From MindaNews (Mar 29): Soldier killed, 3 others wounded in Army-BIFF clash
DATU UNSAY, Maguindanao – A soldier was killed and three others were wounded when government forces clashed with Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in two areas in Maguindanao Sunday, the Army here said.
The clash erupted on the third day of the three-day suspension of military operations to give way to graduation ceremonies in Maguindanao’s 13 municipalities affected by Army law enforcement operations against BIFF.
Colonel Meldquiades Feliciano, 601st Infantry Brigade commander, said three BIFF guerrillas were wounded when a firefight erupted at 9:20 a.m. in Barangay Malangob, Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.
“Our troops were on patrol in Barnagay Malangob when they were fired upon by BIFF forces,” Feliciano said, adding that another encounter also occurred in adjacent Barangay Pamalian, Shariff Saydona, also in Maguindanao.
The BIFF admitted it suffered three wounded fighters in the Shariff Saydona encounter.
From the Mindanao Examiner BlogSpot site (Mar 29): 7 rebels killed in fresh clashes in Southern Philippines
The Philippine military said it killed at least 7 BIFF
rebels, including a commander, in a clash Sunday in Maguindanao province in the
restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Security officials said the fighting erupted in the towns of
Datu Unsay and Shariff Saydona after troops caught up with two groups of BIFF
gunmen. One soldier was reported killed in the clash in Datu Unsay.
Troops were battling the BIFF or Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters the past weeks now after the military ordered an all-out offensive
against the small group it blamed for the spate of bombings and deadly attacks
on soldiers in the region.
Officials said several more soldiers and rebels were wounded
in the clashes. It was unknown if troops recovered any of the slain rebels, but
most of the military reports were based on intelligence provided by villagers
in those towns.
The BIFF has broken away with the larger Moro Islamic
Liberation Front which signed a peace deal with Manila
last year, and continues to fight for an independent Muslim state in Mindanao.
From the Manila Standard Today (Mar 28): USAID builds more classrooms in Palo
PALO, Leyte—The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Wednesday turned over two school buildings with 14 classrooms in Palo, Leyte -- the third classroom building project completed by the said agency this year.
Palo was one of the municipalities ravaged by typhoon Yolanda in November 2013. Thank you! School children in Leyte wave American flaglets as a gesture of gratitude to the USAID for its school rebuilding project. RONALD REYES
Andrew Holland, USAID supervisory contracting/agreement officer who led the turn-over ceremony of two buildings with 14 classrooms in Palo I Central School, said: “The United States government and other countries in the world have great determination to rebuild your lives after Yolanda.”
Holland added that aside from schools, the U.S. government is also keen on its livelihood and health care assistance to the Yolanda affected communities.
Melfe Grance Sanchez, school principal of Palo I Central School, said: “This project, which started last year, is a testimony to our conviction that has turned into reality” as she thanked the USAID and Education officials.
Students of Palo I Central School used to occupy temporary learning spaces without water and electrical facilities. Sixth grader Shan Abril, 11, said he was happy about the changes in his school.
“We are now comfortable inside the classroom. It feels good that our school is beautiful again,” added Queency Tobilla, another pupil.
According to Engr. Carlos Tan, USAID Rebuild Deputy Chief of Party for Infrastructure, USAID-Rebuild is targeting the completion of over 250 classrooms by January 2016. This is under their medium-term disaster rehabilitation program in Leyte municipalities.
USAID is working with local governments in building the classrooms.
“These classrooms will be earthquake and typhoon-resilient, taking the lesson after the powerful storm Yolanda,” he said.
From the Visayan Daily Star(Mar 28): Armed Forces alert for NPA anniversary
Armed Forces of the Philippines soldiers are on alert status in preparation for the anniversary of the New People's Army on Sunday.
Army Brig. Gen. Joselito Kakilala, spokesperson of the AFP, who was in Bacolod City yesterday, said the rebels usually conduct atrocities in any part of the country before and during their anniversary.
“Usually, they conduct atrocities on soft targets,” Kakilala said.
“Jointly with the PNP, our field units are active in conducting law enforcement operations against the NPA,” he said.
The central command of the AFP has instructed all soldiers to be vigilant and to undertake law enforcement operations against the NPAs, Kakilala said.
Although there are still no concrete and tangible peace talks or negotiations on the ground, the AFP wants to push through the peace talks with the National Democratic Front, or with the negotiating panel of the NPA, Kakilala said.
He said the government has been urging the NPA to have peace talks since 2010.
On the Bangsamoro Basic Law, Kakilala said the AFP is confident that it will be approved, but there will be changes from its original content.
“We will support the processes in the passage of the BBL, such as public consultations, dialogs, discourses, and fora,” Kakilala said.
Once they get the side of Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the NPA, the country will be safe and secure and the tourism industry will be enhanced, he said.
Kakilala also reported that 45 provinces in the Philippines have been declared “peaceful and ready for further development.” The AFP aims to have all province in the country declared as such by the end of this year, or by early 2016.
Kakilala, a graduate of the Negros Occidental High School batch '78, was in Bacolod yesterday to address 2015 graduates of the school.
From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Mar 27): Cops on road patrol clash with suspected NPA rebels in Masbate Policemen on patrol in San Jacinto, Masbate, clashed with an undetermined number of suspected New People’s Army rebels shortly before dawn Friday.
Senior Police Officer 1 Zandro Cabintoy, spokesman of Masbate Provincial Police Office, said members of the 5th Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) 2nd Maneuver Company were patrolling a forested area in Sitio Talaba, Barangay Burgos, San Jacinto when they heard a loud explosion followed by a volley of gunfire at 12:12 a.m.
He said a 30-minute exchange of gunfire ensued between the policemen led by Police Officer 1 Rommel Genopida and the communist guerrillas.
Cabintoy said investigators from the San Jacinto Municipal Police Office found 11 pieces of fired shells of a caliber 5.56 high-powered firearm, 13 pieces of fired shells of caliber 7.62 gun and two pieces fired shells of M203 in the clash site.
Police also recovered pieces of an empty softdrink can, about 300 meters of brown flat cord, three pieces of 9 mm steel bar, about one to two inches long shrapnel and several pieces of shattered orange plastic pipe believed for the improvised explosive device which exploded during the incident.
Cabintoy said it could have been a “case of harassment” that happened two days before the NPA’s celebration of its 46th founding anniversary.
From InterAksyon (Mar 28): Army nabs alleged NPA leader in Sorsogon
Troops of the 9th Infantry Division arrested an alleged New People’s Army commander in Sorsogon Friday morning.
Captain Mardjorie Paimela Panesa, 9th Infantry Division spokesperson, said Jesus Guelas alias “Gapa” and “Insoy,” was captured around 11: 40 a.m. at Barangay Ginablan Occidental in Matnog town two days before the NPA’s 46th founding anniversary on March 29.
Guelas is allegedly the chief of the NPA’s Provincial Operational Command, Komiteng Probinsiya KOMPROB Sorsogon, and a member of the Bicol Regional Party Committee.
Panesa said the soldiers from the 903rd Infantry Brigade were conducting routine security operations when they chanced upon Guelas who initially identified himself as a Ricky Gardon to evade arrest.
Seized from his possession were a .45 caliber pistol, Ingram automatic pistol and improvised explosives.
From GMA News (Mar 28): Alleged NPA leader nabbed in Sorsogon
Days before the
46th anniversay of the communist New People's Army, a suspected leader of the
rebel group was arrested during a security operation in Sorsogon before noon
Friday.
In an interview
with reporters on Saturday, 2nd Lt. Janeth Barbacal, public affairs officer of
the Army's 903rd Infantry Brigade, identified the suspect as Arsenio Guelas,
alias Gapa and Insoy, who is believed to be the commanding officer of the
Sorsogon provincial operational command and a member of the executive committee
of the Bicol Regional Party Committee.
Barbacal said the
suspect was caught by the Philippine Army's 31st Infantry Battalion at Ginablan
Occidental village in Matnog town at around 11:40 a.m. on Friday.
Seized from
Guelas, who has a pending arrest warrant for murder and frustrated murder, was
a cal. 45 pistol, ammunition, magazine, a 4.5-kilo improvised bomb and
detonating paraphernalia.
Barbacal said the
military has coordinated with their police counterparts to determine additional
charges to be filed against Guelas in connection with the recovery of war
materials from him.
Guelas arrest
came two days before the 46th foundation anniversary of the NPA.
From InterAksyon (Mar 28): NPA's 'protracted war' killing the lumad - AFP
Weapons recovered by government troops from alleged 'lumad' rebels who died in a clash in Sarangani province i February. (photo from Eastmincom)
The military said it is alarmed at the growing number of “lumad”
turning up as rebel casualties in clashes in Eastern Mindanao, proof it claimed
that it is the “protracted war” being waged by the communist New People’s Army
that is killing off Mindanao’s indigenous people.
“There is no amount of propaganda to cover up the reality
that majority of the casualties during encounters with our operating troops are
ill-equipped and untrained Lumad combatants recruited into the NPA. We’re not
happy with this and we too weep for the loss of innocent lives because of the
NPA’s senseless war,” Brigadier General Joselito Kakilala, Civil Relations
Service chief and concurrent spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,
said.
Kakilala accused the NPA of using “force and intimidation”
to exploit what he called the “innocence and vulnerability” of the lumad
to transform their communities into “laboratories of (the rebels’) own
protracted war,” directed by “self-centered communist leaders such as Jose
Maria Sison, Luis Jalandoni and others who enjoy the luxuries of life abroad.”
The NPA celebrates its 46th founding anniversary on March
29, an occasion the military says is often preceded by tactical offensives
against government forces and economic sabotage on public and private
installations and facilities.
However, Kakilala said the military is always ready to quell
NPA attacks.
‘War against the lumad’
Lieutenant General Aurelio Baladad, commander of the Eastern
Mindanao Command, said the NPA sees the ancestral domains of the lumad as
ideal areas to build their “laboratories of protracted war.”
“The NPA uses communist propaganda through force and
intimidation to corrupt the minds of our lumad brothers and sisters.
The NPA introduces violence that destroys the simplistic nature and peaceful
culture of the lumad. We’ve got to stop this,” Baladad said.
He cited the deaths of seven alleged NPA lumad fighters
in Sarangani this February: alias Brigol, identified as deputy secretary and
political officer; JM, identified as a team leader and logistics officer;
Jonas/Batot, aother team leader; alias Lieutenant, a vice team leader; alias
Mark, a medic; and alias Monet, a new recruit.
“Who wants war? Who wants death? We’re ready to die as your
soldiers in order to protect and save lives of our people. But please don’t
bring this war against us to the abodes of our peaceful and loving lumad people.
This protracted war that the NPA is waging is destructive; it destroys life,
culture and people. Our recent encounters show that more and more of our lumad
brothers and sisters were the casualties of the NPA’s protracted war,”
Baladad said.
He said of the estimated 1,985 NPA fighters within his
command’s operational jurisdiction, 74 percent are lumad recruits.
“Truly our lumad people have been being used by the
NPA as sacrificial lambs for its senseless and destructive protracted war,”
Baladad said.
The Eastmincom claims to have killed 138 NPA fighters and
captured 44 last year, with another 741 surrendering. It also claimed to have
recovered 356 high-caliber and 386 low-caliber weapons, although Baladad said,
“We don’t take pride in scorecards, anyway. We live and die defending and
protecting our people from the violence of the NPA’s senseless and destructive
protracted war.”
Lumad’s emancipation
AFP of staff General Greogrio Pio Catapang Jr. has ordered
Baladad to reinforce efforts by his command to support lumad “emancipation
movements” against the NPA.
Catapang said this movements allow the lumad to
“take the lead and for us to provide the necessary lifelines. This is the
spirit of our Internal Peace and Security Plan or Bayanihan,”
referring to the government’s counterinsurgency program.
The AFP chief has given his full support to an AFP-IP
Framework drawn up by the Easmincom to guide them and concerned local
government units and other agencies in the formulation of specific campaign
plans to address the issues and concerns of the lumad in Region 11 and
CARAGA.
In line with this, said Baladad, they initiated the creation
of a multi-sectoral Technical Working Group to focus on the enhancement of
indigenous political structures, economic and development programs, security,
quick reaction teams, and protection of ancestral domain.
“We’ve been conducting a series of meetings and
consultations with all stakeholders and we really see a lot of hopes with the
IP communities with the active participation of the LGUs and government
agencies concerned,” Baladad said.
Lumads: We’re not against progress
Datu Lumansad Sibugan, the IP-mandated representative in
Talaingod, said the indigenous peoples are not against progress.
“We also want economic progress in our abodes, to harness
our natural resources. Let development and investment initiatives come into our
homes if these would bring us economic progress without sacrificing of course
our identity, culture and way of life, and also our environment. You respect us
and we will also respect you,” Sibugan said.
Sibugan said they have had enough propaganda from the NPA on
how to fight for their rights and ancestral domains.
“It’s time to move on from mere communist propaganda to
reality. We have had enough of exploitation from the NPA and their allies. We
wish that roads will be built leading to our areas as well as schools in order
for us especially our children to learn,” Sibugan appealed.
From InterAksyon (Mar 28): PNP top spy who supplied Oplan Exodus intelligence packet recommended for general rank
The top intelligence officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP), who is reportedly close to resigned PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima, is among senior officers being recommended by the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) to President Benigno Aquino III for promotion to chief superintendent, or brigadier general in the military.
Senior Supt. Fernando Mendez Jr., currently Acting Director of the PNP Intelligence Group (IG), had provided the intelligence packet used by Purisima and former Special Action Force (SAF) Director Getulio Napeñas for their Oplan Exodus, the objective of which was to arrest high-value target terrorists on January 25 in the municipality of Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
The disastrous mission reportedly killed Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Abdhir *nom de guerre Marwan) but missed Filipino bomb-maker Abdul Basit Usman and another Malaysian terrorist, Amin Baco alias Jihad.
While the SAF commandos were withdrawing, a combined force of hundreds of fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and one of its factions, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and some private armed groups (PAGs) waylaid them, resulting in the massacre of 44 of the commandos. The MILF claimed that they, too, lost 17 men. Reports said three civilians died in the crossfire.
The name of Mendez name was repeatedly mentioned by Napeñas during media interviews and in the Senate hearings and one hearing of the House of Representatives as the source of the intelligence packet that guided the planning and implementation of Oplan Exodus, which was approved by Aquino.
Aside from Mendez, the nine other senior superintendents, whose promotions are up for President Aquino's approval, are Billy Beltran, Acting Secretary of the Directorial Staff, Office of the Chief Directorial Staff; Joel Victor Canapi, Acting Executive Officer, Directorate for Comptrollership; Rolando Felix, Acting Executive Officer, Directorate for Operations; Eric Serafin Reyes, Acting Chief, National Operations Center, Directorate for Operations; Marrieto Valerio, Acting Deputy Regional Director for Administration, Police Regional Office (PRO) 6; Eddie Benigay, Acting Regional Director, Regional Internal Affairs Service 7; Sergio Dimandal, Acting Deputy Regional Director for Administration, Police Regional Office 10; Robert Quenery, Acting Deputy Regional Director for Administration, PRO Cordillera; and Noel Armilla, Acting Deputy Regional Director for Administration, PRO-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
NAPOLCOM Vice-Chairman and Executive Officer Eduardo Escueta said that also up for promotion to the Police Director rank (Major General in the military) are Chief Supt. Christopher Laxa, Acting Director for Human Resource and Doctrine Development, and Chief Supt. Dominador Aquino Jr., Acting Director for Integrated Police Operations – Eastern Mindanao.
"The Commission recommended the promotion to two-star rank of Police Chief Superintendents Laxa and Aquino since their present positions call for the rank of Police Director," Escueta said.
From the Mindanao Examiner BlogSpot site (Mar 28): NPA attacks soldier, army post in Southern Philippines
New People’s Army rebels killed a government soldier in an
attack Thursday in North Cotabato’s Magpet town and another military post in
nearby town of Makilala in southern Philippines,
officials said.
Officials said the soldier was travelling alone on a motorcycle
when he was attacked by two rebels who tailed him on motorbike in Temporan
village.
The identity of the slain soldier was not release by the
military, but media reports have named the victim as Ricardo Paghubasan
Another band of rebels also assaulted a post manned by
pro-government militias in Makilala town also in North
Cotabato, but the attack sparked a firefight. No casualties were
reported in the fighting.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA, but security
officials put the blamed on the rebel group for the two attacks.
The NPA has been waging a separatist war for many decades
now.
From the Mindanao Examiner BlogSpot site (Mar 28): Philippine military assures safety of civilians as ops vs. jihadists continue
Peace and development efforts continue in Maguindanao province as military continues campaign against Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
The Philippine military continues its offensive against
jihadists it blamed for the series of terror attacks in the restive region of Mindanao as security officials assured the safety of
civilians.
An army commander, Melquiades Feliciano, even attended the
graduation ceremony and also one of the guest speakers at MamasapanoNationalHigh School in
Maguindanao province to show that the ongoing campaign will not affect the
conduct of the commencement exercises in different schools here.
“The military gives importance to education because we
believe that it is an access to better opportunities that will bring peace and
development in Mindanao. This commencement
exercise exemplifies a milestone in seeking peace in light with recent
hostilities between the government forces and the local and foreign terrorist,”
he said.
Security forces launched fresh operations against the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and are pursuing other terrorists that
included Basit Usman, a notorious bomber.
For his part, General Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th Infantry
Division, assured the public that government troops will secure civilian areas
from lawless elements.
He said troops will also help construct more than 3 dozen
school buildings and a mosque in Maguindanao as part of the government’s peace
and development efforts in the troubled Muslim autonomous region.
Pangilinan also turned over 4 tricycles, 3 tractors, and dry
goods to the family members of civilians killed during the bloody clash between
police commandos and rebels in Mamasapano on January 25.
He also launched medical and dental mission and provided
free health services and medicines to the local residents.
From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 27): Army hunting down NPA who kills soldier, harass militia base in North Cotabato
The military here has launched manhunt operations against
communist rebels hit squad who liquidated an Army corporal in Magpet, North Cotabato Thursday, officials said Friday.
Another Army battalion is also pursuing another band of
communist guerrillas in Barangay Villaflores, Makilala after they attacked
Thursday afternoon a militia detachment.
Lt. Colonel Jose Rustia, commander of the 57th Infantry
Battalion, said manhunt is on-going in the mountains of Barangay Temporan where
Corporal Ricardo Paghubasan of Charlie Company and head of 57th IB peace and
development outreach program (PDOP) was liquidated Thursday morning.
Rustia said Paghubasan and his companion were on a motorbike
heading toward Barangay Barangay Temporan when two men, also riding tandem on
separate motorbike, flagged down the soldiers and opened fire.
“He was not in combat uniform, he has only carrying a side
arm, he was on a peace and development outreach program implementation when
waylaid by the NPAs,” Rustia said, adding that the hit squad also took
Paghubasan’s motorbike and cal. 45 pistol.
Rustia identified the suspects as NPA’s under Commander
Jazmin of Front 53. He added the NPAs were after Paghubasan’s head because he
was the team leader of the Army’s peace and development outreach program
helping villagers in NPA infiltrated communities of Magpet.
In nearby Makilala, also in North
Cotabato, NPAs harassed a militia detachment in Barangay
Villaflores on late Thursday afternoon.
About 20 NPAs tried but failed to overrun a detachment of
Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit in Barangay Villaflores.
The undermanned militia put up a fight forcing the NPAs to
retreat into the hinterlands.
Capt. Danny Boy Tapang, 39th Infantry Battalion, said the
harassment which sent jitters to residents nearby, was the NPAs way of sending
the message that “it is still a force to reckon with.”
The communist rebels is set to celebrate its foundation
anniversary on March 29.
Tapang said every time the NPAs have important days to
celebrate, they attack military installations, including soft targets like
police offices, village halls and civilian communities who refused to pay
revolutionary taxes.
"We are on alert and we seek the public support by
reporting the presence of communist guerrillas in their communities," he
said.
From the Manila Times (Mar 26): Defense, military officials control juicy contracts
TWO high-ranking officials of the Department of National
Defense (DND) are allegedly in cahoots with some officers of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) in “fixing” contracts for favored bidders, such as in
the case of the questionable procurement of 21 refurbished UH-1D helicopters.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are set to
investigate the alleged anomaly where “witnesses” are expected to surface and
“tell all” about the deal that was sealed with Rice Aircraft Services Inc.
(RASI) and its partner, Eagle Copters Ltd.
According to DND insiders, the “duo” has been on top of
big-ticket and “juicy” contracts awarded to favored bidders, among them a local
supplier of defense materials, a woman with the initials “J.M.” Sources said
the trader has a number of retired and active officials in her payroll.
Last week, The Manila Times columnist and veteran broadcast
journalist Erwin Tulfo wrote about another questionable DND decision to
purchase 28 M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) for P880 million instead of
shipping in 114 units of M113 donated by the United States.
It turned out, Tulfo said, that the 21 M113s bought from Israel, each of which costs at least P31.4
million, are APCs previously used in Belgium,
the United States and Israel.
“In my Teleradyo 5 interview with Defense Undersecretary
[Fernando] Manalo, he could not justify the DND’s decision to purchase 28 M113
APCs from Israel instead of
spending less on transporting the 114 APCs from the US,” he added.
The Manila Times sources provided several documents and
photos to back up their claim that the helicopter contract was “rigged” in
favor of RASI, owned and operated by US businessman Robert Rice.
They said biddings were declared a failure to pave the way
for a negotiated contract in favor of RASI.
Documents obtained by The Times showed that ranking
Philippine Air Force officers “guided” the contractor on how to skirt strict
rules on government procurement, which allows a negotiated deal after two
successive failed biddings.
To make the “drama” more convincing, the bidding for the 21
helicopters failed not only twice but thrice and on all occasions, RASI emerged
as the winner, only to be disqualified eventually because of a number of
“irregularities.”
The quickest and surefire way to bag the deal was to declare
a failure of bidding to relax the requirements for negotiation.
Interestingly, a bidder should have been declared
blacklisted if it was found out that it faked its requirements or lacked the
required facility and financial capacity as in the case of RASI.
The documents showed that there were two Post Qualification
(PQ) inspections conducted at the facility of Rice. The first was on March 1-8,
2013 by PAF Brig. Gen. Conrado Parra and Maj. Oliver Casuncad.
The two officials gave a very impressive Post Qualification
report but failed to satisfy government observers during deliberations on their
mission.
They found out from the first PQ that Rice has no qualified
facility and some of his documents were fake. The helicopter components were
discovered to be non-compliant with the requirements from the start but the
official report was favorable.
The second PQ inspection was conducted by on April 23-27,
2013 at Rice facility again by Parra and Casuncad, accompanied by two more PAF
officers whose findings differed from the findings of the first two officers.
The documents again showed that there were papers found to
be fraudulent but were kept away from view allegedly upon the instruction of
the two ranking DND officials. The favorable report was to avoid the
blacklisting of Rice.
Sources said Assistant Secretary Patrick Velez was informed
that the documents submitted by Rice–statement of ongoing contracts, whereby
contracts stated therein did not actually exist; audited financial statements;
and net financial contracting capacity– were fraudulent.
As a part of PQ procedure, Rice had to present all the
original documents and the individuals who signed them. In the audited
financial statements, Rice failed to present the Certified Public Accountant
who certified the report.
“They never mentioned the fake documents submitted by Rice.
This is relevant to the discussions between the PAF official and Rice’s former
representative on how to manipulate the bidding to arrive at negotiation. Velez
knew that the papers were fake but the DND resolution turned out favorable.
Rice should have been blacklisted on the second bidding,” one of The Times
sources said.
The Manila Times was given what seems to be a copy of an
authentic mail envelope addressed to Rice that contained a copy of a resolution
passed by the DND Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) 1.
The resolution states that there were failed biddings and
that it was highly recommended that “Secretary of National Defense (Voltaire
Gazmin) to resort to the adoption of an Alternative Mode of Procurement through
Negotiated Procurement.”
Stating causes for the recommendation, it was dated May 13,
2013 and signed by Undersecretary Fernando Manalo as chairman; Velez, as vice
chairman; Director Nebuchadnezzar Alejandrino as member; and Army Col. Joselito
Reyes as member.
The other members of SBAC 1 who failed to sign the
resolution were Lt. Gen. Gregorio Macapagal and Maj. Gen. Gabriel Dimatatac.
A copy of the resolution was given to Rice, proof that he
was being informed to prepare to bag the contract under a negotiated scheme,
the sources said.
Rice, by his own admission through a lawsuit in the US, claimed
that he had prior economic relationships with the Philippine government.
The Times sources said these “economic relationships” were
the beginning of his “partnership” with Philippine officials.
Opinion piece in the Manila Times (Mar 26): Clearest indications that Jabidah was a hoax (by Roberto Tiglao)
Third of a four-part series
The clearest indications that the “Jabidah massacre” – claimed to this day to have sparked the Moro rebellion – was nothing but a hoax are the contrasting fates of the alleged perpetrators and the supposed sole witness, Jibin Arula.
The “Jabidah” killings purportedly occurred under the clandestine “Operation Merdeka” in 1968, in which young Muslims were being trained to infiltrate Sabah to foment an uprising against adjacent Malaysia, so the Philippines could intervene and claim it. When one batch mutinied because of low pay, they were killed, as the made-for-movie narrative went.
Although an Air Force major, Eduardo Martelino, headed the entire operation, the training was being undertaken by the Army’s Special Forces, its elite unit established by then Capt. Fidel Ramos.
Other than the president himself, therefore, command responsibility for Operation Merdeka would have been on the armed forces chief of staff at that time.
Who was he? Gen. Manuel Yan, the youngest to be appointed to the post, and considered to have been the best and most principled Chief of Staff the country ever had. He resigned his post when martial law was imposed, declaring that he could not implement it as he thought it unconstitutional. Because of his prestige, though, Marcos convinced him to become ambassador to Thailand. President Cory Aquino subsequently appointed him as ambassador to Indonesia and then to the UK Court of St. James.
Distinguished as Yan was, would he have allowed a whitewash of an alleged Jabidah “massacre”?
President Ramos recruited Yan in 1992 as his Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, his chief negotiator with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that led to the 1996 peace settlement. Would the MNLF have talked to the ultimate commander of the Army Special Forces that massacred Muslims in Corregidor in 1968? I don’t think so.
Arula, the only “witness” to the alleged “Jabidah massacre”: Both the MNLF and the MILF, though, cared little about him, and he died forgotten in Cavite in 2010.
Well maybe, it was the Army commanding general who was the rascal?
The Army commander then was as distinguished as Yan: Gen. Romeo Espino, who went on to become the armed forces’ longest-serving chief of staff. Despite working under from 1972 to 1981, Espino had totally not been tainted by the human rights abuses during martial law. Do you think such a principled military officer would have covered up for his men’s atrocity? I don’t think so.
What happened to the officers accused by the sole witness of murdering or having ordered the killing of at least 24 Muslim youths in Corregidor?
If there were really a massacre of Muslims, you would think that Major Martelino — whom then Senator Aquino demonized as an evil kind of James Bond, the blockbuster movie at that time — would have emigrated to the United States or anywhere in the world to escape Moro wrath. After all, the thousands of MNLF fighters and relatives of those allegedly killed in Corregidor would be going after him, a fatwah in effect declared on him, right?
Martelino converted to Islam
Far from that. Martelino, after his acquittal by the court martial, went on with his military career, becoming full colonel. Even years before Jabidah, he had married a Muslim, Sofia, and converted to Islam, taking the Muslim name Abdul Latif.
After retirement, of all places to live for a man who was supposedly responsible for the Muslim youths’ massacre, Martelino settled down with his Muslim wife in the midst of the Tausugs in Simunul island in Tawi-Tawi, where he first recruited and trained for the Merdeka Muslim infiltrators.
His involvement in Operation Merdeka apparently wasn’t just another military assignment for him, but was part of his life’s cause.
He wrote a book in 1959 entitled “Someday Malaysia,” published in New York, which even United Nations General Secretary Carlos Romulo prefaced and called a “valuable contribution” to scholarship. By “Malaysia,” Martelino wasn’t referring to the Federation of Malaysia, which would be founded only in 1963. He referred to a “Union” he said President Manuel Quezon first conceived: “A prosperous world unit comprising the nations of Southeast Asia inhabited by the Malayan race. Burma, Thailand, Annam, Malaya, Indonesia and the Philippines leagued in an integrated commonwealth.”
And the other officers who were accused by the sole whistleblower Arula of killing the Muslim recruits?
They all went on to have distinguished military careers, the Jabidah accusations against them forgotten. Other than Martelino, Arula — a barely literate former farmer — had filed charges against five officers, who were then tried in a court martial and acquitted. We were able to trace what happened to each.
Then captain Teodoro Facelo, whom the alleged witness Arula claimed recruited him, became a full colonel, and served as the second commander of the Army’s 503rd infantry brigade in the late 1980s. This brigade had been distinguished for its successful campaigns against the New People’s Army — with not a single human rights case filed against its members.
Then Capt. Oropesa rose to the rank of general. Following is the last report on him that I got: On June 26, 2014 – “The 11th Special Forces team, composed of Gen. Cirilo O. Oropesa AFP (Ret), Maj-Gen. Jose Magno Jr. AFP (Ret), Maj-Gen. Rodolfo Canieso AFP (Ret), Gen. Rodrigo Ordoyo AFP (Ret), was honored for their significant role in the training and organization of the 1st Special Forces Company led by then Capt. Fidel V Ramos.”
Lt. Eduardo Batalla got to be brigadier general, and in 1989 was the Philippine Constabulary Commander for Western Mindanao. He was murdered, together with several other officers, by Muslim rogue cop Rizal Alih who took them hostage in a prison break.
Capt. Ruperto Amistoso became a full colonel when he retired, and was recruited in 1990 by Gen. Jose Almonte as the Intelligence and Investigation Services chief of the crack anti-smuggling unit at that time, the Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau. Capt. Alberto G. Soteco wasn’t really a military man but a doctor, who, after volunteering for the Philcag contingent in Korea was assigned to the Special Forces’ detachment in Corregidor. He left the military right after they were acquitted by the court martial.
Are these the kind of officers who would undertake a ruthless massacre in Corregidor in 1968?
Lt. Abadilla?
That a Lt. Rolando Abadilla was one of the accused has been taken by Jabidah propagandists as an indication of the ruthlessness of those who were supposed to be guilty of the alleged massacre, since he became notorious in the 1980s as Marcos Metrocom chief. But in Corregidor he was merely a supply officer. Would Marcos have taken as his top henchman a military man whose head would have been put by the MNLF on a bounty because of “Jabidah”?
The only really pathetic figure here in this entire saga is Jibin Arula, the only one who claimed he was an eyewitness to a massacre.
When the Jabidah controversy waned, in part because of the ridicule later heaped on it as “a massacre without the massacred,” Arula’s patron, Cavite governor (a Liberal) Delfin Montano, and the Liberal Party who exploited the issue for purposes of the 1969 elections, discarded him like a used rag after Marcos won the elections.
According to Arula’s own account, Montano gave him P20,000 to leave and fend for himself.
As the sole witness to what was supposedly a historic event that fueled growth of the Moro rebellion, he would have been taken in by the MNLF, even secured him in Malaysia, or for the MILF, to relocate him to one of its many camps in Maguindanao, right?
Nope. He settled in Antique with another woman, leaving his wife in Bonggao, an island in the Sulu archipelago. He would have seven children on that Visayan island and people there didn’t even know he was Muslim as he regularly attended mass in the village’s church.
That the MNLF, MILF, Senator Aquino and the entire opposition Liberal Party cared little for Arula, the only person who “exposed” the “Jabidah massacre” obviously means that they knew something the rest of the country didn’t.
MNLF chairman Nur Misuari, when he got to be ARMM governor, recruited him in 1997 for an assignment with a monthly salary of P7,000, to narrate when asked his Jabidah allegations at forums on the Moro issue. He spoke only at a few of those forums, though. He became jobless when Misuari ended his term in 2000.
Arula resurfaced in 2007, and was interviewed by several obviously gullible journalists (even featured in a documentary by Al-Jazeera) and invited to forums by NGOs at that time during the propaganda campaign for a peace settlement with the MILF.
When his wife died sometime in the mid-2000s, he went to Cavite and was given odd jobs by the son of Melencio Sagun, the chief of police in Naic, Cavite in 1968 who purportedly “found” him after his dramatic escape from Corregidor.
Arula died in a vehicular accident in 2010, which Aquino’s organizers of a planned Jabidah commemorative event found out only in 2011, when they were looking for him as their star participant.
Nobody even knows where he is buried; no relative of his has come out. Not the MNLF, nor the MILF has ever mentioned him again.
Conclusion of this series on Monday: The National Historical Commission resists Aquino’s pressures on the “Jabidah” issue.
Opinion piece in the Manila Times (Mar 25): Only Aquino was fooled by ‘Jabidah’ hoax (by Roberto Tiglao)
Second of Three Parts
It’s not just former police chief Alan Purisima and Special Action Force (SAF) chief Director Getulio Napeñas—key characters in the Mamasapano drama—who have managed to fool President Benigno Aquino 3rd, leading to the massacre of 44 elite police commandos.
This arrogant, yet gullible president, out of all five chief commanders of the country’s armed forces after Marcos, has also fallen hook, line and sinker for the hoax called the “Jabidah massacre.”
According to this yarn, “24 and even as many as 200” young Muslims who were being trained under “Operation Merdeka” were massacred by Army Special Operations troops when they mutinied.
Merdeka (Freedom) was purportedly a Marcos plan to infiltrate Sabah with Filipino Muslim guerillas to foment an uprising against Malaysia.
Aquino, in his speech at the very first “commemoration” of the Jabidah fiction on Corregidor island in 2013, ordered the National Historical Commission to put Jabidah in our history books and to install a commemorative marker on it in Corregidor, together with a Garden of Peace.
Two years later the Commission has done neither, and it hasn’t authorized whatever is there. There is an unauthorized plaque on “Jabidah,” though, in Corregidor stuck on a World War II bunker, with the tasteless annotation: “Donated by Hon. Majiv Hataman,” with a facsimile of his signature. Hataman is a Liberal Party stalwart who was elected as governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
It didn’t cross the minds of those nincompoops who participated in the “commemoration” in 2013 and last March 18 that of all massacres in modern history, not a single victim has been identified as having been killed in the so-called Jabidah carnage.
Foreground, unauthorized marker on “Jabidah” screwed on (background) a World War II bunker in Corregidor with the ‘epal’ “donated-by” note.
There were four named martyrs in the “Battle of Mendiola Bridge” that sparked a student uprising in the 1970s. There were 13 identified martyrs killed in the Mendiola Massacre during Cory Aquino’s watch in 1987. There were 58 killed, all with names, in the Maguindanao Massacre in 2009. There were 44 police commandos killed in the Mamasapano massacre, and the six civilian casualties were identified.
Not a single Jabidah victim identified
There is not a single identified victim in the “Jabidah Massacre.”
No one has claimed that his brother, husband, son, a kinsman of the nth degree, or even a friend was among those killed in the purported massacre. Moro propagandists would not even dare paying a scoundrel to claim to pretend he had a Jabidah-massacre relative.
This is astonishing, especially because of the well-known and feared practice of rido among Muslims in Mindanao. Either based on religion or just tribal culture, this tradition requires the family of a murdered person to exact vengeance, even against just the relatives of the perpetrator, and runs across generations.
Neither the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) nor the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sent congratulatory messages for the 2013 anniversary when the “massacre” supposedly occurred and the government’s position on it.
Even as so many writers have routinely claimed—falsely—that Jabidah sparked the “Moro war of liberation,” the two organizations knew full well that it was a fabrication, but have opportunistically remained silent on the issue as it has roused anger among the Muslim youth. The rhetoric of a Jabidah massacre has vanished in official MNLF and MILF documents, although it has been resuscitated by younger Moro politicians notably ARMM governor Hataman.
Not Aquino’s mother Cory, not Ramos, Estrada, nor Arroyo had ever talked about Jabidah, much less order it put in our history books.
When she assumed office, Cory Aquino called for an official investigation into the Jabidah massacre. Nothing came of it, not even the organization of a body to do the investigation. An official close to Aquino had told me: “It didn’t take too long to realize Jabidah was a propaganda hoax, that it was best to keep quiet about it, though, so as not to rile the Moro militants.”
Former president Fidel V. Ramos would have known what really happened, as he was Presidential Assistant for Military Affairs from 1968 to 1969. The Jabidah accusations were officially hurled not at then President Marcos, but the armed forces. The accusations, if true, would have been really personal for Ramos: He founded the Army’s Special Forces Regiment, whose officers were accused of the alleged massacre in 1968, only a few years after he ended his stint as commander of the elite force.
Ramos could have made his negotiations for a final settlement with the MNLF in 1996 easier if he had played to the Moro insurgent gallery—as Aquino is doing now— and declared that his peace pact made the sacrifice of those killed in “Jabidah’ worthwhile. He didn’t, for he knew Jabidah was a hoax.
Part of the Jabidah urban legend, a confusion even written about by scholars, is that Marcos, with his martial law, managed to suppress the controversy.
But the Jabidah accusations broke out in March 1968, more than four years before martial law was declared and during what was actually the golden age of Philippine democratic institutions—the Congress and the Press—which Marcos could not have browbeaten.
The best and the brightest probers
The Senate, in fact, at that time was not just opposition-dominated but manned by the most respected and intelligent senators ever, who could not be cowed by Marcos, among them — other than Senator Ninoy Aquino — Jovito Salonga, Gerardo Roxas, Arturo Tolentino, Jose Diokno, Lorenzo Tanada, Raul Manglapus, Emmanuel Pelaez, Eva Estrada Kalaw. There never, in fact, has been again such a more capable, articulate and principled Senate as they during the Jabidah controversy.
The professionalism, courage and sheer intelligence of journalists in newspapers and TV stations (despite their anti-Marcos biases) like the Manila Times, the Manila Chronicle, and the ABS-CBN network at that time have, in fact, not been seen again.
Tell me, would this kind of Senate and this kind of press – the best and the brightest in our history—be cowed by Marcos and let the issue die down?
Only if they realized it was a hoax. In fact, Jabidah swiftly receded from public consciousness by the end of 1968, with the report that a martial court in February 1971 acquitted the accused officers treated only as a minor inside-page news story.
As supported by facts, I have written in this series, what Jabidah was probably really about was the following, which I’ve deduced using certain details the sole witness Jibin Arula provided:
The Liberal Party around late 1967 learned that Marcos was covertly executing the clandestine military operation for the country to eventually wrest Sabah from Malaysia.
It was Liberal Party Cavite governor Delfin Montano who uncovered it, since it was Lino Bocalan who was providing the logistics and finances for the operation in Corregidor. Montano was closely monitoring Bocalan since his former crony he helped to become the biggest cigarette smuggler in Cavite had defected to Marcos’ side and planned to run against him in the 1969 elections. (Bocalan won.)
Liberal Party strategists thought it could be an issue that would be fatal for Marcos in the then coming 1969 elections. Malaysia would almost certainly protest the operation that risked a war, and even raise it in the UN, making Marcos unpopular.
The Liberals had one big problem, though. If they revealed it through the media, they would be accused of betraying the nation, exposing a secret operation against Malaysia intended, after all, to claim what was really Philippine soil.
However, they would appear to be merely doing their job as the opposition, if rather than just Operation Merdeka, they would protest the killing of Filipino Muslims who decided to leave their training course.
They were even careful not to call for a press conference for their “expose.” On March 25, 1968, just five days after Jabidah supposedly happened, Governor Montano and his lawyers accompanied Arula to file a frustrated murder case against the Special Forces officers in a Cavite court. It was reported only as a minor story first, until Muslim Liberal Party congressmen raised a howl over it, and Ninoy delivered his Jabidah speech March 28.
What an opposition Ninoy and the Liberal Party were! For politics they betrayed the nation, in effect ratting on our country to the Malaysians.
It, however, had two other terrible unintended horrible consequences for the nation.
First, it was really the main reason why the Moro problem has become such a huge one for the nation. It gave the Muslim youth a cause célèbre, indeed a casus belli that roused their anger to join the then secessionist MNLF. Upon learning that the Philippines was serious in claiming Sabah by fomenting a revolt against it, Malaysia similarly retaliated by funding and actively supporting a Moro uprising. The MNLF’s break-away group, the MILF, would grow into such a huge military force it was able to massacre 44 commandos at will, and now claims swathes of central Mindanao as its territory, which for our military to enter needs the group’s permission (“coordination”).
Second, it was an ingredient for Marcos to impose a dictatorship three years later. It convinced the military from its top brass down to the foot soldier that we have such an unprincipled opposition that would even betray the nation just to gain power. Together with the Plaza Miranda bombing two years later in 1971 – which the military was convinced was a communist plot that involved Ninoy, since he missed it — it became easy for Marcos to convince the armed forces, even then PC Chief Ramos and Chief of Staff Espino, that our style of democracy wasn’t working with that kind of opposition, and that they should support as they did, a dictatorship.
Next week: The fate of the sole Jabidah witness and the accused Special Forces officers, and why exposing Jabidah as a hoax is important for our nation’s future.
