NAPAKADALI ANG MAGSABING 'MAGHINTAY' KUNG...
Alexander Martin Remollino
Ngayong bumubulwak na muli ang mga panawagan para sa pagbabago sa pambansang liderato, kasunod ng mga pagbubunyag ni Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada hinggil sa mga anumalya sa kontratang National Broadband Network (NBN) sa pagitan ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas at ZTE Corp. ng Tsina, pati na sa ibang proyektong pinasukan ng pamahalaan gaya ng NorthRail at SouthRail, umeeksena rin ang ilang henyo’t nagsasabing dapat ay hintayin na lamang ng mga puwersang anti-administrasyon ang 2010 para sa pagkakataong mapalitan si Gng. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo — na diumano’y Pangulo ng Pilipinas.
Sa 2010 ang susunod na halalang pampanguluhan ng Pilipinas. Sapagkat diumano’y nakapagwagi na sa halalang pampanguluhan, ayon sa Saligang Batas ay hindi na maaaring maihalalal “na muli” si Arroyo — na ang kahina-hinalang “tagumpay” sa halalan ng 2004 ay ipinagbunyi ng gobyerno ng Estados Unidos — bilang Pangulo.
Ngunit may halos dalawang taon pa hanggang sa 2010, at sa halos dalawang taon ay napakaraming maaaring mangyari. Sa loob ng halos dalawang taon ay marami pang maanumalyang proyekto ang maaaring pasukin ng pamahalaan, malaki pa ang maaaring ilawak ng agwat ng halaga ng pamumuhay at ng kabuhayan ng nakararaming mamamayan, at marami pang paglabag sa karapatang pantao ang maaaring isagawa.
Pinatalsik si Joseph “Erap” Estrada noong 2001 sa isang pambansang pag-aaklas na sa kalakha’y laban sa katiwalian, upang pagkatapos ay palitan ni Arroyong ang panunungkula’y kinatampukan ng lalo’t lalong katiwalian — mula sa anumalya sa pagpapagawa ng President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue hanggang sa kagila-gilalas na mga kickback sa kontratang NBN. Sa ilalim ng rehimeng Arroyo nasaksihan ang mga antas ng kagutuman at karalitaan sa bansa na hindi nakita sa loob ng mahabang panahon, batay sa lahat ng kapani-paniwalang panlipunang sarbey (IBON Foundation, Social Weather Station, at Pulse Asia). Ang rehimeng ito’y nakapagtala rin ng mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao — mula sa mga ekstrahudisyal na pamamaslang at sapilitang pagkawala hanggang sa mga pagbibibilanggong pulitikal, mula sa marahas na pagtugon sa mga kilos-protesta hanggang sa pagbubusal sa pabatirang-madla — na ang dami’y hindi kayang pantayan ng alinmang rehimen, marahil, sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas maliban sa kay Ferdinand Marcos (na malapit-lapit na nga nitong maungusan).
Napakadali ang magsabing “maghintay” para sa mga taong hindi nagtitiis na magpainiksiyon sa mga nars at duktor na gumagamit ng hiringgilyang naninilaw; o magklase sa damuhan, sa ilalim ng init ng araw, sapagkat ang salapi ng taumbayan na dapat sana’y inilalaan sa mga serbisyong panlipunan ay ipinapasok sa maanumalyang mga proyektong ang nakikinabang lamang ay iilang salanggapang na opisyal ng pamahalaan gaya ng mga Benjamin Abalos, at mga kamag-anak ng mga nasa kapangyarihan tulad ng mga Mike Arroyo.
Napakadali ang magsabing “maghintay” para sa mga taong nagtatampisaw sa salapi kahit na hindi igalaw ang mga daliri at hindi nagkakangkukuba sa pagtatrabaho sa mga pabrika’t opisina upang pagkatapos ng isang buong araw ng pagpapatulo ng pawis ay mag-uwi ng sahod na maaaring kitain sa loob lamang ng isang oras sa ibang bansa, o sa paggawa sa bukid upang pagkatapos ng bawat anihan ay maipagbili ang palay sa halagang kulang na pang-isang buwan ngunit kailangang papagkasyahin sa tatlong buwan.
Napakadali ang magsabing “maghintay” para sa mga taong walang kamag-anak, kaibigan o kakilala man lamang na kabilang sa mahigit na 900 na ngayong biktima ng ekstrahudisyal na pamamaslang at mahigit sa 180 biktima ng sapilitang pagkawala, o sa mahigit sa 200 bilanggong pulitikal — batay sa pinakahuling mga tala ng Karapatan — na kaya humantong sa gayon ay sapagkat nangahas na ipaglaban ang karapatan ng mga manggagawa sa nakabubuhay na sahod, ang karapatan ng mga magsasaka na pakinabangang lubos ang mga bunga ng lupang sinasaka, at ang karapatan ng mga mamamayan sa mga serbisyong tulad ng kalusugan at edukasyon — mga karapatang dapat ay tinatamasa ng lahat sa alinmang bansang tulad ng Pilipinas na namamaraling siya’y isang demokrasya.
Dahil sa ang alinmang pamahalaan ay lubhang nakapangyayari sa kalakhan ng buhay ng mga mamamayan, ang pag-iral nito ay dapat na nakabatay sa kapakanan ng tanang nasasakupan. Kung hindi ganito ang batayan ng pag-iral ng isang pamahalaan, karapatan ng mga mamamayan ang ito’y lansagin.
At sapagkat karapatan ito ng mga mamamayan, hindi nila kailangang maghintay ng pagkakataong gawin ito, kundi karapatan nilang likhain ang ganitong pagkakataon.
Hintayin ang 2010? Hayaan ang mga hunghang at hangal na maghintay kung siya nilang ibig.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
AT KAHIT NA NINGNING AY WALA SA IYO
Alexander Martin Remollino
Ikaw na ngayo'y nasa pinakamataas na luklukan
ng aming bayan: luwalhati -- liwanag --
ang ibinabandila ng iyong pangalan.
Ngunit anong luwalhati ang mababanaag
sa isang magnanakaw na sa araw,
hindi man lamang sa gabi, nagnanakaw?
At anong luwalhati ang mababanaag
sa isang mamamatay-taong ang mga kamay
ay hindi matuyuan ng dugo ng bayan?
Luwalhati ang ibinabandila ng iyong pangalan,
ngunit isang silahis man lamang ng liwanag
ay wala ka --
at kahit na ningning ay wala sa iyo.
Alexander Martin Remollino
Ikaw na ngayo'y nasa pinakamataas na luklukan
ng aming bayan: luwalhati -- liwanag --
ang ibinabandila ng iyong pangalan.
Ngunit anong luwalhati ang mababanaag
sa isang magnanakaw na sa araw,
hindi man lamang sa gabi, nagnanakaw?
At anong luwalhati ang mababanaag
sa isang mamamatay-taong ang mga kamay
ay hindi matuyuan ng dugo ng bayan?
Luwalhati ang ibinabandila ng iyong pangalan,
ngunit isang silahis man lamang ng liwanag
ay wala ka --
at kahit na ningning ay wala sa iyo.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
BALIKATAN 2008 RAISES FEARS OF RAPES, OTHER ATROCITIES BY U.S. TROOPS
This year’s RP-U.S. Balikatan military “exercises” in Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and North Cotabato start just shortly after two sexual assaults by U.S. troops in Okinawa, Japan –- in which one of the victims was a Filipina. They also come less than three years after a Filipina was raped by U.S. troops participating in joint military “exercises” in Subic, Zambales.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 4, February 24-March 1, 2008
The arrival of U.S. troops in several Mindanao provinces and in Sulu for the 2008 Balikatan military “exercises” has triggered fears of rapes and other atrocities by U.S. soldiers against Filipinos.
This year’s RP-U.S. Balikatan military “exercises” in Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and North Cotabato started just shortly after two sexual assaults by U.S. troops in Okinawa, Japan –- in which one of the victims was a Filipina. They also come less than three years after a Filipina was raped by U.S. troops participating in joint military “exercises” in Subic, Zambales.
Last week, the Kyodo News Agency repoted that the U.S. military had taken into custody earlier this month a U.S. soldier who sexually assaulted a Filipina in Okinawa, where the U.S. government maintains a military base.
Also last week, U.S. Marine soldier Tyrone Hadnott, 38, was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl also in Okinawa. This incident is reminiscent of the rape of a 12-year-old girl by a U.S. solider also in Okinawa in 1995 – an incident that sparked a wave of protests that threatened to banish U.S. troops from the island.
In October last year, four U.S. soldiers were also arrested in Okinawa for allegedly raping a young woman. They are being investigated and could face court martial proceedings.
In the Philippines, L/Cpl Daniel Smith of the U.S. Marines was convicted in December 2006 for raping a young woman in Subic in November 2005. Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati City Regional Trial Court ordered him detained at the Makati City Jail, but he was secretly transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Manila at the behest of the U.S. government, which invoked the RP-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). His case is still on appeal.
Mindanao: Balikatan 2008
U.S. and Philippine troops began this year’s Balikatan military “exercises” on Feb. 19 amid protest actions all over Mindanao. This year’s joint military “exercises are scheduled to last until March 3.
In a Feb. 14 statement, the Sisters’ Association of Mindanao (SAMIN) asked, “Will U.S. troops participate in actual military operations against our people as they did in other places? Will there be another Nicole, and will our women and children again be made ‘objects’ for the U.S. soldiers’ rest and recreation?”
In the Lanao provinces, a broad multi-sectoral alliance has been formed to oppose the Balikatan military “exercises.” The alliance, called RACABE (Ranao Crescent Against Balikatan Exercises), stressed in a statement:
“The presence of U.S. troops in Lanao will be a serious threat to the ongoing peace process in Mindanao since the U.S. troops...help organize counterinsurgency groups.... On the one hand, it will awaken painful memories of the past American invasions of the Ranao areas such as the massacres in Padang Karbala of Bayang, Lanao del Sur (during the first decade of the 20th century) that almost wiped out all the able-bodied men in the said municipality except for seven who were either minors or infirm, in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur and Pantar, Lanao del Norte that may trigger violent retaliatory actions against U.S. troops.”
Sittie Rajabia Sundang, secretary-general of the Kawagib Moro Human Rights organization, cited in a Feb. 19 press statement the following atrocities by U.S. troops against civilians since the first Balikatan military “exercises” were held in Basilan in 2002:
· Farmer Buyung-Buyung Isnijal was shot by an American soldier identified by witnesses as Sgt. Reggie Lane, who was accused of participating in a military operation on July 27, 2002 in Tuburan, Basilan.
· In Zamboanga, U.S. soldiers accidentally fired at civilians in the community while on their testing missions. One case was the shooting and wounding of Arsid Baharun in Zamboanga City while soldiers were conducting a marksmanship practice in 2004.
· In August 2004, Sardiya Abu Calderon, 54, died of a heart attack when a helicopter carrying two U.S. soldiers landed on their farm during the clearing operation conducted by U.S. and Philippine troops in August 2004.
· In September 2006, shrapnels from a misfired bomb hit the back of a 50-year-old Bizma Juhan in Indanan, Sulu.
· In Zamboanga City, passengers of a tricycle complained in a radio station about U.S. soldiers who accidentally bumped the tricycle they were riding in Calarian village on Dec. 15, 2007. Instead of assisting the victims, U.S. soldiers alighted from their vehicle brandishing high-powered guns.
· On Feb. 4, 2008, one of the survivors of the Maimbung, Sulu massacre Rawina Wahid revealed that when the soldiers who attacked their village brought her and the body of her husband, Pfc. Ibnul Wahid, into a Navy boat she saw four U.S. soldiers inside.
U.S. troops in RP: 2002-present
The first RP-U.S. Balikatan military “exercises” were held in 2002 in Basilan, then known as a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which, according to different sources, was formed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to justify the intensive military operations against Moro communities and the continuing presence of U.S. troops in the region.
As then Col. David Maxwell wrote in an article for the Military Review in 2004, the Balikatan “exercises” in Basilan were a guise for counter-“terrorist” operations under the auspices of Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines.
Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to the U.S. government’s military response to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. It entails a series of anti-“terrorism” activities in Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, Trans-Sahara, and Pakinsi Gorge.
“The mission in Basilan was to conduct unconventional warfare operations in the Southern Philippines through, by, and with the AFP to help the Philippine government separate the population from and to destroy terrorist organizations,” Maxwell, who was the commander of the U.S. troops deployed for Balikatan 2002, wrote. “The plan’s intent was to provide all SF (Special Forces) elements in Basilan with unifying guidance that would help harmonize counterterrorist and counterinsurgency operations in the Southern Philippines with initial focus on Basilan.”
Maxwell included among the Special Forces’ tasks “supporting operations by the AFP ‘strike force’ (LRC or Light Reaction Company)” in their areas of responsibility.
Areas covered
This year’s Balikatan military “exercises” cover Basilan, the Lanao provinces, Sulu, and North Cotabato.
North Cotabato is one of the provinces straddled by the oil-rich Liguasan Marsh, together with Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat. Basilan, the Lanao provinces, and North Cotabato are strongholds of the revolutionary Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), whose peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) are currently at a standstill over ancestral domain issues.
Sulu is also currently the site of oil exploration operations involving several foreign companies including a U.S. corporation.
In 2005, the Department of Energy (DoE) awarded Service Contract 56 to Australia’s BHP Billiton Petroleum PTY Ltd., Amerada Hess Ltd., Unocal Sulu Ltd., and Sandakan Oil II, LCC. Amerada Hess Ltd. is a unit of Hess Ltd., a U.S.-based oil and gas exploration company.
Based on a 2005 news item published by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Service Contract 56 covers some 8,620 hectares offshore Sulu Sea, an area described as “one of the most prospective areas for oil and gas exploration as indicated by the previous drilling activities conducted in the area.”
These provinces are covered by this year’s Balikatan military “exercises,” which have raised among other fears the possibility of other women suffering the plight of “Nicole” (the court-assigned name for the Subic rape victim of 2005) -– not an unjustified fear considering the latest series of rapes by U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa. Bulatlat
This year’s RP-U.S. Balikatan military “exercises” in Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and North Cotabato start just shortly after two sexual assaults by U.S. troops in Okinawa, Japan –- in which one of the victims was a Filipina. They also come less than three years after a Filipina was raped by U.S. troops participating in joint military “exercises” in Subic, Zambales.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 4, February 24-March 1, 2008
The arrival of U.S. troops in several Mindanao provinces and in Sulu for the 2008 Balikatan military “exercises” has triggered fears of rapes and other atrocities by U.S. soldiers against Filipinos.
This year’s RP-U.S. Balikatan military “exercises” in Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and North Cotabato started just shortly after two sexual assaults by U.S. troops in Okinawa, Japan –- in which one of the victims was a Filipina. They also come less than three years after a Filipina was raped by U.S. troops participating in joint military “exercises” in Subic, Zambales.
Last week, the Kyodo News Agency repoted that the U.S. military had taken into custody earlier this month a U.S. soldier who sexually assaulted a Filipina in Okinawa, where the U.S. government maintains a military base.
Also last week, U.S. Marine soldier Tyrone Hadnott, 38, was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl also in Okinawa. This incident is reminiscent of the rape of a 12-year-old girl by a U.S. solider also in Okinawa in 1995 – an incident that sparked a wave of protests that threatened to banish U.S. troops from the island.
In October last year, four U.S. soldiers were also arrested in Okinawa for allegedly raping a young woman. They are being investigated and could face court martial proceedings.
In the Philippines, L/Cpl Daniel Smith of the U.S. Marines was convicted in December 2006 for raping a young woman in Subic in November 2005. Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati City Regional Trial Court ordered him detained at the Makati City Jail, but he was secretly transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Manila at the behest of the U.S. government, which invoked the RP-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). His case is still on appeal.
Mindanao: Balikatan 2008
U.S. and Philippine troops began this year’s Balikatan military “exercises” on Feb. 19 amid protest actions all over Mindanao. This year’s joint military “exercises are scheduled to last until March 3.
In a Feb. 14 statement, the Sisters’ Association of Mindanao (SAMIN) asked, “Will U.S. troops participate in actual military operations against our people as they did in other places? Will there be another Nicole, and will our women and children again be made ‘objects’ for the U.S. soldiers’ rest and recreation?”
In the Lanao provinces, a broad multi-sectoral alliance has been formed to oppose the Balikatan military “exercises.” The alliance, called RACABE (Ranao Crescent Against Balikatan Exercises), stressed in a statement:
“The presence of U.S. troops in Lanao will be a serious threat to the ongoing peace process in Mindanao since the U.S. troops...help organize counterinsurgency groups.... On the one hand, it will awaken painful memories of the past American invasions of the Ranao areas such as the massacres in Padang Karbala of Bayang, Lanao del Sur (during the first decade of the 20th century) that almost wiped out all the able-bodied men in the said municipality except for seven who were either minors or infirm, in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur and Pantar, Lanao del Norte that may trigger violent retaliatory actions against U.S. troops.”
Sittie Rajabia Sundang, secretary-general of the Kawagib Moro Human Rights organization, cited in a Feb. 19 press statement the following atrocities by U.S. troops against civilians since the first Balikatan military “exercises” were held in Basilan in 2002:
· Farmer Buyung-Buyung Isnijal was shot by an American soldier identified by witnesses as Sgt. Reggie Lane, who was accused of participating in a military operation on July 27, 2002 in Tuburan, Basilan.
· In Zamboanga, U.S. soldiers accidentally fired at civilians in the community while on their testing missions. One case was the shooting and wounding of Arsid Baharun in Zamboanga City while soldiers were conducting a marksmanship practice in 2004.
· In August 2004, Sardiya Abu Calderon, 54, died of a heart attack when a helicopter carrying two U.S. soldiers landed on their farm during the clearing operation conducted by U.S. and Philippine troops in August 2004.
· In September 2006, shrapnels from a misfired bomb hit the back of a 50-year-old Bizma Juhan in Indanan, Sulu.
· In Zamboanga City, passengers of a tricycle complained in a radio station about U.S. soldiers who accidentally bumped the tricycle they were riding in Calarian village on Dec. 15, 2007. Instead of assisting the victims, U.S. soldiers alighted from their vehicle brandishing high-powered guns.
· On Feb. 4, 2008, one of the survivors of the Maimbung, Sulu massacre Rawina Wahid revealed that when the soldiers who attacked their village brought her and the body of her husband, Pfc. Ibnul Wahid, into a Navy boat she saw four U.S. soldiers inside.
U.S. troops in RP: 2002-present
The first RP-U.S. Balikatan military “exercises” were held in 2002 in Basilan, then known as a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which, according to different sources, was formed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to justify the intensive military operations against Moro communities and the continuing presence of U.S. troops in the region.
As then Col. David Maxwell wrote in an article for the Military Review in 2004, the Balikatan “exercises” in Basilan were a guise for counter-“terrorist” operations under the auspices of Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines.
Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to the U.S. government’s military response to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. It entails a series of anti-“terrorism” activities in Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, Trans-Sahara, and Pakinsi Gorge.
“The mission in Basilan was to conduct unconventional warfare operations in the Southern Philippines through, by, and with the AFP to help the Philippine government separate the population from and to destroy terrorist organizations,” Maxwell, who was the commander of the U.S. troops deployed for Balikatan 2002, wrote. “The plan’s intent was to provide all SF (Special Forces) elements in Basilan with unifying guidance that would help harmonize counterterrorist and counterinsurgency operations in the Southern Philippines with initial focus on Basilan.”
Maxwell included among the Special Forces’ tasks “supporting operations by the AFP ‘strike force’ (LRC or Light Reaction Company)” in their areas of responsibility.
Areas covered
This year’s Balikatan military “exercises” cover Basilan, the Lanao provinces, Sulu, and North Cotabato.
North Cotabato is one of the provinces straddled by the oil-rich Liguasan Marsh, together with Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat. Basilan, the Lanao provinces, and North Cotabato are strongholds of the revolutionary Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), whose peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) are currently at a standstill over ancestral domain issues.
Sulu is also currently the site of oil exploration operations involving several foreign companies including a U.S. corporation.
In 2005, the Department of Energy (DoE) awarded Service Contract 56 to Australia’s BHP Billiton Petroleum PTY Ltd., Amerada Hess Ltd., Unocal Sulu Ltd., and Sandakan Oil II, LCC. Amerada Hess Ltd. is a unit of Hess Ltd., a U.S.-based oil and gas exploration company.
Based on a 2005 news item published by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Service Contract 56 covers some 8,620 hectares offshore Sulu Sea, an area described as “one of the most prospective areas for oil and gas exploration as indicated by the previous drilling activities conducted in the area.”
These provinces are covered by this year’s Balikatan military “exercises,” which have raised among other fears the possibility of other women suffering the plight of “Nicole” (the court-assigned name for the Subic rape victim of 2005) -– not an unjustified fear considering the latest series of rapes by U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa. Bulatlat
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
I READ THIS LINE IN BOLD LETTERS ON YOUR FOREHEAD
Alexander Martin Remollino
What did they say about the young Maceda --
"so young and so corrupt"?
I read this line in bold letters on your forehead
whenever I hear your drumbeating
for that thief and tyrant in Malacañang
who holds a gold-plated scepter.
Alexander Martin Remollino
What did they say about the young Maceda --
"so young and so corrupt"?
I read this line in bold letters on your forehead
whenever I hear your drumbeating
for that thief and tyrant in Malacañang
who holds a gold-plated scepter.
For Lorelei Fajardo, deputy presidential spokesperson
WHY YOU'RE ON THE RUN
Alexander Martin Remollino
You are all on the run
even as your father did good for the country --
because this is a land where, for the longest time,
those who do good for others
have been looked upon like rotten eggs.
Yes, for ages we've been throwing out the good stuff
and feasting on that which is rotten to the core.
At times we throw up the moldy food
that we have grown to love gobbling up.
But, as we have all too often seen,
it is a prevalent habit in this part of the world
to swallow your own vomit.
Until that habit is licked,
no one can tell how long you'll be on the run
in this country --
for which your father did good.
Alexander Martin Remollino
"Papa, if it is true that you did well for the country, why is it we are on the run?"
-- Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada, National Broadband Network (NBN) scam whistleblower, quoting one of his children in a Feb. 18 speech
You are all on the run
even as your father did good for the country --
because this is a land where, for the longest time,
those who do good for others
have been looked upon like rotten eggs.
Yes, for ages we've been throwing out the good stuff
and feasting on that which is rotten to the core.
At times we throw up the moldy food
that we have grown to love gobbling up.
But, as we have all too often seen,
it is a prevalent habit in this part of the world
to swallow your own vomit.
Until that habit is licked,
no one can tell how long you'll be on the run
in this country --
for which your father did good.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
IN WAKE OF LOZADA EXPOSÉS: PROTESTS EXPECTED TO LEAD TO LEADERSHIP CHANGE
For Joey de Venecia, the series of anti-government rallies by various groups following Jun Lozada’s testimonies on the NBN deal and other corruption cases can and should lead to Arroyo’s ouster.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 3, February 17-23, 2008
For businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, son of ousted House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., the series of anti-government rallies that has been started by various groups in the wake of Engr. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada’s testimonies on the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal and other corruption cases can and should lead to the ouster of the Arroyo regime -- at the soonest possible.
He shared to reporters, who interviewed him after he spoke at the Feb. 15 rally organized by various groups at Ayala Avenue in Makati City, that attending anti-government rallies was not very new to him. “I was here in 1983, during the rallies for the late Ninoy Aquino,” he shared, referring to the series of broad anti-Marcos rallies that was sparked by the assassination of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, whom many considered an opposition stalwart during the Marcos years.
“We waited for three years (to oust the Marcos dictatorship),” he added. “I hope we wouldn’t have to wait that long.”
Atty. Adel Tamano, spokesman of the United Opposition (UNO) which along with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the Concerned Citizens Group, the Black & White Movement, and Laban ng Masa (The Masses’ Fight) was among the initiators of the Feb. 15 rally, was not as pointed about where he expected the new series of anti-Arroyo protests to lead. “It’s up to the people,” he said in a brief interview with Bulatlat.
But when asked what he thought of the possibility that it would lead to leadership change, he said it would be well as long as the change is not unlawful or violent.
“It must be a constitutional and peaceful leadership change, he said. “Otherwise, we will not support it.”
Flashback: NBN deal
The younger De Venecia heads one of the companies that lost the bidding for the allegedly rigged and overpriced NBN deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.
The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.
The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21, 2007 -- when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process. It was also deemed disadvantageous to the country because it was to be financed through a loan from China when, in fact, it could have been done at no cost to the government through a “Build-Operate-Transfer” scheme.
The younger De Venecia, co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal - an accusation the former Comelec chief has denied.
In a privileged speech on Aug. 29, 2007, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.
As controversy built up over the NBN deal, reports also went rife that Abalos had bribed or tried to bribe a number of government officials -- including Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman and former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri -- in exchange for approving or supporting the approval of the project.
Neri, in a Senate investigation, confirmed that Abalos had offered him P200 million ($4.33 million at last year’s average exchange rate of $1:P46.15) -- a revelation that provoked public indignation leading the latter to resign from his Comelec post.
Lozada
Enter Lozada, a telecommunications engineer and former president of the Philippine Forest Corporation, who served as Neri’s technical consultant for the NBN deal. He not only confirmed that the NBN contract was overpriced by $130 billion: he also confirmed Abalos’ involvement as a supposed broker in the deal, as well as the bribe attempt on Neri. He went a step further and disclosed that Abalos was frequently calling up presidential spouse Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo in the course of the bidding and deliberations on the NBN project.
Besides these, Lozada said, it was standard practice to overprice government projects by 20 percent. The overprice on the NBN deal is so far the biggest under the Arroyo administration, whose list of overpriced projects includes the Call Centers in State Universities project (P575 million, or $12.46 million based on last year’s average exchange rate, in “unaccounted” funds), the President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue project (overpriced by P536 million or $10.51 million at the 2001 average exchange rate of $1:P50.99), the Cyber Education project, the IMPSA deal, and the Comelec counting machines.
Lozada’s testimonies came in the same week that the elder De Venecia was ousted from the House Speakership and replaced by staunch Malacañang ally Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles. The elder De Venecia is said to have earned Malacañang’s ire for failing to stop his son from testifying on the NBN scam.
Calls for resignation, removal
Lozada’s exposés on corruption has revived calls for the resignation or removal of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who has reaped condemnation for the spate of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations, electoral fraud, and large-scale corruption under her watch. The rally last Feb. 15 in Makati City -- which yielded an estimated turnout of 15,000-20,000 - is the first in what is intended to be a new series of protests launched as a response to corruption under the Arroyo regime.
Lozada and the younger De Venecia have the support of Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), who has called for “communal action” for truth. Said Lagdameo in a Feb. 10 statement:
“Truth hurts. Truth liberates. But the truth must be served. The truth will set our country free...
“Only the truth, not lies and deceits, will set our country free. This truth challenges us now to communal action.”
Lagdameo had previously signed a joint statement calling for a rejection of “morally bankrupt” government.
The Makati Business Club (MBC), another influential group, has also expressed support for a possible people-power uprising similar to those that ousted Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada in 1986 and 2001, respectively; but stated it would not favor a military takeover.
Vice President Noli de Castro has, in television interviews, expressed willingness to take over the reins of government as constitutional successor should Arroyo be removed from power or forced to resign from office.
Meanwhile, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison, in a Feb. 15 statement e-mailed to media from his base in the Netherlands where he has been seeking asylum since the cancellation of his passport in 1988, said Arroyo is “ripe for ouster” by the broad mass movement.
“The sheer growth of the legal and peaceful mass actions in the national capital region and on a national scale in the coming days, weeks and months can encourage the military and police to withdraw support from the Arroyo ruling clique and can suffice to cause the resignation, impeachment or outright ouster of the illegitimate and morally bankrupt president,” Sison said.
The younger De Venecia said he certainly hopes the mass actions would lead to Arroyo’s resignation.
“This is too much already,” he said on corruption under the Arroyo government. “The Filipino masses can no longer take it. The middle classes can no longer take it...”
“My call is for her to step down,” he said of Arroyo. Bulatlat
For Joey de Venecia, the series of anti-government rallies by various groups following Jun Lozada’s testimonies on the NBN deal and other corruption cases can and should lead to Arroyo’s ouster.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 3, February 17-23, 2008
For businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, son of ousted House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., the series of anti-government rallies that has been started by various groups in the wake of Engr. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada’s testimonies on the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal and other corruption cases can and should lead to the ouster of the Arroyo regime -- at the soonest possible.
He shared to reporters, who interviewed him after he spoke at the Feb. 15 rally organized by various groups at Ayala Avenue in Makati City, that attending anti-government rallies was not very new to him. “I was here in 1983, during the rallies for the late Ninoy Aquino,” he shared, referring to the series of broad anti-Marcos rallies that was sparked by the assassination of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, whom many considered an opposition stalwart during the Marcos years.
“We waited for three years (to oust the Marcos dictatorship),” he added. “I hope we wouldn’t have to wait that long.”
Atty. Adel Tamano, spokesman of the United Opposition (UNO) which along with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the Concerned Citizens Group, the Black & White Movement, and Laban ng Masa (The Masses’ Fight) was among the initiators of the Feb. 15 rally, was not as pointed about where he expected the new series of anti-Arroyo protests to lead. “It’s up to the people,” he said in a brief interview with Bulatlat.
But when asked what he thought of the possibility that it would lead to leadership change, he said it would be well as long as the change is not unlawful or violent.
“It must be a constitutional and peaceful leadership change, he said. “Otherwise, we will not support it.”
Flashback: NBN deal
The younger De Venecia heads one of the companies that lost the bidding for the allegedly rigged and overpriced NBN deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.
The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.
The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21, 2007 -- when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process. It was also deemed disadvantageous to the country because it was to be financed through a loan from China when, in fact, it could have been done at no cost to the government through a “Build-Operate-Transfer” scheme.
The younger De Venecia, co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal - an accusation the former Comelec chief has denied.
In a privileged speech on Aug. 29, 2007, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.
As controversy built up over the NBN deal, reports also went rife that Abalos had bribed or tried to bribe a number of government officials -- including Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman and former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri -- in exchange for approving or supporting the approval of the project.
Neri, in a Senate investigation, confirmed that Abalos had offered him P200 million ($4.33 million at last year’s average exchange rate of $1:P46.15) -- a revelation that provoked public indignation leading the latter to resign from his Comelec post.
Lozada
Enter Lozada, a telecommunications engineer and former president of the Philippine Forest Corporation, who served as Neri’s technical consultant for the NBN deal. He not only confirmed that the NBN contract was overpriced by $130 billion: he also confirmed Abalos’ involvement as a supposed broker in the deal, as well as the bribe attempt on Neri. He went a step further and disclosed that Abalos was frequently calling up presidential spouse Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo in the course of the bidding and deliberations on the NBN project.
Besides these, Lozada said, it was standard practice to overprice government projects by 20 percent. The overprice on the NBN deal is so far the biggest under the Arroyo administration, whose list of overpriced projects includes the Call Centers in State Universities project (P575 million, or $12.46 million based on last year’s average exchange rate, in “unaccounted” funds), the President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue project (overpriced by P536 million or $10.51 million at the 2001 average exchange rate of $1:P50.99), the Cyber Education project, the IMPSA deal, and the Comelec counting machines.
Lozada’s testimonies came in the same week that the elder De Venecia was ousted from the House Speakership and replaced by staunch Malacañang ally Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles. The elder De Venecia is said to have earned Malacañang’s ire for failing to stop his son from testifying on the NBN scam.
Calls for resignation, removal
Lozada’s exposés on corruption has revived calls for the resignation or removal of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who has reaped condemnation for the spate of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations, electoral fraud, and large-scale corruption under her watch. The rally last Feb. 15 in Makati City -- which yielded an estimated turnout of 15,000-20,000 - is the first in what is intended to be a new series of protests launched as a response to corruption under the Arroyo regime.
Lozada and the younger De Venecia have the support of Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), who has called for “communal action” for truth. Said Lagdameo in a Feb. 10 statement:
“Truth hurts. Truth liberates. But the truth must be served. The truth will set our country free...
“Only the truth, not lies and deceits, will set our country free. This truth challenges us now to communal action.”
Lagdameo had previously signed a joint statement calling for a rejection of “morally bankrupt” government.
The Makati Business Club (MBC), another influential group, has also expressed support for a possible people-power uprising similar to those that ousted Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada in 1986 and 2001, respectively; but stated it would not favor a military takeover.
Vice President Noli de Castro has, in television interviews, expressed willingness to take over the reins of government as constitutional successor should Arroyo be removed from power or forced to resign from office.
Meanwhile, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison, in a Feb. 15 statement e-mailed to media from his base in the Netherlands where he has been seeking asylum since the cancellation of his passport in 1988, said Arroyo is “ripe for ouster” by the broad mass movement.
“The sheer growth of the legal and peaceful mass actions in the national capital region and on a national scale in the coming days, weeks and months can encourage the military and police to withdraw support from the Arroyo ruling clique and can suffice to cause the resignation, impeachment or outright ouster of the illegitimate and morally bankrupt president,” Sison said.
The younger De Venecia said he certainly hopes the mass actions would lead to Arroyo’s resignation.
“This is too much already,” he said on corruption under the Arroyo government. “The Filipino masses can no longer take it. The middle classes can no longer take it...”
“My call is for her to step down,” he said of Arroyo. Bulatlat
Friday, February 15, 2008
BLACK SWAN
Alexander Martin Remollino
And the black swan let itself be found.
In so doing, it shocked into their senses a people
long accustomed to thinking of thievery
as something to be met simply
with a shrug of the shoulders.
That could all be very well.
But until when will this nation be waiting
for black swans?
Alexander Martin Remollino
And the black swan let itself be found.
In so doing, it shocked into their senses a people
long accustomed to thinking of thievery
as something to be met simply
with a shrug of the shoulders.
That could all be very well.
But until when will this nation be waiting
for black swans?
Sunday, February 10, 2008
U.S. TROOPS SIGHTED IN SULU MASSACRE
U.S. troops were present during the Feb. 4 assault by combined Army and Navy elite forces on Barangay (village) Ipil, Maimbung, Sulu that killed eight non-combatants, including an Army soldier on vacation. Worse, they tolerated what had taken place.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 2, February 10-16, 2008
Soldiers from the Army’s Light Reaction Company (LRC) -– a unit composed of Philippine soldiers who had received training from U.S. troops during the RP-U.S. joint military exercises –- and the Navy’s Special Weapons Group (Swag) attacked Brgy. Ipil early morning, while most villagers were still sleeping, on Feb. 4, said Concerned Citizens of Sulu convener and former Jolo councilor Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie in an interview with Bulatlat.
Killed in the attack were Marisa Payian, 4; Wedme Lahim, 9; Alnalyn Lahim, 15; Sulayman Hakob, 17; Kirah Lahim, 45; Eldisim Lahim, 43; Narcia Abon, 24 -– all civilians. Also killed was Pfc. Ibnul Wahid of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, who was then on vacation.
“Wahid’s hands were even tied behind his back,” Tulawie said, citing an account by Sandrawina Wahid, the slain soldier’s wife. “He was forced to lie face down on the ground and they stepped on his back. His wife ran into their hut and back out, showing the soldiers his Army ID and bag, begging them to not hurt him. But still, they shot him.”
One of the victims, Kirah Lahim, was even mutilated. “They took out his eyes and cut off his fingers and ears,” Tulawie said.
Military officials have given varying explanations of the incident. One explanation was that the non-combatants were killed in a firefight between soldiers and “terrorists,” while another points to a “family feud” as having triggered the killings.
One Army general said what happened on Feb. 4 was a “legitimate encounter,” claiming that troops searching for kidnapped trader Rosalie Lao clashed with Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits and members of the terrorist Jema’ah Islamiyah.
The military did not say whether Lao, who was kidnapped on Jan. 28 while on the way home from her store, was being held in Sulu.
Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, commander of an anti-“terrorist” task force in Sulu, said two soldiers and three bandits -– including ASG leader Abu Muktadil – were killed in the “encounter.”
“It was a legitimate encounter,” Rafael told media. “As far as we are concerned, troops clashed with the Abu Sayyaf and Jema’ah Islamiyah. We have recovered the bodies of Muktadil, but soldiers also found eight more bodies in the area and we are trying to find out whether they were caught in the crossfire or slain by terrorists.”
Tulawie, however, said this was not true.
“That’s a lie,” Tulawie said. “Most of these people (who were killed) are just seaweed farmers. There is no ASG there. In the case of Wahid, they killed their own fellow soldier.”
“They were quiet people who had no enemies,” Tulawie said of the victims.
Meanwhile, Maj. Eugene Batara, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said authorities are presently investigating reports that the killings were sparked by a family feud.
As the killings were taking place, there were U.S. troops nearby. Tulawie said Sandrawina was taken into a Navy boat, where she saw four U.S. soldiers.
“They were just nearby and they tolerated what was happening,” Tulawie said. “There was only one who was heard shouting, ‘Hold your fire!’ but that was all. They tolerated these human rights violations committed by the soldiers they had trained.”
Westmincom chief Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga said there were no U.S. troops involved in the operation.
“There was no direct involvement of the Americans,” Allaga said. “It is strictly prohibited.”
Not the first time
Sulu Gov. Abdulsakur Tan said this was not the first time that U.S. troops were reported to have taken part in Philippine military operations in Sulu. With this, he corroborated what Tulawie had said in an earlier interview with Bulatlat.
When an encounter between the AFP and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) broke out in Brgy. Buansa, Indanan, Sulu in early 2007, U.S. troops who were a few kilometers away were seen running toward the direction of the gunfire. They were carrying their guns.
Military spokespersons said the attack was brought about by reports that members of the ASG were in the MNLF camp. The MNLF –- with which the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) signed a Final Peace Agreement in 1996 -– has repeatedly denied that it coddles ASG members.
During that same period, U.S. troops were busy with a road construction project in Brgy. Bato-Bato, Indanan. At that time, the area was the center of Philippine military operations in Sulu.
These were gathered by Bulatlat in its interview with Tulawie in March last year.
This, Tulawie said, is just part of a larger picture that has been developing in Sulu since 2004.
“Military operations always take place not far from where U.S. troops are,” said Tulawie. “The presence of U.S. troops has been visible in areas where military operations have taken place.”
While Tulawie says there is yet no evidence that U.S. troops have actually participated in combat operations, their visibility in areas where AFP operations have been conducted raises questions on the real reasons behind their presence in the country’s southernmost province.
U.S. military presence in Sulu
The presence of U.S. troops in Sulu started in 2004 and has been continuous since then.
U.S. troops would have entered Sulu as early as February 2003. The AFP and the U.S. Armed Forces had both announced that the Balikatan military exercises for that year would be held in Sulu.
This provoked a wave of protest from the people of Sulu, who had not yet forgotten what has come to be known as the Bud Dajo Massacre.
The Bud Dajo massacre, which took place in 1906, is described in some history texts as the “First Battle of Bud Dajo.” It was an operation against Moro fighters resisting the American occupation.
The description of the incident as a “battle,” however, is disputed considering the sheer mismatch in firepower between U.S. forces and the Moro resistance fighters. The 790 U.S. troops who assaulted Bud Dajo used naval cannons against the 800-1,000 Moro resistance fighters who were mostly armed only with melee weapons.
In the end, only six of the hundreds of Moro resistance fighters holding Bud Dajo as a stronghold survived, while there were 15-20 casualties among the U.S. troops.
The announcement in February 2003 that the year’s Balikatan military exercises would be held in Sulu summoned bitter memories of the Bud Dajo Massacre and led to protest actions where thousands of Sulu residents participated.
The next year, however, U.S. troops came up with ingenious ways to find their way into Sulu – coming in small groups and bringing relief goods. This “neutralized” the residents’ resistance to their presence.
“Unconventional warfare”
The U.S. troops in Sulu are part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P). Based on several news items from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the JSOTF-P are in Sulu to train the AFP’s Southern Command (Southcom) and to conduct civic actions.
However, an article written by Command Sgt. Maj. William Eckert of the JSOTF-P, “Defeating the Idea: Unconventional Warfare in Southern Philippines,” hints that there is more to the task force’s work than training AFP troops and embarking on “humanitarian actions.” Wrote Eckert:
“Working in close coordination with the U.S. Embassy, JSOTF-P uses Special Forces, Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations forces to conduct deliberate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in very focused areas, and based on collection plans, to perform tasks to prepare the environment and obtain critical information requirements. The information is used to determine the capabilities, intentions and activities of threat groups that exist within the local population and to focus U.S. forces –- and the AFP -– on providing security to the local populace. It is truly a joint operation, in which Navy SEALs and SOF aviators work with their AFP counterparts to enhance the AFP’s capacities.”
These U.S. troops have always been seen near the sites of Philippine military operations in Sulu. The latest sighting was during the Feb. 4 attack on Brgy. Ipil, Maimbung where seven civilians and one Army soldier on vacation were killed. Bulatlat
U.S. troops were present during the Feb. 4 assault by combined Army and Navy elite forces on Barangay (village) Ipil, Maimbung, Sulu that killed eight non-combatants, including an Army soldier on vacation. Worse, they tolerated what had taken place.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 2, February 10-16, 2008
Soldiers from the Army’s Light Reaction Company (LRC) -– a unit composed of Philippine soldiers who had received training from U.S. troops during the RP-U.S. joint military exercises –- and the Navy’s Special Weapons Group (Swag) attacked Brgy. Ipil early morning, while most villagers were still sleeping, on Feb. 4, said Concerned Citizens of Sulu convener and former Jolo councilor Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie in an interview with Bulatlat.
Killed in the attack were Marisa Payian, 4; Wedme Lahim, 9; Alnalyn Lahim, 15; Sulayman Hakob, 17; Kirah Lahim, 45; Eldisim Lahim, 43; Narcia Abon, 24 -– all civilians. Also killed was Pfc. Ibnul Wahid of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, who was then on vacation.
“Wahid’s hands were even tied behind his back,” Tulawie said, citing an account by Sandrawina Wahid, the slain soldier’s wife. “He was forced to lie face down on the ground and they stepped on his back. His wife ran into their hut and back out, showing the soldiers his Army ID and bag, begging them to not hurt him. But still, they shot him.”
One of the victims, Kirah Lahim, was even mutilated. “They took out his eyes and cut off his fingers and ears,” Tulawie said.
Military officials have given varying explanations of the incident. One explanation was that the non-combatants were killed in a firefight between soldiers and “terrorists,” while another points to a “family feud” as having triggered the killings.
One Army general said what happened on Feb. 4 was a “legitimate encounter,” claiming that troops searching for kidnapped trader Rosalie Lao clashed with Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits and members of the terrorist Jema’ah Islamiyah.
The military did not say whether Lao, who was kidnapped on Jan. 28 while on the way home from her store, was being held in Sulu.
Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, commander of an anti-“terrorist” task force in Sulu, said two soldiers and three bandits -– including ASG leader Abu Muktadil – were killed in the “encounter.”
“It was a legitimate encounter,” Rafael told media. “As far as we are concerned, troops clashed with the Abu Sayyaf and Jema’ah Islamiyah. We have recovered the bodies of Muktadil, but soldiers also found eight more bodies in the area and we are trying to find out whether they were caught in the crossfire or slain by terrorists.”
Tulawie, however, said this was not true.
“That’s a lie,” Tulawie said. “Most of these people (who were killed) are just seaweed farmers. There is no ASG there. In the case of Wahid, they killed their own fellow soldier.”
“They were quiet people who had no enemies,” Tulawie said of the victims.
Meanwhile, Maj. Eugene Batara, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said authorities are presently investigating reports that the killings were sparked by a family feud.
As the killings were taking place, there were U.S. troops nearby. Tulawie said Sandrawina was taken into a Navy boat, where she saw four U.S. soldiers.
“They were just nearby and they tolerated what was happening,” Tulawie said. “There was only one who was heard shouting, ‘Hold your fire!’ but that was all. They tolerated these human rights violations committed by the soldiers they had trained.”
Westmincom chief Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga said there were no U.S. troops involved in the operation.
“There was no direct involvement of the Americans,” Allaga said. “It is strictly prohibited.”
Not the first time
Sulu Gov. Abdulsakur Tan said this was not the first time that U.S. troops were reported to have taken part in Philippine military operations in Sulu. With this, he corroborated what Tulawie had said in an earlier interview with Bulatlat.
When an encounter between the AFP and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) broke out in Brgy. Buansa, Indanan, Sulu in early 2007, U.S. troops who were a few kilometers away were seen running toward the direction of the gunfire. They were carrying their guns.
Military spokespersons said the attack was brought about by reports that members of the ASG were in the MNLF camp. The MNLF –- with which the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) signed a Final Peace Agreement in 1996 -– has repeatedly denied that it coddles ASG members.
During that same period, U.S. troops were busy with a road construction project in Brgy. Bato-Bato, Indanan. At that time, the area was the center of Philippine military operations in Sulu.
These were gathered by Bulatlat in its interview with Tulawie in March last year.
This, Tulawie said, is just part of a larger picture that has been developing in Sulu since 2004.
“Military operations always take place not far from where U.S. troops are,” said Tulawie. “The presence of U.S. troops has been visible in areas where military operations have taken place.”
While Tulawie says there is yet no evidence that U.S. troops have actually participated in combat operations, their visibility in areas where AFP operations have been conducted raises questions on the real reasons behind their presence in the country’s southernmost province.
U.S. military presence in Sulu
The presence of U.S. troops in Sulu started in 2004 and has been continuous since then.
U.S. troops would have entered Sulu as early as February 2003. The AFP and the U.S. Armed Forces had both announced that the Balikatan military exercises for that year would be held in Sulu.
This provoked a wave of protest from the people of Sulu, who had not yet forgotten what has come to be known as the Bud Dajo Massacre.
The Bud Dajo massacre, which took place in 1906, is described in some history texts as the “First Battle of Bud Dajo.” It was an operation against Moro fighters resisting the American occupation.
The description of the incident as a “battle,” however, is disputed considering the sheer mismatch in firepower between U.S. forces and the Moro resistance fighters. The 790 U.S. troops who assaulted Bud Dajo used naval cannons against the 800-1,000 Moro resistance fighters who were mostly armed only with melee weapons.
In the end, only six of the hundreds of Moro resistance fighters holding Bud Dajo as a stronghold survived, while there were 15-20 casualties among the U.S. troops.
The announcement in February 2003 that the year’s Balikatan military exercises would be held in Sulu summoned bitter memories of the Bud Dajo Massacre and led to protest actions where thousands of Sulu residents participated.
The next year, however, U.S. troops came up with ingenious ways to find their way into Sulu – coming in small groups and bringing relief goods. This “neutralized” the residents’ resistance to their presence.
“Unconventional warfare”
The U.S. troops in Sulu are part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P). Based on several news items from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the JSOTF-P are in Sulu to train the AFP’s Southern Command (Southcom) and to conduct civic actions.
However, an article written by Command Sgt. Maj. William Eckert of the JSOTF-P, “Defeating the Idea: Unconventional Warfare in Southern Philippines,” hints that there is more to the task force’s work than training AFP troops and embarking on “humanitarian actions.” Wrote Eckert:
“Working in close coordination with the U.S. Embassy, JSOTF-P uses Special Forces, Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations forces to conduct deliberate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in very focused areas, and based on collection plans, to perform tasks to prepare the environment and obtain critical information requirements. The information is used to determine the capabilities, intentions and activities of threat groups that exist within the local population and to focus U.S. forces –- and the AFP -– on providing security to the local populace. It is truly a joint operation, in which Navy SEALs and SOF aviators work with their AFP counterparts to enhance the AFP’s capacities.”
These U.S. troops have always been seen near the sites of Philippine military operations in Sulu. The latest sighting was during the Feb. 4 attack on Brgy. Ipil, Maimbung where seven civilians and one Army soldier on vacation were killed. Bulatlat
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
PEACE TALKS NEARING DEAD END, SAYS MILF PANEL CHIEF
Real movement in the peace talks is possible only if both parties–especially the GRP–can find “a way forward,” MILF Negotiating Panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal said.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 1, February 3-6, 2008
The peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic (GRP) of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are nearing a dead end, if we ask MILF Negotiating Panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal. Real movement in the peace talks is possible only if both parties -– especially the GRP -– can find “a way forward,” Iqbal said in an e-mail interview with Bulatlat.
Last December, the GRP-MILF peace negotiations reached a deadlock over the ancestral domain issue.
The ancestral domain issue, which was first discussed only in 2004 or some eight years after the talks started, has turned out to be the most contentious issue in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations.
The MILF last year was proposing a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity that would be based on an ancestral domain claim of the Bangsa Moro people over Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan.
The GRP had insisted that areas to be covered by the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity other than the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) should be subjected to a plebiscite. This repeatedly led to an impasse in the peace negotiations with the group.
The impasse was broken only in November last year, when the GRP and the MILF reached an agreement defining the land and maritime areas to be covered by the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
Things seemed to be looking up after that, causing lawyer Eid Kabalu, then MILF spokesperson, to make media statements to the effect that they expected a final agreement to be signed by mid-2008.
But all hopes for forging a peace pact between the GRP and the MILF were dashed last December, when the peace talks hit a snag following the government’s insistence that the ancestral domain issue be settled through “constitutional processes” –- a phrase which, Iqbal said, had been inserted into the agreement without their consent.
“The constitutional process properly belongs to the implementing phase, not in the discussion of the ancestral domain aspect and this is unilateral to the government,” Iqbal said. “We do not understand why the government is raising this issue.”
The government side has denied that the original agreement had been modified. “There was no change from the original proposal,” GRP Negotiating Panel chief Rodolfo Garcia told media on Jan. 15.
Chacha?
The deadlock over the ancestral domain issue in the GRP-MILF peace talks has prompted legal scholar Fr. Joaquin Bernas, who teaches at the Ateneo Law School, to propose what he calls a “surgical constitutional change” to address the conflict in Mindanao.
In his Jan. 21 column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Bernas proposed a constitutional amendment that has the sole purpose of effecting “significant changes” in the structure of government in Mindanao.
“In my view, the search for a solution to the Mindanao problem can be approached through this ‘surgical’ method,” Bernas wrote. “More specifically the goal can be either a reformulation of the powers that can be given to the Autonomous Region or the formation of a federated state for Mindanao. I believe that a limited constitutional change can be achieved by Congress under the present constitutional provision without disturbing the rest.”
Bernas’ proposal was praised by Sec. Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. “I strongly commend the views expressed by Father Bernas in his column pushing for a surgical constitutional change that would eventually benefit the Mindanao peace process, particularly the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, for lasting peace in the south,” Dureza said on Jan. 23.
“I am reiterating my earlier proposal to install a Bangsamoro federal governance unit as the only item in any move to change the charter, in order to ensure that it would pass with bipartisan congressional support and enjoy smooth sailing in both chambers of Congress,” Dureza added.
Iqbal, when asked to comment on Bernas’ proposal, acknowledged it but expressed apprehension on the government’s capacity to push it through.
“It is an opening to formulate a new formula for the negotiated political settlement,” Iqbal said of Bernas’ proposal. “Much depends, however, on how much political capital the President has to push it to a concrete constitutional amendment without derogating the text of the GRP-MILF agreement.”
Land problem
Moro historian Salah Jubair traces the roots of the present conflict in southern Philippines to the U.S. annexation of Mindanao and Sulu into the Philippine territory in 1946.
The inclusion of Mindnaao and Sulu in the scope of the 1946 “independence” grant to the Philippines paved the way for large-scale non-Muslim migration to the two islands. This large-scale migration, which began in the 1950s, brought with it the problem of land grabbing.
At some point the government even instituted a Mindanao Homestead Program, which involved giving land parcels seized from Moro peoples to landless peasants from the Visayas islands and Luzon and also to former communist guerrillas who availed of amnesty.
This was intended to defuse the peasant unrest and the revolutionary war that was staged in the late 1940s and early 1950s by the communist-led Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (HMB or People’s Liberation Army), which was basically a peasant army.
The Bangsa Moro people’s struggle
The marginalization of the Moros in their own land led to the formation of the Muslim Independence Movement (MIM) in the 1950s. The MIM struggle, however, would fizzle out before long as many of its leaders, usually from Mindanao’s elite classes, would be coopted by the government.
During the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965), Sabah, an island near Mindanao to which the Philippines has a historic claim, ended up in the hands of the Malaysian government.
During his first presidential term, Ferdinand Marcos conceived of a scheme that involved the recruitment of between 28 and 64 Moro fighters to occupy Sabah. The recruits were, subsequently, summarily executed by their military superiors in 1968, in what is now known as the infamous Jabidah Massacre. According to Jubair, this was because they had refused to follow orders.
The Jabidah Massacre triggered widespread outrage among the Moros and led to the formation of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that same year. The MNLF, led by former University of the Philippines (UP) professor Nur Misuari, waged an armed revolutionary struggle against the GRP for an independent state in Mindanao.
The Marcos government, weighed down by the costs of the Mindanao war, negotiated for peace and signed an agreement with the MNLF in Tripoli, Libya in the mid-1970s. The pact involved the grant of autonomy to the Mindanao Muslims.
Conflicts on the issue of autonomy led to a breakdown of talks between the GRP and the MNLF in 1978, prompting a group led by Dr. Salamat Hashim to break away from the MNLF and form the MILF. Since then, the MILF has been fighting for Moro self-determination.
In 1996, the MNLF signed the Final Peace Agreement with the GRP, which created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as a concession to the group. That same year, the MILF began peace negotiations with the GRP.
While the peace agreement with the MNLF supposedly holds, armed skirmishes between the AFP and MNLF did not stop. On Nov. 19, 2001, Misuari declared war on the Arroyo government for allegedly reneging on its commitments to the Final Peace Agreement. The MNLF then attacked an Army headquarters in Jolo. Misuari was subsequently arrested in Sabah, Malaysia for illegal entry and was turned over to the Philippine government by Malaysian authorities. He is currently under house arrest.
Meanwhile, the GRP-MILF peace talks have repeatedly bogged down on the issue of ancestral domain, mainly because the GRP has frequently insisted on resolving it within “constitutional processes.” This does not sit well with the MILF. Bulatlat
Real movement in the peace talks is possible only if both parties–especially the GRP–can find “a way forward,” MILF Negotiating Panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal said.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 1, February 3-6, 2008
The peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic (GRP) of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are nearing a dead end, if we ask MILF Negotiating Panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal. Real movement in the peace talks is possible only if both parties -– especially the GRP -– can find “a way forward,” Iqbal said in an e-mail interview with Bulatlat.
Last December, the GRP-MILF peace negotiations reached a deadlock over the ancestral domain issue.
The ancestral domain issue, which was first discussed only in 2004 or some eight years after the talks started, has turned out to be the most contentious issue in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations.
The MILF last year was proposing a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity that would be based on an ancestral domain claim of the Bangsa Moro people over Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan.
The GRP had insisted that areas to be covered by the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity other than the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) should be subjected to a plebiscite. This repeatedly led to an impasse in the peace negotiations with the group.
The impasse was broken only in November last year, when the GRP and the MILF reached an agreement defining the land and maritime areas to be covered by the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
Things seemed to be looking up after that, causing lawyer Eid Kabalu, then MILF spokesperson, to make media statements to the effect that they expected a final agreement to be signed by mid-2008.
But all hopes for forging a peace pact between the GRP and the MILF were dashed last December, when the peace talks hit a snag following the government’s insistence that the ancestral domain issue be settled through “constitutional processes” –- a phrase which, Iqbal said, had been inserted into the agreement without their consent.
“The constitutional process properly belongs to the implementing phase, not in the discussion of the ancestral domain aspect and this is unilateral to the government,” Iqbal said. “We do not understand why the government is raising this issue.”
The government side has denied that the original agreement had been modified. “There was no change from the original proposal,” GRP Negotiating Panel chief Rodolfo Garcia told media on Jan. 15.
Chacha?
The deadlock over the ancestral domain issue in the GRP-MILF peace talks has prompted legal scholar Fr. Joaquin Bernas, who teaches at the Ateneo Law School, to propose what he calls a “surgical constitutional change” to address the conflict in Mindanao.
In his Jan. 21 column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Bernas proposed a constitutional amendment that has the sole purpose of effecting “significant changes” in the structure of government in Mindanao.
“In my view, the search for a solution to the Mindanao problem can be approached through this ‘surgical’ method,” Bernas wrote. “More specifically the goal can be either a reformulation of the powers that can be given to the Autonomous Region or the formation of a federated state for Mindanao. I believe that a limited constitutional change can be achieved by Congress under the present constitutional provision without disturbing the rest.”
Bernas’ proposal was praised by Sec. Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. “I strongly commend the views expressed by Father Bernas in his column pushing for a surgical constitutional change that would eventually benefit the Mindanao peace process, particularly the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, for lasting peace in the south,” Dureza said on Jan. 23.
“I am reiterating my earlier proposal to install a Bangsamoro federal governance unit as the only item in any move to change the charter, in order to ensure that it would pass with bipartisan congressional support and enjoy smooth sailing in both chambers of Congress,” Dureza added.
Iqbal, when asked to comment on Bernas’ proposal, acknowledged it but expressed apprehension on the government’s capacity to push it through.
“It is an opening to formulate a new formula for the negotiated political settlement,” Iqbal said of Bernas’ proposal. “Much depends, however, on how much political capital the President has to push it to a concrete constitutional amendment without derogating the text of the GRP-MILF agreement.”
Land problem
Moro historian Salah Jubair traces the roots of the present conflict in southern Philippines to the U.S. annexation of Mindanao and Sulu into the Philippine territory in 1946.
The inclusion of Mindnaao and Sulu in the scope of the 1946 “independence” grant to the Philippines paved the way for large-scale non-Muslim migration to the two islands. This large-scale migration, which began in the 1950s, brought with it the problem of land grabbing.
At some point the government even instituted a Mindanao Homestead Program, which involved giving land parcels seized from Moro peoples to landless peasants from the Visayas islands and Luzon and also to former communist guerrillas who availed of amnesty.
This was intended to defuse the peasant unrest and the revolutionary war that was staged in the late 1940s and early 1950s by the communist-led Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (HMB or People’s Liberation Army), which was basically a peasant army.
The Bangsa Moro people’s struggle
The marginalization of the Moros in their own land led to the formation of the Muslim Independence Movement (MIM) in the 1950s. The MIM struggle, however, would fizzle out before long as many of its leaders, usually from Mindanao’s elite classes, would be coopted by the government.
During the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965), Sabah, an island near Mindanao to which the Philippines has a historic claim, ended up in the hands of the Malaysian government.
During his first presidential term, Ferdinand Marcos conceived of a scheme that involved the recruitment of between 28 and 64 Moro fighters to occupy Sabah. The recruits were, subsequently, summarily executed by their military superiors in 1968, in what is now known as the infamous Jabidah Massacre. According to Jubair, this was because they had refused to follow orders.
The Jabidah Massacre triggered widespread outrage among the Moros and led to the formation of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that same year. The MNLF, led by former University of the Philippines (UP) professor Nur Misuari, waged an armed revolutionary struggle against the GRP for an independent state in Mindanao.
The Marcos government, weighed down by the costs of the Mindanao war, negotiated for peace and signed an agreement with the MNLF in Tripoli, Libya in the mid-1970s. The pact involved the grant of autonomy to the Mindanao Muslims.
Conflicts on the issue of autonomy led to a breakdown of talks between the GRP and the MNLF in 1978, prompting a group led by Dr. Salamat Hashim to break away from the MNLF and form the MILF. Since then, the MILF has been fighting for Moro self-determination.
In 1996, the MNLF signed the Final Peace Agreement with the GRP, which created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as a concession to the group. That same year, the MILF began peace negotiations with the GRP.
While the peace agreement with the MNLF supposedly holds, armed skirmishes between the AFP and MNLF did not stop. On Nov. 19, 2001, Misuari declared war on the Arroyo government for allegedly reneging on its commitments to the Final Peace Agreement. The MNLF then attacked an Army headquarters in Jolo. Misuari was subsequently arrested in Sabah, Malaysia for illegal entry and was turned over to the Philippine government by Malaysian authorities. He is currently under house arrest.
Meanwhile, the GRP-MILF peace talks have repeatedly bogged down on the issue of ancestral domain, mainly because the GRP has frequently insisted on resolving it within “constitutional processes.” This does not sit well with the MILF. Bulatlat
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)