From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 21): PNP orders field units to intensify counter-ops vs. Reds
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday alerted all field units to conduct counter-actions against members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) following the recent attacks against police officers in various provinces.
On instructions of PNP chief, Director General Albayalde, Director for Operations Mao Aplasca alerted all field units to conduct counter-actions against the tactical offensive activities of the CPP-NPA dubbed as “Koda Supermarket” aimed at collecting more firearms and equipment from police and military targets through raids and ambuscades on various targets.
The PNP said the increased activities by the communists could also be part of its “saber-rattling” tactics to project an image of strength to highlight the forthcoming CPP anniversary on Dec. 26, and bolster its extortion activities in the forthcoming election season.
Police maneuver forces in Negros Island, in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, launched a manhunt of a group of some 40 armed men who set on fire a bulldozer and a back hoe owned by PhilSouth Construction in Barangay Bolisong, Manjuyod, Negros Oriental in the evening of Oct. 18.
No casualties were reported in the incident.
Passengers of a commercial bus, who witnessed the incident, told police investigators that the armed men shouted “ Mabuhay ang Bagong Hukbong Bayan” while setting the heavy equipment on fire.
Investigators are looking into possible extortion attempt as motive for the incident.
Local officials of Negros Oriental denounced this latest conmunist atrocity saying it is an obstacle to development because it stalled the ongoing roadworks project of a vital farm-to-market road in the province.
“Those behind this crime are resisting entry of development in the countryside that would have ushered government presence and availability of goods and services that will benefit people in the barrios,” Albayalde said in a statement.
In separate incident, three policemen were killed while three others were wounded in an ambush by suspected NPA rebels in Barangay Napolidan, Lupi, Camarines Sur on Oct. 18.
The casualties were assigned as security escorts of Food and Drug Administration Director General Nela Charade Puno.
On Oct. 16, suspected communist rebels also ambushed a group of policemen in Aurora that resulted in the death of PO2 Ronald Ruidera.
“We condemn these latest acts of lawless terror by the local communist movement against symbols of government authority. We mourn their loss, but assure the ends of justice will be served,” Albayalde said.
“This is not only an attack on the police, but an assault on a national agency that protects consumer welfare,” he added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051677
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Duterte offers houses, jobs to NPA
From the Manila Standard (Oct 21): Duterte offers houses, jobs to NPA
President Rodrigo Duterte softened his stance against the communist rebels and even offered members of the New People’s Army good life by providing them houses and jobs.
In his brief remarks at the inauguration of Gaisano Grand Citygate Mall, the President also acknowledged the initial support the NPA had given him when he was running for the presidency.
“I will not be where I am today without the help of the people of Davao and the NPA. I’m thankful for that,” he said.
In a related development:
• The Communist Party of the Philippines is willing to resume peace negotiations with the government whenever President Duterte was ready.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison said it was up to the President to end his position of having terminated the peace negotiations through Proclamation 360.
“The standing policy of the NDFP is to negotiate with the GRP anytime he is ready to resume the peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements,” said Sison.
Duterte reiterated to them the significance of working with the government.
“And because you helped me, I am asking you to also help me find a way for all of us to live,” Duterte said.
“I would not be here in this position right now if not for the people of Davao, including the NPA. I don’t want to fight with you. I also don’t want to kill you. We are friends,'' the President said.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The President, through an executive proclamation, declared the NPA as a terror group in December 2017.
“What we have to do in our generation—it behooves this generation to find the elusive peace,” Duterte explained.
The Chief Executive also reassured the rebel returnees that jobs were waiting for them, especially in Davao, and they could avail themselves of livelihood training skills from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
“There are jobs here, and that makes me very happy. You NPAs sleep on it. Nobody else is closer to the NPAs here than the Davaoeños,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President lauded the Gaisano Group for playing a vital role in the lives of the Davaoeños, and for contributing to the overall progress of Davao City.
“I want to thank you a lot first because of the jobs. You have generated jobs for the people here,” he said.
“You know, when I was still mayor, I told you that I would do my best to lift the economy here in Davao City so that we could provide more jobs. Now there are a lot of businesses,” he added.
http://manilastandard.net/news/top-stories/278513/duterte-offers-houses-jobs-to-npa.html
President Rodrigo Duterte softened his stance against the communist rebels and even offered members of the New People’s Army good life by providing them houses and jobs.
In his brief remarks at the inauguration of Gaisano Grand Citygate Mall, the President also acknowledged the initial support the NPA had given him when he was running for the presidency.
“I will not be where I am today without the help of the people of Davao and the NPA. I’m thankful for that,” he said.
In a related development:
• The Communist Party of the Philippines is willing to resume peace negotiations with the government whenever President Duterte was ready.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison said it was up to the President to end his position of having terminated the peace negotiations through Proclamation 360.
“The standing policy of the NDFP is to negotiate with the GRP anytime he is ready to resume the peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements,” said Sison.
Duterte reiterated to them the significance of working with the government.
“And because you helped me, I am asking you to also help me find a way for all of us to live,” Duterte said.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The President, through an executive proclamation, declared the NPA as a terror group in December 2017.
“What we have to do in our generation—it behooves this generation to find the elusive peace,” Duterte explained.
The Chief Executive also reassured the rebel returnees that jobs were waiting for them, especially in Davao, and they could avail themselves of livelihood training skills from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
“There are jobs here, and that makes me very happy. You NPAs sleep on it. Nobody else is closer to the NPAs here than the Davaoeños,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President lauded the Gaisano Group for playing a vital role in the lives of the Davaoeños, and for contributing to the overall progress of Davao City.
“I want to thank you a lot first because of the jobs. You have generated jobs for the people here,” he said.
“You know, when I was still mayor, I told you that I would do my best to lift the economy here in Davao City so that we could provide more jobs. Now there are a lot of businesses,” he added.
http://manilastandard.net/news/top-stories/278513/duterte-offers-houses-jobs-to-npa.html
Military reaffirms commitment to fight terrorism
From the Manila Bulletin (Oct 20): Military reaffirms commitment to fight terrorism
The military on Saturday renewed its vow to fight terrorism in the country amid the recent apprehension of three alleged members of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the surrender of three suspected remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS)-inspired Maute terrorist group in Mindanao.
Lieutenant General Arnel dela Vega (Photo courtesy of afpcgsc.ph / MANILA BULLETIN)
In Patikul, Sulu, Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, commander of Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom), said three alleged ASG terrorists were captured in an encounter in Barangay Maligay on Thursday.
The three suspects were identified as Gafur Albani Absari, Medzfar Mangabong and Madjid Mangabong who were arrested by troops of the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col. Mario Jomalesa.
Dela Vega congratulated the troops “for the aggressive measures taken in order to ensure that criminals will never be free to roam in the province.”
The three ASG terror suspects were turned over to 501st Brigade for proper disposition and filing of appropriate charges in coordination with the Sulu Provincial Police Office.
Meanwhile, in Masiu, Lanao del Sur, three suspected remnants of the Maute-ISIS terrorist group surrendered to Joint Task Force Ranao on Thursday through the local government officials.
Lt. Col. Edgar Villanueva, commander of the 49th Infantry Battalion, said the three Maute-ISIS suspects were subjected to custodial debriefing after they surrendered to authorities.
“They were recruited during the Marawi siege. However, they were not able to [be inserted] in the main battle area due to the relentless security efforts and checkpoints,” Villanueva said.
“One of them was involved in Pagayawan clash in June 2018,” he added, referring to the armed encounter between state security forces and ISIS terrorists in Pagayawan, Lanao del Sur.
Maj. Gen. Roseller Murillo, commander of Joint Task Force Zampelan, commended the troops that facilitated the surrender of the suspected Maute-ISIS remnants.
“We will continuously collaborate with different stakeholders and concerned citizens to encourage other Maute-ISIS remnants to surrender and go back to mainstream society,” Murillo noted.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/10/20/military-reaffirms-commitment-to-fight-terrorism/
The military on Saturday renewed its vow to fight terrorism in the country amid the recent apprehension of three alleged members of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the surrender of three suspected remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS)-inspired Maute terrorist group in Mindanao.
Lieutenant General Arnel dela Vega (Photo courtesy of afpcgsc.ph / MANILA BULLETIN)
In Patikul, Sulu, Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, commander of Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom), said three alleged ASG terrorists were captured in an encounter in Barangay Maligay on Thursday.
The three suspects were identified as Gafur Albani Absari, Medzfar Mangabong and Madjid Mangabong who were arrested by troops of the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col. Mario Jomalesa.
Dela Vega congratulated the troops “for the aggressive measures taken in order to ensure that criminals will never be free to roam in the province.”
The three ASG terror suspects were turned over to 501st Brigade for proper disposition and filing of appropriate charges in coordination with the Sulu Provincial Police Office.
Meanwhile, in Masiu, Lanao del Sur, three suspected remnants of the Maute-ISIS terrorist group surrendered to Joint Task Force Ranao on Thursday through the local government officials.
Lt. Col. Edgar Villanueva, commander of the 49th Infantry Battalion, said the three Maute-ISIS suspects were subjected to custodial debriefing after they surrendered to authorities.
“They were recruited during the Marawi siege. However, they were not able to [be inserted] in the main battle area due to the relentless security efforts and checkpoints,” Villanueva said.
“One of them was involved in Pagayawan clash in June 2018,” he added, referring to the armed encounter between state security forces and ISIS terrorists in Pagayawan, Lanao del Sur.
Maj. Gen. Roseller Murillo, commander of Joint Task Force Zampelan, commended the troops that facilitated the surrender of the suspected Maute-ISIS remnants.
“We will continuously collaborate with different stakeholders and concerned citizens to encourage other Maute-ISIS remnants to surrender and go back to mainstream society,” Murillo noted.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/10/20/military-reaffirms-commitment-to-fight-terrorism/
Joma tells Duterte: Reds ready to resume peace talks 'anytime'
From ABS-CBN (Oct 20): Joma tells Duterte: Reds ready to resume peace talks 'anytime'
President Rodrigo Duterte and top communist leader Jose Maria Sison. File photo
Top communist leader Jose Maria Sison said Saturday he was leaving the resumption of peace talks up to President Rodrigo Duterte.
This, after the President softened his stance against communist rebels on Friday and even credited them for helping him win the presidency following previous harsh rhetoric against the left.
"It is up to him to end his position of having terminated the peace negotiations with Proclamation 360," Sison said in a statement.
"The standing policy of the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) is to negotiate with the GRP (Philippine government) anytime he (Duterte) is ready to resume the peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements," he added.
'I'll kiss you': Duterte credits communist rebels for his presidency
Talks between the government and communist rebels broke down in July last year as the administration cited continued attacks of the rebels' armed wing, the New People's Army, against state troops despite ongoing negotiations.
The Duterte administration also suspended supposed backchannel talks this year citing the need for further consultation.
In his latest statement, Sison, who earlier had bitter exchanges with the President, also criticized his former student's offer of housing and work to rebels who would surrender.
"Duterte is either trying to sound less hostile to the revolutionary movement or he is still hostile by trying to bribe the NPA fighters to surrender," he said.
The communist leader, however, agreed with the President that the NPA would continue to exist even when they had both gone.
"He is correct though in saying that the NPA will continue to exist even after he and I are gone from the surface of the earth, if by implication he means positively that the root causes of the armed conflict must be addressed and solved by social, economic and political reforms," Sison said.
Duterte and Sison have repeatedly traded barbs and allegations of failing health after ties between them soured over the cancellation of peace negotiations.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/20/18/joma-tells-duterte-reds-ready-to-resume-peace-talks-anytime
President Rodrigo Duterte and top communist leader Jose Maria Sison. File photo
Top communist leader Jose Maria Sison said Saturday he was leaving the resumption of peace talks up to President Rodrigo Duterte.
This, after the President softened his stance against communist rebels on Friday and even credited them for helping him win the presidency following previous harsh rhetoric against the left.
"It is up to him to end his position of having terminated the peace negotiations with Proclamation 360," Sison said in a statement.
"The standing policy of the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) is to negotiate with the GRP (Philippine government) anytime he (Duterte) is ready to resume the peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements," he added.
'I'll kiss you': Duterte credits communist rebels for his presidency
Talks between the government and communist rebels broke down in July last year as the administration cited continued attacks of the rebels' armed wing, the New People's Army, against state troops despite ongoing negotiations.
The Duterte administration also suspended supposed backchannel talks this year citing the need for further consultation.
In his latest statement, Sison, who earlier had bitter exchanges with the President, also criticized his former student's offer of housing and work to rebels who would surrender.
"Duterte is either trying to sound less hostile to the revolutionary movement or he is still hostile by trying to bribe the NPA fighters to surrender," he said.
The communist leader, however, agreed with the President that the NPA would continue to exist even when they had both gone.
"He is correct though in saying that the NPA will continue to exist even after he and I are gone from the surface of the earth, if by implication he means positively that the root causes of the armed conflict must be addressed and solved by social, economic and political reforms," Sison said.
Duterte and Sison have repeatedly traded barbs and allegations of failing health after ties between them soured over the cancellation of peace negotiations.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/20/18/joma-tells-duterte-reds-ready-to-resume-peace-talks-anytime
74 new cadets join Philippine Army
From the Manila Bulletin (Oct 19): 74 new cadets join Philippine Army
After enduring two months of arduous physical training, 74 new cadets joined the regular members of the Philippine Army (PA) Officer Candidate School (OCS) during their incorporation rites held at Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac on Thursday.
Class 52-2019, carrying the name “ALIBTAK” (Alagadng Lahing Ibinigkisng Tapang at Kagitingan), is composed of 67 male and seven female cadets. Alibtak is also the Ilocano term for fast and tenacious.
(Philippine Army / MANILA BULLETIN)
The 74 cadets were presented to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Carlito Galvez Jr., who led the ceremony at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), PA.
“You have to prove your worth and do your best to meet the standards set by the Officer Candidate School which is preparing you on your future role in the Armed Forces as public servants, agents of change, nation-builders and peace makers,” Galvez said in his speech.
“Always remember the reason of it all—the fulfillment of our duty. The Filipino people expect so much from us soldiers and the only way we can repay their trust and confidence is through faithful and excellent service,” he added.
Also present during the ceremony were Lieutenant General Emmanuel Salamat, commander of the AFP’s Northern Luzon Command; Major General Roy Devesa, commander of TRADOC; Major General Filemon Santos Jr, commander of the Army’s 7thInfantry Division; and other AFP Joint and Personal Staff.
Members of Class ALIBTAK started training at TRADOC on August 17, 2018 and stayed in a separate barracks for two months.
“You were pushed to do intense physical exercises to strengthen your body and mind. All of your actions need to be orderly and precise. Many would tag the “dumbguard” days as the worst days of their lives. But always remember, it is our worst days that bring out the best versions of ourselves,” Galvez said.
Following the incorporation rites, they will be transferred to the Battalion Barracks with their seniors belonging to Class 51-2018 “REGALIA” which currently has 82 members.
The new cadets are now eligible to hold the rank of Probationary Second Lieutenant (P2LT). They are yet to undergo the Basic Officer Leadership Course 1 for one year before being commissioned as regular 2LTs.
All members are degree (BS and BA) holders and of them are licensed criminologists and civil service professionals. Others are licensed nurses, accountants, teachers, engineers, an architect and, an interior designer. They came from various regions in the country – 43 are from Luzon, 17 from Visayas, and 14 from Mindanao.
The incorporation ceremony is a significant tradition in the OCS as it symbolizes that the new cadets are truly fit and worthy of becoming military officers.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/10/19/74-new-cadets-join-philippine-army/
After enduring two months of arduous physical training, 74 new cadets joined the regular members of the Philippine Army (PA) Officer Candidate School (OCS) during their incorporation rites held at Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac on Thursday.
Class 52-2019, carrying the name “ALIBTAK” (Alagadng Lahing Ibinigkisng Tapang at Kagitingan), is composed of 67 male and seven female cadets. Alibtak is also the Ilocano term for fast and tenacious.
(Philippine Army / MANILA BULLETIN)
The 74 cadets were presented to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Carlito Galvez Jr., who led the ceremony at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), PA.
“You have to prove your worth and do your best to meet the standards set by the Officer Candidate School which is preparing you on your future role in the Armed Forces as public servants, agents of change, nation-builders and peace makers,” Galvez said in his speech.
“Always remember the reason of it all—the fulfillment of our duty. The Filipino people expect so much from us soldiers and the only way we can repay their trust and confidence is through faithful and excellent service,” he added.
Also present during the ceremony were Lieutenant General Emmanuel Salamat, commander of the AFP’s Northern Luzon Command; Major General Roy Devesa, commander of TRADOC; Major General Filemon Santos Jr, commander of the Army’s 7thInfantry Division; and other AFP Joint and Personal Staff.
Members of Class ALIBTAK started training at TRADOC on August 17, 2018 and stayed in a separate barracks for two months.
“You were pushed to do intense physical exercises to strengthen your body and mind. All of your actions need to be orderly and precise. Many would tag the “dumbguard” days as the worst days of their lives. But always remember, it is our worst days that bring out the best versions of ourselves,” Galvez said.
Following the incorporation rites, they will be transferred to the Battalion Barracks with their seniors belonging to Class 51-2018 “REGALIA” which currently has 82 members.
The new cadets are now eligible to hold the rank of Probationary Second Lieutenant (P2LT). They are yet to undergo the Basic Officer Leadership Course 1 for one year before being commissioned as regular 2LTs.
All members are degree (BS and BA) holders and of them are licensed criminologists and civil service professionals. Others are licensed nurses, accountants, teachers, engineers, an architect and, an interior designer. They came from various regions in the country – 43 are from Luzon, 17 from Visayas, and 14 from Mindanao.
The incorporation ceremony is a significant tradition in the OCS as it symbolizes that the new cadets are truly fit and worthy of becoming military officers.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/10/19/74-new-cadets-join-philippine-army/
DSWD DROMIC Report #1 on the Armed Conflict in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat Province as of 18 October 2018, 6PM
Posted to the Relief Web (Oct 18): DSWD DROMIC Report #1 on the Armed Conflict in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat Province as of 18 October 2018, 6PM
SUMMARY
On 13 October 2018, an Armed Conflict that had transpired between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New Peoples Army (NPA) in Sitio Sinapsap and Lumoton, Barangay Sangay Kalamansig Sultan Kudarat Province.
1. Status of Affected Families/ Persons
A. Outside Evacuation Center
282 families or 696 persons were affected by the armed conflict (see Table 1).
https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/dswd-dromic-report-1-armed-conflict-kalamansig-sultan-kudarat-province-18-october
Report
from Government of the Philippines 
SUMMARY
On 13 October 2018, an Armed Conflict that had transpired between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New Peoples Army (NPA) in Sitio Sinapsap and Lumoton, Barangay Sangay Kalamansig Sultan Kudarat Province.
1. Status of Affected Families/ Persons
A. Outside Evacuation Center
282 families or 696 persons were affected by the armed conflict (see Table 1).
https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/dswd-dromic-report-1-armed-conflict-kalamansig-sultan-kudarat-province-18-october
The Ruins of Marawi: Exceedingly slow rehab work leaves Meranaws restless ‘people of the tents’
From the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (Oct 18): The Ruins of Marawi: Exceedingly slow rehab work leaves Meranaws restless ‘people of the tents’
MARAWI CITY — As early as September last year – while battles were still going on here — the Provincial Government of Lanao del Sur and the Marawi City government had submitted a Joint Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Peacebuilding Plan not only for the country’s only Islamic city, but also for the affected towns in Lanao del Sur.
With the Plan received by Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), the hundreds of thousands of Marawi residents displaced by the conflict waited for feedback, if not for any announcements of specific steps to be taken in order for their city to rise again.
Today they are still waiting. Indeed, more than a year later, no one knows for sure how many components of that joint blueprint ever made it into the national government’s Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan (BMCRRP).
Says Acram Latiph, an economics professor at the Mindanao State University (MSU) who was among those who helped put together the Marawi-Lanao del Sur proposal: “Yung final plan wala kaming access kaya ‘di ko talaga alam ano na kinalabasan ng CRRP (We don’t have access to the final plan that’s why we do not know what CRRP ended up as).”
This is even though last March 20, Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro of the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) Regional Development Office finally gave some local residents and officials a glimpse – their first — of the BMCRRP.
Navarro gave her presentation at a multisectoral forum held at the provincial gym. Using Powerpoint, she explained that the BMCRRP has a two-pronged approach: the CRRP, which shall include “programs and projects to be located outside of the most affected area” and Executive Order No. 49, which shall “guide the reconstruction process of the Most Affected Area through a joint-venture scheme.”
The “Most Affected Area” is otherwise known as Ground Zero or the 24-barangay area at the heart of the city that suffered the most destruction during the siege.
E.O. 49, issued by President Duterte on February 5, meanwhile exempts the National Housing Authority (NHA) from NEDA guidelines on joint-venture agreements supposedly “to expedite the implementation of recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in the most affected areas of Marawi City.”
People kept in the dark
Based on Navarro’s presentation, the BMCRRP would cover the rest of the city’s 96 barangays while the MAA would be under another plan “guided” by E.O. 49.
The two-day forum had been organized by the provincial government in response to growing complaints from the city’s displaced residents who wanted to know what was going on. The residents felt that they were being kept in the dark as to what was being planned for Marawi and other affected towns in Lanao del Sur, such as Butig and Poona Piagapo.
In his opening remarks at the forum, Lanao del Sur Vice Governor Mamintal Adiong had declared, “Hanggang ngayon, wala pang napre-present ang TFBM na concrete rehab plan (Until now, the TFBM has yet to present a concrete rehabilitation plan).”
Task Force Bangon Marawi or TFBM is an inter-agency body created by President Duterte in June last year through Administrative Order No. 3 for the “recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of the city of Marawi and other affected localities,” referring to the previous battlegrounds of the warring forces in Butig and Piagapo towns in Lanao del Sur. Notably, the Task Force was created a month and five days into what would turn out to be a five-month war.
It has been primarily the Task Force that has been updating the public on what the national government is planning for Marawi. But the “updates” have not really strayed far from promises about building a “new” and “better” Marawi, along with announcements about groundbreaking ceremonies that keep on getting postponed, and budget estimates that change every time the Task Force head speaks.
At the March multisectoral forum, TFBM chairman Eduardo del Rosario did present several slides showing the “development perspective” of the future Marawi: a Marawi with a lakeside promenade, cultural center, resorts, hotels, convention centers, a city green, and an eco-corridor, among other things.
Yet while the artistic renderings of TFBM’s vision of the “new Marawi” were impressive, several participants wondered aloud: “Where is the Meranaw there? Whose perspective is this?”
Displaced residents of Marawi City at the Saguiaran Evacuation Center, Philippine Information Agency photo published May 31, 2017, http://pia.gov.ph/photogallery/photos/20
Unanswered queries
Ground Zero residents were more concerned about answers to questions that had been bothering them since they fled their villages in late May 2017. For example: Can they go back to the land where their homes or shops were built? What about compensation, reparation for the destroyed buildings, as well as for the furniture, cash, jewelry, and other things that had gone missing? And why build another military camp? What is the status of their ancestral lands vis-a-vis the military reservation? What about the shelters for displaced residents?
Displaced residents complained to del Rosario at the forum that no multisectoral consultations had been done before that meeting at the gym. Not content with that, weary Meranaws decided to bring their message directly to the President through an open letter on March 29 and a prayer march-rally the next day.
In its letter to the President, the Ranaw Multi Sectoral Movement (RMSM) said that the future “seems threatening.”
“Forces are moving that threaten to do far greater damage to our people than what the war has done,” it continued. “The bullet-riddled, crumbling remains of the Grand Masjid in our beloved Marawi, silent as it is now and absent of prayers, cries out. For in the guise of rebuilding our home, in the guise of laying down the foundations of a better, progressive and modern city, the will and vision of those who live far from us who built this city are being imposed upon us. This is an invasion of a different kind. This one threatens to rob our soul.”
RMSM lamented that “plans have been made without our participation… that neither bear the stamp of our will nor reflect our culture… whose mechanics and implementation are not clear to us.”
“But one thing is clear: the people of Marawi are largely left out,” it said. “Those who came to present the plan dismissed our comments, recommendations, and protestations as though we knew nothing and have no business getting involved in rebuilding our very own city.”
The RMSM asked Duterte, who claims Meranaw roots, to “grant us, the people of the lake, the rightful heirs to this land, our right to rebuild this city with your guidance, support and protection.”
“We appeal to you to let Marawi be rebuilt the way our ancestors did: one house at a time, one masjid at a time, one village at a time,” it said. The Movement also urged the President to stop the proposed ecozone and military camp plans “until we have been heard, until our dreams and aspirations, our cultural sensitivities and our faith find expression in the rebuilding of Marawi City, our home. This is the cry of our people. This is the cry of Marawi.”
Wept, wailed, prayed
Last March 30 — Good Friday for Christians, Holy Friday for Muslims — a day after the letter-appeal was sent out, Meranaws from various sectors attempted to march to Ground Zero to hold a congregational prayer at the Grand Mosque itself and at the same time pray for those who died in the conflict. The war had left some 1,000 dead, including at least 47 civilians.
But a phalanx of male and female police personnel as well as soldiers stationed at Rapitan (formerly Pumping) Bridge barred the Meranaws entry into Ground Zero. So they laid down their prayer rugs on the road for their congregational prayers and rites for relatives who perished in Ground Zero during the five-month siege.
Men and women wept and wailed openly, their prayers at times drowned out by the sound of sorrow.
Rally organizers had earlier planned a march to Ground Zero from Kilometer Zero near People’s Park, passing through City Hall compound to Pumping Bridge to Banggolo and finally to the Grand Mosque or Islamic Center for the prayers.
But no permit was granted by the military, which has jurisdiction over Ground Zero.
“This is not liberation, this is occupation,” says MSU history professor Tirmizy Abdullah. He points out that “liberation” does not resonate with Meranaws, particularly those in Ground Zero who cannot as yet return home and who cannot even enter their villages without the military’s permission.
Apparently in response to complaints from Marawi residents that they were not consulted on the rehabilitation of Marawi, TFBM with assistance from the World Bank last April conducted Suwara Marawi (Voice of Marawi), in 30 focus-group discussions involving 980 participants in the cities of Marawi, Iligan, the towns of Saguiaran and Pantar in Lanao del Sur, Balo-i in Lano del Norte and Initao in Misamis Oriental.
Findings of the FGDs, like the Post-Conflict Needs Assessment (PCNA), Damage and Loss Assessment (DALA), BMCRRP and MAA Rehabilitation Plan, have not been made public. But according to insiders who have seen copies of the Suwara Marawi Executive Summary, the report states that the participants were “nearly unanimous in their opposition to the establishment of (an) additional military camp in the area.”
The report also supposedly notes other agreements and disagreements to the proposed MAA development plan, among them the expansion of the road to four lanes as three lanes would be acceptable.
The PCNA was supposed to have included a Human Recovery Needs Assessment in August 2017, DALA from September to December 2017, and Social Healing and Peacebuilding Assessment in November 2017.
The BMCRRP, meanwhile, was approved by President Duterte last June. According to NEDA’s Navarro, the BMCRRP by then had a total of 744 priority Programs, Projects, and Activities (PPAs), down from the 902 listed in its April 12, 2018 version.
No specific plans yet
The PPAs have been classified under six sectors: Local Governance and Peacebuilding, Housing and Settlement, Livelihood and Business Development, Physical Infrastructure, Social Services, and Land Resource Management.
Proposed projects and activities have been listed, but since copies of the BMCRRP have not been made public, monitoring its implementation is a challenge.
TFBM Field Office Manager Felix Castro has been pushing for the establishment of a Project Monitoring Office and a Management Information System to track down the progress — or lack thereof — of the PPAs.
Castro says that the establishment of the PMO and MIS is ongoing, and that the Task Force has partnered with civil-society groups in Marawi to help them in the monitoring process.
For now, Castro can quickly answer questions on the number of transitory and permanent shelters constructed, but is candid enough to say “I cannot answer that” when asked about the progress of “Bangon Marawi” in the other sectors.
Officials of Marawi and Lanao del Sur have yet to see a copy of what is supposed to be, according to del Rosario, a “voluminous” BMCRRP. Little has been heard as well about specific plans for the MAA.
Based on NEDA and TFBM statements, though, Marawi would need about PhP47 billion for projects outside the conflict zone, about PhP17.2 billion for projects in the MAA, PhP20 billion in compensation for the properties destroyed in the siege (excluding PhP882 million specifically for mosques), and PhP1.2 billion for livelihood.
They want to go home
But Marawi’s displaced residents are getting more restless by the day. Last October 7, some displaced residents and civil-society organizations launched #LetMeGoHomeMovement through social media, calling on the government to just allow them to go home to their villages in the MAA since the rebuilding of their city is taking too long.
The Movement urges fellow Meranaws and friends to upload a photograph, either solo or group, with the message “I am from Marawi. Let me go home” in their social media accounts. Friends of the displaced are also encouraged to join in the uploading of photos with the message “I have friends from Marawi. Let them go home.”
Eighteen-year-old Faykha Khayriyyah Alonto Ala, newly elected chair of Barangay South Madaya Proper, says that there have been “too much grand plans, plans that clearly do not have any direction.”
“Let us keep it simple,” says Ala, who like the barangay chairpersons in the 23 other villages in Ground Zero, has yet to come up with ways on how to serve her dispersed constituents. “Grant the people their rights to their properties, help them rebuild their lives in the way they want, just our old Marawi, our home.”
On October 16, at the top floor of the bullet-peppered five-story Al Farabi International School overlooking Ground Zero, Ala read the open letter of ‘Marawi is Ours, Let Us Go Home Movement’ to President Duterte: “Mr. President, we are your people too. Please, let us go home!”
As she spoke, some of those listening to her wiped away their tears quietly, while those who were looking at the ruins of Marawi scanned the horizon from the bridge in Banggolo, for landmarks they could still identify to guide them, mentally, to where they used to live until May 2017.
Displaced residents of Marawi at the Balo-i Gymnasium 3, Philippine Information Agency photo published June 2, 2017, http://pia.gov.ph/photogallery/photos/95
‘People of the tents’
“Once, we were the people of the lake,” read Ala. “Now we (have become) the people of the tents. Made to wait indefinitely. The terrible question at the back of our minds: Will we ever get back home?”
Minutes later, at the “Anyare Marawi (What happened Marawi)” rally of the Moro Consensus Group and Bangsamoro National Movement for Peace and Development, in the area called Bangon, participants brought along tarpaulins bearing these appeals to go home: “Hirap na po kami, pauwiin nyo na kami (We are already suffering, will you let us go home)?,” “Tama na! Sobra na! Pauwiin nyo na kami (Enough! Too much! Let us go home!)” and “’Yung totoo, kelan kami makakauwi (The truth, when can we go home)?”
Lawyer Falconi Millar, Secretary General of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and head of TFBM’s secretariat, says that seeing Marawi’s residents back in their homes is exactly the aim of the Task Force.
“That is what Task Force Bangon Marawi is doing,” he says. “To bring our Maranao brothers and sisters from the MAA back to their home, safely, at the soonest possible time, and to a home that is with an environment that is modern Islamic and culturally sensitive.”
He also says that TFBM has conducted “more than 200 dialogues and will continue to conduct more to engage our Maranao brothers and sisters and to update them as developments unfold.”
TFBM, adds Falconi, “will ensure that they will come home as soon as it is safe to do so and as soon as horizontal development per sector is accomplished and as soon as doing so would not impede the rehabilitation in adjoining sectors in the MAA.”
For his part, del Rosario says, “I fully understand the sentiments of some residents in expressing their wishes.” But, he says, it is “not doable considering the magnitude of the needed rehabilitation in the entire MAA.”
“I am sure,” says the ever optimistic TFBM chief, “they will be satisfied once the whole rehab is over.”
———————————————————————-
Check out, more PCIJ stories about Marawi:
In pictures: Anyare, Marawi?
THE RUINS OF MARAWI A year after ‘liberation’, Meranaws await rehabilitation
PROJECT BANGON MARAWI, YEAR 1
A patchwork of sketchy plans, loose rules, uncertain funding
A majority of Duterte allies will pick Marawi’s ground-zero contractor
Firms of clans among winners of Marawi road, housing deals
DSWD-Region 12 blows a billion pesos on food packs, various kits for Marawi
Price check: Hygiene kit items cost more than DTI, retail chain rates
Bangon Marawi? Rush to seal deals locked in delay, confusion, funds lack
The PowerChina puzzle: Newly registered ‘domestic firm’ bids for P17-B Marawi deal
http://pcij.org/stories/exceedingly-slow-rehab-work-leaves-meranaws-restless-people-of-the-tents/
With the Plan received by Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), the hundreds of thousands of Marawi residents displaced by the conflict waited for feedback, if not for any announcements of specific steps to be taken in order for their city to rise again.
Today they are still waiting. Indeed, more than a year later, no one knows for sure how many components of that joint blueprint ever made it into the national government’s Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan (BMCRRP).
Says Acram Latiph, an economics professor at the Mindanao State University (MSU) who was among those who helped put together the Marawi-Lanao del Sur proposal: “Yung final plan wala kaming access kaya ‘di ko talaga alam ano na kinalabasan ng CRRP (We don’t have access to the final plan that’s why we do not know what CRRP ended up as).”
This is even though last March 20, Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro of the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) Regional Development Office finally gave some local residents and officials a glimpse – their first — of the BMCRRP.
Navarro gave her presentation at a multisectoral forum held at the provincial gym. Using Powerpoint, she explained that the BMCRRP has a two-pronged approach: the CRRP, which shall include “programs and projects to be located outside of the most affected area” and Executive Order No. 49, which shall “guide the reconstruction process of the Most Affected Area through a joint-venture scheme.”
The “Most Affected Area” is otherwise known as Ground Zero or the 24-barangay area at the heart of the city that suffered the most destruction during the siege.
E.O. 49, issued by President Duterte on February 5, meanwhile exempts the National Housing Authority (NHA) from NEDA guidelines on joint-venture agreements supposedly “to expedite the implementation of recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in the most affected areas of Marawi City.”
People kept in the dark
Based on Navarro’s presentation, the BMCRRP would cover the rest of the city’s 96 barangays while the MAA would be under another plan “guided” by E.O. 49.
The two-day forum had been organized by the provincial government in response to growing complaints from the city’s displaced residents who wanted to know what was going on. The residents felt that they were being kept in the dark as to what was being planned for Marawi and other affected towns in Lanao del Sur, such as Butig and Poona Piagapo.
In his opening remarks at the forum, Lanao del Sur Vice Governor Mamintal Adiong had declared, “Hanggang ngayon, wala pang napre-present ang TFBM na concrete rehab plan (Until now, the TFBM has yet to present a concrete rehabilitation plan).”
Task Force Bangon Marawi or TFBM is an inter-agency body created by President Duterte in June last year through Administrative Order No. 3 for the “recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of the city of Marawi and other affected localities,” referring to the previous battlegrounds of the warring forces in Butig and Piagapo towns in Lanao del Sur. Notably, the Task Force was created a month and five days into what would turn out to be a five-month war.
It has been primarily the Task Force that has been updating the public on what the national government is planning for Marawi. But the “updates” have not really strayed far from promises about building a “new” and “better” Marawi, along with announcements about groundbreaking ceremonies that keep on getting postponed, and budget estimates that change every time the Task Force head speaks.
At the March multisectoral forum, TFBM chairman Eduardo del Rosario did present several slides showing the “development perspective” of the future Marawi: a Marawi with a lakeside promenade, cultural center, resorts, hotels, convention centers, a city green, and an eco-corridor, among other things.
Yet while the artistic renderings of TFBM’s vision of the “new Marawi” were impressive, several participants wondered aloud: “Where is the Meranaw there? Whose perspective is this?”
Displaced residents of Marawi City at the Saguiaran Evacuation Center, Philippine Information Agency photo published May 31, 2017, http://pia.gov.ph/photogallery/photos/20
Unanswered queries
Ground Zero residents were more concerned about answers to questions that had been bothering them since they fled their villages in late May 2017. For example: Can they go back to the land where their homes or shops were built? What about compensation, reparation for the destroyed buildings, as well as for the furniture, cash, jewelry, and other things that had gone missing? And why build another military camp? What is the status of their ancestral lands vis-a-vis the military reservation? What about the shelters for displaced residents?
Displaced residents complained to del Rosario at the forum that no multisectoral consultations had been done before that meeting at the gym. Not content with that, weary Meranaws decided to bring their message directly to the President through an open letter on March 29 and a prayer march-rally the next day.
In its letter to the President, the Ranaw Multi Sectoral Movement (RMSM) said that the future “seems threatening.”
“Forces are moving that threaten to do far greater damage to our people than what the war has done,” it continued. “The bullet-riddled, crumbling remains of the Grand Masjid in our beloved Marawi, silent as it is now and absent of prayers, cries out. For in the guise of rebuilding our home, in the guise of laying down the foundations of a better, progressive and modern city, the will and vision of those who live far from us who built this city are being imposed upon us. This is an invasion of a different kind. This one threatens to rob our soul.”
RMSM lamented that “plans have been made without our participation… that neither bear the stamp of our will nor reflect our culture… whose mechanics and implementation are not clear to us.”
“But one thing is clear: the people of Marawi are largely left out,” it said. “Those who came to present the plan dismissed our comments, recommendations, and protestations as though we knew nothing and have no business getting involved in rebuilding our very own city.”
The RMSM asked Duterte, who claims Meranaw roots, to “grant us, the people of the lake, the rightful heirs to this land, our right to rebuild this city with your guidance, support and protection.”
“We appeal to you to let Marawi be rebuilt the way our ancestors did: one house at a time, one masjid at a time, one village at a time,” it said. The Movement also urged the President to stop the proposed ecozone and military camp plans “until we have been heard, until our dreams and aspirations, our cultural sensitivities and our faith find expression in the rebuilding of Marawi City, our home. This is the cry of our people. This is the cry of Marawi.”
Wept, wailed, prayed
Last March 30 — Good Friday for Christians, Holy Friday for Muslims — a day after the letter-appeal was sent out, Meranaws from various sectors attempted to march to Ground Zero to hold a congregational prayer at the Grand Mosque itself and at the same time pray for those who died in the conflict. The war had left some 1,000 dead, including at least 47 civilians.
But a phalanx of male and female police personnel as well as soldiers stationed at Rapitan (formerly Pumping) Bridge barred the Meranaws entry into Ground Zero. So they laid down their prayer rugs on the road for their congregational prayers and rites for relatives who perished in Ground Zero during the five-month siege.
Men and women wept and wailed openly, their prayers at times drowned out by the sound of sorrow.
Rally organizers had earlier planned a march to Ground Zero from Kilometer Zero near People’s Park, passing through City Hall compound to Pumping Bridge to Banggolo and finally to the Grand Mosque or Islamic Center for the prayers.
But no permit was granted by the military, which has jurisdiction over Ground Zero.
“This is not liberation, this is occupation,” says MSU history professor Tirmizy Abdullah. He points out that “liberation” does not resonate with Meranaws, particularly those in Ground Zero who cannot as yet return home and who cannot even enter their villages without the military’s permission.
Apparently in response to complaints from Marawi residents that they were not consulted on the rehabilitation of Marawi, TFBM with assistance from the World Bank last April conducted Suwara Marawi (Voice of Marawi), in 30 focus-group discussions involving 980 participants in the cities of Marawi, Iligan, the towns of Saguiaran and Pantar in Lanao del Sur, Balo-i in Lano del Norte and Initao in Misamis Oriental.
Findings of the FGDs, like the Post-Conflict Needs Assessment (PCNA), Damage and Loss Assessment (DALA), BMCRRP and MAA Rehabilitation Plan, have not been made public. But according to insiders who have seen copies of the Suwara Marawi Executive Summary, the report states that the participants were “nearly unanimous in their opposition to the establishment of (an) additional military camp in the area.”
The report also supposedly notes other agreements and disagreements to the proposed MAA development plan, among them the expansion of the road to four lanes as three lanes would be acceptable.
The PCNA was supposed to have included a Human Recovery Needs Assessment in August 2017, DALA from September to December 2017, and Social Healing and Peacebuilding Assessment in November 2017.
The BMCRRP, meanwhile, was approved by President Duterte last June. According to NEDA’s Navarro, the BMCRRP by then had a total of 744 priority Programs, Projects, and Activities (PPAs), down from the 902 listed in its April 12, 2018 version.
No specific plans yet
The PPAs have been classified under six sectors: Local Governance and Peacebuilding, Housing and Settlement, Livelihood and Business Development, Physical Infrastructure, Social Services, and Land Resource Management.
Proposed projects and activities have been listed, but since copies of the BMCRRP have not been made public, monitoring its implementation is a challenge.
TFBM Field Office Manager Felix Castro has been pushing for the establishment of a Project Monitoring Office and a Management Information System to track down the progress — or lack thereof — of the PPAs.
Castro says that the establishment of the PMO and MIS is ongoing, and that the Task Force has partnered with civil-society groups in Marawi to help them in the monitoring process.
For now, Castro can quickly answer questions on the number of transitory and permanent shelters constructed, but is candid enough to say “I cannot answer that” when asked about the progress of “Bangon Marawi” in the other sectors.
Officials of Marawi and Lanao del Sur have yet to see a copy of what is supposed to be, according to del Rosario, a “voluminous” BMCRRP. Little has been heard as well about specific plans for the MAA.
Based on NEDA and TFBM statements, though, Marawi would need about PhP47 billion for projects outside the conflict zone, about PhP17.2 billion for projects in the MAA, PhP20 billion in compensation for the properties destroyed in the siege (excluding PhP882 million specifically for mosques), and PhP1.2 billion for livelihood.
They want to go home
But Marawi’s displaced residents are getting more restless by the day. Last October 7, some displaced residents and civil-society organizations launched #LetMeGoHomeMovement through social media, calling on the government to just allow them to go home to their villages in the MAA since the rebuilding of their city is taking too long.
The Movement urges fellow Meranaws and friends to upload a photograph, either solo or group, with the message “I am from Marawi. Let me go home” in their social media accounts. Friends of the displaced are also encouraged to join in the uploading of photos with the message “I have friends from Marawi. Let them go home.”
Eighteen-year-old Faykha Khayriyyah Alonto Ala, newly elected chair of Barangay South Madaya Proper, says that there have been “too much grand plans, plans that clearly do not have any direction.”
“Let us keep it simple,” says Ala, who like the barangay chairpersons in the 23 other villages in Ground Zero, has yet to come up with ways on how to serve her dispersed constituents. “Grant the people their rights to their properties, help them rebuild their lives in the way they want, just our old Marawi, our home.”
On October 16, at the top floor of the bullet-peppered five-story Al Farabi International School overlooking Ground Zero, Ala read the open letter of ‘Marawi is Ours, Let Us Go Home Movement’ to President Duterte: “Mr. President, we are your people too. Please, let us go home!”
As she spoke, some of those listening to her wiped away their tears quietly, while those who were looking at the ruins of Marawi scanned the horizon from the bridge in Banggolo, for landmarks they could still identify to guide them, mentally, to where they used to live until May 2017.
Displaced residents of Marawi at the Balo-i Gymnasium 3, Philippine Information Agency photo published June 2, 2017, http://pia.gov.ph/photogallery/photos/95
‘People of the tents’
“Once, we were the people of the lake,” read Ala. “Now we (have become) the people of the tents. Made to wait indefinitely. The terrible question at the back of our minds: Will we ever get back home?”
Minutes later, at the “Anyare Marawi (What happened Marawi)” rally of the Moro Consensus Group and Bangsamoro National Movement for Peace and Development, in the area called Bangon, participants brought along tarpaulins bearing these appeals to go home: “Hirap na po kami, pauwiin nyo na kami (We are already suffering, will you let us go home)?,” “Tama na! Sobra na! Pauwiin nyo na kami (Enough! Too much! Let us go home!)” and “’Yung totoo, kelan kami makakauwi (The truth, when can we go home)?”
Lawyer Falconi Millar, Secretary General of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and head of TFBM’s secretariat, says that seeing Marawi’s residents back in their homes is exactly the aim of the Task Force.
“That is what Task Force Bangon Marawi is doing,” he says. “To bring our Maranao brothers and sisters from the MAA back to their home, safely, at the soonest possible time, and to a home that is with an environment that is modern Islamic and culturally sensitive.”
He also says that TFBM has conducted “more than 200 dialogues and will continue to conduct more to engage our Maranao brothers and sisters and to update them as developments unfold.”
TFBM, adds Falconi, “will ensure that they will come home as soon as it is safe to do so and as soon as horizontal development per sector is accomplished and as soon as doing so would not impede the rehabilitation in adjoining sectors in the MAA.”
For his part, del Rosario says, “I fully understand the sentiments of some residents in expressing their wishes.” But, he says, it is “not doable considering the magnitude of the needed rehabilitation in the entire MAA.”
“I am sure,” says the ever optimistic TFBM chief, “they will be satisfied once the whole rehab is over.”
———————————————————————-
Check out, more PCIJ stories about Marawi:
In pictures: Anyare, Marawi?
THE RUINS OF MARAWI A year after ‘liberation’, Meranaws await rehabilitation
PROJECT BANGON MARAWI, YEAR 1
A patchwork of sketchy plans, loose rules, uncertain funding
A majority of Duterte allies will pick Marawi’s ground-zero contractor
Firms of clans among winners of Marawi road, housing deals
DSWD-Region 12 blows a billion pesos on food packs, various kits for Marawi
Price check: Hygiene kit items cost more than DTI, retail chain rates
Bangon Marawi? Rush to seal deals locked in delay, confusion, funds lack
The PowerChina puzzle: Newly registered ‘domestic firm’ bids for P17-B Marawi deal
http://pcij.org/stories/exceedingly-slow-rehab-work-leaves-meranaws-restless-people-of-the-tents/
The ruins of Marawi: A year after ‘liberation’, Meranaws await rehabilitation
From the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (Oct 17): The ruins of Marawi: A year after ‘liberation’, Meranaws await rehabilitation (by Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews)
Click to view: MarawiLiberated, 17oct18
MARAWI CITY – The groundbreaking for the government’s ambitious rehabilitation of this city was supposed to take place today, the first anniversary of Marawi’s “liberation” from the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group that had laid siege on it last year.
Last October 14, however, Falconi Millar, head of the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) Secretariat, said that the event would be postponed since President Rodrigo Duterte would be unavailable today. The new target date for the groundbreaking, he said, was “likely October 28.”
According to Malacañang, the President has two items on his schedule today, both taking place at the Palace: the 102nd anniversary celebration of the Cooperative Movement in the Philippines at 5:30 p.m. and the Traditional Dinner of the AFP Council of Sergeant Majors at 6:30 p.m.
The groundbreaking for the Marawi rebuilding and rehabilitation project had already been pushed back at least 10 times previously, yet TFBM chief Eduardo del Rosario is confident that the project’s completion target date of yearend 2021 will be met. Still, until rehabilitation activities actually start, what used to be Lanao del Sur’s proud and beautiful capital will continue to lie in ruins, and thousands of its residents will remain displaced.
The Siege of Marawi, a city of about 250,000 in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), had resulted in more than 1,100 fatalities, including at least 47 civilians. Other areas of Iligan City and Lanao del Sur were also affected, leading to the displacement of as much as 350,000 people, many with their homes damaged or totally destroyed.
A heavily damaged mosque at Ground Zero, Marawi City on Oct. 25, 2017. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Disproportionate fury
The five-month fighting between the Maute Group and government troops last year rendered at least 24 of Marawi’s 96 barangays within what is now called the “Most Affected Area” or the MAA uninhabitable, and wiped out the city’s cultural, commercial, and business center.
The Meranaws have since repeatedly said that if President Duterte had only tapped into the cultural resources of his fellow Meranaws, the crisis would have been over in a few days and Marawi would have been saved from massive destruction.
In a policy paper on postwar Marawi submitted to the President last November, Dr. Macapado Muslim, former president of the Mindanao State University (MSU), also noted that while many of the local residents generally blame the Maute Group and the Abu Sayyaf for attacking the city, a number of them “resent the government’s use of massive air strikes and heavy artillery fire (that) caused much of the destruction of their houses and properties.”
But Duterte – the first Mindanawon to lead the nation and the first to claim Meranaw roots – has shrugged off such criticisms, including the assertion that his response to the crisis was disproportionate: martial law all over Mindanao barely eight hours after the first shot was fired, and massive land, air, and sea operations.
And yet, there had been previous instances when a full-blown armed conflict was avoided even after an attack by rebel forces here. Among these was the 2007 siege by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) where its forces took control of the bridges in Marawi.
At the time, Meranaw leader Aga Khan Sharief asked the military and the mayor for two hours to talk with the rebel leaders and convince them to leave. “Usapang Meranaw (Meranaw talk)” was how he later described what had taken place. The situation ended peacefully.
On the night of May 23 last year (the start of the siege) and early the next morning, concerned Meranaw leaders, among them Sharief, had made attempts to dialogue with the Maute brothers — their fellow Meranaws — to spare Marawi. The Meranaw leaders who managed to contact the Mautes would later recount that they had immediately informed local government officials about the result of their talks. But, they said, the officials claimed that their hands were tied as the military was already in charge. “Martial law” was the reason given.
Those who met with the Mautes also urged them to release Fr. Teresito ‘Chito’ Soganub, Vicar General of the Catholic Prelature of Marawi, who was among those grabbed by the Maute Group as hostages.
According to Sharief, a businessman invoking the Meranaws’ maratabat (personal esteem or honor) even offered to shell out money, if ransom was demanded, to avoid the shame the hostage-taking of a Catholic priest would cause the Meranaws.
The armed men in black did indeed have demands, which they ordered Soganub to relay by phone to Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Pena on the evening of May 23: no air strike and the withdrawal of military forces in Marawi.
A resident peers through a spyhole to scan the damage sustained by his community in Barangay Malotlot, Marawi City on Nov. 7, 2017. Photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
Forced into diaspora
It wasn’t just the Maute Group who didn’t want air strikes, however. Local government officials, residents, and civil-society groups made similar appeals to the authorities. The Ranao Rescue Team also urged the President to order a “half day of no fighting” for a humanitarian corridor that would allow the safe passage of thousands of trapped civilians out of the battlegrounds.
A six-hour window on June 3, negotiated with the Mautes by the Meranaws in the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels, allowed for the safe passage of 182 trapped civilians. On the whole, however, the appeals went unheeded, and air strikes were launched.
Marawi residents were forced into a diaspora, fleeing to neighboring as well as faraway towns and cities. In all, some 77,000 families were displaced from Marawi City and nearby areas, according to records of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Residents in 20 of the city’s 96 barangays were able to stay put as they were quite far from the war zone. But those in Marawi’s 76 other villages had to leave, especially in the 24 located in what would be known as Ground Zero, the 250-hectare main battle area between the warring forces, now referred to as the city’s “Most Affected Area.”
That war would befall Marawi had been unthinkable. Until that fateful day in May last year, the Meranaws had been considered the luckiest among the Moro ethnic groups, having been spared for several decades from suffering a cycle of mass evacuations that had been endured by the residents of Maguindanao, Basilan, and Sulu.
Haji Nurian Cabugatan, 51 , weeps as she narrates to reporters that she found her house ransacked, and her jewelry and money already gone. The military allowed Cabugatan and her neighbors to enter their village provided they would only clean the premises of their homes. Many residents, including Hassan, disobeyed the order and entered their houses. Photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
They voted for DU30
Luck seemed to smile even more at the Meranaws when Duterte ran, and later won the Presidency.
Records from the Commission on Elections show that Marawi and Lanao del Sur voters elected a city mayor and provincial governor from the Liberal Party but did not elect Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas II, the Presidential standard bearer of the then ruling party. They gave Duterte, their fellow Meranaw, an overwhelming victory: in Marawi, 34,165 votes or 82.98 percent of the total number of votes cast; and in Lanao del Sur, the second vote-richest among the five-province, two-city ARMM, 303,184 votes or 80.14 percent.
Of 81 provinces nationwide, Lanao del Sur ranked 15th in giving Duterte the vote, more than the combined Ilocos Norte and Sur votes for him (189,758). Among Mindanao’s 27 provinces and 33 cities, it ranked fifth.
Nationwide and overseas, thousands of Meranaws campaigned and voted for their brother Duterte.
It is said that even members of the so-called Islamic State voted for Duterte, with talks here saying how a Meranaw Islamic State spiritual leader had admonished his flock that it was haram (forbidden) not to vote for Duterte.
In the end, the Meranaws voted overwhelmingly for the Presidential candidate who claimed to be one of their own. In turn, Duterte rewarded them immediately with three Cabinet posts and several more appointments to key positions.
What the Meranaws did not expect was that Duterte would make a decision that would change the course of their personal and collective histories even long after he would have finished his term in 2022.
The President, for his part, has said that he felt betrayed by the Meranaws for allegedly allowing IS elements into Marawi and not telling the government about it.
President Rodrigo Duterte declares the “liberation” of Marawi City and heads a ceremonial flag-raising inside the Jamaitul Philippine Al-Islamia in Banggolo District, Marawi City. Photo by MANMAN DEJETO
‘Go ahead… burn it’
On October 17, 2017, the day he declared Marawi “liberated from the terrorist influence,” Duterte said: “So ‘yan ang paghinakit ko. Hindi namin ito gusto. Ginusto ‘to ng mga Maranao, ng mga Maute, at sinakyan ng ISIS. Hindi amin ‘to. Hindi ‘to sa gobyerno. Tandaan ninyo (I am disappointed because we did not want this to happen. The Meranaws did, the Mautes, and ISIS took advantage. This is not our fault. This is not government’s. Remember that).”
Yet while he may not have wanted the destruction of Marawi to take place, Duterte had also said that he wouldn’t care if it happened.
Five months before the Marawi Siege began, the President had dared the Maute Group to “go ahead” and “burn” Marawi.
Addressing the Wallace Business Forum at a dinner hosted by Malacanang on December 12, 2016, Duterte took note of the Maute Group’s demand for government to stop the offensives “in the forest” of Butig, Lanao del Sur, otherwise “they will go down upon Marawi to burn the place.”
The President’s response: “Go ahead, do it!”
“We need to do a lot of constructions in this country,” said a visibly combative Duterte. “There are a lot of materials there and we will be glad to rebuild and rehabilitate every structure that you destroy. As long (as) it’s confined in the areas of Lanao, I don’t really care.”
Unfortunately, the Maute Group and its allies took up the challenge and did “go ahead,” invading Marawi on May 23 last year while the President was on a state visit to Russia. Maute Group members took over key areas in the country’s lone Islamic city, burned buildings, and unfurled their black IS flags.
A huge tarpaulin bearing images of slain Maute leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute is displayed where troops were gathered in formation while waiting for President Duterte to arrive. Photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Bad, no intelligence?
But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, speaking at a press briefing in Moscow near midnight (Manila time) on May 23, 2017, chose to explain what happened this way: “Elements of the Army and the Police were trying to serve a warrant of arrest on Isnilon Hapilon at Barangay Basak Malutlut in Marawi City when they were met with firefight or firearms — gunfire from the group of Hapilon Isnilon.”
Isnilon Hapilon of the Abu Sayyaf and the proclaimed emir of IS in Southeast Asia, was allegedly holed up in an apartment near the Markaz mosque in Basak Malutlut. He and Omar Maute would end up dead on October 16, 2017, killed by government troops.
Then Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año, who was also in Moscow at the start of the siege, would later say that the failed raid on Hapilon’s apartment foiled the plan of the Mautes and the Abu Sayyaf to take over Marawi at the beginning of the Ramadan on May 26. But it also apparently prompted them to advance their timetable instead.
Interestingly, Lorenzana at the Moscow press conference had also said that he did not think there was a “lapse of intelligence” but “it’s just appreciation of the intelligence that was lacking there.”
A few weeks later, the President himself would tell the media at Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City: “We had known (all) along the buildup here in Marawi. That is why if you were tracking me, my statement in public was ‘do not force my hand into it.’”
One of the damaged mosques at Ground Zero in Marawi City, as of May 8, 2018. MindaNews photo by H. MARCOS C. MORDENO
DU30: Mea culpa
It was a more somber Duterte, however, who spoke last May 22, on the eve of the first anniversary of the start of the siege, describing what took place in Marawi as a “very sad experience.”
He also admitted to having “fallen short in some respects” in the way the crisis was handled, but assumed full responsibility for it, explaining he “did not anticipate or even guess that there would be so much ordnance and that the fight (would take) about four months to finish.”
It had actually lasted five months.
“All of these faults, if it is indeed one, or our faults, it belongs and it falls (sic) on my shoulders as Commander in Chief,” said Duterte at the 120th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Navy at the Coconut Palace, at the CCP Complex in Manila. “And I assume full responsibility to the nation of what’s going to happen.”
Soon after the President declared Marawi “liberated” on October 17 last year, displaced residents from 52 of the 76 villages vacated were allowed to return to Marawi, in batches, from evacuation centers, their relatives’ houses, or rented dwellings in neighboring Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities, the municipalities of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, and other parts of the country.
But it took more months before residents of the 24 villages in Ground Zero – estimated by TFBM to number about 27,000 families – were allowed to visit what used to be their homes or shops and collect whatever they could still salvage from the rubble.
They were also to visit only from last April 1 to May 10, and for just three days each, per sector. Ground Zero has been classified into nine sectors.
Salic Cadalay shows off his “Duterte Volunteer” ID; he campaigned for Rodrigo R. Duterte in the 2016 elections. After the Marawi Siege, he says of Duterte; “Kadugo, pero nag-unay sa kadugo (He is of our own blood, but he betrayed us).” MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
‘He betrayed us’
Salic Cadalay was among those who took the opportunity to return even for a very brief time to Ground Zero. The owner of a hardware store along Dangcal St. in Padian (market), Cadalay during his short visit last May had quickly begun putting up makeshift signages asserting ownership of his store that had collapsed from the air strikes, and of what used to be his residence and warehouse a few steps away.
It had been a year since he and his family had fled the city and he kept shaking his head in disbelief at the sight of the devastation.
“Lahat ng kayamanan namin, kaisa ra nawala (All our wealth gone in an instant),” said the businessman who had set up his store here 32 years ago, laying down the future for his 13 children and 20 grandchildren.
“One time, big time,” he said of his losses.
Cadalay estimated his losses as reaching some P100 million, aside from the debts he has yet to settle.
“Kadugo, pero nag-unay sa kadugo (He is of our own blood, but he betrayed us),” he lamented, referring to Duterte. “Yang President, kababayan namin ‘yan (The President is one of our own).”
Cadalay then took out his wallet and showed off his laminated ‘Duterte Volunteer’ ID that he used during the presidential campaign in 2016. His message to his “kadugo” President: “Help us rebuild our homes and stores, provide us reparation and capital to start anew.”
“One time, big time,” Salic Cadalay says of his losses. “Lahat ng kayamanan namin, kaisa ra nawala (All our wealth gone in an instant).” Cadalay set up his store 32 years ago for his children and grandchildren but lost everything after the Marawi Siege. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
Several observers have already warned the government of dire consequences otherwise, including yet another round of violence.
In his policy paper submitted to President Duterte last year, Dr. Muslim pointed out that Marawi City today is “essentially a powder keg” because of the “destruction and losses and continued sufferings, hardships and indignities in evacuation centers and in private and commercial dwellings in other cities, the growing disillusionment with the never-ending Mindanao peace process, and the perceptible spread of violent extremism and radicalism to the Muslim communities in Mindanao.”
http://pcij.org/stories/a-year-after-liberation-meranaws-await-rehabilitation/
MARAWI CITY – The groundbreaking for the government’s ambitious rehabilitation of this city was supposed to take place today, the first anniversary of Marawi’s “liberation” from the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group that had laid siege on it last year.
Last October 14, however, Falconi Millar, head of the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) Secretariat, said that the event would be postponed since President Rodrigo Duterte would be unavailable today. The new target date for the groundbreaking, he said, was “likely October 28.”
According to Malacañang, the President has two items on his schedule today, both taking place at the Palace: the 102nd anniversary celebration of the Cooperative Movement in the Philippines at 5:30 p.m. and the Traditional Dinner of the AFP Council of Sergeant Majors at 6:30 p.m.
The groundbreaking for the Marawi rebuilding and rehabilitation project had already been pushed back at least 10 times previously, yet TFBM chief Eduardo del Rosario is confident that the project’s completion target date of yearend 2021 will be met. Still, until rehabilitation activities actually start, what used to be Lanao del Sur’s proud and beautiful capital will continue to lie in ruins, and thousands of its residents will remain displaced.
The Siege of Marawi, a city of about 250,000 in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), had resulted in more than 1,100 fatalities, including at least 47 civilians. Other areas of Iligan City and Lanao del Sur were also affected, leading to the displacement of as much as 350,000 people, many with their homes damaged or totally destroyed.
A heavily damaged mosque at Ground Zero, Marawi City on Oct. 25, 2017. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Disproportionate fury
The five-month fighting between the Maute Group and government troops last year rendered at least 24 of Marawi’s 96 barangays within what is now called the “Most Affected Area” or the MAA uninhabitable, and wiped out the city’s cultural, commercial, and business center.
The Meranaws have since repeatedly said that if President Duterte had only tapped into the cultural resources of his fellow Meranaws, the crisis would have been over in a few days and Marawi would have been saved from massive destruction.
In a policy paper on postwar Marawi submitted to the President last November, Dr. Macapado Muslim, former president of the Mindanao State University (MSU), also noted that while many of the local residents generally blame the Maute Group and the Abu Sayyaf for attacking the city, a number of them “resent the government’s use of massive air strikes and heavy artillery fire (that) caused much of the destruction of their houses and properties.”
But Duterte – the first Mindanawon to lead the nation and the first to claim Meranaw roots – has shrugged off such criticisms, including the assertion that his response to the crisis was disproportionate: martial law all over Mindanao barely eight hours after the first shot was fired, and massive land, air, and sea operations.
And yet, there had been previous instances when a full-blown armed conflict was avoided even after an attack by rebel forces here. Among these was the 2007 siege by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) where its forces took control of the bridges in Marawi.
At the time, Meranaw leader Aga Khan Sharief asked the military and the mayor for two hours to talk with the rebel leaders and convince them to leave. “Usapang Meranaw (Meranaw talk)” was how he later described what had taken place. The situation ended peacefully.
On the night of May 23 last year (the start of the siege) and early the next morning, concerned Meranaw leaders, among them Sharief, had made attempts to dialogue with the Maute brothers — their fellow Meranaws — to spare Marawi. The Meranaw leaders who managed to contact the Mautes would later recount that they had immediately informed local government officials about the result of their talks. But, they said, the officials claimed that their hands were tied as the military was already in charge. “Martial law” was the reason given.
Those who met with the Mautes also urged them to release Fr. Teresito ‘Chito’ Soganub, Vicar General of the Catholic Prelature of Marawi, who was among those grabbed by the Maute Group as hostages.
According to Sharief, a businessman invoking the Meranaws’ maratabat (personal esteem or honor) even offered to shell out money, if ransom was demanded, to avoid the shame the hostage-taking of a Catholic priest would cause the Meranaws.
The armed men in black did indeed have demands, which they ordered Soganub to relay by phone to Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Pena on the evening of May 23: no air strike and the withdrawal of military forces in Marawi.
A resident peers through a spyhole to scan the damage sustained by his community in Barangay Malotlot, Marawi City on Nov. 7, 2017. Photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
Forced into diaspora
It wasn’t just the Maute Group who didn’t want air strikes, however. Local government officials, residents, and civil-society groups made similar appeals to the authorities. The Ranao Rescue Team also urged the President to order a “half day of no fighting” for a humanitarian corridor that would allow the safe passage of thousands of trapped civilians out of the battlegrounds.
A six-hour window on June 3, negotiated with the Mautes by the Meranaws in the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels, allowed for the safe passage of 182 trapped civilians. On the whole, however, the appeals went unheeded, and air strikes were launched.
Marawi residents were forced into a diaspora, fleeing to neighboring as well as faraway towns and cities. In all, some 77,000 families were displaced from Marawi City and nearby areas, according to records of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Residents in 20 of the city’s 96 barangays were able to stay put as they were quite far from the war zone. But those in Marawi’s 76 other villages had to leave, especially in the 24 located in what would be known as Ground Zero, the 250-hectare main battle area between the warring forces, now referred to as the city’s “Most Affected Area.”
That war would befall Marawi had been unthinkable. Until that fateful day in May last year, the Meranaws had been considered the luckiest among the Moro ethnic groups, having been spared for several decades from suffering a cycle of mass evacuations that had been endured by the residents of Maguindanao, Basilan, and Sulu.
Haji Nurian Cabugatan, 51 , weeps as she narrates to reporters that she found her house ransacked, and her jewelry and money already gone. The military allowed Cabugatan and her neighbors to enter their village provided they would only clean the premises of their homes. Many residents, including Hassan, disobeyed the order and entered their houses. Photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
They voted for DU30
Luck seemed to smile even more at the Meranaws when Duterte ran, and later won the Presidency.
Records from the Commission on Elections show that Marawi and Lanao del Sur voters elected a city mayor and provincial governor from the Liberal Party but did not elect Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas II, the Presidential standard bearer of the then ruling party. They gave Duterte, their fellow Meranaw, an overwhelming victory: in Marawi, 34,165 votes or 82.98 percent of the total number of votes cast; and in Lanao del Sur, the second vote-richest among the five-province, two-city ARMM, 303,184 votes or 80.14 percent.
Of 81 provinces nationwide, Lanao del Sur ranked 15th in giving Duterte the vote, more than the combined Ilocos Norte and Sur votes for him (189,758). Among Mindanao’s 27 provinces and 33 cities, it ranked fifth.
Nationwide and overseas, thousands of Meranaws campaigned and voted for their brother Duterte.
It is said that even members of the so-called Islamic State voted for Duterte, with talks here saying how a Meranaw Islamic State spiritual leader had admonished his flock that it was haram (forbidden) not to vote for Duterte.
In the end, the Meranaws voted overwhelmingly for the Presidential candidate who claimed to be one of their own. In turn, Duterte rewarded them immediately with three Cabinet posts and several more appointments to key positions.
What the Meranaws did not expect was that Duterte would make a decision that would change the course of their personal and collective histories even long after he would have finished his term in 2022.
The President, for his part, has said that he felt betrayed by the Meranaws for allegedly allowing IS elements into Marawi and not telling the government about it.
President Rodrigo Duterte declares the “liberation” of Marawi City and heads a ceremonial flag-raising inside the Jamaitul Philippine Al-Islamia in Banggolo District, Marawi City. Photo by MANMAN DEJETO
‘Go ahead… burn it’
On October 17, 2017, the day he declared Marawi “liberated from the terrorist influence,” Duterte said: “So ‘yan ang paghinakit ko. Hindi namin ito gusto. Ginusto ‘to ng mga Maranao, ng mga Maute, at sinakyan ng ISIS. Hindi amin ‘to. Hindi ‘to sa gobyerno. Tandaan ninyo (I am disappointed because we did not want this to happen. The Meranaws did, the Mautes, and ISIS took advantage. This is not our fault. This is not government’s. Remember that).”
Yet while he may not have wanted the destruction of Marawi to take place, Duterte had also said that he wouldn’t care if it happened.
Five months before the Marawi Siege began, the President had dared the Maute Group to “go ahead” and “burn” Marawi.
Addressing the Wallace Business Forum at a dinner hosted by Malacanang on December 12, 2016, Duterte took note of the Maute Group’s demand for government to stop the offensives “in the forest” of Butig, Lanao del Sur, otherwise “they will go down upon Marawi to burn the place.”
The President’s response: “Go ahead, do it!”
“We need to do a lot of constructions in this country,” said a visibly combative Duterte. “There are a lot of materials there and we will be glad to rebuild and rehabilitate every structure that you destroy. As long (as) it’s confined in the areas of Lanao, I don’t really care.”
Unfortunately, the Maute Group and its allies took up the challenge and did “go ahead,” invading Marawi on May 23 last year while the President was on a state visit to Russia. Maute Group members took over key areas in the country’s lone Islamic city, burned buildings, and unfurled their black IS flags.
A huge tarpaulin bearing images of slain Maute leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute is displayed where troops were gathered in formation while waiting for President Duterte to arrive. Photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Bad, no intelligence?
But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, speaking at a press briefing in Moscow near midnight (Manila time) on May 23, 2017, chose to explain what happened this way: “Elements of the Army and the Police were trying to serve a warrant of arrest on Isnilon Hapilon at Barangay Basak Malutlut in Marawi City when they were met with firefight or firearms — gunfire from the group of Hapilon Isnilon.”
Isnilon Hapilon of the Abu Sayyaf and the proclaimed emir of IS in Southeast Asia, was allegedly holed up in an apartment near the Markaz mosque in Basak Malutlut. He and Omar Maute would end up dead on October 16, 2017, killed by government troops.
Then Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año, who was also in Moscow at the start of the siege, would later say that the failed raid on Hapilon’s apartment foiled the plan of the Mautes and the Abu Sayyaf to take over Marawi at the beginning of the Ramadan on May 26. But it also apparently prompted them to advance their timetable instead.
Interestingly, Lorenzana at the Moscow press conference had also said that he did not think there was a “lapse of intelligence” but “it’s just appreciation of the intelligence that was lacking there.”
A few weeks later, the President himself would tell the media at Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City: “We had known (all) along the buildup here in Marawi. That is why if you were tracking me, my statement in public was ‘do not force my hand into it.’”
One of the damaged mosques at Ground Zero in Marawi City, as of May 8, 2018. MindaNews photo by H. MARCOS C. MORDENO
DU30: Mea culpa
It was a more somber Duterte, however, who spoke last May 22, on the eve of the first anniversary of the start of the siege, describing what took place in Marawi as a “very sad experience.”
He also admitted to having “fallen short in some respects” in the way the crisis was handled, but assumed full responsibility for it, explaining he “did not anticipate or even guess that there would be so much ordnance and that the fight (would take) about four months to finish.”
It had actually lasted five months.
“All of these faults, if it is indeed one, or our faults, it belongs and it falls (sic) on my shoulders as Commander in Chief,” said Duterte at the 120th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Navy at the Coconut Palace, at the CCP Complex in Manila. “And I assume full responsibility to the nation of what’s going to happen.”
Soon after the President declared Marawi “liberated” on October 17 last year, displaced residents from 52 of the 76 villages vacated were allowed to return to Marawi, in batches, from evacuation centers, their relatives’ houses, or rented dwellings in neighboring Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities, the municipalities of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, and other parts of the country.
But it took more months before residents of the 24 villages in Ground Zero – estimated by TFBM to number about 27,000 families – were allowed to visit what used to be their homes or shops and collect whatever they could still salvage from the rubble.
They were also to visit only from last April 1 to May 10, and for just three days each, per sector. Ground Zero has been classified into nine sectors.
Salic Cadalay shows off his “Duterte Volunteer” ID; he campaigned for Rodrigo R. Duterte in the 2016 elections. After the Marawi Siege, he says of Duterte; “Kadugo, pero nag-unay sa kadugo (He is of our own blood, but he betrayed us).” MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
‘He betrayed us’
Salic Cadalay was among those who took the opportunity to return even for a very brief time to Ground Zero. The owner of a hardware store along Dangcal St. in Padian (market), Cadalay during his short visit last May had quickly begun putting up makeshift signages asserting ownership of his store that had collapsed from the air strikes, and of what used to be his residence and warehouse a few steps away.
It had been a year since he and his family had fled the city and he kept shaking his head in disbelief at the sight of the devastation.
“Lahat ng kayamanan namin, kaisa ra nawala (All our wealth gone in an instant),” said the businessman who had set up his store here 32 years ago, laying down the future for his 13 children and 20 grandchildren.
“One time, big time,” he said of his losses.
Cadalay estimated his losses as reaching some P100 million, aside from the debts he has yet to settle.
“Kadugo, pero nag-unay sa kadugo (He is of our own blood, but he betrayed us),” he lamented, referring to Duterte. “Yang President, kababayan namin ‘yan (The President is one of our own).”
Cadalay then took out his wallet and showed off his laminated ‘Duterte Volunteer’ ID that he used during the presidential campaign in 2016. His message to his “kadugo” President: “Help us rebuild our homes and stores, provide us reparation and capital to start anew.”
“One time, big time,” Salic Cadalay says of his losses. “Lahat ng kayamanan namin, kaisa ra nawala (All our wealth gone in an instant).” Cadalay set up his store 32 years ago for his children and grandchildren but lost everything after the Marawi Siege. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
Several observers have already warned the government of dire consequences otherwise, including yet another round of violence.
In his policy paper submitted to President Duterte last year, Dr. Muslim pointed out that Marawi City today is “essentially a powder keg” because of the “destruction and losses and continued sufferings, hardships and indignities in evacuation centers and in private and commercial dwellings in other cities, the growing disillusionment with the never-ending Mindanao peace process, and the perceptible spread of violent extremism and radicalism to the Muslim communities in Mindanao.”
http://pcij.org/stories/a-year-after-liberation-meranaws-await-rehabilitation/
Duterte to NPA: “Life is not a revolution”
From MindaNews (Oct 20): Duterte to NPA: “Life is not a revolution”
President Rodrigo Duterte is frustrated by the entry of foreign corporations that lord it over the lands of the country but he told the New People’s Army (NPA) that they cannot always resort to killing to change things because “life is not a revolution.”
“Philippines is agriculture-based. We will really till the land even if we have to ask for help. I know that some lands are now owned by what we call foreign corporations and that hurts. I felt hurt by it too,” Duterte said in his speech at the inauguration of the Gaisano Grand Citygate Mall in Davao City on Friday.
In Cebuano, he said the NPAs must not force evolution through killing because life will “evolve by itself like a flower that will bloom on its own.”
PEACE. Members of the New People’s Army welcome Davao City Mayor and Presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte upon his arrival to receive Army Private First Class Edgardo Hilaga of the 7th Infantry Battallion in an upland village in Tulunan, North Cotabato on April 26, 2016. Hilaga was freed by the NPA after five days in captivity. This was the last time Duterte received a captive from the NPA. MindaNews file photo by TOTO LOZANO
The President reiterated his call to NPA members to surrender their arms to government not only for themselves but also their own children, claiming nothing will come out of their underground movement.
“Have pity on them. They won’t be able to move past just tilling land. But don’t worry,” he said.
Duterte said his government panel will no longer pursue the peace talks with the communist group but they can always approach local government units to seek help.
The Palace announced in July 2018 that LGUs can pursue localized peace talks with the NPA units operating within their respective communities in lieu of the peace talks between GRP and National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
The supposed June 28, 2018 resumption of the peace talks in Oslo, Norway was postponed to allow government to consult the “bigger table” and review the previously signed agreements.
But the President directed his government panel that the talks will proceed if the communist guerrillas will agree to stop the collection of the so-called revolutionary tax; the venue of the GRP-NDFP talks should be in the country; both parties should agree on a ceasefire agreement; and NPA members, the armed wing, are encamped in designated areas.
But NDFP in Southern Mindanao Region rejected the localized peace talks because it is better to support the peace negotiations of the government with the communists.
“The idea of peace negotiations that are ‘nationally orchestrated, centrally directed and locally supervised and implemented’ is but a smokescreen to obscure the fact that Duterte has never been serious in addressing the root causes of the Filipino people’s armed resistance and is only predisposed in the complete capitulation of the revolutionary movement,” NDFP-SMR spokesperson Rubi del Mundo said in a statement last July.
Duterte acknowledged the support of the NPAs that helped him win the 2016 presidential elections. He asked them to help him find “a way for all of us to live,” not necessarily to become rich.
Duterte promised a house and job each for NPA guerrillas who surrender. He said he will have them undergo training at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to learn new skills.
Duterte vowed to give away all government-owned lands to the people, including members of the NPA as he did in Boracay that was closed to tourists for a six-month rehabilitation.
“I ordered the Secretary of Agrarian Reform to distribute government-owned lands to the people and even the NPAs… What I did so that the poor people will not be shortchanged is declare land reform over a portion of Boracay. It will be given to the natives,” he said.
The President, who served as mayor of Davao City for 22 years, said the city prospered owing to a peaceful environment.
He emphasized that a city will never prosper with chaos.
“You know, if a certain place is chaotic like what happened before, there were killings here and there…. we will never prosper,” he said.
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2018/10/duterte-to-npa-life-is-not-a-revolution/
President Rodrigo Duterte is frustrated by the entry of foreign corporations that lord it over the lands of the country but he told the New People’s Army (NPA) that they cannot always resort to killing to change things because “life is not a revolution.”
“Philippines is agriculture-based. We will really till the land even if we have to ask for help. I know that some lands are now owned by what we call foreign corporations and that hurts. I felt hurt by it too,” Duterte said in his speech at the inauguration of the Gaisano Grand Citygate Mall in Davao City on Friday.
In Cebuano, he said the NPAs must not force evolution through killing because life will “evolve by itself like a flower that will bloom on its own.”
PEACE. Members of the New People’s Army welcome Davao City Mayor and Presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte upon his arrival to receive Army Private First Class Edgardo Hilaga of the 7th Infantry Battallion in an upland village in Tulunan, North Cotabato on April 26, 2016. Hilaga was freed by the NPA after five days in captivity. This was the last time Duterte received a captive from the NPA. MindaNews file photo by TOTO LOZANO
The President reiterated his call to NPA members to surrender their arms to government not only for themselves but also their own children, claiming nothing will come out of their underground movement.
“Have pity on them. They won’t be able to move past just tilling land. But don’t worry,” he said.
Duterte said his government panel will no longer pursue the peace talks with the communist group but they can always approach local government units to seek help.
The Palace announced in July 2018 that LGUs can pursue localized peace talks with the NPA units operating within their respective communities in lieu of the peace talks between GRP and National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
The supposed June 28, 2018 resumption of the peace talks in Oslo, Norway was postponed to allow government to consult the “bigger table” and review the previously signed agreements.
But the President directed his government panel that the talks will proceed if the communist guerrillas will agree to stop the collection of the so-called revolutionary tax; the venue of the GRP-NDFP talks should be in the country; both parties should agree on a ceasefire agreement; and NPA members, the armed wing, are encamped in designated areas.
But NDFP in Southern Mindanao Region rejected the localized peace talks because it is better to support the peace negotiations of the government with the communists.
“The idea of peace negotiations that are ‘nationally orchestrated, centrally directed and locally supervised and implemented’ is but a smokescreen to obscure the fact that Duterte has never been serious in addressing the root causes of the Filipino people’s armed resistance and is only predisposed in the complete capitulation of the revolutionary movement,” NDFP-SMR spokesperson Rubi del Mundo said in a statement last July.
Duterte acknowledged the support of the NPAs that helped him win the 2016 presidential elections. He asked them to help him find “a way for all of us to live,” not necessarily to become rich.
Duterte promised a house and job each for NPA guerrillas who surrender. He said he will have them undergo training at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to learn new skills.
Duterte vowed to give away all government-owned lands to the people, including members of the NPA as he did in Boracay that was closed to tourists for a six-month rehabilitation.
“I ordered the Secretary of Agrarian Reform to distribute government-owned lands to the people and even the NPAs… What I did so that the poor people will not be shortchanged is declare land reform over a portion of Boracay. It will be given to the natives,” he said.
The President, who served as mayor of Davao City for 22 years, said the city prospered owing to a peaceful environment.
He emphasized that a city will never prosper with chaos.
“You know, if a certain place is chaotic like what happened before, there were killings here and there…. we will never prosper,” he said.
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2018/10/duterte-to-npa-life-is-not-a-revolution/
3 Sayyafs captured in Southern Philippines
From the Mindanao Examiner (Oct 19): 3 Sayyafs captured in Southern Philippines
Philippine Scout Rangers have captured 3 Abu Sayyaf militants after a gun battle in the southern town of Patikul, officials said Friday.
Officials said the militants Gafur Absari, Medzfar Mangabong and Madjid Mangabong were captured in Maligay village on Thursday. The militants were handed over to the 501st Infantry Brigade where they would be interrogated and then turned over to the local police force.
Regional military commander, Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega praised the soldiers for the capture of the trio.
The capture of the pro-ISIS militants came a day after Abu Sayyaf released a kidnapped government militia, Rufo Roda, 62, in Jolo town near Patikul, in exchange for ransom from private negotiators. But his 64-year old wife, Helen, who was also seized along with the militia remains in captivity after the Abu Sayyaf demanded more money for her freedom.
The couple was seized by armed men on August 31 in Zamboanga del Norte’s Sirawai town. The gunmen also killed 6 people and wounded a minor.
https://mindanaoexaminer.com/3-sayyafs-captured-in-southern-philippines/
Philippine Scout Rangers have captured 3 Abu Sayyaf militants after a gun battle in the southern town of Patikul, officials said Friday.
Officials said the militants Gafur Absari, Medzfar Mangabong and Madjid Mangabong were captured in Maligay village on Thursday. The militants were handed over to the 501st Infantry Brigade where they would be interrogated and then turned over to the local police force.
Regional military commander, Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega praised the soldiers for the capture of the trio.
The capture of the pro-ISIS militants came a day after Abu Sayyaf released a kidnapped government militia, Rufo Roda, 62, in Jolo town near Patikul, in exchange for ransom from private negotiators. But his 64-year old wife, Helen, who was also seized along with the militia remains in captivity after the Abu Sayyaf demanded more money for her freedom.
The couple was seized by armed men on August 31 in Zamboanga del Norte’s Sirawai town. The gunmen also killed 6 people and wounded a minor.
https://mindanaoexaminer.com/3-sayyafs-captured-in-southern-philippines/
Albayalde visits CamSur ambush victims
From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 20): Albayalde visits CamSur ambush victims
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde has called for a command conference at the Camarines Sur Provincial Police Office to discuss the investigation on Thursday’s ambush in Barangay Napolidan, Lupi town that killed three police officers and injured four others.
In a closed-door conference on Friday, Albayalde directed each of the chiefs of police in the towns along the route taken by the police convoy to narrate the sequence of events. He, however, was unable to expound on the discussions as he was in a hurry to visit the policemen who were hospitalized.
The ambush took place when policemen escorting Food and Drug Administration Director General Nela Charade Puno to Daet, Camarines Norte encountered about 20 armed men suspected to be communist rebels in Napolidan, Lupi. Puno was unhurt in the incident.
Also in attendance at the conference were Police Regional Office 5 (Bicol) Director, Chief Supt. Arnel Escobal, and Camarines Sur police officer-in-charge, PSSupt. Reynaldo Pawid.
After their four-hour meeting, Albayalde proceeded to the multi-purpose hall at the Camarines Sur police grounds to pay his last respects to the fallen policemen and to posthumously confer on them the “Medalya ng Kadakilaan”.
The three officers were SPO1 Percival S. Rafael, PO3 Carlito S. Navarroza, and PO1 Ralph Jason D. Vida.
“Their courage and supreme sacrifice are clear manifestations of the highest form of service and deep devotion to their sworn duties as police officers worthy of praise and pride by the Philippine National Police,” the commendation read.
Albayalde also had a brief meeting with the immediate members of the families of the victims and assured them of full support coming from their organization.
Meanwhile, the victims’ families appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to help them find justice.
Albayalde later headed for the Mother Seton Hospital in this city to visit the other injured victims.
As of press time, it could not be ascertained who was the principal target of the ambush.
Policemen are still pursuing the perpetrators.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051628
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde has called for a command conference at the Camarines Sur Provincial Police Office to discuss the investigation on Thursday’s ambush in Barangay Napolidan, Lupi town that killed three police officers and injured four others.
In a closed-door conference on Friday, Albayalde directed each of the chiefs of police in the towns along the route taken by the police convoy to narrate the sequence of events. He, however, was unable to expound on the discussions as he was in a hurry to visit the policemen who were hospitalized.
The ambush took place when policemen escorting Food and Drug Administration Director General Nela Charade Puno to Daet, Camarines Norte encountered about 20 armed men suspected to be communist rebels in Napolidan, Lupi. Puno was unhurt in the incident.
Also in attendance at the conference were Police Regional Office 5 (Bicol) Director, Chief Supt. Arnel Escobal, and Camarines Sur police officer-in-charge, PSSupt. Reynaldo Pawid.
After their four-hour meeting, Albayalde proceeded to the multi-purpose hall at the Camarines Sur police grounds to pay his last respects to the fallen policemen and to posthumously confer on them the “Medalya ng Kadakilaan”.
The three officers were SPO1 Percival S. Rafael, PO3 Carlito S. Navarroza, and PO1 Ralph Jason D. Vida.
“Their courage and supreme sacrifice are clear manifestations of the highest form of service and deep devotion to their sworn duties as police officers worthy of praise and pride by the Philippine National Police,” the commendation read.
Albayalde also had a brief meeting with the immediate members of the families of the victims and assured them of full support coming from their organization.
Meanwhile, the victims’ families appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to help them find justice.
Albayalde later headed for the Mother Seton Hospital in this city to visit the other injured victims.
As of press time, it could not be ascertained who was the principal target of the ambush.
Policemen are still pursuing the perpetrators.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051628
3 more Maute group remnants surrender in Lanao
From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 20): 3 more Maute group remnants surrender in Lanao
Three more members of the Islamic State-inspired Maute group have surrendered in Lanao del Sur, the military reported Saturday.
Major Gen. Roseller Murillo, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said the three surrendered to troops of the 49th Infantry Battalion in Masiu, Lanao del Sur last Thursday.
Murillo said they turned over one rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a caliber .45 pistol and several rounds of ammunition.
He said the three, whose identities were withheld, were placed under debriefing.
Murillo said they surrendered to Lt. Col Edgar Villanueva, commander of the Army’s 49th Infantry Battalion, through the efforts of Councilor Hamil Gubar, Liga ng mga
Barangay president of Masiu, and Maliksaif Masjida, Afgani Deputy Base commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“They were recruited during the Marawi siege. However, they were not able to insert in the main battle area due to the relentless security efforts and checkpoints around the (Lanao) lake,” Villanueva said.
“One of them was involved in (the) Pagayawan clash last June,” he added.
Murillo commended the troops, local officials and the peace-inclined MILF member that facilitated the surrender of the three Maute remnants.
“We will continuously collaborate with different stakeholders and concerned citizens to encourage other Maute ISIS remnants to surrender and go back to mainstream society,” he added.
The surrender of the three brings to 13 the total number of Maute members who have yielded to the Joint Task Force Ranao this month.
Seven surrendered to the 55th Infantry Battalion in Pagayawan on Oct. 9; a sniper turned himself in to the 49th Infantry Battalion in Butig on Oct. 10; and two others yielded to the 55th Infantry Battalion in Lumbaca-Unayan, Lanao del Sur on October 16.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051636
Three more members of the Islamic State-inspired Maute group have surrendered in Lanao del Sur, the military reported Saturday.
Major Gen. Roseller Murillo, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said the three surrendered to troops of the 49th Infantry Battalion in Masiu, Lanao del Sur last Thursday.
Murillo said they turned over one rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a caliber .45 pistol and several rounds of ammunition.
He said the three, whose identities were withheld, were placed under debriefing.
Murillo said they surrendered to Lt. Col Edgar Villanueva, commander of the Army’s 49th Infantry Battalion, through the efforts of Councilor Hamil Gubar, Liga ng mga
Barangay president of Masiu, and Maliksaif Masjida, Afgani Deputy Base commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“They were recruited during the Marawi siege. However, they were not able to insert in the main battle area due to the relentless security efforts and checkpoints around the (Lanao) lake,” Villanueva said.
“One of them was involved in (the) Pagayawan clash last June,” he added.
Murillo commended the troops, local officials and the peace-inclined MILF member that facilitated the surrender of the three Maute remnants.
“We will continuously collaborate with different stakeholders and concerned citizens to encourage other Maute ISIS remnants to surrender and go back to mainstream society,” he added.
The surrender of the three brings to 13 the total number of Maute members who have yielded to the Joint Task Force Ranao this month.
Seven surrendered to the 55th Infantry Battalion in Pagayawan on Oct. 9; a sniper turned himself in to the 49th Infantry Battalion in Butig on Oct. 10; and two others yielded to the 55th Infantry Battalion in Lumbaca-Unayan, Lanao del Sur on October 16.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051636
Troops capture 3 Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu
From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 20): Troops capture 3 Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu
Government troops have captured three Abu Sayyaf Group bandits following an encounter Thursday in Sulu. In photo are the captured bandits identified as Gafur Absari, Madjid Mangkabong, and Midzfar Mangkabong. (Photo Courtesy: Western Mindanao Command PIO)
Government troops have captured three Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits as military operations continue in the hinterlands of Sulu province, an official said Saturday.
Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, said the three were captured following a clash with the Army’s 5th Scout Ranger Battalion in Barangay Maligay, Patikul, Sulu at about 9:40 a.m. Thursday.
Dela Vega identified the captured ASG bandits as Gafur Albani Absari, Medzfar Mangkabong, and Madjid Mangkabong.
The three were turned over to the Army’s 501st Infantry Brigade for proper disposition and filing of charges in coordination with the Sulu Provincial Police Office.
“My congratulations to the troops of the Joint Task Force Sulu, headed by Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo for the aggressive measures taken in order to ensure that criminals will never be free to roam in the province (of Sulu),” he said.
The military's operations in Sulu's hinterlands aim to rescue the 10 remaining ASG hostages, consisting of two foreigners -- a Dutch and a Vietnamese -- and eight Filipinos.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051640
Government troops have captured three Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits as military operations continue in the hinterlands of Sulu province, an official said Saturday.
Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, said the three were captured following a clash with the Army’s 5th Scout Ranger Battalion in Barangay Maligay, Patikul, Sulu at about 9:40 a.m. Thursday.
Dela Vega identified the captured ASG bandits as Gafur Albani Absari, Medzfar Mangkabong, and Madjid Mangkabong.
The three were turned over to the Army’s 501st Infantry Brigade for proper disposition and filing of charges in coordination with the Sulu Provincial Police Office.
“My congratulations to the troops of the Joint Task Force Sulu, headed by Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo for the aggressive measures taken in order to ensure that criminals will never be free to roam in the province (of Sulu),” he said.
The military's operations in Sulu's hinterlands aim to rescue the 10 remaining ASG hostages, consisting of two foreigners -- a Dutch and a Vietnamese -- and eight Filipinos.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1051640
NDF/NDF-SMR: Condemn the fascist US-Duterte regime & greedy SUMIFRU!
NDF-Southern Mindanao Region propaganda statement posted to the National Democratic Front (NDF) Website (Oct 19): Condemn the fascist US-Duterte regime & greedy SUMIFRU!
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Southern Mindanao Region
PRESS STATEMENT
October 17, 2018
The National Democratic Front in Southern Mindanao vehemently condemned the US-Duterte regime for actively conniving and abetting the rapacious stance of the Japanese banana firm Sumitomo Fruits Corp. (SUMIFRU) that brutally dispersed the strike camps of 789 workers of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Sayupa Farms (NAMASUFA) on October 11, 2018 in Compostela town, Compostela Valley.
For eight hours, at least 300 company-hired individuals, goons and scabs attacked the makeshift barricade mounted by the workers in SUMIFRU Packing Plant (PP) 370 in Brgy. Pilar Babag, PP 98 and PP340 in Brgy. Osmena, PP 92 in Brgy. Alegria, PP 90 in Brgy. Gabi, PP 99 in Brgy. San Miguel and PP115 in Brgy. Maparat. In plain view of the PNP and the AFP forces, the rabid SUMIFRU goons destroyed the bamboo makeshifts and used the broken pieces to batter the hapless workers. They also burned the structures and demolished the makeshift kitchen, razing precious food stuff and cooked meals and looting the food supply. On the spot, 17 workers were injured including a seven-month pregnant worker. As the goons were on a rampage, members of the 66th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army searched and ransacked the workers’ houses, while the police arrested and detained the workers.
Photo: KilabMultimedia
The US-Duterte regime-backed attack against the NAMASUFA workers aimed to end the latter’s strike which effectively paralyzed SUMIFRU operations for 11 days. SUMIFRU produces 19,000 boxes of Cavendish bananas per day from its nine packing plants out of the 2,200 hectares of farm lands in Compostela alone.
The workers were legitimately struggling for their economic and democratic rights as long-standing regular workers of SUMIFRU. Aided by a Supreme Court ruling issued last year and previous DOLE decision which affirmed their status as union members and regular employees of SUMIFRU, NAMASUFA members were merely exercising their legal and democratic rights when they militantly launched a strike on October 1.
On October 2, the AFP and PNP escorted scabs and goons to disperse striking workers of Packing Plant 115; two days later, company goons mauled 7 workers. On October 5, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction order, directing the workers to stop the strike, while on October 6, the Regional Trial Court 56 issued a Temporary Restraining Order. However, the workers earned a temporary reprieve on October 10 when the the same local court denied SUMIFRU’s petition to extend the TRO and a preliminary injunction.
The NDF-Southern Mindanao regime holds Silvestre Bello, III, GRP’s labor secretary, the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command and the PNP, Compostela Mayor Lerma Bollo and GRP Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for systematically assaulting SUMIFRU workers in the name of defending foreign imperialist capital’s neoliberal interests.
Once more, Duterte has displayed his limitless fascism by deputizing his reactionary armed forces to savagely quell legal redress of grievance of the exploited toiling class. In vain attempt to maintain his tenuous hold to power in his decaying regime, Duterte has shown his merciless mettle to refuse the right to tenure, economic welfare and political rights of the exploited workers. Since the October 11 dispersal, SUMIFRU continued its Compostela plant operations by employing hundreds of scabs. At the same time, agents and operatives of the 66th IB conducted house to house campaign to harass the striking workers, offering P2,000 per worker to force them to resign from the company. The 66th IB is already responsible for the spate of extra-judicial killings of workers, farmers and activists in Compostela, Maragusan, Montevista and Monkayo towns in Compostela Valley province.
NDF-Southern Mindanao commends the brave alliance mounted by the banana plantation workers, peasants and their supporters in order to defend their livelihood. NAMASUFA continues to stand ground and assert the legitimacy of their strike and struggle against SUMIFRU’s unfair labor practice and the brutal dispersal.
Since forming their union in March 2008, NAMASUFA had consistently shown the power of collective action in countering the worsening exploitation of SUMIFRU against them. They have won battles in the class war against capitalist greed and continue to regard their militant union as a weapon to thwart the capitalist machinations. Last year, the workers successfully put an end to the company’s implementation of the exploitative “pakyawan system” by mounting a 13-hour strike that slowed down SUMIFRU’s production.
Decades of unabated greed buoyed up by the reactionary state’s fascist support and neoliberal policies allowed SUMIFRU to amass massive profit at the expense of workers’ rights. SUMIFRU aggressively expanded its operation over the years, exploiting at least 12,000 hectares of lands in Mindanao and contributing to galvanize the country’s backward export-oriented, imported-dependent economy. The Japanese firm continues to peg wages at measly rates, maintains workers as contractuals and refuses to recognize their unions.
The NDF in Southern Mindanao calls on the public to support the striking workers’ struggle in Compostela Valley. The recent attack against the workers’ lives and livelihood adds up to the mounting crimes of the US-Duterte regime against the Filipino people. Duterte’s time in the presidency is fast coming to a head and, like the dictator Marcos before him, the toiling masses will ensure that he will be made to answer for the atrocities he has committed.
RUBI DEL MUNDO
Spokesperson
NDF-Southern Mindanao Region
https://www.ndfp.org/condemn-the-fascist-us-duterte-regime-greedy-sumifru/
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Southern Mindanao Region
PRESS STATEMENT
October 17, 2018
The National Democratic Front in Southern Mindanao vehemently condemned the US-Duterte regime for actively conniving and abetting the rapacious stance of the Japanese banana firm Sumitomo Fruits Corp. (SUMIFRU) that brutally dispersed the strike camps of 789 workers of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Sayupa Farms (NAMASUFA) on October 11, 2018 in Compostela town, Compostela Valley.
For eight hours, at least 300 company-hired individuals, goons and scabs attacked the makeshift barricade mounted by the workers in SUMIFRU Packing Plant (PP) 370 in Brgy. Pilar Babag, PP 98 and PP340 in Brgy. Osmena, PP 92 in Brgy. Alegria, PP 90 in Brgy. Gabi, PP 99 in Brgy. San Miguel and PP115 in Brgy. Maparat. In plain view of the PNP and the AFP forces, the rabid SUMIFRU goons destroyed the bamboo makeshifts and used the broken pieces to batter the hapless workers. They also burned the structures and demolished the makeshift kitchen, razing precious food stuff and cooked meals and looting the food supply. On the spot, 17 workers were injured including a seven-month pregnant worker. As the goons were on a rampage, members of the 66th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army searched and ransacked the workers’ houses, while the police arrested and detained the workers.
Photo: KilabMultimedia
The US-Duterte regime-backed attack against the NAMASUFA workers aimed to end the latter’s strike which effectively paralyzed SUMIFRU operations for 11 days. SUMIFRU produces 19,000 boxes of Cavendish bananas per day from its nine packing plants out of the 2,200 hectares of farm lands in Compostela alone.
The workers were legitimately struggling for their economic and democratic rights as long-standing regular workers of SUMIFRU. Aided by a Supreme Court ruling issued last year and previous DOLE decision which affirmed their status as union members and regular employees of SUMIFRU, NAMASUFA members were merely exercising their legal and democratic rights when they militantly launched a strike on October 1.
On October 2, the AFP and PNP escorted scabs and goons to disperse striking workers of Packing Plant 115; two days later, company goons mauled 7 workers. On October 5, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction order, directing the workers to stop the strike, while on October 6, the Regional Trial Court 56 issued a Temporary Restraining Order. However, the workers earned a temporary reprieve on October 10 when the the same local court denied SUMIFRU’s petition to extend the TRO and a preliminary injunction.
The NDF-Southern Mindanao regime holds Silvestre Bello, III, GRP’s labor secretary, the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command and the PNP, Compostela Mayor Lerma Bollo and GRP Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for systematically assaulting SUMIFRU workers in the name of defending foreign imperialist capital’s neoliberal interests.
Once more, Duterte has displayed his limitless fascism by deputizing his reactionary armed forces to savagely quell legal redress of grievance of the exploited toiling class. In vain attempt to maintain his tenuous hold to power in his decaying regime, Duterte has shown his merciless mettle to refuse the right to tenure, economic welfare and political rights of the exploited workers. Since the October 11 dispersal, SUMIFRU continued its Compostela plant operations by employing hundreds of scabs. At the same time, agents and operatives of the 66th IB conducted house to house campaign to harass the striking workers, offering P2,000 per worker to force them to resign from the company. The 66th IB is already responsible for the spate of extra-judicial killings of workers, farmers and activists in Compostela, Maragusan, Montevista and Monkayo towns in Compostela Valley province.
NDF-Southern Mindanao commends the brave alliance mounted by the banana plantation workers, peasants and their supporters in order to defend their livelihood. NAMASUFA continues to stand ground and assert the legitimacy of their strike and struggle against SUMIFRU’s unfair labor practice and the brutal dispersal.
Since forming their union in March 2008, NAMASUFA had consistently shown the power of collective action in countering the worsening exploitation of SUMIFRU against them. They have won battles in the class war against capitalist greed and continue to regard their militant union as a weapon to thwart the capitalist machinations. Last year, the workers successfully put an end to the company’s implementation of the exploitative “pakyawan system” by mounting a 13-hour strike that slowed down SUMIFRU’s production.
Decades of unabated greed buoyed up by the reactionary state’s fascist support and neoliberal policies allowed SUMIFRU to amass massive profit at the expense of workers’ rights. SUMIFRU aggressively expanded its operation over the years, exploiting at least 12,000 hectares of lands in Mindanao and contributing to galvanize the country’s backward export-oriented, imported-dependent economy. The Japanese firm continues to peg wages at measly rates, maintains workers as contractuals and refuses to recognize their unions.
The NDF in Southern Mindanao calls on the public to support the striking workers’ struggle in Compostela Valley. The recent attack against the workers’ lives and livelihood adds up to the mounting crimes of the US-Duterte regime against the Filipino people. Duterte’s time in the presidency is fast coming to a head and, like the dictator Marcos before him, the toiling masses will ensure that he will be made to answer for the atrocities he has committed.
RUBI DEL MUNDO
Spokesperson
NDF-Southern Mindanao Region
https://www.ndfp.org/condemn-the-fascist-us-duterte-regime-greedy-sumifru/
NDF/Sison: Response to Duterte Statement
Jose Maria Sison propaganda statement posted to the National Democratic Front (NDF) Website (Oct 20): Response to Duterte Statement
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
October 20, 2018
Duterte is either trying to sound less hostile to the revolutionary movement or he is still hostile by trying to bribe the NPA fighters to surrender. He is correct though in saying that the NPA will continue to exist even after he and I are gone from the surface of the earth, if by implication he means that the root causes of the armed conflict must be addressed and solved by social, economic and political reforms.
It is up to him to end his position of having terminated the peace negotiations with Proclamation 360. The standing policy of the NDFP is to negotiate with the GRP anytime he is ready to resume the peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements.
https://www.ndfp.org/response-to-duterte-statement/
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
October 20, 2018
Duterte is either trying to sound less hostile to the revolutionary movement or he is still hostile by trying to bribe the NPA fighters to surrender. He is correct though in saying that the NPA will continue to exist even after he and I are gone from the surface of the earth, if by implication he means that the root causes of the armed conflict must be addressed and solved by social, economic and political reforms.
It is up to him to end his position of having terminated the peace negotiations with Proclamation 360. The standing policy of the NDFP is to negotiate with the GRP anytime he is ready to resume the peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements.
https://www.ndfp.org/response-to-duterte-statement/
CPP/NPA-Western Camarines Sur: Ambus ng BHB sa PPSC Camarines Sur, Matagumpay!
NPA-Western Camarines Sur propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Oct 19): Ambus ng BHB sa PPSC Camarines Sur, Matagumpay!
Ka Michael Robredo
Tagapagsalita
Norben Gruta Command
Bagong Hukbong Bayan – West Camarines Sur
October 19, 2018
Matagumpay ang isinagawang ambus ng BHB-West Camarines Sur sa ilalim ng Norben Gruta Command (NGC) sa 1st Camarines Sur Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) sa kahabaan ng Maharlika, Highway Napolidan, Lupi Camarines Sur , bandang 8: 55 ng umaga , Oktubre 18, 2018.
Ang nasabing kapulisan ay nagsasagawa ng security convoy sa BFDA Director General Mila Puno nang ito ay tambangan ng mga pulang mandirigma. Tatlo ang napatay at 4 ang sugatan sa tropa ng Camarines Sur PPSC . Ang mga namatay ay sina SPO1 Fercival S. Rafael Jr., PO3 Carlito Navarroza, at PO1 Ralph Vida. Kabilang naman sa mga nasugatan ay sina P01 Jonathan Perillo, PO1 Rudy Buena, Rodolfo Gonzaga at PO1 Alto . Nasamsam ng BHB ang 1 M14 rifle , ammopouts na may 5 magazine at 2 magazine ng cal.45. Bago ito inisparo at napatay din si Teodoro Adaptante ng Brgy Sooc , elemento ng CAFGU na nakadestino sa Alanao, Lupi Camarines Sur, bandang alas – 6:30 ng hapon nitong Oktubre 17.
Ang PPSC at iba pang mersenaryong armadong pwersa ng reaksyunaryong gubyerno ay sangkot sa di mabilang na mga krimen ng paglabag sa mga karapatang pantao. Liban sa walang habas na pagpatay sa mga sibilyan na sangkot di-umano sa ilegal na droga ay higit pa ang duguang kamay nito sa pagpaslang sa mga rebolusyonaryong aktibista. Tampok dito ay sina Andres “Ka Magno” Hubilla at Alfredo “Ka Bendoy ” Merilos at marami pang iba na pinaslang ng walang kalaban- laban.
Ang serye ng matatagumpay na taktikal na opensiba ng BHB ay nagpakita ng kakayahan ng Bagong Hukbong bayan na papanagutin at singilin ang Rehimeng US-Duterte sa walang kaparis na krimen nito sa mamamayan. Ang rehimeng ipinagyayabang ang kanyang mga kaso ng “Extra Judicial Killings” at iba pang pagpapahirap sa sambayanan. Ang pagtalikod ng Rehimeng US-Duterte sa Usapang Pangkapayaan sa NDFP para sa Komprehensibong Kasunduan sa Pang-ekonomya at Panlipunang mga Reporma, at sa halip ay iwasiwas ang ibayong panunupil at karahasan sa mamamayan, ay pagbabayaran nito ng mahal. Muling ipinaalala nito na hindi maibabalewalang pwersa ang BHB taliwas sa ipinangangalandakan ng pamunuan ng mersenaryong reaksyunaryong pwersa ng AFP sa Bikol na wala ng lakas ang NPA , at “conflict manageable” na ang mga probinsya ng Bikol.
Ang pagmamaliit sa kakayahan ng rebolusyonaryong pwersa na ipagtanggol ang inaaping mamamayan ay sasagutin ng higit na papadalas at papalakas na mga taktikal na opensiba ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan . Ang katatapos na opensiba ng BHB, ay nagbibigay ng ibayong katiyakan sa mamamayan na kaya nitong labanan ang alinmang rehimeng walang pakundangan sa pagyurak sa buhay at karapatan ng mamamayan. Nanawagan ang NGC sa mamamayan na pag-ibayuhin ang ating suporta sa ating hukbong bayan at tahakin ang landas ng armadong rebolusyon dahil wala ng ibang paraan para labanan ang diktador, pasista at mapang-aping Rehimeng US-Duterte.
Mabuhay ang sambayanang lumalaban!
Mabuhay ang rebolusyong Pilipino!
Ipagdiwang ang nalalapit na Ika-50 anibersaryo ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas!
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/2018/10/19/ambus-ng-bhb-sa-ppsc-camarines-sur-matagumpay/
Ka Michael Robredo
Tagapagsalita
Norben Gruta Command
Bagong Hukbong Bayan – West Camarines Sur
October 19, 2018
Matagumpay ang isinagawang ambus ng BHB-West Camarines Sur sa ilalim ng Norben Gruta Command (NGC) sa 1st Camarines Sur Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) sa kahabaan ng Maharlika, Highway Napolidan, Lupi Camarines Sur , bandang 8: 55 ng umaga , Oktubre 18, 2018.
Ang nasabing kapulisan ay nagsasagawa ng security convoy sa BFDA Director General Mila Puno nang ito ay tambangan ng mga pulang mandirigma. Tatlo ang napatay at 4 ang sugatan sa tropa ng Camarines Sur PPSC . Ang mga namatay ay sina SPO1 Fercival S. Rafael Jr., PO3 Carlito Navarroza, at PO1 Ralph Vida. Kabilang naman sa mga nasugatan ay sina P01 Jonathan Perillo, PO1 Rudy Buena, Rodolfo Gonzaga at PO1 Alto . Nasamsam ng BHB ang 1 M14 rifle , ammopouts na may 5 magazine at 2 magazine ng cal.45. Bago ito inisparo at napatay din si Teodoro Adaptante ng Brgy Sooc , elemento ng CAFGU na nakadestino sa Alanao, Lupi Camarines Sur, bandang alas – 6:30 ng hapon nitong Oktubre 17.
Ang PPSC at iba pang mersenaryong armadong pwersa ng reaksyunaryong gubyerno ay sangkot sa di mabilang na mga krimen ng paglabag sa mga karapatang pantao. Liban sa walang habas na pagpatay sa mga sibilyan na sangkot di-umano sa ilegal na droga ay higit pa ang duguang kamay nito sa pagpaslang sa mga rebolusyonaryong aktibista. Tampok dito ay sina Andres “Ka Magno” Hubilla at Alfredo “Ka Bendoy ” Merilos at marami pang iba na pinaslang ng walang kalaban- laban.
Ang serye ng matatagumpay na taktikal na opensiba ng BHB ay nagpakita ng kakayahan ng Bagong Hukbong bayan na papanagutin at singilin ang Rehimeng US-Duterte sa walang kaparis na krimen nito sa mamamayan. Ang rehimeng ipinagyayabang ang kanyang mga kaso ng “Extra Judicial Killings” at iba pang pagpapahirap sa sambayanan. Ang pagtalikod ng Rehimeng US-Duterte sa Usapang Pangkapayaan sa NDFP para sa Komprehensibong Kasunduan sa Pang-ekonomya at Panlipunang mga Reporma, at sa halip ay iwasiwas ang ibayong panunupil at karahasan sa mamamayan, ay pagbabayaran nito ng mahal. Muling ipinaalala nito na hindi maibabalewalang pwersa ang BHB taliwas sa ipinangangalandakan ng pamunuan ng mersenaryong reaksyunaryong pwersa ng AFP sa Bikol na wala ng lakas ang NPA , at “conflict manageable” na ang mga probinsya ng Bikol.
Ang pagmamaliit sa kakayahan ng rebolusyonaryong pwersa na ipagtanggol ang inaaping mamamayan ay sasagutin ng higit na papadalas at papalakas na mga taktikal na opensiba ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan . Ang katatapos na opensiba ng BHB, ay nagbibigay ng ibayong katiyakan sa mamamayan na kaya nitong labanan ang alinmang rehimeng walang pakundangan sa pagyurak sa buhay at karapatan ng mamamayan. Nanawagan ang NGC sa mamamayan na pag-ibayuhin ang ating suporta sa ating hukbong bayan at tahakin ang landas ng armadong rebolusyon dahil wala ng ibang paraan para labanan ang diktador, pasista at mapang-aping Rehimeng US-Duterte.
Mabuhay ang sambayanang lumalaban!
Mabuhay ang rebolusyong Pilipino!
Ipagdiwang ang nalalapit na Ika-50 anibersaryo ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas!
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/2018/10/19/ambus-ng-bhb-sa-ppsc-camarines-sur-matagumpay/
CPP/NDF-Bikol: Hinggil sa Matagumpay na Ambush sa Lupi
NDF-Bikol propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Oct 19): Hinggil sa Matagumpay na Ambush sa Lupi
Ka Ma. Roja Banua
Tagapagsalita, NDFP-Bikol
October 19, 2018
Matagumpay na nailunsad ng yunit ng Eduardo Olbarra Command-NPA Camarines Sur ang isang taktikal na opensiba laban sa mga elemento ng PNP Lupi at Provincial Police Mobile Company (PPMC) kahapon sa Brgy. Napolidan, Lupi, Camarines Sur. Tatlo ang nasawi habang tatlong pulis pa ang sugatan sa naturang insidente. Ang naganap na opensiba ay ambag ng EOC-NPA Camarines Sur sa mga aksyong militar na ilinulunsad ng iba pang mga yunit ng NPA sa bansa. Ito ang tugon ng CPP-NPA-NDFP sa tuluyang pagtalikod ng rehimeng US-Duterte sa usapang pangkapayapaan at sa pagwawasiwas nito ng todo-gerang kumitil na sa buhay ng ilang libong sibilyan sa buong kapuluan.
Matapos humingi ng ilang panahon upang pag-isipan umano ang nilalaman ng borador ng Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) na ihinanda ng GRP at NDFP panel, walang naging hakbang si Duterte kundi ang patraydor na pagpapatuloy at lubhang pagpapasahol ng pang-aatake laban sa masa at rebolusyonaryong kilusan. Sa halip na pagtuunan na ng pansin ang pagpapatuloy ng usapang pangkapayapaan, nagpakalat ang kampo nina Duterte ng disimpormasyon at naghasik ng matinding terorismo upang sindakin ang pagpaglaban ng mamamayang sinasalanta ng matinding kahirapan. Sadyang pinaputok sa balita ang hinggil sa pekeng Red October Ouster Plot na linuto ng rehimen upang ikundisyon ang isip ng mamamayan at bigyang matwid ang pinaplanong pagpapataw ng Batas Militar sa buong bansa.
Tama ang pahayag ng 9th IDPA na magkaugnay ang taktikal na opensiba sa Labo, Camarines Norte na hindi bababa sa sampu ang napatay at marami pang nasugatan na elemento ng 96th IB at ang ambush sa Camarines Sur. Bahagi ito ng koordinadong opensibang ilinulunsad ng pulang hukbo upang kundenahin ang walang patumanggang militarisasyon at pandarahas na nagaganap laluna sa mga Peace and Development Teams (PDT) areas sa Camarines Norte at unang distrito ng Camarines Sur. Ang naturang opensiba ay hakbang din laban sa Task Force Bikolandia na itinayo ng Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) na binubuo ng mga yunit ng AFP, PNP, Philippine Navy at iba pang kahalintulad na institusyon. Ito ay hakbang pamamarusa sa hanay ng kasundaluhan at kapulisang pangunahing tagapagtaguyod ng todo-gera ng rehimeng US-Duterte sa rehiyon. Mas malawakang operasyong militar sa rehiyon ang ilinulunsad ngayon ng Task Force Bicolandia bilang pagtugon sa patakarang pagpatay ni Duterte. Sa sunud-sunod na paglabas sa midya ng mga tagapagsalita ng AFP nitong nakaraan, hayagan nilang ipinahayag na papatayin ang lahat ng mga sumusuporta at susuporta sa rebolusyonaryong kilusan. Hindi rin nakaligtas sa panunugis at pananakot ng pasistang rehimen maging ang mga estudyante at ang kanilang mga eskwelahang pinapasukan. Hindi pa man direktang nagdedeklara si Duterte ng Batas Militar, ramdam na ng mamamayan ang walang kasingsahol na pagyurak sa kanilang mga karapatan at banta sa kanilang buhay.
Sa ilalim ng Oplan Kapayapaan, naitala sa Kabikulan ngayong taon ang humigit-kumulang 52 na kaso ng ekstrahudisyal na pagpaslang at ilang libong kaso ng paglabag sa karapatang tao. Kabilang dito ang mga kaso ng pambubugbog, pananakot at pambabanta, pamiminsala sa ari-arian at kabuhayan, iligal na pag-aresto’t panghahalughog, sapilitang pagbakwit, pamimilit sa mga sibilyang maging giya sa mga operasyong militar at pagpaparada sa masa bilang mga fake surrenderees. Talamak at nagpapatuloy din ang militarisasyon sa kanayunan at crackdown laban sa mga progresibo’t demokratikong pwersa sa kanayunan.
Taliwas sa nais palabasin ng kasundaluhan at kapulisan, masinsing pinipili ng pulang hukbo ang target nito. Lehitimo ang lahat ng tinatarget sa mga opensiba at hakbang pamamarusa. Partikular sa insidente, ang mga armadong elemento ng PPMC ang tinarget ng pagpapasabog ng command detonated explosives (CDX). Dahil kontrolado ang pagsabog at tukoy ang target, hindi isinabay sa mga tinarget ang sasakyang lulan si FDA Dir. Gen. Nela Charade Puno.
Nagpapasalamat ang Romulo Jallores Command-NPA Bikol sa hanay ng kapulisan kung saan nanggaling ang taktikal na impormasyong naging susi sa tagumpay ng mga naturang “tsambang” opensiba. Wasto si Gen. Albayalde sa pagsasabing naging kahinaan sa intelligence sa pagpaescort sa kanyang “VIP”. Gayundin, nananawagan ang RJC-NPA Bikol sa mga namumulat nang pulis na umalis na mula sa kanilang mga trabaho at pumanig sa mamamayan. Hanggat nasa serbisyo, patuloy silang magiging kasangkapan ng madugo at brutal na gera ng rehimeng US-Duterte laban sa mga kapwa nila magsasaka at masang anakpawis. Nananawagan ang RJC-Bikol sa mga kapamilya ng mga kasapi ng CAFGU, PNP at ilang sundalo na hikayatin ang kanilang mga kamag-anak na huminto na sa pagiging bayarang mamamatay-tao ng lasing sa karahasang rehimeng US-Duterte.
Sa huli, anumang oras ay handang ipagtanggol ng pulang hukbo ang masang kanilang pinagsisilbihan. Patuloy na aani ng matataginting na tagumpay ang rebolusyonaryong kilusan laban sa mapang-api at mapagsamantalang lipunang pinaghaharian ng iilang mga pasista at naghaharing-uri.
Narito ang ilan sa mga pinakabagong kaso ng AFP-PNP-CAFGU sa Kabikulan:
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/2018/10/19/hinggil-sa-matagumpay-na-ambush-sa-lupi/
Ka Ma. Roja Banua
Tagapagsalita, NDFP-Bikol
October 19, 2018
Matagumpay na nailunsad ng yunit ng Eduardo Olbarra Command-NPA Camarines Sur ang isang taktikal na opensiba laban sa mga elemento ng PNP Lupi at Provincial Police Mobile Company (PPMC) kahapon sa Brgy. Napolidan, Lupi, Camarines Sur. Tatlo ang nasawi habang tatlong pulis pa ang sugatan sa naturang insidente. Ang naganap na opensiba ay ambag ng EOC-NPA Camarines Sur sa mga aksyong militar na ilinulunsad ng iba pang mga yunit ng NPA sa bansa. Ito ang tugon ng CPP-NPA-NDFP sa tuluyang pagtalikod ng rehimeng US-Duterte sa usapang pangkapayapaan at sa pagwawasiwas nito ng todo-gerang kumitil na sa buhay ng ilang libong sibilyan sa buong kapuluan.
Matapos humingi ng ilang panahon upang pag-isipan umano ang nilalaman ng borador ng Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) na ihinanda ng GRP at NDFP panel, walang naging hakbang si Duterte kundi ang patraydor na pagpapatuloy at lubhang pagpapasahol ng pang-aatake laban sa masa at rebolusyonaryong kilusan. Sa halip na pagtuunan na ng pansin ang pagpapatuloy ng usapang pangkapayapaan, nagpakalat ang kampo nina Duterte ng disimpormasyon at naghasik ng matinding terorismo upang sindakin ang pagpaglaban ng mamamayang sinasalanta ng matinding kahirapan. Sadyang pinaputok sa balita ang hinggil sa pekeng Red October Ouster Plot na linuto ng rehimen upang ikundisyon ang isip ng mamamayan at bigyang matwid ang pinaplanong pagpapataw ng Batas Militar sa buong bansa.
Tama ang pahayag ng 9th IDPA na magkaugnay ang taktikal na opensiba sa Labo, Camarines Norte na hindi bababa sa sampu ang napatay at marami pang nasugatan na elemento ng 96th IB at ang ambush sa Camarines Sur. Bahagi ito ng koordinadong opensibang ilinulunsad ng pulang hukbo upang kundenahin ang walang patumanggang militarisasyon at pandarahas na nagaganap laluna sa mga Peace and Development Teams (PDT) areas sa Camarines Norte at unang distrito ng Camarines Sur. Ang naturang opensiba ay hakbang din laban sa Task Force Bikolandia na itinayo ng Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) na binubuo ng mga yunit ng AFP, PNP, Philippine Navy at iba pang kahalintulad na institusyon. Ito ay hakbang pamamarusa sa hanay ng kasundaluhan at kapulisang pangunahing tagapagtaguyod ng todo-gera ng rehimeng US-Duterte sa rehiyon. Mas malawakang operasyong militar sa rehiyon ang ilinulunsad ngayon ng Task Force Bicolandia bilang pagtugon sa patakarang pagpatay ni Duterte. Sa sunud-sunod na paglabas sa midya ng mga tagapagsalita ng AFP nitong nakaraan, hayagan nilang ipinahayag na papatayin ang lahat ng mga sumusuporta at susuporta sa rebolusyonaryong kilusan. Hindi rin nakaligtas sa panunugis at pananakot ng pasistang rehimen maging ang mga estudyante at ang kanilang mga eskwelahang pinapasukan. Hindi pa man direktang nagdedeklara si Duterte ng Batas Militar, ramdam na ng mamamayan ang walang kasingsahol na pagyurak sa kanilang mga karapatan at banta sa kanilang buhay.
Sa ilalim ng Oplan Kapayapaan, naitala sa Kabikulan ngayong taon ang humigit-kumulang 52 na kaso ng ekstrahudisyal na pagpaslang at ilang libong kaso ng paglabag sa karapatang tao. Kabilang dito ang mga kaso ng pambubugbog, pananakot at pambabanta, pamiminsala sa ari-arian at kabuhayan, iligal na pag-aresto’t panghahalughog, sapilitang pagbakwit, pamimilit sa mga sibilyang maging giya sa mga operasyong militar at pagpaparada sa masa bilang mga fake surrenderees. Talamak at nagpapatuloy din ang militarisasyon sa kanayunan at crackdown laban sa mga progresibo’t demokratikong pwersa sa kanayunan.
Taliwas sa nais palabasin ng kasundaluhan at kapulisan, masinsing pinipili ng pulang hukbo ang target nito. Lehitimo ang lahat ng tinatarget sa mga opensiba at hakbang pamamarusa. Partikular sa insidente, ang mga armadong elemento ng PPMC ang tinarget ng pagpapasabog ng command detonated explosives (CDX). Dahil kontrolado ang pagsabog at tukoy ang target, hindi isinabay sa mga tinarget ang sasakyang lulan si FDA Dir. Gen. Nela Charade Puno.
Nagpapasalamat ang Romulo Jallores Command-NPA Bikol sa hanay ng kapulisan kung saan nanggaling ang taktikal na impormasyong naging susi sa tagumpay ng mga naturang “tsambang” opensiba. Wasto si Gen. Albayalde sa pagsasabing naging kahinaan sa intelligence sa pagpaescort sa kanyang “VIP”. Gayundin, nananawagan ang RJC-NPA Bikol sa mga namumulat nang pulis na umalis na mula sa kanilang mga trabaho at pumanig sa mamamayan. Hanggat nasa serbisyo, patuloy silang magiging kasangkapan ng madugo at brutal na gera ng rehimeng US-Duterte laban sa mga kapwa nila magsasaka at masang anakpawis. Nananawagan ang RJC-Bikol sa mga kapamilya ng mga kasapi ng CAFGU, PNP at ilang sundalo na hikayatin ang kanilang mga kamag-anak na huminto na sa pagiging bayarang mamamatay-tao ng lasing sa karahasang rehimeng US-Duterte.
Sa huli, anumang oras ay handang ipagtanggol ng pulang hukbo ang masang kanilang pinagsisilbihan. Patuloy na aani ng matataginting na tagumpay ang rebolusyonaryong kilusan laban sa mapang-api at mapagsamantalang lipunang pinaghaharian ng iilang mga pasista at naghaharing-uri.
Narito ang ilan sa mga pinakabagong kaso ng AFP-PNP-CAFGU sa Kabikulan:
Camarines Sur
- Pagpatay ng mga elemento ng 83rd IBPA at 22nd IBPA sa mag-asawang magsasakang sina Herminio Aragdon, 69 taong gulang at si Soledad Aragdon, 60 taong gulang sa Baryo Malabog, bayan ng Caramoan.
- Panonortyur at paglibing nang buhay sa mga magsasakang sina Robero Naris,30 anyos, Ronel Naris, 28 anyos at Antonio Bonagua, 19 anyos ng tropa ng 9th IDPA sa Ragay.
- Pamamaril sa mag-amang sina Danilo Abunin, Sr. at Daniel Abunin, Jr. sa loob mismo ng kanilang tahanan sa Brgy. Veneracion, bayan ng Pamplona ng mga elemento ng MICO.
Masbate
- Pagmasaker kina Ariel Madrilejos, Ricky Alejo, John Paul Cristobal, Dijie at Jeo Cabarles, kalakha’y mga kabataang estudyante, sa Brgy. Nabongsoran, Aroroy, Masbate;
- Pagpaslang kina Nonong Capellan, Johnel Dejucos, Pablo Dilao, Dominggito Deila, Maria Des Dilao Deinla, Dingdong Escorel at Ruel Nunez sa magkakahiwalay na insidente;
Albay
- Magkakasunod na pagpaslang sa mga magsasakang sina Ismael Morco, Roberto Montecalbo at Samuel Blaza sa bayan ng Camalig.
Sorsogon
- Pagpatay sa kagawad ng Brgy. Lajong, Juban, Sorsogon na si Kgd. Emilio Guab.
Camarines Norte
- Pagpatay sa sibilyang si Allan Casulla, 51 taong gulang, matapos itong paghinalaang myembro ng NPA.
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