900 JTF-NCR personnel to help secure Black Nazarene Procession

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): 900 JTF-NCR personnel to help secure Black Nazarene Procession

Nine hundred military personnel will be augmenting Philippine National Police (PNP) units tasked to secure this year's Black Nazarene Procession in Quiapo, Manila this Saturday.

These officers and enlisted personnel will be under the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR), said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla.

He added these military personnel, who are coming from the Army, Air Force and Navy, will be equipped with search-and-rescue, explosive ordnance disposal, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear equipment for possible contingencies.

JTF-NCR personnel will also be aided in their security task by K-9 units, medical and communication teams.

And if needed, military vehicles and helicopters are also available.

Padilla said JTF-NCR personnel will be deploy in five task groups which are divided into logistics, covert security, overt security, disaster response operations and communications.

The security protocols will be similar to the ones used during Pope Francis' visit and APEC Economic Leaders' Summit.

Padilla also said that AFP intelligence units are to detect any threats for Saturday's festivities.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=843553

US Pacific Fleet shrinks even as China grows more aggressive

From the Stars & Stripes (Jan 5): US Pacific Fleet shrinks even as China grows more aggressive

When the U.S. wanted to show the world it didn't recognize what it called China's "excessive" territorial claims in disputed waters of the South China Sea this fall, it sent a warship near one of Beijing's newly built artificial reefs.

The move came amid a debate about whether the U.S. has enough ships to meet challenges posed by a fast-growing, increasingly assertive Chinese navy that is unsettling some of its neighbors. In its latest move, China announced last week that it would build its second aircraft carrier, this one with domestic technology.

The Navy and its regional component, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, both have fewer ships now than in the mid-1990s. Navy officials say vastly improved technology on those vessels outweighs any disadvantage from a drop in numbers.

Questions about whether the Pacific Fleet has enough resources are more of a reflection of regional anxieties than the Navy's actual capability, said its commander, Adm. Scott Swift.

Even if the entire fleet were in the South China Sea, he said, he'd still get asked whether the U.S. was bringing more forces.

"It's this sense of angst that I hear from those in the region, driven by the uncertainty and the rhetoric and, you know, the challenges that the region is facing right now," Swift said. "But I'm very comfortable with the resources I have."

An expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank said the issue in peacetime is whether there are enough American vessels to reassure friends and allies and demonstrate U.S. capacity to use power when it needs to.

In wartime, it comes down to whether enough platforms survive missile strikes to carry on their work, Peter Jennings said.

"I think this is emerging as a serious long-term problem," he said.

The Pacific Fleet currently has 182 vessels, including combat ships like aircraft carriers as well as auxiliary and logistics vessels, said spokesman Cmdr. Clay Doss. That compares to 192 nearly two decades ago.

Around the world, the Navy has 272 ships usable in combat or to support ships in combat, nearly 20 percent less than 1998. The current total includes 10 aircraft carriers.

Swift said he would rather have the Navy he has today — and its advanced technology — than the Navy of two decades ago.

He pointed to the USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer upgraded with new ballistic missile defenses, as well as three new stealth destroyers, the DDG-1000, in the pipeline, as examples.

One consequence of a smaller fleet has been more time at sea. Retired Adm. Zap Zlatoper, who commanded Pacific Fleet in the 1990s, said six-month deployments used to be "sacrosanct" as anything longer made it harder for the Navy to retain sailors.

Ships now deploy for an average of seven to nine months, though the Navy plans to lower this to seven.

Ship conditions have also suffered. The USS Essex left an exercise with Australia early in 2011 and skipped another with Thailand the following year because it developed mechanical problems after delaying maintenance to stay at sea.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank, said these are signs the status quo is unsustainable.

In a November report, Clark outlined alternatives: build more ships, though this would require money Congress may not give the Navy or deploy less, though the Pentagon has been reluctant to accept less of an overseas presence.

The other choices: keep more ships at overseas bases where they would be closer to where they operate or mix up how ships deploy, for example by sending fewer escorts with an aircraft carrier which would free some ships to operate separately.

China's People's Liberation Army Navy has more than 300 surface ships, submarines, amphibious ships and patrol craft, according to the Pentagon's Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Strategy report released in August.

China's coast guard and other maritime law enforcement fleet, meanwhile, has upward of 200 ships — more than the combined fleets of neighbors with competing claims to tiny islands in the East and South China Seas.

The U.S. Coast Guard has about 280 cutters, or vessels at least 65 feet in length, though they primarily operate stateside.

China has also grown more aggressive in asserting its claims to disputed territory. Since December 2013, it's built what the U.S. estimates to be 3,000 acres of artificial islands in the South China Sea using sand dredged from the ocean floor.

China has said the islands are meant to help ships, fishermen and disaster relief.

The U.S. says the islands will enable China to expand its maritime law enforcement and naval presence further south. It worries China could use them to disrupt sea traffic in the South China Sea, a thoroughfare for 30 percent of global maritime trade.

Some of China's ships are rudimentary, like its existing aircraft carrier.

But Narushige Michishita, Japan scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the lay person doesn't know this so the vessels have the same psychological effect on the public as more advanced ones.

Further, he said U.S. forces are spread around the world while China is focused on its own neighborhood.

"So even if the United States spends much more than China, it doesn't mean the local balance stays the same. The local balance in Asia is rapidly changing," Michishita said.

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/us-pacific-fleet-shrinks-even-as-china-grows-more-aggressive-1.387165

CA affirms writs of amparo, habeas corpus for rights lawyer

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 4): CA affirms writs of amparo, habeas corpus for rights lawyer
THE COURT of Appeals has affirmed its decision granting protection orders to an Isabela-based human rights lawyer who claimed she was subjected to surveillance and harassment by the police and military for providing legal assistance to political detainees in Northern Luzon.

In a 7-page resolution dated Dec. 2, 2015, the appellate court’s Special Former Sixth Division denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the Office of the Solicitor General on behalf of the respondents, including Chief Supt. Miguel de Mayo Laurel, the acting regional police chief of Cagayan Valley, then Philippine Army chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri, then military intelligence chief Gen. Eduardo Año, and then AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.

In its ruling written by Justice Romeo Barza, the appeals tribunal affirmed its March 2015 decision granting writs of amparo and habeas data to Maria Catherine Dannug-Salucon by reason of substantial evidence, adding that there existed a “unique circumstance necessitating the relaxation of the hearsay rule” in her favor.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/752335/ca-affirms-writs-of-amparo-habeas-corpus-for-rights-lawyer

Philippines Looks to Arm Its New Fighter Jets

From The Diplomat (Jan 4): Philippines Looks to Arm Its New Fighter Jets

Manila is moving forward with purchasing ammunition for its new jets from South Korea.

The Philippine military will look to purchase more than 100 million pesos ($5.77 million) worth of ammunition for two of its new fighter aircraft from South Korea, defense officials confirmed this week.

As I reported for The Diplomat in December, the Philippines had received the first two of a dozen new FA-50 jets it had ordered from South Korea, with the remaining jets expected to be delivered through 2017. As I indicated then, the jets were still unarmed and Philippine defense officials had indicated that getting them combat ready would require some additional time.

This week, Col. Restituto Padilla, spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), confirmed that as part of an existing arms acquisition package for the aircraft, the Philippine military would look to acquire 93,600 rounds of 20 mm ammunition as part of efforts to make the jets combat ready. The purchase, Padilla said, would cost P106.138 million and will be sourced from the AFP Modernization Act Trust Fund.

“Part of the procurement process is the armament system for our FA-50 fighters. This purchase is part of the arms acquisition package for our aircraft,” Padilla said, according to local media outlets.

Padilla also added that the military had also allocated over P33 million ($700,000) for the fighter jets’ countermeasures project. The Department of National Defense (DND) will reportedly be purchasing 17,280 RR-170 Chaffs and 8,640 MJU-7 infrared flares with impulsive cartridges for the Elbit Elisra countermeasure dispenser system of the fighter jets.

A pre-bid conference has been scheduled for January 6 at the DND bids and awards committee conference room in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. The winning bidder will be required to deliver the ammunition within 360 calendar days.

The 12 FA-50 Golden Eagle jet fighters were acquired from Korean Aerospace Inc. (KAI) for 18.9 billion pesos ($402 million) last year (See: “South Korea, Philippines Deepen Military Ties”). That deal is part of an ongoing military modernization program which has taken off under President Benigno Aquino III, whose tenure expires this year.

As I have noted before, Philippine officials have said that the FA-50 – technically classified as a light combat aircraft – will only act as the country’s “interim fighter” until Manila gets both enough familiarity with operating such jets and additional funding that will pave the way for the acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft. The longer term goal is to develop a full combat wing by 2028.

http://thediplomat.com/2016/01/philippines-looks-to-arm-its-new-fighter-jets/

AFP to deploy 900 soldiers for Nazarene procession

From the Philippine Star (Jan 5): AFP to deploy 900 soldiers for Nazarene procession

The military will dedicate about 900 soldiers for the procession of the image of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of devotees.

Armed Forces spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla said the soldiers would come from the Joint Task Force National Capital Region (NCR) based in Camp Aguinaldo. He said most of the soldiers would be deployed to the venue of the procession while others will be part of the standby force.

“They have the necessary equipment and we will also provide transportation and mobility requirements,” Padilla said in a press conference Tuesday.

“Our colleagues are continuously coordinating with the national (organizing) committee and the PNP (Philippine National Police),” he added.

Padilla said the Joint Task Force NCR would also activate five support task groups for logistics, covert security which would involve soldiers in civilian clothes, overt operations, which will be handled by military personnel in uniform, disaster response operations and communications.

He said soldiers would also be provided with equipment for biological and chemical hazards, explosives and search and rescue. Helicopters and trucks will also be deployed when necessary.

Padilla said security forces have not monitored any threat that would disrupt the procession. He, however, admitted that crowd control remains a concern.

“The most serious concern we are expecting is the crowd control. This has caused injuries because the devotees were overwhelmed by their emotions,” the military spokesman said.

Padilla said the Joint Task Force NCR may be placed on red alert to ensure enough manpower during the event. A red alert entails the cancelation of all leaves of absence. Supporting military units, meanwhile, may declare a blue alert, which places half of the troops on standby.

The January 9 event is called the Traslacion and commemorates the transfer of the Black Nazarene image to Quiapo from Intramuros in the 18th century. Contrary to popular belief, it does not celebrate the feast of the Black Nazarene. The feast of the image of Jesus Christ carrying the cross is celebrated every Good Friday.

The Black Nazarene is a life-size image of Jesus clad in maroon robe, wearing a crown of thorns and carrying a big wooden cross in a semi-kneeling position.

The image, which has survived earthquakes, fires, bombings and floods, is believed to be miraculous.

Many devotees brave the huge crowds to attend the Traslacion to seek forgiveness for their sins and to ask favors.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/05/1539520/afp-deploy-900-soldiers-nazarene-procession

Davao City election officer reiterates call on candidates not to yield to NPA’s PTC

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): Davao City election officer reiterates call on candidates not to yield to NPA’s PTC

The city election officer here warned candidates not to yield to extortion that goes along with the permits to campaign (PTC), to post and to win, by the communist rebels or they will be disqualified from joining the political race.

City Election Officer Danilo Cullo reiterated the warning issued by the national poll body in Manila not to give in to the demands of the rebels.

“The Commission on Elections in Manila has already issued the warning for all political candidates not to support this scheme by the insurgents,” he said.

He said that just like vote buying, someone must have to witness in court and attest that such situation really happened.

Cullo underscored the five main prohibitions as provided by the Omnibus Election Code from January 10 to the Election Day on May 9 ranging from the alteration and establishment of new precincts, transfer or movement of civil service personnel, use of bodyguards by candidates unless authorized by the poll body, gun ban and suspension of elected local officials.

He explained that the transfer or movement of civil service personnel might impact on the results of the elections.

Cullo said that the movement of poll body personnel during the election period could be one of the exemptions aimed at avoiding the familiarity of the election personnel to the candidates.

“A reshuffle of poll body personnel might start on the second week of January, 2016 starting from the Regional Election Director to the election officers in cities, provinces and municipalities,” he said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=843476

Manhunt on vs. killers of North Cotabato village chieftain

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): Manhunt on vs. killers of North Cotabato village chieftain

Police and military forces are now hunting down four men who ambushed and killed a village chieftain here on Tuesday morning.

Brig.Gen. Noel Clement, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said soldiers have been sent to the village of Silik and Ginatilan, both in Pikit to help the police in hunting down the attackers of Pecson Alang Mangansakan, 60, chairman of Barangay Silik.

Chief Insp. Sindatuk Karim, Pikit police chief, said the victim was driving a village-owned Susuki multicab with his wife Marela enroute to the Barangay Poblacion when the ambush took place.

Karim said pursuit operation is still on going against the suspects who reportedly fled to Barangay Silik.

Quoting witnesses, Karim said two motorbikes, each with two men on board, were seen tailing Mangansakan from Silik.

As Mangansakan and his wife were approaching Barangay Ginatilan along a dirt road, one of two men on a motorcycle shot the village official three times.

Mangansakan was hit in the head, chest and body but his wife was unharmed.

Village watchmen of Barangay Ginatilan responded and engaged the gunmen in a brief firefight until the suspects fled.

Villagers also rushed Mangansakan to Cruzado Medical Clinic in Barangay Poblacion but the official was declared dead on arrival.

Karim said the slain Mangansakan is the uncle of Pikit Vice Mayor Don Mangansakan who is running for mayor in May elections.

"We could not say if this is election related, we are still investigating deeper," Karim said, adding that the slain village chief also survived an ambush few years ago.

Karim also appealed to the relatives of Mangansakan to allow the law to take its course.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=843460

F-27 transport aircraft up for structural repairs

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): F-27 transport aircraft up for structural repairs
 

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is allocating a sum of PHP39,485,000 for the structural repair of one of its three Fokker F-27 "Friendship" transport aircraft.

The submission and opening of bids is set on Friday, 9:00 a.m. at the PAF Procurement Center Conference Room, Villamor Air Base, Pasay City.

To undergo structural repair is PAF's F-27 with tail number 10669.

The said aircraft was damaged after a failed landing at the Legazpi Airport, Albay on May 11, 2015.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=843303

AFP hopeful rebels will negotiate peace settlement with gov't

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): AFP hopeful rebels will negotiate peace settlement with gov't

Despite four New People's Army (NPA) attacks during the Yuletide truce, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is still hopeful the rebels will negotiate with the government for lasting and genuine peace.

"We are serious about talking peace, we are not recording the errors they committed, as part of the grounds we can use not to initiate talks," AFP spokesperson Col. Restituto Padilla said in an interview.

The rebels conducted three harassment attacks in military units in eastern Mindanao last Dec. 23 and another raid in the Southern Luzon Command last Jan. 1.

All attacks were repelled without serious losses to government forces.

This is in violation of the rebel-declared truce which started last Dec. 23 and ended midnight of Jan. 3.

Despite breaking their word, Padilla said the government remains committed to forging a lasting peace pact with the rebels.

"Our national government remains on the negotiating table, so if they are serious, they should come back," he said.

Padilla added there is a "good side" to the Yuletide season harassment as it indicated rebel leaders have lost some of control on their operatives on the ground.

"So this is a sign that we have to see as an opening, that we should negotiate with those on the ground instead of negotiating with those up there," he said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=843385

Marcos sees reopening of Mamasapano probe to affect BBL passage

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): Marcos sees reopening of Mamasapano probe to affect BBL passage

Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday the reopening of the Senate inquiry into the 2015 Mamasapano incident will affect the passage of the proposed Bangamoro Basic Law (BBL) if new issues will arise during the reinvestigation.

”I think it will affect if there is new information that will come out,” Marcos said in a media interview at the sideline of his visit in Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City.

Last Monday, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano announced that the Senate Committee on Rules has granted the request of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile to reopen the bloody Mamasapano encounter between the elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25 last year.

Enrile was in detention for plunder charges in connection with the pork barrel scam when the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Senator Grace Poe conducted inquiries into the incident that left 44 SAF commandos dead.

The 91-year-old lawmaker got temporary freedom only last August and four months later, he moved to reinvestigate the incident to clarify what the government did during the 11-hour encounter.

Despite the reopening of the Mamasapano investigation, Marcos said the plenary debates on the BBL’s substitute bill, the Basic Law on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR), can proceed.

”We can continue our deliberations on the BLBAR,” Marcos said.

He said the reopening of the Mamasapano probe will provide justice to the families of the SAF commandos killed in the encounter that took place while the government forces were on a mission to arrest international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan. The bomb expert was killed in the operation.

”To give justice to the victims, we have to look back on what really happened, we have to know who should be charged and perhaps provide the Justice department with all the information so it can act swiftly on this,” Marcos said.

Meanwhile, Poe welcomed the decision of the Rules Committee to give go-signal for the additional hearings.

”It's good that the Rules Committee gave a go-signal that additional hearing/s can be called, in response to Minority Leader Enrile's request to call such, citing his personal information, and possibly new evidence,” Poe said in a press statement.

Poe said the reopening of the Mamasapano probe “will not affect or void our earlier findings.”

Poe set the additional hearing on Jan. 25 at the session hall of the Philippine Senate.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=843422

PNP plans weapons upgrade

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5): PNP plans weapons upgrade

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has programmed the procurement of M4-type platform basic assault rifles under its Annual Procurement Plans for 2014 and 2015, Police Director Juanito B. Vaño Jr., PNP Director for Logistics said on Tuesday.

Vaño said the modern 5.56mm M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle, and is currently in service in the military and law enforcement services around the world.

He said the M4 is totally different from the 7.62mm M14 infantry rifle developed in the 1960s.

“The Annual Procurement Plans for the calendar years 2014 and 2015 of the PNP had programmed for the procurement of M4 type platform basic assault rifles caliber 5.56mm and not M14 rifles as reported in a recent publication by a national daily,” Vaño explained.

During a recent provincial sortie in Zamboanga City, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento, announced plans to replace M16 rifles in the PNP inventory with the modern M4 carbine.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=843423

Gains in anti-insurgency to be sustained next year

From the Bicol Mail (Jan 3): Gains in anti-insurgency to be sustained next year

Military forces in Bicol are looking at 2016 as another bright year for its anti-insurgency campaign that marked in 2015 a remarkable success leading to the formal declaration of four of the region’s six provinces as already peaceful and ready for further development.

The Philippine Army (PA) said that along with the entire security sector of the government, it  would be putting more pressure to the remaining units of the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Bicol so that within 2016 the region is cleared of insurgency and all its provinces declared as “conflict manageable and ready for further development” (CMRFD) areas.

A CMRFD area is where anti-insurgency efforts of the government are shifted from clearing of barangays from insurgent affectation supported by socio-economic development to a reverse role.

It is formalized through a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and a particular provincial government following a recommendation by the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) supported by a resolution passed by the provincial legislative board.

The PPOC recommendation is based on decreased violent activities of the NPA, the reduction of its potential support system in the barangays and its failed recovery efforts—meaning “the local NPA organizations have been reduced to a minimal level that they can no longer pose a serious threat to peace and order in the locality”.

It is a sad fact according to the military that the 45-year old insurgency being waged by the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) has been preventing the progress and economic development of all affected localities in Bicol and in the country.

“We can now reverse the situation in CMRFD areas as the MOU emphasizes the implementation of more socio-economic and development projects to be implemented by the civil government with the continuous support and protection of the military,” said Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Quidilla, commanding general of the PA’s 9th Infantry (Spear) Division (ID) based in Pili, Camarines Sur.

The four Bicol provinces now under these declarations are Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Albay, leaving behind Sorsogon and Masbate.

For Catanduanes, the MOU governing the province’s CMRFD declaration was signed in late December 2014; followed last January by Camarines Norte; then by Camarines Sur and Albay.

These MOUs, according to Quidilla bring great pleasure for it is a proof that efforts of the government and its armed forces to restore peace and tranquility in the provinces have not been put in vain.

At least these first four Bicol provinces are now provided with space where the people can feel safe and grow as progressive communities and Quidilla said the AFP wants this environment expanded down to Sorsogon and Masbate.

The AFP has been maintaining the presence of the PA for about 16 years now in Bicol with its 9th ID manning the internal security of the region from the activities of the NPA.

This PA ID is in command of three infantry brigades composed of eight infantry battalions and seven support units, including an engineering battalion distributed in all the six provinces of the region.

In over 40 years, Bicol’s opportunity to advance to progress with its vast mineral deposits, agricultural lands, rich fishing grounds, exotic tourist destinations, rich natural resources and hard-working people has been stalled by unstable peace situation owing to the presence of the NPAs and the culture of violence it has developed among local communities.

They prevent the implementation of government infrastructure projects, harass mining companies, extort money in form of “revolutionary taxes” from businessmen, contractors and even from farmers, and execute those who refuse to remit including innocent civilians and civilian government officials.

Now, the strength of the rebels in the four provinces has been significantly reduced paving the way for the CMRFD declaration, Quidilla said.

In the case of Sorsogon, the PA’s 31st Infantry Battalion (IB) assigned in the province has said that each rebel unit presently operating within the so called “guerilla zones” has dwindled to only a handful of demoralized combatants not capable of any major anti-government operations.

According to 31st IB commander, Lt. Col. Beerjenson Aquino, the weakening and demoralization of the province’s NPA were rendered by massive military operations that resulted to the recent clearing of the remaining 13 barangays that served as the rebels’ last stand.

As an added punch to Sorsogon NPAs, their two most prominent leaders—Andres Hubilla and Felix Marcayda, Jr. recently fell into the hands of lawmen.

Aquino said that while there have been some incidents of harassment initiated recently by armed men believed to be NPA rebels against military installations in the province, those were just minor operations intended to show their presence in efforts to collect from candidates in the 2016 general elections “permit-to-campaign and permit-to-win” fees.

In fact, the PA commander said the AFP since lately has been preparing for the declaration of Sorsogon as the fifth of Bicol’s six provinces under the CMRFD area.

Various indicators are being considered in placing the province under this declaration and the most significant were the dramatic decrease in numbers of barangays affected or influenced by the NPA, actual number of armed insurgents and insurgency-related crime volume, Aquino said.

According to Quidilla, it is impressing that the security sector has been able to achieve significant gains in addressing the threat situation in the province of Sorsogon and the Bicol region obviously resulting from concerted efforts of different stakeholders in addressing social problems.

Bicol is now on its way towards becoming a region of peace, progress, and prosperity with the island of Masbate as the remaining province classified as highly infested by the NPA—“a situation that we would by all means address in 2016,” he added.

http://www.bicolmail.com/2012/?p=24062

The current Philippine condition is fertile for social change — CPP

Posted to the often pro-CPP Northern Dispatch (Jan 3): The current Philippine condition is fertile for social change — CPP

BAGUIO CITY — In a statement posted in its website and furnished to the media, the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on its 47th founding anniversary pronounced that the crisis of the world capitalist system is worsening and the Philippines is one of the few countries in which the illusion of economic growth is conjured from time to time by large inflows of portfolio investments and still, the country suffers from an abrupt economic downturn.

The CPP stated that the economic, social and political crisis in the Philippines is fertile ground for the advance of the revolutionary movement. The organization also stated that because of the heavy burden of escalating oppression and exploitation, the people are driven to protest and rebel. “The crisis conditions easily lead to revolutionary resistance because there is a growing revolutionary party of the proletariat that exposes the increasing inability of the ruling system to rule in the old way and that arouses, organizes and mobilizes the people to take the road of revolution,” said the CPP.

The CPP explained that under monopoly capitalism particularly in a United States (US) dictated Philippine economic policies, the drive to extract higher profit by squeezing wages and adopting higher technology inevitably leads to and further aggravates the crisis of overproduction. The revolutionary movement stated although the expansion of money supply and credit in an attempt to override the crisis, raises the profits and asset values of the monopoly bourgeoisie, bails out the banks and big corporations, artificially raises consumption and boosts military production ahead of the recovery of civil production and employment, it generates at the same time bigger financial bubbles resulting in worse financial crises on top of the current worsening economic crisis.

The CPP stated that the biggest gainers under the present administration of President Benigno Aquino III backed by US are the foreign banks and corporation and the big comprador firms. “Their interests are in banking, insurance, real estate development, infrastructures, shopping malls, semi-manufacturing, mining, logging, plantations and the like. Public-private partnerships favor big comprador companies and foreign suppliers in infrastructure and energy projects.

As a result, the wealth of the 10 richest Filipinos has risen exponentially from P650 billion in 2010 to P2.2 trillion in 2015. Top-level corruption of the Aquino ruling clique and its business favorites is frequently exposed, with particular instances of corruption involving hundreds of millions and even billions of pesos” were detailed in the statement copy.

The revolutionary organization also mentioned that social inequalities have worsened as unemployment increases, the real income of the workers and even the middle social strata have decreased, and the prices of basic commodities have risen, and social services have deteriorated, and public utility charges have been raised. The statement also added that more than 10 million Filipino contract workers left for foreign lands of unfamiliar cultures under harsh working and living conditions, low wages accompanied with neglect by the Philippine government.

“The Philippines has an agrarian semifeudal economy but it has lost food self-sufficiency, particularly with regard to rice and corn production due to the neoliberal economic policy of allowing rice and other food imports to swamp the market and discourage local production. At the same time, large plantations have been devoted to the production of such crops as rubber and palm oil for export and large areas of land allocated for bioethanol production.

Eventually, rice and other food imports have become more expensive while local food production and the peasant masses have become more impoverished,” stressed in the statement. The CPP stated that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and the CARP-Extension with Reforms (CARPER) have not solved the problem of landless tillers. “The peasant masses are waging various forms of struggles to fight for and assert their land rights. They are waging campaigns to reduce land rent, lower rates of usury, raise the wages of agricultural and farm workers, raise production and the prices of their produce, lower rentals on farm tools and equipment, set up cooperatives and engage in mutual help. In some regions, occupation of abandoned and contested lands are being undertaken. Nationwide protest campaigns such as peasant marches and Peasant Chain have been held,” as stated by the CPP.

The CPP also mentioned the plight of the indigenous peoples (Ips) where their right to ancestral domain is being brutally violated. The organization added that in the attempt to grab the lands of Ips, the Aquino government in favor of the foreign and local land grabbers subjects the peasants including the Ips to military and psywar operations under its Oplan Bayanihan.

The revolutionary organization also added that the students and the out-of-school youth are restless and stage militant mass actions against tuition fee hikes, the lack of jobs after graduation, the commercialized education especially in state colleges and universities, the imposition of the K12 system which was designed to produce a docile work force for the foreign and local exploiters, the reduction of budget allocation for education while there is a continuous increase in the fund for the military, police and intelligence equipment and operations.

The CPP said the Philippine revolution and the CPP have withstood all attacks of the US imperialism and the local exploiting classes because the ideological, political and organizational tasks of the Party has been well defined. By all means, the Party must lead and advance the people’s democratic revolution through protracted people’s war.
“No matter how long it takes, the strategic defensive must advance towards the strategic stalemate.

And this latter stage must develop for as long as it takes to build regular mobile forces, supported by the guerrilla forces, the people’s militia, self-defense units or the mass organizations and the mass movement and prepare all revolutionary forces for the strategic offensive in the future,” stated the CPP.

http://www.nordis.net/2016/01/the-current-philippine-condition-is-fertile-for-social-change-cpp/

MILF: Gov't urged to put up “real” Islamic bank to attrack Muslim foreign investors

Posted to the MILF Website (Jan 4): Gov't urged to put up “real” Islamic bank to attrack Muslim foreign investors

A Moro civil society organization leader urged the government to put up a real Islamic Bank in the country in order to attrack Muslim foreign businessmen who may pour in their investments that will eventually usher economic development of the Bangsamoro region.
“Muslim foreign capitalists want to put their funds in an Islamic bank , thus there is a need for us to have such kind (of bank) in the Philippines,” Duma Mascud, chairman of Bangsamoro Alliance for Peace, Social and Economic Development (BAPSED) said in an interview.

 

Mascud, a staunch advocate of the Mindanao peace process, said that while the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is not yet in place, “it is advantageous for the country if the government could establish first Shari'ah-compliant banking system .”

The proposed BBL, the legal translation of the peace deal between the government and the  Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), provides the establishment of Islamic banking system in the proposed Bangsamoro region.

The measure is hoped to be passed into law before President Aquino's stint ends this year.

“The present Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank is not totally Shari'ah-compliant,” he commented.

For bank to be Shariah-compliant, it has to be free of transactions involving interest. Al-Amanah bank offers both conventional and Shari'ah-compliant financing structures.

Mascud is optimistic that the presence of Islamic bank in the country particularly in Mindanao will open financing opportunity to more Moro people, the type that is attuned to Islamic belief which is interest-free.

“If we have Islamic bank, even local Muslim businessmen and ordinary citizens can put their money in Islamic bank,” he stressed.

He said that Islamic bank is a great help for the Bangsamoro people and added “however, the best solution to address poverty in Mindanao is the BBL.”

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/767-gov-t-urged-to-put-up-real-islamic-bank-to-attrack-muslim-foreign-investors

MILF: RMO-BDA-CenMin holds VTT, enlightens CCSPC OJT students

Posted to the MILF Website (Jam 5): RMO-BDA-CenMin holds VTT, enlightens CCSPC OJT students

The Values Transformation Training (VTT) conducted by the Regional Management Office of Bangsamoro Development Agency-Central Mindanao (RMO-BDA-CenMin) inspired the on-the-job-training (OJT) students of Bachelor of Science in Social Work of Cotabato City State Polytechnic College (CCSPC) held at its session hall on December 28-30, 2015.

Lailanie A. Sali, one of the OJT students said, "VTT enlightens us not just in terms of the values but the wisdom it contains through the embodying knowledge about Islam."

"VTT appropriately guided us in our daily lives to become successful in this world and most especially in the day hereafter," Sali also said.

"The knowledge imparted to us through VTT is very helpful in rebuilding a strong Muslim Ummah because we believe that Islam is the only solution to the prevailing problem of mankind that will redound to permanent peace and justice," Sali further said.   

Esmael M. Utto, one of the OJT students said, "VTT helps me a lot in transforming my values in line with the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH)."

"Through VTT, I learned the Five Pillars of Islam and Six Articles of Faith," Utto said.

"Because of this learning, I thank the facilitators for their effective facilitation and the RMO of BDA-CenMin for conducting this VTT," emphasized Utto.

Moreover, Ansari E. Haron, another OJT student said, "VTT is a big help for me because I learned a lot about Islam."

"Although I have knowledge about Islam, but it increases because of VTT," added Haron.

Regional Manager Hashim B. Manticayan of the BDA-CenMin in his message emphasized the importance of VTT in transforming the values of the participants from the effects of secular and colonial modernization.

Manticayan explained that the real concept of development in order to guarantee lasting peace and prosperity is that moral and spiritual development must prevail over material things.

The VTT was participated in by the 23 OJT students.

VTT is a regular activity of the RMO for OJT students from different schools in Cotabato City and nearby localities in order to help them transform their values, for the better and develop their personalities to become more productive to the community and society where they belong.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/769-rmo-bda-cenmin-holds-vtt-enlightens-ccspc-ojt-students