people, these disappearances will not end." (By Mark Dearn for openDemocracy.net. The author has written and researched for the Independent, Chunichi Shimbun and the Tokyo Shimbun. He focuses on southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific.)


Link: http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/philippines/abductions-and-disappearances-in-the-philippines

Kidnappers free 2 of seven forest rangers in southern Philippines

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 22, 2009) – Two of seven kidnapped Filipino forest rangers were freed unharmed late Thursday and their captors demanded the government to return their ancestral lands and to cancel all forest agreements with commercial loggers in areas where there are presence of indigenous tribes, police said.

Police said the kidnappers released Emeliano Gatillo Jr. and Efren Sabuero, but held on to the other hostages - Gabriel Arlan, Rito Espinido, Teofredo Pujadas and two others identified only as Clar and Abogatal.

They were taken on Wednesday near a forest checkpoint in Butuan City in Agusan del Norte province. The hostages are all employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“The freed hostages, Emeliano Gatillo Jr. and Efren Sabuero, are being debriefed,” said Chief Inspector Martin Gamba, a spokesman for the police task force handling the case.

The fate of the remaining captives is unknown, Gamba told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the two were freed in the village of Kulambugan in the town of Sibagat in Agusan del Sur province. “The two men are okay,” he said.

The military said the kidnappers have made four demands in exchange for the freedom of the hostages after a man who claimed to be the leader of the gang holding the foresters contacted the DENR.

“A man claiming to be the captor of the seven foresters has made four demands for the release of the hostages. We are leaving the negotiations to the police and local government authorities for the safe release of the foresters,” Major Michelle Anayron, a spokesman for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Mindanao, said in a separate interview.

Anayron said the captors demanded the cancellation of the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the town of Sibagat; the awarding of the Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title; government approval of customary farming and the cancellation of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement with commercial logging companies in their area.

He said the man who made the demands identified himself as Anoy Behing, a native of Sibagat town.

The province is a known lair of illegal loggers and a stronghold of communist New People’s Army insurgents. The illegal logging in Agusan del Norte continues unabatedly and is threatening water shed areas in the province.

Last year, some 500 leaders of indigenous tribes and representatives of nongovernmental organizations and the Catholic Church appealed to Manila to put an end to illegal logging and destructive mining in the province and other areas in the Caraga region considered as ancestral domain. (Mindanao Examiner)

Village chieftain killed in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 22, 2009) – An unidentified gunman killed a village chieftain an attack in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said Thursday.

Police said Tagasilay village chieftain Ezmer Francisco was killed on the spot and his brother wounded in the attack late Wednesday. The duo was resting in their house when the gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle.

“So far, nobody has identified the attacker. We are still investigating the killing,” said Superintendent Amador Corpuz, the city police chief.

He said the gunman fled after the shooting. Francisco was the second village chieftain killed in Zamboanga City in four months.

In June, gunmen also killed the village chieftain of Muti, Malik Akbar, and his aide after having lunch at the Santa Cruz market. The attack also left 3 civilians wounded. (Mindanao Examiner)