From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Apr 2): AFP, PNP senior officials spotted at LP meeting venue A group of active and retired senior officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were seen Saturday in Novotel Manila at the Araneta Center.
Some of them were spotted inside a meeting room with a personality identified with the camp of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas.
The Inquirer first saw retired Lieutenant Gen. Rey Ardo, former chief of the western Mindanao command (Westmincom) around 9 a.m., engaging in banter with some of the Mindanao-based journalists. Ardo was silent when asked if he was attending a meeting of the Joint Normalization Committee (JNC), a joint body of the Bangsamoro peace process for which he represents government.
Retired Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo was later seen coming out of the same room Ardo earlier entered.
Around noontime, Major Gen. Oscar Lactao, newly appointed Inspector General of the AFP, was seen chatting with two men at the lobby of the hotel.
Lactao is erstwhile commanding general of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro. The command covers northern Mindanao and the Caraga region.
The presence of Ardo first caught the attention of journalists who are participating in a two-day training of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) held at a room just across their meeting room.
Other journalists in the training also identified other PNP officers sighted in the hotel.
They are Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz, regional director of Western Visayas; Chief Supt. Ronald Santos, deputy regional director for administration of PNP-4; Chief Supt. Ranier Idio, regional director of Cagayan Valley; and Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo, PNP intelligence chief.
The Manila-based reporters in the CMFR training identified the person linked to Roxas only as “Thea” who was seen inside the meeting room of the hotel where Ardo entered and Garbo went out from.
The meeting of the generals was held in the Cezanne Room at the third floor of Novotel Manila.
Waiters were not allowed to enter the room to serve food, water or coffee. Instead, these were passed through a lady ‘gatekeeper.’ At one time, the lady dropped a plate.
When one curious journalist tried to peek into the Cezanne Room, the lady ‘gatekeeper’ turned her away, saying the meeting was “confidential.”
When asked, several of the waiters who serviced the Cezanne Room function said the meeting was that of LP.
From The Star Online (Apr 3): No sign of four kidnapped Malaysian sailors
KOTA KINABALU: The whereabouts of four Malaysian sailors remain unknown, more then 36 hours after they were snatched by Filipino gunmen in the Celebes Sea waters near Pulau Ligitan off Semporna.
Philippines officials have yet to get any information on the gunmen whether they had fled towards the Tawi Tawi chain of islands or had landed in the notorious Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Jolo Island with their hostages.
Tawi Tawi police chief Sr Supt Elizalde Quiboyen when contacted on Sunday said they had not received any reports from villagers within the islands of Tawi Tawi of any landings of the kidnappers and their hostages.
“We have no intelligence information on this,” he said when asked if they believed that the cross border kidnap group had slipped into Jolo.
Sr Supt Quiboyen said that both the Philippines navy and coastguards were on the alert for the group that reportedly fled towards southern Philippines following the kidnappings.
The four Malaysians - Wong Teck Kang, 31, Wong Hung Sing, 34, Wong Teck Chii, 29, and Johnny Lau Jung Hien, 21, all from Sarawak - were grabbed from the MV Massive 6 tugboat which was returning to Tawau after delivering timber cargo in Manila.
However, the gunmen left three Myanmar and two Indonesian crewmen who raised the alert immediately to their company officials in Miri at about 7pm on Friday.
Both Malaysian and Philippines security officials are continuing to carry out operations to hunt for the kidnappers.
Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesman Major Filemon Tan Jr said search operations had been launched in the areas of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu.
He, however, said they were unable to confirm if the Abu Sayyaf was involved or whether the victims had been brought to the Philippines.
The latest kidnappings came nearly a week after Abu Sayyaf gunmen seized 10 crewmembers of an Indonesian tugboat and brought them to Jolo.
From The Straits Times (Apr 3): Philippine militants seem to be using new kidnap ploy in Sabah - grabbing hostages off vessels
The other crew members arriving at the Tawau jetty after four of their colleagues were kidnapped by armed Filipino gunmen. PHOTO: THE STAR/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK
KOTA KINABALU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A new kidnap ploy seems to be emerging in abductions off the east coast of Malaysia's state of Sabah by Filipino gunmen.
Instead of kidnapping hostages off the land or islands, the gunmen have switched to grabbing them off ships or vessels plying the border waters between Malaysia and the Philippines.
On March 26, in the Philippines Tawi Tawi chain of islands close to Sabah, 10 gunmen linked to the Abu Sayyaf terror group abducted 10 Indonesian crewmen from two Taiwanese registered tugboats - Brahma 12 and Anand 12.
One of the tugboats was found adrift near Laguyan in Tawi Tawi but the 10 Indonesians vanished along with their captors.
Later, the Abu Sayyaf, who was holding them hostage, demanded 50 million pesos (S$1.5 million).
In a similar modus operandi on Friday (April 1) night, eight gunmen boarded Malaysian tugboat MV Masfive 6 near Pulau Ligitan off the east coast of Sabah that borders the Celebes Sea, which is flanked by Philippines and Indonesia to the north and south respectively.
But the gunmen only took the four Malaysian crewmen - Wong Teck Kang, 31, Wong Hung Sing, 34, Wong Teck Chii, 29, and Johnny Lau Jung Hien, 21 - all from Sarawak. They left behind the three Myanmar and two Indonesian crew members.
Those left on the tugboat alerted their company at about 7pm on Friday, soon after the gunmen had fled in a high-powered twin-engine grey speedboat towards the Philippines.
The remaining crew headed to Tawau where police are piecing together the events that took place.
Sabah Police Commissioner Abdul Rashid Harun said it looked like the cross-border kidnap groups were starting a new trend and operating along the borders in view of the heightened security in Sabah's east coast.
"Due also to the on-going curfew, the latest incident occurred at the periphery of the Sabah-Philippine border.
"These criminals no longer choose their victims. They will take just about anyone as long as it's easy for them to grab and leave."
Datuk Abdul Rashid said they were unsure at the moment which group was responsible for the latest kidnapping, adding that they were waiting to hear from their counterparts in southern Philippines.
He said this when asked whether the notorious kidnap-for-ransom Muktadir brothers with links to Abu Sayyaf were involved in raiding the tugboat, which was on its way back to Tawau after unloading timber in Manila.
When contacted, Tawi Tawi police chief Elizalde Quiboyen said there were no reports of any sightings or landings by the kidnappers or their hostages on any of their islands and added that police, navy and coastguard personnel were on high alert.
Initial intelligence reports seem to indicate that the kidnappers were not the Muktadir brothers (responsible for half a dozen abductions in Sabah) although their involvement has yet to be ruled out.
Sources in Jolo said the four Malaysians had yet to land in Jolo where Abu Sayyaf gunmen were holding the earlier 10 Indonesians abducted under notorious Abu Sayyaf sub commander Alhabsy Misaya.
Some sources claimed that they were being held by another commander, Sawajan.
The last kidnapping involving a Malaysian vessel took place on April 11, 2004. Three sailors - two Sarawakians and a Indonesian skipper - were kidnapped in the same waters between Sandakan and Tawi Tawi.
The Sarawakians died of natural causes during their captivity and the Indonesian was released.
The last time gunmen abducted hostages from the mainland was from the Ocean King Seafood Restaurant, not far from Sandakan town on May 4.
From the Philippine Star (Apr 3): ‘Politically motivated, NPA instigated’
According to Alcala, Piñol’s brother is running against reelectionist North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño, who is backed by the Liberal Party. Philstar.com file
The violence-marred Kidapawan protest blockade was not about farmers’ gripes over alleged lack of government support for their losses due to El Niño, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said yesterday.
Rather, Alcala said it was politically motivated, and the violence was instigated by left-leaning groups backed by the New People’s Army (NPA).
Alcala pointed to local politicians in Mindanao identified with the group of Manny Piñol who are supporting the presidential bid of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Alcala, Piñol’s brother is running against reelectionist North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño, who is backed by the Liberal Party.
“The reality on the ground at Kidapawan is that it’s politically motivated by the local politicians led by Piñol,” Alcala told The STAR.
“Our brothers from the Left, who were observing the NPA anniversary last March 29, instigated the breakout of stone-throwing that led to the violence during the dispersal,” Alcala added.
Based on field reports, Alcala noted that the militant farmers’ group led by Rafael Mariano of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) brought the farmers and fisherfolk to the highway with the alleged promise that they would receive sacks of rice from the governor.
Alcala said that “this is an issue of misinformation. They intentionally misled the local farmers regarding the supposed distribution of rice.”
Alcala was in Nueva Vizcaya when the police dispersal turned violent at Kidapawan, where two farmers reportedly died.
“It’s really sad that this had to happen. I think the problem was that these people made the farmers get angry at the government to stir up violence,” the agriculture secretary said.
While indeed many farmers and fisherfolk were affected by the long dry spell due to El Niño, there have been bumper harvests of rice and corn in Kidapawan, Carmen and other areas in North Cotabato, and in Regions 11 and 12, Alcala pointed out.
He said that Regions 11 and 12, including Kidapawan, are even among the “best performers” in rice and corn production despite the long dry period since last year.
National government agencies like the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have been giving “intervention” assistance in these areas because they are still under a state of calamity due to El Niño, Alcala explained.
He said that he even visited Kidapawan City last February and March to talk to the local farmer groups regarding the issues they face.
“We closely monitored the situation. And I think that not all of those involved were from Kidapawan. I believe that some of them were from other areas.”
On the part of the DA, he said that one sack of hybrid rice seeds per hectare and one sack of fertilizer are given to farmers certified by the local agriculturist as having been affected by El Niño.
Fortunately, Alcala added, the dams in Mindanao have more than enough water during this period. This helped stave off the severe dry spell that was initially expected.
Thus the projected impact of crop losses amounting to 950,000 metric tons of rice did not happen because of these interventions.
As monitored by the DA, only about 200,000 metric tons of rice were lost due to El Niño.
Alcala instructed DA regional director Bing Datukan to meet the farmer and fisherfolk groups on Monday to further discuss other concerns and assistance for the affected sectors.
Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) said it will also offer assistance to the farmer groups.
“We are ready to transact with the DSWD and the local government unit regarding the rice that may be needed by the beneficiaries,” said NFA public affairs director Angel Imperial in a phone interview.
He added that NFA administrator Renan Dalisay is currently in Kidapawan City to oversee the help that can be offered to the farmer groups.
From the Philippine Star (Apr 3): AFP deploys response unit vs Apo blaze
Aside from ground deployment of troops, Lt. Gen. Leonardo Guerrero, commander of the Davao City-based Eastern Mindanao Command, alerted response units of the Army, Air Force and the Navy for deployment to Mt. Apo. panoramio.com
The military deployed a company of soldiers to Mt. Apo in Davao yesterday to help firefighters and volunteers put out the forest fire that has been raging in the area for several days now.
Aside from ground deployment of troops, Lt. Gen. Leonardo Guerrero, commander of the Davao City-based Eastern Mindanao Command, alerted response units of the Army, Air Force and the Navy for deployment to Mt. Apo.
“At around 2 a.m., 112 soldiers from the 10th Infantry Division arrived in Kapatagan, Davao del Sur and will be reporting to the Control Point (CP) for briefing and subsequent deployment,” Maj. Ezra Balagtey, Eastmincom spokesman said.
Balagtey added that a Super Huey helicopter again took off early yesterday morning from the Air Force Tactical Operations Group in Davao City for fire- suppression air operations. It dropped buckets of water on the burning slopes of Mt. Apo.
Another helicopter, he said, is being used to ferry additional fire volunteers as well as to conduct resupply and aerial assessment flights.
The Eastmincom has requested for more helicopters for its anti-fire operation as the blaze continues in a thickly forested area of the mountain. However, the request is still pending availability of the aircraft.
Balagtey said the Eastmincom is ready to commit more troops to the area to help contain the fire, which was reportedly caused hikers on the Kidapawan City trail to Mt. Apo. The fire has threatened the survival of the Philippine Eagle, which nests in the Philippines’ highest mountain.
Aside from the AFP, around 40 technical personnel from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are now in the area. They have been working with personnel from other government agencies to prevent the fire from spreading.
From GMA News (Apr 3): Japanese warships in PHL near disputed area in South China Sea (Photos)
Two Japanese destroyers and a submarine docked at a Philippine port on Sunday near disputed South China Sea waters, where Beijing's increasingly assertive behavior has sparked global concern.
Photos by Danny Pata. Japan warship JS Ariake (DD-109) docks at port in Subic Bay.
Japanese submarine makes port call at port in Subic.
Manila is seeking to strengthen ties with Tokyo as tensions mount over the disputed waterway, almost all of which is claimed by China.
Japanese submarine Oyashio and destroyers JS Ariake and JS Setogiri docked in the Subic port Sunday for a routine visit at a sprawling former US naval base just 200 kilometers (125 miles) from a Chinese-held shoal.
"The visit is a manifestation of a sustained promotion of regional peace and stability and enhancement of maritime cooperation between neighboring navies," Philippine Navy spokesman Commander Lued Lincuna said.
The Ariake was equipped with an anti-submarine helicopter, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
The port call came on the eve of war games between the United States and Filipino soldiers in the Philippines, which is seen as a showcase of a long-standing military alliance that the Philippines is counting on to deter China.
Seriously outgunned by its much larger rival China, the Philippines has turned to allies like the United States and Japan to upgrade its armed forces in recent years.
In February, Japan agreed to supply the Philippines with military hardware, which may include anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft and radar technology.
Tensions in the South China Sea -- through which one-third of the world's oil passes -- have mounted in recent months since China transformed contested reefs into artificial islands capable of supporting military facilities.
Aside from the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.
Japan and China are locked in a separate dispute over an uninhabited island chain in the East Sea.
The Philippines has asked a United Nations-backed tribunal to declare China's sea claims as illegal and the government expects a decision this year.
From GMA News (Apr 3): Video on Kidapawan rally dispersal may shed light on violent incident
A video footage taken during the violent dispersal last Friday of farmers protesting in Kidapawan City surfaced Saturday and might shed light on the incident that left three farmers dead and dozens wounded.
GMA News' Saleema Refran said on "24 Oras" that fully-armed authorities could be seen in the video firing their guns as protesters clashed with anti-riot police.
Authorities continued to fire their guns even after some protesters sought refuge inside the United Methodist Church center near the rally site.
The video, courtesy of Kilab Media, also showed the protesters hurling stones at the police amid blasts of water cannons directed at the rally crowd.
Meanwhile, in a drone video taken by the Kidapawan local government, protesters can be seen mobbing two police officers left behind as others were retreating.
Also, the drone video shows one police firing gun at the protesters.
Accounts on the number of casualties vary. According to the Sisters Association in Mindanao, three people were killed and 92 injured, 30 of them are in critical condition.
On the other hand, the Kidapawan City government said 102 police personnel were injured, and 3 of them in critical condition.
The Department of Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police are studying the incident using the videos on the incident that surfaced.
“Kailangan both sides makita, kasi lahat may karapatan eh,” Interior Secretary Mel Sarmiento said.
The authorities have already inspected the Methodist Church for firearms and found out only a police cap and an army pouch.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will deploy a forensics team in Kidapawan to investigate the incident last Friday.
“Sa usapin ng dispersal, wala pong dahilan para gumamit ng live ammunition dahil pinag-uusapan natin dito ay hindi naman po ito criminal operation,” CHR chair Chito Gascon said.
Bullet for rice?
Drought-affected farmers from several towns in Kidapawan City launched a protest rally early last week to press the local government to deliver on its promise for assistance.
On the third day of the rally, three farmers were killed and dozens, including policemen, injured during the bloody dispersal of some 1,000 protesters barricading a portion of a national highway in Kidapawan.
In their quest for rice and food subsidy after the long dry spell laid waste their crops, three of them met death instead.
From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 3): Fort Magsaysay beefs up security for Balikatan war exercises
FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija -- Authorities
have tightened security measures in this camp as hundreds of American and
Filipino soldiers arrived here for the annual 32nd joint Balikatan war
exercises.
Army Capt. Rozelle Ticar, spokesperson of the 7th Infantry
(Kaugnay) Division based in this military camp said that they are ready to
receive American soldiers for the war exercises amid security concerns with
measures have already been laid out inside the camp as part of the routine.
"Everything is much under control and preventive
measures were laid out," Ticar said, adding that series of planning and
coordination were conducted as per instruction of commanding general, Maj. Gen.
Angelito De Leon.
Last year, four American soldiers lost their belongings to
thieves who gained entry inside the camp.
Army Staff Sergeants Scotty Wilson and Dwayne Massey and
Lieutenants Patrick Tierney and Thomas Dunne lost their belongings consisting
of army boots, wallet containing USD2,000, undetermined amount of pesos and
other personal belongings.
They were part of the 700-soldier contingent who plunged
into the war exercises inside this military camp along with 900 Filipino
soldiers.
A report said that unidentified suspects gained entry in the
unlocked building by boring through a hole beneath a perimeter fence and carted
away the belongings.
However, the said belongings were recovered.
“I am assuring that the said theft incident will not happen
anymore. Our soldiers stepped up for all preventive measures for the activity,”
he said.
This camp was one of five areas identified last March 18 by
the US and Philippine governments that will be utilized by American troops
under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which they signed in
April 2014 as political tensions rose between the Philippines and China due to
disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
Aside from FortMagsaysay, the deal also allows rotating US military presence at the Antonio Bautista Air
Base, Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro and the
Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu.
Ticar said the main organizers of this year’s war games have
been informed them of the calendar of activities for the four-day war games.
Last year, part of the exercises were a community outreach
in nearby areas where Filipino and US troops performed medical and dental
operations, haircuts, feeding program, circumcision and distribution of Bibles.
It also marked the first time three modern attack
helicopters of the US forces showcased their air assault capabilities in the
first known mock air assault inside the sprawling military reservation.
These involved Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters and black
hawk aircraft.
Chinook helicopters are twin-engine, heavy-lift military
aircraft used for troop movements, artillery placement and battlefield resupply
because of its wide loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage and three
external-cargo hooks.
The advanced, multi-mission helicopter contains a fully
integrated digital cockpit management system and cargo-handling capabilities.
The said helicopters were also used in some other countries
like the United Arab Emirates,
South Korea, Australia, Canada,
the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Japan,
Italy, Greece and Spain.
From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 3): 3rd ID, election stakeholders sign peace covenant in Siquijor
The 3rd Infantry Division together with with the Siquijor
Police Provincial Office and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Saturday
hosted a peace covenant signing for all local candidates running in the May 9
elections.
The event was held at the Siquijor Capitol Square, said 3rd
Infantry Division public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ray Tiongson.
During the signing, all local candidates, the Armed Forces
of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, COMELEC and the Parish Pastoral
Council for Responsible Voting, the media and the civil society organizations
in Siquijor vowed to work together to express their continuing commitment to
work for peace and refrain from violence this elections.
“Our concerted efforts through 'Bayanihan' will lead us to
our goal of peaceful and credible conduct of elections. We have to work
together and collaborate in promoting peace in our communities,” 3rd Infantry
Division commander Brig. Gen. Harold Cabreros said.
It can be recalled that the 3rd Infantry Division together
with the PNP and the COMELEC have been intensifying the conduct of checkpoint
in different areas of Central and Western Visayas regions relative to COMELEC
gun ban which started last January 10.
Tiongson said 3rd Infantry Division units will continue to intensify
focused military operations and are exerting all efforts to determine and
apprehend lawless armed groups and personalities who intend to sabotage the
conduct of elections.
From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 3): Rebel killed, high-powered weapons seized in Compostela Valley clash
A New People's Army (NPA) fighter was killed while 12
high-powered firearms were seized during an encounter with government security
forces in Nabunturan, CompostelaValley Saturday early
morning.
The clash took place at Sitio Inupuan, Barangay Mainit, said
10th Infantry Division public affairs office chief Capt. Rhyan Batchar.
Troopers from the 25th Infantry Battalion and the Compostela
Valley Provincial Public Safety Company were deployed to the locality, in wake
of reports about the presence of NPA members, when the 20-minute clash against
a group of around 20 rebels took place.
Batchar said these rebels are from Guerilla Front 27
commanded by a certain "Lipi".
A still unidentified NPA rebel was killed. Meanwhile, eight
M-16 rifles, four AK-47 rifles, seven improvised grenades, one ICOM radio,
medical paraphernalia and subversive documents were seized from the clash site.
From Update.Ph (Apr 2): Government forces recover body of dead rebel, 12 high-powered firearms
Elements of the 25th Infantry Battalion (25IB) of Philippine Army together with Compostela Valley Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) encountered a group of New People’s Army in Sitio Inupuan, Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan early morning of April 2, 2016, the 10th Infantry Division (10ID) said in a press release.
Government forces were responding on reported presence of armed group in the area.
The encounter, twenty-minute firefight, resulted to the recovery of eight M16 rifles, four AK47 rifles, seven improvised grenades, one ICOM radio, medical paraphernalia and subversive documents. The government forces also recovered one dead NPA rebel.
An estimated 20 heavily armed rebels from Guerilla Front (GF) 27 under alias Lipi was holding a temporary camp in the said area.
Troops from AFP and PNP are still on pursuit of the remnants of the armed group, 10ID said.
“The desire of the people in the community to get rid of the NPAs who extort and make their lives miserable, resulted to this decisive encounter,” 25IB commander Lieutenant Colonel Ismael Mandanas Jr. said. “This incident manifests what our collective effort can achieve in winning the peace in this part of our country.”
“This is a big blow to the communist movement whose numbers are steadily diminishing due to the relentless AFP-initiated operations,” 1001st Infantry (Pag-asa) Brigade commander Colonel Macairog Alberto said.
From The Standard (Apr 3): US, PH launch Balikatan ’16
THOUSANDS of US and Filipino soldiers will launch on Monday annual war games that this year are being seen as a show of strength in the face of China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.
The 11-day Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises are expected to show how the Philippines, though severely outgunned, can counter China with the help of the United States, its longest-standing ally.
China has in recent months built massive structures including radar systems and an airstrip over reefs and outcrops in the contested South China Sea, sparking international concern.
Balikatan 2016. This file photo taken on April 20, 2015 shows Philippine soldiers and a US army soldier from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat taking their positions after disembarking from a C-47 Chinook helicopter during an air assault exercise inside Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. Thousands of US, Filipino and Australian soldiers will launch this year’s edition of the Balikatan war games on April 4.
Beijing lays claim to almost all of the waters, which are important for international shipping and believed to hold valuable mineral and energy deposits, and neighboring countries fear China could impose military controls over the entire sea.
The joint maneuvers come ahead of a decision this year by a United Nations-backed tribunal on a legal challenge by Manila to China’s territorial claims.
Adding to the tensions, the Philippines is preparing to host US troops in five bases under a defense pact born out of US President Barack Obama’s plan to reassert American influence in the Pacific.
Balikatan has evolved from counter-terrorism maneuvers against Islamic extremists like the Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf, to simulations of retaking and protecting territory as disputes with Beijing have escalated.
However, Filipino and US officials insist the exercises are not explicitly aimed at China.
Balikatan spokesman Captain Celeste Frank Sayson said 55 US aircraft would take part in the drills, while the Philippines will deploy fighter jets it has recently acquired.
While no specific staging areas have been disclosed, the two allies have in recent years held war games at air bases just 230 kilometers from the disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Rene de Castro, an international studies professor at the De La Salle University in Manila, told AFP the drills appeared to have China’s expansion in the South China Sea in mind.
“Looking at the features of Balikatan—the mobile missile-launchers, the fighter planes—that is an indication that the alliance is being geared for territorial defense,” he said.
Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science professor at the De La Salle University in Manila, added that the exercises “aim to enhance interoperability among allies nations and signal their preparedness to confront China if necessary.”
The Philippine military said the US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, designed to shoot down aircraft, will be sent to Palawan, the Philippines’ westernmost island on the South China Sea, during the war games.
The Philippines operates one airstrip in the South China Sea, on Thitu island, where there are around 350 civilian residents.
It also keeps small military contingents in smaller outcrops, including Second Thomas Shoal, where Marines are stationed on a decaying World War II ship.
The Philippines, which has one of the weakest militaries in the region, has sought to counter China’s overwhelming military advantage by improving ties with the United States and Japan.
While it has acquired new fighter jets and surplus US naval ships, the Southeast Asian nation still has far to go, De Castro warned.
China’s defense budget dwarfs that of the Philippines and Beijing is this year set to outspend its smaller neighbor by a factor of around 60.
The Philippines is also increasing its military engagements with the US with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which took effect in January.
Under the deal, US troops will rotate through five military camps including two air bases that are strategically positioned near the South China Sea.
“It is very apparent that the thrust of [the agreement] is air power,” said former national security adviser Roilo Golez.
Australia, which recently criticized China’s assertiveness in the disputed waters, is sending 80 troops to join parachute drills as part of the maneuvers, Sayson said.
Obama this week confronted Chinese President Xi Jinping over Beijing’s actions in the disputed seas.
Tensions have flared between the superpowers since the US sent warships close to disputed islands twice in the past six months.
From The Standard (Apr 3): Carnage blamed on leftist groups
GOVERNMENT officials and the police blamed communist rebels and progressive groups for starting the protest that killed three people in Kidapawan City as protesting farmers lifted their blockade of an inter-provincial highway and sought refuge at a nearby church compound.
But government critics dismissed the red-baiting as a deliberate attempt to twist the facts and escape accountability for the three deaths and injury to at least 116 protesters and 99 policemen.
Instead, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Sarmiento conferred medals on the injured policemen, including a police sergeant who is still in critical condition after suffering a head fracture and hemorrhage because of the incident.
The protesting farmers and police clashed on Friday morning after protesters refused to dismantle the barricade they put up on the highway linking Cotabato and Davao Cities to dramatize their desire for a drought-related subsidy and sacks of rice for their families.
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the protesters were not really residents of North Cotabato and that they were only ferried from outside the province for propaganda purposes.
“Have you realized who can summon thousands of farmers from outside North Cotabato and linger there for several days? Who feeds them on a daily basis? asked Lacierda over social networking site Facebook.
“What was promised to them that they would travel outside their province to descend upon North Cotabato? The leftists have been at this game for the longest time,” Lacierda said.
MOMENT OF CONFLICT. A drone video released by the Kidapawan City government shows the confrontation between police and farmers who were seeking relief for the drought prevailing in Mindanao. The policemen, who were involved in the deadly dispersal that caused the death of three farmers, were given medals by Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento on Saturday. KIDAPAWAN LGU/SALEEMA REFRAN/GMA NEWS
Presidential Communication Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III also suggested that militant groups may have taken advantage of the protest before the dispersal and said the authorities will conduct an extensive investigation into the deadly dispersal.
“First of all, I believe it is fair for all of us to expect and require thorough, impartial investigation. There is no reason why people must die in order to be asking for assistance from their own government,” Quezon said in an interview over a state-owned Radyo ng Bayan.
“At the same time, there is no reason why a tragedy must be compounded by hotheaded statements or rushing to judgment. It will not help anyone,” he added.
“There’s a tremendous number of wounded people on both sides. Lives have been lost and we owe it to ourselves as a society and to the farmers themselves and people in the affected areas to find out what exactly happened and why it did lead to this,” he said.
But North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou “Lala” Mendoza held a press conference in Kidapawan with Sarmiento and Philippine National Police chief Director General Ricardo Marquez to deplore the supposed communist infiltration of the protesters’ ranks.
“It’s an insult to us, the [local government units], to be used for political propaganda in the province of Cotabato. It’s an insult to our policemen that many of them were hurt, 140 [protesters], 99 from the PNP [are wounded] and 21 are [ralliysts], there are some who died because they were stoned,” she said.
Mendoza said there was no need for peasant groups to blocked the Cotabato-Davao highway to air their grievances because they could ask for relief intervention at the provincial capitol.
“The local government units have already started initiating relief operations for drought-stricken communities before this happened. There was no need for them to gather in Kidapawan City for a rally. Well, maybe because many of them are not from the province,” she said.
Marquez, for his part, claimed that one of the dead protesters was found to have traces of gunpowder on his hand and was found to be carrying caliber .45 bullets.
Kidapawan Mayor Joseph Evangelista also insisted that the protesters were not all farmers, but members of “progressive groups” who wanted to “extort” rice from the National Food Authority warehouse near the site of the protest.
“They are not all farmers, and most of them come from progressive groups,” Evangelista told The Standard.
“Anakpawis, Anakbayan, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Gabriela, the Suara Bangsamoro, Bayan, Bayan Muna—are they farmers? It’s not right that their objective is to try and ransack the NFA warehouse,” he said.
“There are some from Bukidnon, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Davao City. They are the ones who came to Kidapawan demanding rice. Why can’t they ask their government units for rice? They have calamity funds in their municipalities, why go to North Cotabato,” he said.
North Cotabato police chief Supt. Alexander Tagum, in a separate interview, said the crowd were mostly “hakot,” with some of the farmers allegedly claiming that they were fooled by the organizers “that they will be given rice” if they joined the protests.
But Jerome Succor Aba, spokesman of Moro human rights group Suara Bangsamoro, denied claims that the protesters were mostly communist sympathizers.
“Red-baiting is an old tune they have repeatedly used to belittle dismiss legitimate protests,” he said.
After the dispersal, the protesting farmers fled to the nearby compound of the Spottswood Methodist Church, but Governor Mendoza threatened Bishop Ciriaco Francisco that they would prosecute the prelate for harboring the farmers.
“We are being kept here by the police, there are uniformed men around the church. No one, not even the priests, nuns who want to give us food were being permitted to help us inside,” Aba lamented Friday night.
“They even cut our electricity and the cellphone signals were being cut by the police. It’s like Martial Law, we’re crying for help,” he added.
On early Saturday morning, the police was able to secure a warrant to search the church compound for guns, but found nothing.
“They didn’t find anything inside the compound but they’re treating us like prisoners,” said Ariel Casilao of the Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous People and Peasants.
But Kabataan partylist Rep. Terry Ridon on Saturday blasted the police and DILG Saturday for “deliberately twisting facts” and pinning the blame for the bloody massacre of farmers on the protesters themselves.
Speaking inside the United Methodist Church compound in Kidapawan City where more than 5,000 farmer protesters sought refuge following the bloody open-firing, Ridon said the PNP is clearly spinning the news to escape accountability.
“[PNP chief] Marquez should be ashamed of himself. His statement lends greater insult to the deaths of farmers by insinuating that they had guns and fired shots at the police,” Ridon said.
“The crime lab results are a farce and should not be given any ounce of credibility, as we cannot expect the PNP to deliver an honest and independent finding on the conduct of their men and the incident itself.
“It should be noted that the PNP took custody of the dead bodies, and cordoned the scene of the massacre. This has given them all the opportunity to plant all evidence on the dead, such as the nearby 45 pistol and nitrates on fingers,” Ridon explained.
Ridon also slammed the DILG for awarding medals to the PNP personnel who took part in the bloody massacre.
“Shame on DILG. Shame on Sec. Sarmiento. Shame on the Aquino administration for prioritizing the awarding their killer personnel instead of simply giving the protesting farmers their sacks of rice,” Ridon said, adding that the move to award the police involved in the massacre “speaks volumes of the Aquino government’s unabashed hypocrisy.”
From Benar News (Apr 2): Gunmen Abduct Malaysian Sailors Near Southern Philippines
Swiss man Lorenzo Vinciguerra is treated at a military hospital on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, following his rescue after nearly three years of captivity at the hands of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Dec. 6, 2014.
Suspected Filipino gunmen have abducted four Malaysians from a ship off eastern Sabah, near the southern Philippines, Malaysian authorities said Saturday, but officials could not confirm whether Abu Sayyaf Group militants were responsible.
The Friday night hijacking of a Malaysian registered timber-hauling barge, the M.V. MASFIVE 6, occurred after last week’s abduction of 10 Indonesian sailors by Abu Sayyaf in the southernmost region of the Philippines, where the al-Qaeda linked group operates and which borders Malaysia’s Sabah state.
The four Malaysians crewmembers were abducted by eight gunmen in waters off Pulau Ligitan, near Semporna on Sabah’s east coast, according to reports.
The gunmen, who boarded the vessel which was travelling from Manila after delivering cargo, then fled with the four hostages on a speedboat toward Philippine waters, reports said. There were five other crewmembers on the barge – three sailors from Myanmar and two from Indonesia – but the gunmen left them behind.
Malaysia’s foreign ministry issued a statement Saturday condemning the kidnapping as “senseless and barbaric,” and Malaysian Police Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar told the state-run Bernama news agency that the authorities were trying to determine whether Abu Sayyaf abducted the four sailors.
The Philippine Muslim militant group has taken foreigners hostage in the past, killing some of their captives. Last year, a 39-year-old Malaysian citizen, Bernard Then, was executed by Abu Sayyaf after being abducted from a seaside restaurant in Sabah in May.
Khalid said that the kidnappers, in the latest case, had not yet contacted authorities with any demands.
No confirmation yet from Philippines
In the southern Philippines, an army spokesman told Agence France-Presse that the military was still verifying the report of Friday’s abductions after being notified by Malaysian officials.
"Whether or not they were seized by the Abu Sayyaf or brought to the Philippines, we have yet to confirm," regional army spokesman Felimon Tan said.
Meanwhile, a report in the Philippine Inquirer quoted an anonymous military source as saying that the gunmen who kidnapped the four Malaysians were with Abu Sayyaf.
The gunmen, who spoke broken English and Filipino, declared themselves as ASG members as they boarded the barge, the source said.
Malaysia-Philippine cooperation
The statement from the Malaysian foreign ministry said that officials, including at Malaysia’s embassy in Manila and consulate in Davao City, in the southern Philippines, would work closely with Philippines authorities in the investigation and efforts to secure the four sailors’ release.
The four Malaysians range in age from 21 to 34 and are from the town of Sibu in Sarawak state, the ministry said. The four crew members were identified as Wong Teck Kang, Wong Hung Sing, Wong Teck Chi and Johnny Lau Jung Hien.
In Sabah, state police Commissioner Abdul Rashid Harun Sabah said authorities were trying to pinpoint whether the abduction occurred in Malaysian or international waters, according to AFP.
Sabah police also were trying to figure out a motive as well as why the four Malaysian – and not all nine crew members – were taken by the gunmen, local media quoted the commissioner as saying.
In the cases of Friday’s incident aboard the Malaysian vessel and the earlier kidnapping of the 10 Indonesian sailors from a tugboat sailing from Kalimantan, Indonesia to Batangas, in the southern Philippines, the attackers targeted slow-moving ships in the Sulu Sea that were relatively easy to board, the Associated Press quoted Malaysian officials as saying.
On Tuesday, Indonesia’s foreign ministry announced that the 10 sailors had been taken by Abu Sayyaf.
That kidnapping at sea is believed to have occurred on April 26. According to the Philippine military, initial information pointed to the 10 Indonesians being taken by a faction of Abu Sayyaf to Sulu, an island in the southern Philippines where the militant group operates, AFP reported.
From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Apr 3): Basilan folk finally get their dream highway
THREE FOR THE ROAD President Aquino motors to Basilan with PublicWorks Secretary Rogelio Singson (left) and ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman (second from left), for the inauguration of the Basilan Circumferential Road in Barangay Tumahubong, Sumisip, onMarch 21. MALACAÑANG PHOTO
IF Manilans complain about daily gridlock on Edsa, residents of Basilan, almost 1,500 kilometers to the south, are thankful for getting a simple, concrete road, something many people in the capital take for granted.
When the Basilan Circumferential Road was finally completed in December last year, the fear and insecurity the locals had endured for decades vanished.
Its symbolism and significance are not lost on the people of the strife-torn province: the road stands for peace and development. It has cut travel time from the provincial capital, Isabela City, to Sumisip from eight hours to 45 minutes, allowed the transportation of goods and the establishment of businesses, and, most important, it serves as a deterrent to extremism and violence.
The road starts from Isabela and traverses Lamitan City and the municipalities of Al-Barka, Tipo-Tipo, Ungkaya Pukan, Sumisip, Maluso, Lantawan, and ends back in the capital.
Violent incidents
These are areas that have become synonymous to unforgettable violence: the Lamitan siege in 2001 where Abu Sayyaf fighters held hostage hospital staff and American missionary couple Grace and Martin Burnham; the beheading in Al-Barka in July 2007 of Marine troops who clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas while searching for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi; a nine-hour gun battle as government forces tried to take over an Abu Sayyaf camp in Ungkaya Pukan that left 19 Marines dead in August 2007; and the clash between the MILF and Army Special Forces in Al-Barka in 2011.
Basilan is the hometown of Abu Sayyaf ideologues Isnilon Hapilon and Khadaffy Janjalani, and has long been a stronghold of the group that was once considered the most potent terrorist organization in the country.
With such a background, it is easy to see why it took 16 years to complete the 138-km circumferential road.
The project had to be guarded 24/7 that the withdrawal of the military for combat operations meant a halt in construction, leaving the road muddy, bumpy and unsafe, as workers and their equipment became vulnerable to harassment by lawless elements.
Changes
To hear the people of Basilan speak with excitement about what to city folk is an ordinary thing is perhaps the most significant change the road has brought to the island since the project was completed.
Ibrahim Hadji Sali Ballaho, the 35-year-old head of Barangay Balas in Lamitan, proudly spoke about 30 tricycles now going around his village when the place used to have only two jeepneys.
“We now also have nice facilities such as a barangay hall, a covered court, children’s playground, a public market, a fish port, and many others,” Ballaho said.
Fruits from Isabela are now available in markets in Sumisip because of the faster and easier travel, said Isnira Mannan of Buli-Buli, Sumisip.
It was a far cry from the six to eight hours she used to spend in traveling from Sumisip to Isabela, where she went to college.
“Now with the Basilan Circumferential Road, it only takes 45 minutes whether on a jeepney, a van or a motorcycle,” she said.
Mannan is relieved that since the completion of the road, more armed men have left her hometown—armed men who used to kidnap teachers like her.
Rubber-tree farmer Aslan Dansalan, 50, said after the road had been completed, he and his colleagues from the Tipo-Tipo Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Agricultural Development Cooperative (Tarbadeco) could now easily and regularly deliver their products.
Now, too, they no longer waste time repairing their trucks, which in the past broke down due to the rough ride on the rutted road, especially during the rainy season.
The new road also allowed farmers and traders to take the bigger vessels going to Zamboanga City instead of making do with the rickety pump boats called timpil, because they can now reach the port in Isabela faster, Dansalan said.
In the past, it took residents of Tipo-Tipo, Dansalan’s hometown, two hours to go to Isabela. Now it takes them only 30 to 50 minutes.
Dansalan said his town now had an ambulance and it could actually run emergencies on the new road.
“It used to be difficult to transfer emergency cases, like mothers giving birth, because of the long travel (from Tipo-Tipo to Isabela City where there is a hospital),” he said.
P-Noy at inauguration
Ballaho, Manna and Dansalan spoke about the road on its inauguration on March 21, with President Aquino joining the event held in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip.
Mr. Aquino was the first President to visit Tumahubong, one of the most dangerous villages in Basilan.
The night before the President’s visit, two blasts rocked Sumisip, and a homemade bomb was detonated on a roadside.
Despite the incidents, Mr. Aquino insisted on going to the inauguration of the road, which had to be held under heavy security.
“I would be there for only a few hours while the people who live there have been facing (uncertainty) all their lives,” the President explained.
The new road “could spell the difference in those people’s lives,” he said.
The difficulty posed by the absence of a passable road made it easy for terrorists and other criminals to thrive and play cat and mouse with security forces.
“Because we did not have a decent road, we were consumed by fear,” Ballaho said.
Frequent firefights kept people inside their homes. Starting a business, a normal activity in other parts of the country, was unimaginable in Basilan.
“Life was difficult … and people felt forgotten by the government. No one else wanted to care for us. We didn’t feel real service from the government,” Ballaho said.
This was the reason, he said, why many residents felt hopeless. Disheartened and dejected, they joined rebel groups.
But with a functional road, trade and commerce are now possible and people can actually move around, busy going about their daily activities.
The military hopes the road will be instrumental in keeping the guns silent in Basilan.
Ranking military officials credit the completion of the road to the tenacity of Mujiv Hataman, governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), who is a native of Sumisip.
They said Hataman worked well with the military and worked hard at negotiating with armed groups whenever they tried to harass the road project.
Return to Basilan
One officer said the completion of the circumferential road could encourage Basilan residents who had migrated to other places to return to their province and “contribute” to its growth.
According to a Malacañang brief, only a 61.77-km stretch, or 47 percent, of the road was concrete and in good condition when the Aquino administration began to work on it in January 2012.
“Traversing the road was inconvenient, time consuming and prone to accidents, as some sections were rocky, muddy and slippery and impassable during the rainy season.
Some [portions of the road] were also dangerous to take, as lawless elements engage in highway robbery, ambush and [vehicle theft]. Transport service was also scarce and expensive,” the brief said.
The Aquino administration spent P1.83 billion for the concreting of 51.56 km of the road’s unpaved sections. Some old parts of the road were also rehabilitated.
Basilan’s 450,000 residents now benefit from the road—residents like Ballaho who said that with the completion of the road, “there’s no more fear in our hearts.”
