Mattis says PH troops upheld human rights in Marawi

From Rappler (Oct 25): Mattis says PH troops upheld human rights in Marawi

'That's really a statement about the Philippine military that they could set a human rights condition in the midst of that awful fight in the way they did,' says the US defense secretary

PARTNERS. US Defense Secretary James Mattis (left) and President Rodrigo Duterte during the 11th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and 4th ADMM-Plus, in Clark, Pampanga. Photo by Dondi Tawatao/AFP

US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday praised the Philippine military for upholding human rights in a five-month battle against pro-Islamic State group militants in Marawi City.

Philippine defense officials on Monday, October 23, declared the end of the nation's longest urban war in Marawi, where troops have been battling to flush out militants who attacked the city in what authorities said was a bid to establish a Southeast Asian caliphate.

Mattis, who was in the Philippines to attend a regional security meeting, heaped praise on the military of America's longtime ally and mutual defense partner.

"I think the most important thing is here's an army that had to go in a fight like that, and they had not one human rights allegation against them with any credibility, not one," Mattis told reporters.

"That's really a statement about the Philippine military that they could set a human rights condition in the midst of that awful fight in the way they did," he said on the sidelines of meetings in Clark, a northern Philippine city.

Hundreds of local and foreign gunmen who had pledged allegiance to IS rampaged through Marawi, the principal Islamic city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, on May 23.

An ensuing US-backed military campaign claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people, displaced 400,000 residents and left large parts of the city in ruins.

President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the southern third of the Philippines immediately after the fighting erupted, saying it was needed to contain IS's influence spreading throughout the region.

Mattis' comments came a day after he met with Duterte in what the Pentagon chief said was a "very warm" meeting.

"We talked about the way ahead and we're on the same team," Mattis said.

Despite Mattis' remarks, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights told AFP it was investigating allegations of abuse in Marawi after receiving complaints from local lawyers and a rights group.

Rights group Karapatan said it had documented cases of alleged civilian deaths due to the military's aerial bombings as well as illegal arrests and torture.

"That is a very sweeping statement by a US official," Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay told AFP in response to Mattis' comments.

Mattis on Monday hailed Philippine troops for "liberating" Marawi.

He is on an Asian trip that will also bring him to Thailand and South Korea.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/186403-mattis-says-ph-upheld-rights-in-marawi

Tunnels reveal militants' rat-like tactics in Marawi war

From Rappler (Oct 26): Tunnels reveal militants' rat-like tactics in Marawi war

The military says it maintained near-daily bombings, with state-of-the-art American radar helping to identify targets, yet the militants could often dodge the explosions

RAT-LIKE. A soldier crawls out of a tunnel connected to the city's underground drainage system, used by militants as cover during the height of the war. Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP

The main battle zone in a southern Philippine city seized by Islamic State supporters resembles a tsunami-hit wasteland, with bullet-riddled mosques and a network of tunnels testifying to their hide-and-kill tactics.

Two days after the military declared an end to the five-month conflict in which more than 1,100 people died, scrawny feral dogs and swallows flying above the ruins were among the few signs of life in Marawi's devastated neighborhoods.

Many buildings were piles of grey rubble as if crushed by a tsunami roaring in from Lake Lanao just behind them.

The pink minaret of one mosque was so riddled with bullets that most of its plaster had been stripped off and just its iron beams remained.

When the gunmen initially rampaged through Marawi, the principal Islamic city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, military commanders expected a relatively brief battle and were surprised at their enemies' ability to hold out for so long.

The military maintained near-daily bombings, with state-of-the-art American radar helping to identify targets, yet the militants could often dodge the explosions.

A brief tour for journalists on Wednesday revealed some of their rat-like survival techniques, including the digging of holes through concrete floors up to 25 centimetres (eight inches) thick.

These connected to the city's drainage system, allowing them to scurry to nearby buildings undetected, according to commanders who fought the ground war.

"They didn't want to pass open terrain, especially in the latter part (of the war)," Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Yunque, commander of an army special forces unit that fought the entire campaign, told reporters.

But Yunque said the military also adapted to the militants' tactics by blasting their own virtual tunnels or "rat holes" in walls between buildings so troops could move quickly without going back into the open streets.

In the early days, Yunque said, his unit took two days using conventional tactics to rescue 16 crewmen of two armored vehicles that had been disabled by the militants' rocket-propelled grenades.

"They were surrounded by snipers on tall buildings and they were attempting to burn them alive by tossing molotov (firebombs) at their vehicles," he told reporters.

"When we rescued them they were singed and down to their shorts. They had their firearms but they had not eaten for days and were about to run out of bullets."

Hiding in mosques
The military had repeatedly said another reason the war dragged on so long was because the militants were hiding in mosques and using hostages as human shields.

Troops were ordered to avoid striking the mosques, military commanders said frequently during the conflict.

However, to end the fighting the military decided it had no choice.

The final battle on Monday took place inside a mosque, claiming the lives of two soldiers and 42 fighters, armed forces chief General Eduardo Año said on Monday.

In one part of the battlefield, the cupola of a bullet-riddled mosque with a twisted metal sliver of moon on top and its minaret lay toppled and broken between two bombed-out buildings.

In another area a crater big enough to swallow a car was all that was left of the city's police station.

The authorities said the militants beheaded a police officer there and released hundreds of inmates from the adjacent city jail on the first day of the conflict.

A military aircraft later dropped a 113-kilogram (250-pound) bomb, obliterating the low building, they added.

Months before they launched their attack, the gunmen secretly stored food, guns, bullets, and explosives inside city buildings before infiltrating at least 1,000 men into the city, according to the military.

President Rodrigo Duterte and security analysts said the gunmen had planned to set up a Southeast Asian IS base in the southern Philippines, taking advantage of lawlessness partly stemming from a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion.

The militants at one point controlled more than 4,000 buildings, according to the region's military commander, Lieutenant-General Carlito Galvez.

At least 920 militants were killed, while 165 troops and 47 civilians died, according to the military.

The fighting also displaced about 400,000 people, and made the eastern half of the city uninhabitable for many years. Authorities are only now beginning to grapple with a multi-billion-dollar rehabilitation program.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/186412-tunnels-reveal-militants-rat-tactics-marawi

Rappler Talk: Marawi after the war

From Rappler (Oct 26): Rappler Talk: Marawi after the war

What's next for Marawi now that the war is over?

 

Lanao Del Sur Provincial Crisis Management Committee spokesman Zia Alonto Adiong will speak to Rappler about the war that ravaged Marawi City for 5 months, and the challenges on the ground now that the fighting is over.

Watch the interview live on Rappler.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/186407-rappler-talk-marawi-after-war-zia-alonto-adiong

U.S. spy drone crashes in Zamboanga

From the Mindanao Examiner (Oct 24): U.S. spy drone crashes in Zamboanga

An U.S. military unmanned aerial vehicle has crashed Tuesday outside an air force base in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, reports said.

The drone was quickly retrieved by American soldiers outside the Edwin Andrews Air Base in the village of Santa Maria, local residents who were in the area, said. They said the spy drone was flying low when it hit a tree and crashed shortly before 5 a.m.

“It was really noisy, the engine sounded like that of a motorboat, but much louder than its usual sound and the noise from its engine even woke us up,” one resident in nearby village of Tetuan told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner after hearing radio reports of the crash.

Witnesses said the U.S. soldiers came in trucks and retrieved the drone. U.S. spy planes regularly fly in low altitude in Zamboanga, especially at dawn.

The military did not issue any statement on the downed spy plane and U.S. forces were also silent on the crash. It was not immediately what type of drone had crashed, but the U.S. military, which is aiding Filipino troops in fighting terrorism, operates a large number of spy drones from MQ-1 Predator, armed with Hellfire missiles, to the smaller, but long-endurance ScanEagle which can fly in low altitude.

It was not the first time that a U.S. drone had crashed in Zamboanga City. In 2002, another drone crashed at sea off Zamboanga and was also retrieved by American forces; and another in 2006 and 2007 in the town of Indanan and Mount Tumatangis in Sulu province, and also in 2008 in North Cotabato’s Pikit town.

U.S. troops still operate in Zamboanga City and in Sulu, one of 5 provinces in the restive Muslim autonomous region. It also assisted the Philippine military in defeating local ISIS in the besieged city of Marawi held by militants since May this year until their October downfall.

http://mindanaoexaminer.com/u-s-spy-drone-crashes-in-zamboanga/

Police hold trio for transporting ammo, explosives

From the Mindanao Examiner (Oct 24): Police hold trio for transporting ammo, explosives

Police authorities are holding 3 people who were trying to smuggle government ammunition and explosives in the southern Philippine province of Misamis Oriental.

The trio – Jerry Balatbat and his wife Amalia, and Sergio Pangantihon – was in a van when intercepted at a checkpoint on Monday in Amoros village in El Salvador.

Police said those arrested came from Marawi City and heading to General Santos City, but they are all natives of South Cotabato’s Polomolok town. Seized from their van were boxes – marked with DND Arsenal – containing hundreds of ammunition for automatic rifles and grenade launchers.

The three are currently being investigated to determine where they got the ammunition and for whom. They are all facing criminal charges for illegal possession of explosives and ammunition.

It was unclear how the trio managed to passed numerous checkpoints along the way from Marawi where troops and policemen set up road blocks.

http://mindanaoexaminer.com/police-hold-trio-for-transporting-ammo-explosives/

Russia gives PH 5T rifles, other military equipment

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 25): Russia gives PH 5T rifles, other military equipment

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday received thousands of rifles and various military equipment donated by Russia in a simple turnover ceremony at the Port of Manila.

The donation consists of 5,000 AK-74M Kalashnikov rifles, 20 multi-purpose vehicles, 1 million pieces of ammunition, and 5,000 steel helmets, to be used for the country’s continuing war against terrorism.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu witnessed the turnover ceremony.

Aside from accepting the military equipment, Duterte also toured the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Pantaleev to check its air defense system and wardroom.

The donation highlights the warming relations between the Philippines and Russia ever since Duterte assumed office in June last year.

Apart from boosting economic ties, Duterte has repeatedly expressed his desire to procure military equipment from Russia, as well as China, especially in the wake of reports that the US State Department had halted the sale of thousands of rifles to the Philippine National Police.

Just recently, China also turned over 3,000 assault rifles to the Philippines.

Duterte visited Russia last May at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders first met on the sidelines of the APEC meet in Lima, Peru in November 2016, where Putin extended the invitation to Duterte to visit Moscow.

However, Duterte cut short his five-day trip to Russia after declaring martial law in Mindanao on May 23 due to the Marawi siege.

But before returning home, Duterte briefly met with Putin where the Russian president reportedly offered military assistance for the country’s war against terrorism.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1013831

PH, Russia ink 2 defense pacts

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 25): PH, Russia ink 2 defense pacts

Highlighting their deepening ties, the Philippines and Russia signed two agreements on the sidelines of the 4th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) - Plus on Tuesday.

This took place at the ASEAN Convention Center in Clark, Pampanga.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoygu signed an agreement on a military technical cooperation between the two countries.

The document contained provisions on various areas of the cooperation such as research, production support, as well as a possible exchange of experts and training of personnel for joint programs.

In addition, the two governments also signed a contract for the Philippines’ procurement of defense articles from Rosoboronexport, a Russian state-owned company.

Lorenzana and Rosoboronexport director-general Alexander A. Mikheev signed the agreement.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1013862

Equipment donation shows deepening PH-Russia ties

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 25): Equipment donation shows deepening PH-Russia ties

Russia's donation of equipment to the Philippine military shows the country's deepening ties with one of the world's superpowers.

This was stressed by Department of National Defense (DND) public affairs chief Arsenio Andolong when sought for comments after the formal turnover of the Russian donation Wednesday.

The donation consists of 20 multi-purpose Ural 4320 vehicles, 5,000 units of AK-74M Kalashnikov assault rifles, 1 million rounds of 7.62mm steel core bullets, and 5,000 units of SH-68 steel helmets.

The items were transported by a Russian naval flotilla that arrived on October 20 and was expected to depart on Thursday.

"This gesture by the Russian Federation is a sign of deepening relations that we are developing with Russia and the equipment donated will be used by various operations by (the) Armed Forces of the Philippines, primarily in counter terrorism efforts," he added.

The donation also demonstrates Moscow's intention to expand their network with other nations in the global community, Andolong stressed.

This initiative is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte's efforts to broaden the Philippines' relationship with other nations.

"I think this is the right time to forge cooperation with Russia," the DND public affairs office chief added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1013838

Eastmincom's Guerrero gets AFP's top post

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 26): Eastmincom's Guerrero gets AFP's top post

Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero, Eastern Mindanao Command head, was appointed to succeed outgoing Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Gen. Eduardo Año who is retiring Thursday after reaching the mandatory military retirement age of 56.

Guerrero is a member of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1984 while his predecessor is a member of PMA Class of 1983.

Guerrero's appointment as the next AFP chief was formalized and approved by President Rodrigo Duterte in a letter to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana last Wednesday.

"I wish to inform you that, per your letter-endorsement, and in accordance with the recommendation of the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Chairman of AFP Board of Generals, pursuant to Republic Act No. 8186, as amended by Republic Act No. 9188, the designation of Lt. General Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero 0-8951 ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES as Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines vice General Eduardo M. Año 0-8678 is hereby APPROVED effective October 25, 2017," the Chief Executive said.

Turn over ceremonies will take place at the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City around 3 p.m. with Pres. Duterte as the guest-of-honor.

Aside from heading the EMC, Guerrero also commanded the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Jamindan, Capiz, the 701st Infantry Brigade in Davao Oriental, Task Force Davao.

Guerrero graduated among the top three of his PMA Class. He is also is a recipient of the Legion of Honor, Bronze Cross Medal, Distinguished Service Star and Military Merit and Commendation Medals and various letters of commendation and plaques of recognition from various non-government organizations (NGOs) and local government units.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1013951

PH, China to beef up defense ties

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 26): PH, China to beef up defense ties

Expect more bilateral security engagements in the coming months between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China (PROC) as the two nations have agreed to strengthen their defense and military-to-military relations.

Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana made this announcement after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, General Chang Wanquan, Wednesday.

In the meeting that took place at DND headquarters, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, the two officials discussed and explored avenues wherein the two countries can improve defense and military-to-military relations.

“Riding on the improvement of our defense relations, it is only proper for us to move forward,” Lorenzana added.

The bilateral meeting centered on several key areas.

First was the enhancement of cooperation in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, especially in intelligence sharing, joint counterterrorism exercises, and other specialized training.

Both defense chiefs underscored the need for countries to cooperate in order to eradicate the evils of terrorism which they considered a “common enemy.”

Lorenzana also thanked the PROC for its support in the Marawi operations, stating that its earlier donations of rifles and ammunition “helped a lot in our fight against the terrorists in Marawi”. Chang intimated that China plans to donate another batch of weapons and equipment later this year or early next year.

The second key area that both defense officials identified was the enhancement of maritime cooperation between the two countries, focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) and anti-piracy operations in the Philippines’ southern waters.

Both also agreed to increase visits of naval vessels as a sign of goodwill and friendship between the two countries. Third was the increase of military-to-military personnel exchanges between junior and field grade officers.

Lorenzana and Chang agreed that this will be beneficial to both countries since it will foster interpersonal relations between both militaries’ officer corps and future leaders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The fourth key area of discussion was China’s offer to the Philippines of its weapons and equipment to support the AFP modernization program.

Most significantly, the bilateral meeting touched on the South China Sea issue and how best to move forward.

Both defense chiefs welcomed the decrease of tensions between the two countries through careful management of the dispute brought about by the warming of relations between the Philippines and China.

Lorenzana and Chang welcomed the proposal to develop a concrete mechanism to solve issues immediately and avoid future conflicts.

“I believe we are in the right direction in our defense relations and I look forward to future Defense and security dialogues with China,” the DND chief added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1013949