From the Manila Times (Dec 4): Islamic school probe for Maute links sought
Local government officials in Lanao del Sur are urging authorities to investigate an Islamic school or Madrasa whose name is being withheld while investigation of its alleged links to the Maute terror group, now sporting the name of Dawlah Islamiya, is yet to begin.
The Dawlah Islamiya figured recently in a gunfight with the military in Butig, Lanao del Sur, where, according to military sources, the terror group suffered more than a dozen casualties.
The Maute terror group is just considered as a gang but enjoys support of local Islamic schools, providing the group with fanatical students to help fight government forces.
Local officials in Butig on Saturday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to assign a battalion of military men in the municipality of Butig to prevent Dawlah Islamiya bandits from coming back to terrorize villages.
Jobless men
Members of the Butig municipal peace and order council confirmed that more than half of the group’s only about 200 members are jobless men from nearby towns and students of an Islamic school in Marawi City.
Lanao del Sur Vice Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr., a senior member of the provincial peace and order council who attended a recent local government summit of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in Davao City, said the school is now being monitored by local authorities.
Other local executives from Lanao del Sur who attended the summit said they want the Department of Education in the ARMM (DepEd-ARMM) to look into the activities of the Islamic school, whose name they asked not to publish yet pending outcome of an investigation of its alleged links the Dawlah Islamiya.
“There are also three other smaller Islamic schools rumored to have links to this group, which is espousing violence. Nowhere in the Qur’an can we find a single verse espousing violence as a means of furthering a cause or in seeking redress,”said a mayor who asked not to be named.
Maranao mayors confirmed that the suspicious school in Marawi City first sent students to Butig to help the Dawlah Islamiya fight Philippine Army units that flushed them out of the municipality during the campaign period that preceded the May 9, 2016 elections.
“Certain students of the school were reportedly absent from classes during the latest incursion of the group in populated areas in Butig,” said a local official who also attended the ARMM local government summit, held at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City.
More attacks
Mayors are worried of more attacks soon by extremists on the once peaceful Maranao farming communities as vengeance on the deaths of 22 Dawlah Islamiya gunmen that the military killed during the fierce encounters there last week that according to government sources displaced some 2,715 Maranao families.
The military had announced that more than 50 Dawlah Islamiya members were killed in firefights in Butig from November 23 to 25.
Local government officials, however, confirmed that the group only had 22 fatalities, nine of them mere teenagers.
ARMM’s regional vice governor, Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman Jr., who hails from Bayang town in Lanao del Sur, said there is a need for immediate deployment of a battalion of soldiers in Butig to deter attacks by the Dawlah Islamiya.
“An Army battalion that would stay there and not leave after the ongoing anti-Maute operations [is needed],” Lucman added.
Small group
Evacuees provided with food by the ARMM government through a team led by Lucman, concurrent regional social welfare secretary, said the terrorists forced villagers last week to leave at gunpoint and looted their houses.
The evacuees said the bandits also took their farm animals as they fled to elude responding soldiers.
“It is just a very small group. Most of its members are not residents of Butig but are from nearby towns in Lanao del Sur,” said Abdul Pansar, the municipal planning and development coordinator of Butig.
The Dawlah Islamiya, founded by relatives Omar and Abdullah Maute, boasts of its allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and has also been using the black ISIS flag as its revolutionary banner.
The founders of the group had studied Islamic theology in Syria, Jordan and in secular schools in the United Arab Emirates, according to some public officials in Lanao del Sur.
Possible retreat
Last week’s hostilities in Butig erupted when Dawlah Islamiya gunmen showed force in the center of the municipality and hoisted the ISIS flag on strategic spots in the municipality.
Municipal mayors in Maguindanao’s adjoining Matanog, Buldon and Barira towns that are all located near the forested border of the province with Lanao del Sur said they are apprehensive of a possible retreat of the Dawlah Islamiya extremists in Butig to their municipalities.
Buldon Mayor Abolais Manalao has recommended an urgent meeting of the municipal peace and order councils in the three Maguindanao towns to discuss how to prevent the possible coming in of extremists from Butig.
Butig is so close to the border of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, where there is a much bigger terrorist group, the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters also known for its allegiance to ISIS.
Butig Mayor Dimnatang Pansar said he is optimistic that the Armed Forces of the Philippines will deploy soon a battalion of soldiers totheir municipality to help the local police control activities of the Dawlah Islamiya.
Pansar noted that there are only 20 policemen that the Philippine National Police assigned in Butig and some of them are only carrying 9 millimeter pistols.
From The Standard (Dec 4): Political prisoners join hunger strike
MORE than 600 inmates and political prisoners are joining the nationwide hunger strike to demand that the Duterte administration issue a presidential proclamation ordering general amnesty for all political prisoners, the farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said Sunday.
“We do not want another Bernabe Ocasla who died waiting in vain for his freedom that was promised by the Duterte government,”group secretary general Antonio Flores said referring to the first political prisoner to die under Duterte’s watch.
He made his statement even as government chief negotiator Silvestro Bello III said President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration was committed to freeing all 400 political prisoners with the first 100 to be released before the third round of the peace talks in January 2017,
“Yes, that is the commitment of our President and our President will keep his word,” Bello told ANC.
Most of the 400 political prisoners in the country are farmers and land reform advocates. Many of them were implicated in cases of rebellion, murder, robbery with homicide, attempted murder, frustrated murder, illegal possession of firearms and explosives and other charges for which bail is not allowed.
“All of the political prisoners were arrested as civilians and not combatants and yet, the government tags them as members of the New People’s Army because of their past political activities as peasant leaders and organizers,” Flores said.
The KMP and farmers from Eastern Visayas will protest at Mendiola tomorrow to demand the release of peasant political prisoners including Dario Tomada and Oscar Belleza who are detained at the Manila City Jail.
Tomada, 56, is a former leader of the peasant group Sagupa-Sinirangan Bisayas. He was arrested on July 22, 2010 in Binan, Laguna.
Belleza, 59, was the former vice chairman of KMP-Leyte. He was arrested on Nov. 26, 2008 in Olongapo City. Belleza suffered a stroke while in detention and underwent brain surgery. He is now paralyzed and in poor health.
Beatriz Gabuay who is still detained at the Samar Provincial Jail, was arrested on Sept. 23, 2008. She is 56 years old and suffers from hypertension.
From the often pro-CPP online publication the Davao Today (Dec 5): Not yet time for bilateral ceasefire, ‘address roots of armed conflict first’
National Democratic Front consultant Benito Tiamzon. (Zea Io Ming C. Capistrano/davaotoday.com)
Once the government clinches bilateral ceasefire, it is likely to lose interest in pursuing fundamental social reforms.
“From the start that is the most significant objective of the government, to stop the fighting in whatever way,” said National Democratic Front consultant Benito Tiamzon during a peace forum on Saturday afternoon at the University of the Immaculate Conception here.
But he said “the needed reforms cannot be addressed without confronting the foreign powers and the oligarchs who have benefitted from the current status quo.”
He said the fighting may stop temporarily by a bilateral ceasefire agreement.
“However, without addressing the root cause of the armed struggle, fighting may again erupt and this time it may be wider and intense,” Tiamzon said.
For his part, government peace negotiator Atty. Antonio Arellano told participants in the Saturday forum that unless a bilateral ceasefire agreement is signed, there is “technically” no violation of the unilateral ceasefire declaration declared by both the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
“Until the bilateral agreement can be made by two parties, you cannot technically say there are violations of the ceasefire,” said the GRP peace panel member.
He said the unilateral ceasefire declarations of both parties were declared by each party and “not as a matter of agreement,” clarifying that any reported violation would be just “a violation of each organizations’ own rules of engagement.”
He said this is why the government is hoping that a bilateral ceasefire agreement is reached by two parties to define what actions can be considered as violative of the agreement.
Tiamzon said the “mutual unilateral and indefinite ceasefires” were declared to primarily build goodwill between the two parties during the resumption of the formal talks.
“The unilateral ceasefire (orders) were carried out basically to create goodwill and mutual confidence between the two parties. But the way we see it, the expansion of militarization is fundamentally in violation of the spirit of the ceasefire,” Tiamzon said.
He said the military’s operation in villages and the carrying out of the peace and development operations (PDOPs) are essentially clearing operations and base denial operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“Its aim is to destroy suspected mass base of the New People’s Army,” Tiamzon said.
Tiamzon said military troops occupy villages and threatens civilians.
“If the AFP troops are in the villages, they are not treated as friends by the residents; instead villagers live in fear and their activities are affected,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte first ordered the unilateral ceasefire with the communists during his State of the Nation Address in June. Duterte withdrew his declaration after five days following a skirmish between the NPA and members of the Cafgu Active Auxiliary in July.
It was later restored on August 21, on the eve of the first round of the peace talks with the NDF in Oslo, Norway.
In the August 26 Joint Statement of the GRP and NDF, the ceasefire committees of both Parties were tasked to “reconcile and develop their separate unilateral ceasefire orders into a single unified bilateral agreement within 60 days” from August 26.
Until now, both parties have not yet come up with a consensus on the definition of terms and conditions including the definition of the hostile act, the buffer zones, and who constitutes the monitoring team.
In August 26, Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero said that the ceasefire will help them in the implementation of PDOP in far flung communities.
“Now that a ceasefire with the CPP-NPA is in effect, we expect that the implementation of the government’s peace and development programs in the countryside will be able to proceed much faster providing the much needed services to even the remotest barangay,” he said.
He said the PDOP program promotes partnerships of efforts between the Philippine Army and the Provincial Government and its Local Government Unit’s (LGUs).
From Anadolu Agency (Dec 4): Philippines: Ex-rebels warn of new militant group
MILF says Deash-affiliated group complicated situation in Muslim south amid delay in establishing autonomous region
The Philippines’ one-time largest Moro rebel outfit warned Sunday that a new Daesh-affiliated militant group has complicated the situation in the country’s Muslim south amid a delay in establishing an autonomous region.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said in an editorial posted on its official website Sunday that the Maute group’s “engagements with government [are] not covered by terms of reference” -- as is the case with Moro and communist groups involved in peace talks with the government.
“Everything seems fair… Anything that moves is fair target,” it underlined.
Over the past year, the peace panels of the MILF and the government have expressed concerns that frustrations in majority Muslim provinces in southern Mindanao could mount due to the failure to pass an autonomy law sealing a 2014 peace deal.
The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) was shelved for the May 9 presidential election won by Rodrigo Duterte, whose administration has since been engaged in efforts to consolidate present and past peace agreements with all indigenous Moro groups in an effort to end a decades-old conflict in which around 100,000 people have died.
On Sunday, the MILF warned that the Maute group -- which overran Butig town in Lanao del Sur province twice this year, only to be flushed out by the military -- treats “anything that moves” as a “fair target”.
A military offensive was launched late last month to clear Butig of the fighters, resulting in clashes that reportedly left 61 militants dead and 35 government troops injured. The MILF expressed sadness that“the greater damage or suffering has been inflicted on the civilians who were uprooted from their homes.”
The editorial underlined that the Maute group could be “hard to defeat immediately” as it “feed[s] on the frustrations of the people caused by the delay in the resolution of the conflict in Mindanao”.
While Duterte officially acknowledged Maute’s connection to Daesh earlier this week, the MILF said it remains “a big question” whether Maute has “firmly established links” with the terror group in the Middle East.
It acknowledged that “there are youths who are fascinated by the early successes or radical teachings of the ISIS [Daesh]”, and that many of them belong to “well-to-do if not prominent families” and are “secular-educated mainly from government institutions”.
While warning that the new group gains its strength from abhorring “the perceived compromises of their elders”, the editorial said its staying power was nonetheless questionable, as it does “not organize the people, as base of support”.
The MILF vowed that it would continue maintaining dialogue with “all sectors of our people”, describing its communications with other armed groups in the region -- including its breakaway outfit the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters -- as “producing good results”.
It warned, however, that success would be limited as the MILF lacks legal authority to enforce its methods.
“But once the [BBL] is passed into law and the Bangsamoro government is in place and the MILF is initially placed at the helm of government, then we have both the legal and moral responsibility to effect obedience. We can be an effective partner of government,” it stressed.
From Rappler (Dec 5): AFP's new chief: Will it be Guerrero?
The Armed Forces of the Philippines will have a new chief of staff on Wednesday, when General Ricardo Visaya retires
RETIRING. General Ricardo Visaya has one of the shortest terms as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
The Armed Forces of the Philippines will have a new chief of staff this week as General Ricardo Visaya reaches the retirement age of 56.
The retirement and change of command ceremony is scheduled on Wednesday, December 7.
Sources said the strongest contender is Army Lieutenant General Rey Leonardo Guerrero, current commanding general of military forces based in the home region of the President, the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom).
Guerrero has ensured that the ceasefire with communist rebels is sustained under his command, despite the fact that it is where the New People's Army (NPA) is strongest. In his younger years in the Army, Guerrero also got his brigade command in Davao Oriental. A Special Forces officer, he was assigned to the Presidential Security Group under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
NEXT CHIEF? Army Lieutenant General Ray Guerrero is the commander of military forces based in the home region of the President, the Eastern Mindanao Command. Military photo
Another serious contender is Army chief Lieutenant General Eduardo Año, who had served in the Davao region as commanding general of the 10th Infantry Division.
A veteran intelligence officer, Año scored some of the biggest arrests of communist leaders in his career. He was chief of the Intelligence Service Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) when alleged NPA boss Benito Tiamzon and wife Wilma were arrested in Cebu. Freed by Duterte, the Tiamzons are part of the rebel panel in the current peace talks with the government.
Año was a year ahead of Guerrero at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Scheduled to retire in October 2017, Año is a 1983 graduate of the PMA while Guerrero belongs to PMA Class 1984.
"I recommended several names. Siguro nakapili na (He must have chosen already)," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told Rappler.
BOG lists 11 names
The Board of Generals sent the names of 11 "qualified" 3-star generals in the military, said Lorenzana.
Lorenzana did not name the 11 contenders. Officers holding a 3-star position include the chiefs of the major services (army, navy, and air force) and the area commanders nationwide.
"The Board of Generals actually sent 11 names of 3-star generals who are all qualified. It's up to the President to choose. After all, the chief of staff is a position of trust and confidence," Lorenzana said.
Duterte said last week he will let the AFP Board of Generals pick the next AFP chief. “I leave it to the AFP board of generals, they have to go through the process,” he said.
Visaya has one of the shortest terms as AFP chief serving for a duration of a little over 5 months.
Under his leadership, the AFP was able to sustain the ceasefire with the communist New People's Army, launch a series of attacks against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and Basilan, as well as the Maute Group in Lanao Del Sur.
From ABS-CBN (Dec 5): Attempts to talk peace with the Maute group underway
Mere minutes after President Duterte's helicopter took off from the tactical command post of the Armed Forces in Lanao del Sur last November 30, an emissary sent by the President also left for Butig and met with the Maute Group leadership.
Omar Ali Solitario, the former mayor of Marawi City, and relative of the Mautes by marriage, talked to brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute to extend the President's offer for peace talks to end the war.
Sources privy to the negotiation efforts said the Maute Group expressed willingness to talk.
Another source also revealed that the Mautes were now planning to consolidate their position or demand, and possibly put together a "panel" of sorts that would represent the group should talks push through.
This initiative to address the Maute group conflict formally started in on November 25, when President Duterte invited influential relatives of the Mautes to meet with him in Davao City to address the problem.
The source, who was there at the meeting, said that in attendance were Solitario, former Marawi mayor Fahad "Pre" Salic, whose wife Rasmia - also present - is the niece of Farhana Maute, mother of the Maute brothers.
Solitario and Salic know Duterte from their days as city mayors. Solitario was personally asked by Duterte to help. He is deemed an effective intermediary because of family ties to the Mautes, and because the Maute brothers have high regard for him as a former commander of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Duterte's pronouncements in subsequent media statements then hinted at his desire to make peace with the Maute group, who has espoused the ideology of ISIS and operates under the black ISIS flag.
The President said as much in his visit to Lanao del Sur near Butig, where he pleaded to local leaders to help him fin the peaceful solution. He also questioned how the Mautes could prescribe to a system of belief that comes from the Middle East, far removed from the Moro experience and struggle.
Solitario reportedly just returned from yet another trip to Davao. Another emissary is scheduled to meet with Duterte today in Malacañang to give him feedback about the Maute Group's response.
Military operations against the ISIS-influenced Maute group continue. Despite Duterte's call for peace, he did not give the military any orders to stand down or even scale down its operations.
Butig Mayor Jimmy Pansar said Duterte also verbally approved his request to place more troops that will have a permanent presence in crucial parts of Butig, this being the third time for the Maute group and the military to clash in the municipality.
Local leaders of the town have asked the permission of the mayor and the military to carry their own firearms in order for them to defend their own villages from the Maute group.
Butig National High School, used by Maute Group as one of the main defensive positions in the town center. Now also back in military hands. Chiara Zambrano, ABS-CBN News
Abdullah Maute has made calls for people to refer to them as Dawla Islamiyah, or Islamic State.
Social media accounts known to communicate messages from the group say it is only the military who calls them "Maute Group." AFP spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla has confirmed that the group has been listed in the website of the Islamic State in Syria as one of the groups supporting the fight to create a Muslim caliphate, but stops short of saying that this counts as official recognition that they are now really part of ISIS.
The 103rd Infantry Brigade has said that fighters from Basilan and Maguindanao have joined the Maute fight. Mayor Pansar said they see and hear Tagalog-speaking fighters, which they believe are Balik Islam. Brigadier General Padilla confirmed that members of the BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) have also joined in. Months ago, videos and photos show extremist leader Tokboy of the Ansar Kilafa Philippines or AKP in Sultan Kudarat joining the Maute group in Butig, where Tokboy was filmed pledging his group's allegiance to Isnilon Hapilon, head of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan, and considered the emir or overall leader of the so-called Islamic State in the Philippines.
The Maute group has beheaded two sawmill workers this year, making them dress in orange overalls while the group was dressed in black, in the fashion of the Islamic State in Syria. Writings at a school in Sitio Ragayan - one of the Maute group strongholds in Butig overrun by the military in February - indicated in the Maranao dialect that all kuffar (non-believers) and Christians should be killed.
From GMA News (Dec 4): AMID MAUTE THREAT VS. PRESIDENT| PSG trained to protect Duterte —spokesman
The Presidential Security Group (PSG) on Sunday said its men are trained to thwart threats against President Rodrigo Duterte following the Maute Group's threat to behead the chief executive.
"We will always be ready to protect the President," PSG spokesperson Lt. Michael Aquino said in a statement.
"Our men are trained for it and we are also given enough support to do it," he added.
In a message written on blackboards in schools in Butig, Lanao del Sur, members of the Maute Group threatened to behead troops and Duterte.
"Humanda kayong mga sondaro/popogotan namen kayo ng mga olo," read the message to members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who have taken back the town from the group.
Meanwhile, their message to Duterte read: "TAGOT/Homanda ka Duterte popotan/namen ikaw nang olo."
Troops discovered the messages after pushing the bandit group out of Butig town after a week-long offensive.
Duterte had visited Butig's neighboring city of Marawi on November 30, a day after his advance party, composed of PSG men and Army troops, was hit by an improvised explosive device.
From the Philippine Star (Dec 4): Metro terror alert remains high
This is because Metro Manila, being the capital and center of government, “is prone to retaliatory acts” of terrorist groups being pursued by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao, NCRPO director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde told The STAR. Rudy Santos
The terror alert level in Metro Manila remains high after the attempted bombing on Roxas Boulevard last week, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said yesterday.
This is because Metro Manila, being the capital and center of government, “is prone to retaliatory acts” of terrorist groups being pursued by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao, NCRPO director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde told The STAR.
The AFP has been engaged in operations against members of the Maute terror group in the town of Butig for almost a week now.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa announced during the presentation of the two suspects in the foiled bombing near the US embassy on Roxas Boulevard that the country was at terror alert Level 3.
Dela Rosa’s announcement caused some sectors to speculate that authorities were creating scenarios to instill fear among the people so that President Duterte could impose martial law.
But Duterte and Dela Rosa both shot down the idea of placing the country under such rule.
Albayalde said Dela Rosa just failed to explain the definition of the “terror alert Level 3,” which was about being vigilant against threats.
He added the alert level had been in place since the bombing incident in Davao City last September to stop attacks from spilling over to Metro Manila and other areas.
“We only adopted the security level to make sure that our security measures are in place, particularly on intelligence gathering and countering terrorism operations,”Albayalde said.
“It is not meant to scare or make the public panic,” he added.
Albayalde also stressed “there is no clear, present and imminent danger in Metro Manila” despite the Roxas Boulevard incident.
He said the police had been conducting “leapfrogging” or mobile checkpoints with due respect to human rights to improve visibility and other efforts against terrorism.
Albyalde said about 80 to 85 percent of their men, plus the augmentation from the AFP, would be designated in all airports and seaports in Metro Manila especially this Christmas season.
He also said they would enhance police visibility in all vital stations and crowded places in Metro Manila.
Albayalde warned police officers to take their duties seriously to avoid getting charged administratively for neglect of duty.
Albayalde’s warning came after some police were reported to be just staying inside their mobile patrol cars or hanging around inside convenience stores instead of patrolling.
From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Dec 5): ASEAN ARMIES RIFLE MEET | Phil Army Shooters Win Twenty One Medals at Day 5
CAPAS, Tarlac – At least six ﴾6) gold, six ﴾6) silver and nine ﴾9) bronze medals were proudly received by the Philippine Army shooting team on the 5th daily awarding ceremonies held at the ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet ﴾AARM) Grandstand today December 5, 2016. It can be recalled that the AARM 2016 was opened on November 28, 2016, in Camp O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac which will culminate on December 7, 2016.
The three (3) gold medals were earned in rifle, two (2) from Carbine, and one (1) from Pistol (Men) event competitions. Three (3) silver medals were earned in Carbine, two (2) from Pistol (Men) events, and one (1) from rifle event competitions. Nine (9) bronze medals were earned in Pistol (Men), 4; Pistol (Ladies), 2; Machine Gun, 1; Carbine, 1; and Rifle event competitions.
Task Force AARM Commander Brig. Gen. Herminigildo Francisco C. Aquino said that this annual event is all about friendship and unity among armies of ASEAN countries. “Our Philippine Army shooters are using locally made firearms. At the end of this event, we are all winners here as this event strengthens bilateral relations among ASEAN armies, develop capabilities, and contribute to regional stability”, BGen. Aquino said
BGen. Aquino is the current Commander of the Philippine Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.
Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Dec 5): “The President wants the peace talks to move fast,” MILF Vice Chairman Jaafar
Moro Islamic Liberation Front Vice Chair on Political Affairs Ghazali Jaafar told Philstar in Davao City that President Rodrigo Duterte wants peace negotiations with the Moro Front to take off immediately.
“The President wants the peace talks to move fast,” MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar said.
Duterte met with MILF rebel leaders led by Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim on Friday, December 2 at the Matina Enclaves Residences where he usually holds office on weekends, said a report by Philstar.
Duterte and the MILF leaders also tackled the overall situation in Mindanao during the meeting, including the problems in dealing with the extremist Maute group, the Philstar report also said.
Jaafar said Duterte wants the peace talks to take off by early next year, since it is already December and there will be no time to hold peace negotiations due to the holiday season.
Jaafar added the President also wanted the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) to buckle down to work.
“With that, with the BTC, then it could start its job to craft a new Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL),” Jaafar added.
The MILF will have 11 members while the government will have 10 members. The MILF will head the reconstituted BTC similar to the commission under the previous administration.
The expansion of the BTC will include the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)- Muslimen Sema faction.
Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Dec 5): Provincial Training Heads commit continuous support to BDA
The Provincial Training Heads of BDA-CenMin expressed their commitment of continuing support to Bangsamoro Development Agency-Central Mindanao (BDA-CenMin) during the Trainers’ General Meeting held at Jasmin Street, Rosary Heights 6, Cotabato City last Thursday, December 1, 2016, Zuhaira Mangansakan, Information Communication and Learning Officer of BDA-CenMin said.
Expression of continuing commitment of support symbolized their unconditional dedication and strong volunteerism to help the BDA in its development interventions for the Bangsamoro and other concerned stakeholders in conflict- affected areas in Mindanao (CAAM), added Mangansakan.
In an interview by BDA-CenMin Communication Group (ComGroup) with Nadheer S. Esmael, Regional Training Head of BDA-CenMin, said, “This meeting was held with the aim in view of refreshing the commitment of continuing support of the Pool of Trainers of BDACenMin along with its mandates – to determine, lead and manage relief, rehabilitation and development in conflict- affected areas in Mindanao (CAAM).
Further, this meeting was participated not only by the provincial training heads but also by selected trainers of Regional Management Office of BDA-CenMin, added Esmael.
Their participation showed their continuing strong band of unity and loyalty to the leadership of BDA-CenMin and BDA-Central Management Office, in general, Esmael pointed out.
Abdulrasheed Ambil, Regional Manager of BDA-CenMin in his final message expressed his strong determination to sustain the development interventions of BDA to empower the Bangsamoro and other concerned community stakeholders.
In this regard, a pool of trainers of the agency is highly needed for it is in the forefront of BDA’s noble-purpose engagement, concluded Ambil.
Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (Dec 4): Duterte must heed demand to end Oplan Bayanihan and AFP occupation of civilian communities
Communist Party of the Philippines December 4, 2016
Today marks the 100th day of the effectivity of the unilateral declaration for an interim ceasefire issued last August 26 by the CPP Central Committee. The declaration was issued to support accelerated peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
The CPP commends all units of the New People’s Army (NPA) for standing by the Party’s unilateral ceasefire declaration and withstanding and forbearing the continuing Oplan Bayanihan armed operations of the AFP within and around NPA guerrilla zones and base areas.
The unilateral ceasefire declarations issued reciprocally by the GRP and the NDFP have persisted only because NPA units have chosen to carry out evasion maneuvers to avoid armed skirmishes with the AFP as well as combat troops of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The CPP condemns the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for bullheadedly continuing to carry out armed hostile actions against the peasant masses and NPA units in the guerrilla zones and revolutionary areas. The AFP has maliciously taken advantage of the NPA ceasefire to gain military and political advantage on the ground. For the past three months, the AFP has practically observed no ceasefire.
Against the spirit of the reciprocal ceasefire declarations, the AFP leadership itself ordered its troops to continue with Oplan Bayanihan counter-insurgency operations. When confronted by people, its operating troops even make such claims as “only the NPA has a ceasefire.”
The CPP is utterly dismayed at the failure of GRP President Rodrigo Duterte to rein in the war dogs of the AFP. It is quite apparent that the order made by Duterte last August as commander-in-chief to the AFP to “be friendly with the revolutionary government” and with the CPP-NPA is an empty one considering that not a single area command of the AFP respected nor implemented this policy. On the contrary, the AFP continues to regard the CPP-NPA with extreme hostility.
During the entire course of the unilateral ceasefire, the AFP has deployed armed units and maintained armed presence in centers of civilian communities in violation of the CARHRIHL and international protocols which protect the welfare of civilians in times of war.
Based on partial reports, at least 470 barangays have been affected by Oplan Bayanihan armed operations since August 26. Once the full report is completed, the number is expected to reach more than 800. Close to a half a million people in 43 provinces and 146 towns have been subjected or exposed to various forms of AFP abuses in just over three months.
The AFP deceptively describes their combat and psychological operations as “peace and development”, “civil-military operations”, “medical missions”, “visitations”, “community outreach”, “anti-drug campaign” and so on. They try to fool the people by claiming their fully-armed combatants are engaged in “non-combat operations.”
They usurp the functions of civilian agencies by organizing “medical and dental missions”, “literacy patrols”, “gift giving” and other sanctimonious activities to masquerade their armed counter-insurgency aims. They force barangay councilmen to “request” their presence and “protection” or compel them to sign blank papers.
Armed troops of the AFP occupy barangay halls, day care centers, health centers, gyms, elementary schools as well as civilian residences. They do not spare even such sacrosanct places as the Dap-ay reserved for community elders in the Cordilleras. In Mindoro, they have set up military detachments within the Mangyan villages itself. AFP troops have subjected relief volunteers and para-teachers to threats and harassments.
Soldiers armed to the teeth comb villages and village outskirts, strut around communities and ransack homes. They employ the worst forms of coercion and intimidation in the hope of disorganizing the people and destroying their determination to stand and defend their rights.
Armed combat troops of the AFP taunt residents and their peasant leaders and activists, torment families of NPA Red fighters and suspected sympathizers and subject residents to repeated interrogations in the guise of census-taking. They arbitrarily accost people, limit the people’s movements, impose food blockades, force people to join in military-organized meetings or force themselves on community meetings and recruit spies and paramilitaries. Those who refuse to join the CAFGU or oppose the AFP’s recruitment campaign are automatically suspected of being supporters of the NPA and subjected to harassment.
Far from keeping the peace, armed troops of the AFP disturb the villagers with noisy drinking sessions and gambling. They encourage and cause the proliferation of pornography and drugs especially among the youth. They subject women to sexual harassment and abuse.
Continuing Oplan Bayanihan counter-insurgency operations undermine the reciprocal unilateral ceasefire declarations. By deploying fully-armed units to the very heart of the NPA guerrilla zones and guerrilla bases, the AFP leadership wants its units to engage the NPA in armed skirmishes to force the ceasefire to an end. They know fully well that the NPA can only evade and counter-maneuver so much.
The AFP’s forward troop deployments are preparations for an offensive in a vain attempt to crush the NPA and the wide and deep support it enjoys among the peasant masses.
The AFP has been strategically deploying its troops over the past several weeks concentrating in Eastern Mindanao. In the Southern Mindanao Region, the AFP recalled two battalions earlier deployed to the Sulu province and added two more. In North Central Mindanao Region, the AFP’s 4th ID deployed five battalions to cover 78 barangays in Butuan, Gingoog, Malaybalay and Valencia and the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon. In Northeast Mindanao, Army soldiers and police combatants have occupied 86 barangays in 22 municipalities.
It has also deployed troops in the Southern Tagalog Region where at least 70 barangays have been occupied by the military and police in the course of the ceasefire period.
In the face of the AFP’s continuing Oplan Bayanihan armed hostile operations, the CPP and NPA have exhibited flexibility in order to sustain the ceasefire declarations. However, there can only be limited tolerance for continuing armed hostilities by the AFP. GRP President Duterte must listen to the outcry to put an end to the GRP’s Oplan Bayanihan.
In the spirit of peace negotiations and extending the unilateral ceasefire declarations, the CPP calls on GRP President Duterte to immediately order the AFP to withdraw its armed combatants from the guerrilla zones and areas under the sway of the revolutionary government.
He must order an end to the Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression and rescind his earlier declaration that he will not pull out his troops from the guerrilla zones.
He must cast away his illusion that the GRP has exclusive dominion over the entire Philippines. The fact is, in significant parts of the country, there exists two governments which are at war with each other: the GRP and the people’s democratic government which the NDFP represents. By continuing to forward deploy his abusive troops and occupy peasant communities, he is pressing on the civil war and proving himself no different from the warfreak Aquino and Arroyo regimes neither of which were interested in the peaceful resolution of the armed conflict.
If he presses on with the AFP’s deployment in the guerrilla zones and occupation of communities, Duterte would be virtually setting the stage for widespread armed clashes with the New People’s Army as Red fighters will be forced to engage in active defense and defend the people against abuses by the forward-deployed combat troops of the AFP. He will only have himself to blame if this forces the hand of the CPP to terminate its unilateral ceasefire declaration.
The CPP urges GRP President Duterte to respond positively over the coming days to the demands of the people to end Oplan Bayanihan. If he does so, and furthermore, fulfills his promise to release political prisoners en masse through a presidential amnesty proclamation, he would secure a guarantee that the CPP will extend its unilateral ceasefire declaration and encourage the revolutionary forces into forging a bilateral ceasefire in order to boost accelerated negotiations to attain a just and lasting peace.
Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (Dec 2): CPP rebukes Duterte regime for “anti-terror” crackdown on rights
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
Press Release
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today rebuked the Duterte regime for using the so-called anti-terror drive to flex police and military muscle by imposing their pervasive armed presence to control the population and curtail the people’s civil and political rights.
Yesterday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced it was on Terror Alert 3 and declared it was going to carry out random spot checkpoints, raids and other operations against “terrorist lairs”.
“Like the previous regimes, the Duterte regime is imposing the same white terror on the Filipino people, especially against the minority Moro communities, using the pretext of the drive against terrorism,” said the CPP. “The CPP urges the people to stand up to defend their rights amid the regime’s increasingly militarized police-state operations dubbed as an all-out anti-terror campaign.”
The CPP rejects the police chief’s appeal to the people to remain calm. “Clearly, the aim is to desensitize the people and make them accept the imposition of more and more repressive measures.”
The CPP also pointed out that the plan to set up random checkpoints is another step back by Duterte who in early November announced he was putting an end to such measures which he deemed ineffective in curtailing criminality.
Over the past several weeks, the so-called Maute Group, a hodgepodge of armed bandits in Lanao del Sur, is being tagged as a terrorist group with claimed links to the IS (the supposed Islamic State).
The AFP has been carrying out large-scale military operations backed by air strikes and canon fire. Close to 2,500 families in Butig, Lanao del Sur, have been forced to escape the AFP onslaught and are suffering grave difficulties.”
“The Moro people have been bearing the heaviest brunt of so-called anti-terror police and military operations,” added the CPP. “If Duterte will continue with his so-called anti-terror war, he will most follow the lead of the AFP and be be drawn deep into it in accordance with the US plan.”
“Going by historical experience, it is likely that the Maute group was initiated and is being financed by US agents and its minions in the AFP, to serve as a new bogeyman to justify continuing US military presence in the country, now that the CIA-initiated Abu Sayaff has been discredited as a mere kidnap-for-ransom group,” pointed out the CPP. “It is the new
Despite having declared a war against the IS, the US has been exposed as having strong links with the IS, including chanelling weapons to it.
From the Visayan Daily Star (Dec 5): Lactao to lead AFP Central Command
Another Army general, who used to command the 303 rd Infantry Brigade in Negros Occidental, is up for a higher post in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao, who is the AFP Inspector General, is slated to lead the AFP Central Command, replacing his “mistah”, Maj. Gen. Raul del Rosario, who was transferred to the Western Mindanao Command.
Lactao yesterday said that he will assume his new position today at Camp Lapu-Lapu in Cebu City, as the new commanding general of the AFP CentCom.
The turnover rites will be presided over by AFP chief of staff, General Ricardo Visaya, who is also retiring from the military service on Dec. 8.
Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, commanding general of the Eastern Mindanao Command, who used to be assigned as 61st Infantry Battalion commander in southern Negros and later as 3 rd Infantry Division commander, is among the strong contenders for the position to be vacated by Visaya.
Lactao used to command the 303 rd IB, based in Murcia, Negros Occidental. He was replaced by Brig. Gen. Jon Aying, who recently assumed command of the 3 rd ID.
As the incoming CentCom chief, Lactao will supervise the whole AFP units in the Visayas, including the two Army infantry divisions – the 3 rd ID stationed in Capiz, and the 8ID in Leyte.
Lactao, Aying and Guerrero are all members of the PMA (Maharlika) Class of 1984.
Visaya is relinquishing his position as AFP chief of staff on Dec. 7.
From the Visayan Daily Star (Dec 5): Reds land reform push continues at peace talks
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines will continue to push for the implementation genuine land reform in its peace negotiations with the Philippine government, NDFP adviser Luis Jalandoni said Saturday.
Jalandoni, who was in Bacolod City Saturday, said genuine land reform essentially means the land will be distributed free to the tillers of the land, with credit assistance and irrigation.
Government can then compensate landowners to go into small, medium or even big industries to develop the Philippines, said Jalandoni, who is from Negros Occidental.
“We need a very strong campaign and movement in order to achieve genuine land reform, the hacienderos will not easily give up their land,” he said.
He does not think the Philippine government will yield easily to the push for genuine land reform, it will require a big mass action and mass support in order to achieve this, Jalandoni said.
There are some elements in the government that are supportive of genuine land reform, they have patriotic and progressive sentiments for the future of the country, he said.
The NDFP is also pushing for national industrialization, and national independence, he added.
From the Visayan Daily Star (Dec 5): NDFP opposes Marcos return
Adviser Luis Jalandoni of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Saturday said the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Bayani is a violation of the peace agreement on human rights and will be tackled in the NDFP peace negotiations with the Philippine government.
The NDFP has strongly opposed the burial of Marcos at the LNMB that portrayed him as a hero and model, Jalandoni said in an interview at a peace forum in Bacolod.
Jalandoni, a former priest, was joined by his wife Coni Ledesma, a former nun, and currently a member of the NDFP negotiating panel in the peace talks with the government. They are both from Silay City, Negros Occidental.
The burial of Marcos at the LNMBis a violation of the agreement on human rights in the peace talks that states that it is the inherent and inalienable right of the people to fight against tyranny and oppression just as they fought against the martial law regime, he said.
He also said any move that allows the return of the Marcoses to power, led by the dictator's namesake, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, must be condemned by the Filipino people.
The Filipino people will be very strong in their resistance to such an attempt by the Marcos family and their supporters, he said.
The appropriate moves to take regarding Marcos' remains would be tackled during the talks, Jalandoni added.
On the extra judicial killings in the war against drugs, the NDFP position is that human rights should be respected, he said.
The ordinary drug users and small time pushers should be given due process and their human rights should be respected, Jalandoni said.
They actually need rehabilitation and should not to be subjected to killing, he added.
Jalandoni also said that when the Marcos issue is taken up during the peace talks, various ways in which some kind indemnification, reparation and recognition of the rights of the victims of martial law regime should also be tacked.
There should be recognition of the victims of martial law and their struggle, he said.
Jalandoni said he and his wife are in the Philippines for meetings with the NDFP negotiating panel and the Norwegian facilitator as part of the preparations for the third round of peace talks with the Duterte administration next month in Rome.
FOREIGN POLICY
Meanwhile, Jalandoni said an independent foreign policy should not only be from the US, but from other countries like China and Russia.
"It's good to have foreign relations with other countries like China and Russia, but we must make sure that we assert and protect our own independence and sovereignty, relationships have to be equal and beneficial to both sides," he said.
This is important for the Filipino people, its is important that we do not agree to unequal relationships that can be destructive for Filipino people, he added.
"While we develop fruitful relations with China we have to make sure that we do not give up our sovereign rights to the areas that really belong to the Philippines in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," he said.
"We should make sure that we develop friendly relationships and agreements without giving up our inalienable rights to the areas that truly belong to the Filipino people," he added.
From InterAksyon (Dec 4): FOCUS | China in the eyes of the new PH envoy
Presidents Duterte and Xi Jinping stand side by side at the welcome ceremony for the Philippine president when he visited Beijing recently.
Now that the Philippines is no longer perceived as a “pawn” of the United States, the Philippine ambassador-designate to Beijing does not see Manila eventually forging a military alliance with China.
Despite President Duterte’s much-hyped statements on China as an alternative ally to the United States, Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana views the current dispensation’s independent foreign policy like a strategic triangle.
The Philippines in this scheme is separating itself by degrees from US influence, but with Manila maintaining its longstanding military ties with Washington.
“It’s just a pendulum which is swinging to China, but it’s not going all the way,” Sta. Romana told InterAksyon in a recent interview.
“Parang mas malapit pa nga tayo sa US (It also looks like we’re even closer to the US),” said the award-winning TV journalist who once served as bureau chief of ABC News in Beijing. It would be best to wait for the political developments in the US to settle down with Donald Trump as the new president-elect, he said.
Still, Sta. Romana pointed out that US State Secretary John Kerry, in his recent visit to Manila, had already “encouraged peaceful consultations' with Beijing by countries like the Philippines, which have territorial disputes with China.
He said Mr. Duterte’s decision to restore stalled bilateral talks with China was part of Manila’s initiative to look for peaceful solutions “in the sense that it is not emotional, but beyond the box.”
Scarborough Shoal
Meanwhile, China has shown that it can help ease the tension by finally opening the waters around the Scarborough Shoal, which China has controlled since 2012, he said.
Sta. Romana said that Beijing apparently heeded President Duterte’s message during his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jingping, on the need for “Asian brothers helping each other, including Filipino fishermen whose livelihood are suffering because they cannot fish in their traditional fishing waters.”
Sta. Romana, who helped Malacañang in preparing for the Duterte China sojourn while waiting for his official confirmation, said that after his remarks Beijing officials assured him that “we’ll do something about that.”
Sta. Romana, however, quickly pointed out that “It (may be something) in accordance with the tribunal, but you don’t mention the tribunal dahil hindi nila matanggap (because they couldn’t accept it).” This is in reference to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, a UN-backed tribunal that in July 2016 handed Manila a favorable ruling on a complaint it filed in 2013 against China's "excessive" nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea.
Sta. Romana said the sovereignty issues have not really been completely settled because the Netherlands -based international tribunal, while declaring illegal the nine–dash line, didn’t tackle the issue of sovereignty. In the case of Scarborough Shoal, it merely judged it to be a traditional fishing ground of many nationals, including Filipinos and Chinese, thus implicitly deeming illegal Beijing's blockade of the area.
They effectively control (the area) because they have ships there. But within 12 miles both Filipinos and Chinese can fish but provided it is on a “small –scale” basis.
No more hardline stance
Sta. Romana said that when the Philippines took a hardline stance during the Aquino years, the Chinese media – if not just Beijing-- perceived the Philippines as a “pawn” of the US, until Mr. Duterte lashed out at President Obama while rekindling ties with China.
“Now, they don’t look at us anymore as the ‘Trojan horse, but as a friend,” he said. “It’s a friendly country that is no longer moving or acting in behalf of the United States.
Sta. Romana, who said he has been advising the Department of Foreign Affairs as a China expert after his retirement from active media work in 2010, said it would be best to focus on grabbing opportunities from “non-contentious” issues, ranging from economic and finance cooperation to culture and sports.
The new ambassador no longer considers the South China Sea issue as a stumbling block, now that both countries have forged a closer alignment, even if China refused to recognize the PCA Tribunal’s ruling
“The contentious issues have to be compartmentalized. The issue of sovereignty can be discussed through quiet diplomacy and through direct talks,” he said.
Apparently aware of the Philippines’ intention, Sta. Romana said China was also prompted to stop any reclamation in the disputed areas so as not to antagonize the Philippine leader.
Hegemonic tendencies?
Still, Sta. Romana said it would be difficult to speculate on China’s political agenda, apart from forging closer economic cooperation with the Philippines and its neighboring Asian countries.
“Just like any great power, it is possible they (the Chinese) would practice hegemony,” he said.
Still, Sta. Romana, hopes that China can maintain a community of equal states, similar to what it had done in ancient times, when it had anchored its power on opening a trading network, then known as the old “Silk Road.
In launching the 21st Century New Maritime Silk Route, he said China focused on connectivity, which includes frameworks for building roads, railways and ports from the Southwest China to South China, and all the way to the Indian Ocean and Africa that will link up to Europe and the Mediterranean.
China has US$5 trillion in foreign reserves, apart from the US$1.5 trillion in US treasury bonds, which the Chinese eventually want to invest in other countries, he noted.
Sta. Romana said Beijing had already pledged US$6 billion, along with a US$3 billion credit facility to the Philippines after both countries agreed on 13 government-to-government projects, either through memoranda of agreement or of understanding.
Eventually, the Philippine corporations for these projects that would forge partnerships with Chinese counterparts could secure concessional loans, with interest rates lower than the market rates.
The Philippines, for its part, has already agreed to formally submit its ratification papers before the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), but after such is concurred in by the Philippine Senate, since it is considered an international treaty.
To avoid a repeat of previous disagreements over key projects, feasibility studies will be conducted on projects like establishing new railways systems for Luzon and Mindanao, and a port in President Duterte’s home city of Davao.
Sta. Romana, however, also explained that China doesn’t really care about the World Bank, apparently reacting to reports that some of the Chinese state-owned and private enterprises that initially signified their intention to forge business deals in the Philippines have either been blacklisted, or had derogatory records, in their previous international projects with the World Bank
As Sta. Romana put it, “The basic idea there is to be friends with both powers – the rising power and the dominant power.”
From MindaNews (Dec 4): Duterte vows release of 165 political prisoners before Christmas day
President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to work on the release of some 165 political prisoners before Christmas Day.
Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao said on Sunday that the President made this commitment to Fidel Agcaoili, chair of the peace panel of the National Democratic Front (NDF) and consultants Benito and Wilma Tiamzon during a dinner meeting at the Legaspi Suites here on December 2.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panel chair Fidel Agcaoili and wife Chit, the Tiamzon couple Benito and Wilma for dinner at Bondi and Bourke Restaurant at Legaspi Suites, Davao City on December 2,2016. TOTO LOZANO/Presidential Photo Casilao said that of the 165 political detainees who are the priority for release, 25 are elderly and 140 are sickly. The NDF said they have 434 members in various detention centers throughout the country.
According to Casilao, the NDF panel also raised with the President their concerns on the alleged ceasefire violations committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
He posted some after-meeting photos with Duterte, Secretary Christopher Go, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Casilao, and the NDF officials on his Facebook wall.
The meeting took place from 7:30 p.m. until 11 p.m., he said.
Casilao did not provide other details on what Duterte and the NDF panel members discussed but said a statement on “what transpired during the meeting” would be issued.
Duterte last week issued an order granting pardon to four communist rebels convicted for murder and kidnapping.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) identified the pardoned prisoners as Martin Villanueva, Bonifacio Suyon, Dindo Absalon and Rico Bodina, all of them farmers.
“These rebels have long been recommended for pardon but the previous government did not sign the draft order to release them,” government peace panel chair Silvestre ‘Bebot’ Bello III, said.
In a statement issued November 27, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) blasted Bello for “baselessly” claiming that a bilateral ceasefire agreement may be signed on December 10.
The statement maintained that a bilateral agreement is “most likely not to be forged before or around December 10, pending the release of all political prisoners.”
“The longer the GRP takes to fulfill its obligation to release all political prisoners, the prospects of such an agreement ever being forged become ever dimmer,” the CPP statement read.
At the Nov. 28 launching of the Mindanao Women’s Peace Table here, government peace panel member Angela Librado-Trinidad said they were working on the release of another batch before the yearend, most especially those who are in the priority list based on humanitarian consideration such as sickly, senior citizens, and women.
“We are working on the release and we understand that the release of the prisoners is an issue of urgency but there are things that we need to work out. We have to make sure that the releases would not be subject to any question – legally and judicially. We are trying our best although probably the best might not be enough at this point in time. We are exerting all our efforts to make the release happen,” the lawyer-panel member said.
Trinidad said the government peace panel is finalizing its own draft of the ceasefire agreement.
She said they are defining, among others, what would constitute “hostile acts.”
“You have to make sure that these definitions will reflect the interest of all those who would be affected directly and indirectly, so we have to be consulting (them) and other than that, if we have come out with the definition, you also have to consult the other party whether this is acceptable or not, so this is not just an issue of defining it. It’s actually coming up with an agreement with respect to the more substantial issues,” she said.
She emphasized the need to sign a common ceasefire document with the NDF because “as long as the parties are not bound by an agreement, individual parties could accuse each other of violations and this could not be resolved because there is no agreement yet.”
From the Mindanao Examiner (Dec 3): Sulu Sultans designate former governor as Special Envoy
Western Mindanao Grand Mufti, His Eminence Abdulbaqi Abubakar, crowns former Sulu Governor Dr Sakur Tan as Datu’ ShahBandar following his designation as Special Envoy and conferment as Datu ShahBandar by the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate on November 30, 2016 in Sulu province in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
The Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate composed of Sultans Ibrahim Bahjin, Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, Mohammad Venizar Julkarnain Jainal Abirin, Muizuddin Jainal Abirin Bahjin and Phugdalun Kiram II with newly designated Special Envoy, Dr Sakur Tan now Datu ShahBandar during his conferment on November 30, 2016 in Sulu province in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
Well-wishers pose for photographs with members of the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate composed of Sultans Ibrahim Bahjin, Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, Mohammad Venizar Julkarnain Jainal Abirin, Muizuddin Jainal Abirin Bahjin and Phugdalun Kiram II, and Dr Sakur Tan now Datu’ ShahBandar and designated Special Envoy of the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate. (Mindanao Examiner Photos)
SULU – The Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate has designated former governor and philanthropist Dr Sakur Tan as Special Envoy after being conferred as “Datu’ ShahBandar” in a historic event attended by some 3,000 people here.
The affair, held recently at the Patikul Gymnasium, was led by all legitimate sultans of Sulu and witnessed by Muslim religious leaders led by Grand Mufti, His Eminence Abdulbaqi Abubakar,and the different Ulama, among other dignitaries.
The Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate is composed of Sultans Ibrahim Bahjin, Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, Mohammad Venizar Julkarnain Jainal Abirin, Muizuddin Jainal Abirin Bahjin and Phugdalun Kiram II.
The Sultans also granted authority to Dr Tan to present the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate in negotiating and transacting business with foreign or local entities and to do the following acts – initiate negotiations with local and foreign entities for the exploration and development of the resources in areas of the Sulu Sultanate; negotiate with foreign and local entities identified by the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate; and assist and support the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate in its activities involving any and all organizations or entities engaged in the above transactions provided that the exercise of authority granted to Dr Tan be under the terms and condition that maybe prescribed by the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate.
They also said that be assisted by representatives of the Sultans in every endeavour relating to the authority granted Dr Tan. And that upon the conclusion of any negotiation, a final draft of the resulting agreement or contract shall be submitted to the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate for approval.
The Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate said the grant of authority to Dr Tan shall remain in force for 10 years. The Sultans, in choosing Dr Tan as Special Envoy, said the former governor played a very important role in unifying the heirs to the throne of the Sulu Sultanate.
“He (Dr Tan) is the choice of all of us. He has good and strong political voice and he’s got the respect of international people like Malaysia and the rest of the international community,” Sultan Bahjin told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate will adapt a peaceful negotiation with Malaysia as far as the Sabah claims are concerned.
“We don’t egg for a violent clamour or whatever. We’ll go for a peaceful negotiation of all this matter, peaceful resolution. Claiming back sovereignty takes a long process, but we are now egging for the proprietary rights of the territory. This is a prelude to all this because this requires very large and very tedious political matter,” Sultan Bahjin said.
For his part, Dr Tan said: “Naririto tayo hindi upang maghanap ng problema kundi maghanap ng solusyon at para sa kapakanan ng buong bayan ng Sulu, ng Tausug kasama ang mga island provinces.”
In April this year, for the first time in the rich history of the Sultanate of Sulu, the five influential sultans have signed a covenant in an unprecedented move aimed at consolidating and strengthening their unity.
The signing ceremony held in Zamboanga City brought them together and they formed the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate. The covenant was also witnessed by the Grand Mufti Abdulbaqi Abubakar and attended by hundreds of supporters and members of the different Royal Houses of the Sultanate of Sulu, and religious leaders and representatives of various sectors not only in the province, but in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to which Sulu belongs.
Dr Tan, who is a key figure in the unification of the sultans, said the signing of the covenant was unprecedented and historical and will further strengthen the unity of all heirs to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu. He commissioned many respected Muslim scholars and educators from the University of the Philippines to help in crafting the unity covenant.
Lawyer Mehol Sadain, who previously headed the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, was also among those who helped Dr Tan in the historic endeavor.
The Sultans also thanked Dr Tan – who is strongly advocating the revival of Sultanate of Sulu and promoting the rich and colorful tradition and culture of the Tausug people – for his efforts in unifying the Royal Houses of the Sultanate of Sulu.
The Sultanate of Sulu was founded in 1457 and is believed to exist as a sovereign nation for at least 442 years. It stretches from a part of the island of Mindanao in the east, to Sabah, in the west and south, and to Palawan, in the north.
It continues to lay claim to North Borneo, now Sabah in Malaysia after obtaining it from Brunei as a gift for helping put down a rebellion on Borneo Island. The British leased Sabah and transferred control over the territory to Malaysia after the end of World War II. But the sultanate said it had merely leased North Borneo in 1878 to the British North Borneo Company for an annual payment of 5,000 Malayan dollars then, which was increased to 5,300 Malayan dollars in 1903.
North Borneo was annexed by Malaysia in 1963 after a referendum organized by the Cobbold Commission in 1962 saw the people of Sabah voting overwhelmingly to join Malaysia, but Kuala Lumpur continues paying the Sulu Sultanate some 5,300 ringgits a year on the basis of the Sulu royals’ ceding the Borneo state.
In February 2013, the ailing Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, sent about 200 followers headed by his brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram to Sabah to assert their claim to and supposed historical rights over the oil-rich state.
Sultan Jamalul’s group rejected Malaysian demand for them to surrender peacefully and fighting erupted in Lahad Datu town where more than 60 of the sultan’s men were killed and over 300 Filipinos arrested on suspicion that they were aiding the group of Raja Muda Agbimuddin.
Malaysia also put Jamalul and his brother on its wanted list and branded them as terrorists for intruding into Sabah and killing and decapitating 10 policemen and soldiers in separate clashes on the island. Rajah Agbimuddin managed to escape the Malaysian assault in Sabah while Sultan Jamalul died in October 2013 from a lingering illness at age 75. Rajah Agbimuddin died from cardiac arrest in 2015 in Tawi-Tawi province in southern Philippines.
The Maute terror group is just considered as a gang but enjoys support of local Islamic schools, providing the group with fanatical students to help fight government forces.
