Pagpalalaya kay Vagni, Pasikat ni Gloria; Itigl ang Gyera sa Mindanao (tags)
" Pag-gusto, magagawan ng paraan, pag-ayaw-maraming dahilan." Hindi naman pagtakhan ang mabilis na pagpapalaya sa diumano ay hostage ng mga bandidong Abu-Sayff kay Eugenio Vagni ng ICRC sa Sulu kahapon, Hulyo 11. Ang bihag na myembro ng Red Cross ay hostage ng mga rebelde sa loob ng mahigit na anim na buwan. Ang Sulu at karating nito ang diin ng Exercise Balikatan ng US at RP ganoon din ng malawakang anti-teroristang operasyon mula pa noong 2002. Para sa Pesante-USA, grupong pangkarapatang pantao at suporta sa magsasakang Pilipino sa US - ang pagkakapalaya kay Vagni ay pagpapasikat ng rehimeng US-Arroyo sa pagbisita ng CIA Chief Leon Panetta sa Maynila ngayong linggo. Hindi na mahalaga kung nagbayad sila ng milyon o anuman. Ngunit malinaw ang sabwatan ng AFP at ng mga grupong ito na nangugulo sa Mindanao.
Very few people know that the US military is directly involved in the fierce fighting going on in the Philippines between the Moro insurgents and the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime supported by the Bush neocons and the warmongering Pentagon planners. Will you continue to allow US tax dollars to be wasted in this barbaric genocidal war against indigenous peoples? Over a thousand extrajudicial killings and "forced disappearances" under Arroyo's tenure, plus a few hundred Muslims dead as "collateral damage," may be the signs of US "benevolent hegemony" (Robert Kagan) and US "magnanimous imperial power" (Dinesh D'Souza). McKinley's "Benevolent Assimilation" lives on!
OPERASYONG MILITAR SA MINDANAO, LUMALALA (tags)
iulat ng Pesante-USA ang napabalitang malawakang operasyong militar sa Sulu at Davao, malawakang pagpapalikas pambubugbog at iligal na pang-aaresto ang tampok sa mga paglabag sa karapatang-tao noong buwan ng Abril.
Malawakang Operasyong Militar sa Mindanao, Abusong Militar Iniulat (tags)
Iniulat ng Pesante-USA ang napabalitang malawakang operasyong militar sa Sulu at Davao, malawakang pagpapalikas pambubugbog at iligal na pang-aaresto ang tampok sa mga paglabag sa karapatang-tao noong huling linggo ng Abril.
More US soldiers to arrive in Sulu province (tags)
More US troops are expected to arrive soon in the Philippines to support hundreds already deployed in the southern part of the country aiding Filipino soldiers in battling terrorism. At least 30 soldiers, part of the Guam Army National Guards’ First Battalion under the 294th Infantry Regiment, are heading to support “Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines,” the Guam-based Mariana’s Variety newspaper reported Wednesday.
SULU MASSACRE (Mindanao, Philippines) (tags)
“Despicable, loathsome, ruthless…” These were the words of Anak Mindanao Representative Mujiv S. Hataman on the latest tragedy in the province of Sulu , particularly in the coastal town of Maimbung , which claimed the lives of a 4-year old child, Marisa Payian, 9 year old Wedme Lahim, teenagers Alnalyn Lahim, 15 and Sulayman Hakob, 17. Three other civilians were also killed, Kirah Lahim, 45; Eldisim Lahim, 43 and Narcia Abon, 24. A certain Pfc. Ibnul Wahid of the Army's 6th Infantry Division who was said to be on vacation was also killed.
Philippines: Senate alarmed by resurgence of killings (tags)
Senate leaders yesterday raised the alarm over the apparent resur-gence of extra-judicial killings in the country, taking to task the Philippine National Police (PNP) in containing the situation before it gets worse. Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., in condemning the killing of Fr. Rey Roda, OMI in Sulu, and the abduction of teacher Omar Taub during a raid on a church-run school, also warned authorities that the case had already raised tension in the province.
US-Arroyo’s Double Talk: Talking Peace, Waging War (tags)
The Alliance for A Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) –USA express its serious and deep concern over the ongoing war in Mindanao the Philippine armed forces in Basilan and Sulu is waging that have claimed more than 100 lives in three separate clashes since the second week of July.
SENATE PROBES US MARINES COMBAT PRESENCE IN RP (tags)
ough talk from the police and the military on arresting some 130 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf rebels whom they claimed massacred 14 Marines, with 10 of them beheaded in Basilan, and for which thousands of troops were sent to back up the elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in serving these arrest warrants, turned out to be nothing but bluster, in the military brass’ bid to get the troops to cool down their anger over the brutal slaying of their Marine comrades. The PNP yesterday returned to the court the warrants of arrests issued against 130 MILF and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) suspects after they failed to serve the warrant to any of the suspects.
ARROYO REVS UP SULU OFFENSIVE (tags)
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday remained steadfast to her administration’s all-out war against the Abu Sayyaf group and other rogue elements accused of beheading 10 of the 14 Marines who died in a July 10 firefight in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. Mrs Arroyo said the war in Mindanao, which so far claimed the lives of 25 soldiers and wounded 10 others, is not an act of vengeance but a strategy to win peace," against those who spread “mayhem" and “bloodsport" in the South. “We cannot allow terrorists to hold the South hostage to their agenda of mayhem and bloodsport," she said.
Philippine Military Put Up P1-M bounty for MNLF Commander Ustadz Habier Malik in Sulu (tags)
The Philippine military is offering a P1-million reward for the capture of National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Ustadz Habier Malik who has been leading clashes against government troops in Sulu for a week now. Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said Malik, who has some 300 to 500 armed followers, has joined the Abu Sayyaf terrorists, the target of a separate massive military offensive. "We should be very careful about this because definitely there is a group that would try to exploit the situation, at least the Abu Sayyaf," he said. "Let us be very clear," he said. "This is not an operation against the MNLF. This is an operation against Habier Malik so that he will be made to answer for his criminal liabilities, including the death of a child."
War in Mindanao :Palace, AFP reject OIC call for ceasefire in Sulu (tags)
Manila-- Malacañang is giving full support to the military offensive against renegade Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces in Sulu, which entered its fourth day of fierce fighting yesterday. While the government acknowledges the appeal of the 47-nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to disengage forces, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said there must be an assurance against further attacks from the renegade forces. Nearly 8,500 families ( 40,000 people)have fled the fighting and thousands crammed into schools and gymnasiums in downtown Jolo, relying on food rations from disaster agencies. The mass evacuations are a bitter development for conflict-scarred residents, who had hoped Jolo was becoming a more stable place after a long-running military campaign to rid the island of scores of Islamic militants.
8,000 families displaced in Sulu fighting; OIC steps in (tags)
More than 8,000 families ( 40,000 people)have fled their homes as Marines and Army troops hunted down renegade Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Habier Malik and his men, who have killed 12 people in Sulu. For three days now, thousands of troops have been sent to Sulu to run after Malik’s band after he escaped when the military captured his sprawling hilltop encampment in Panamao, Sulu on Sunday. Reports said several MNLF commanders, along with an undetermined number of fighters from the towns of Pata, Daungdong and Capual in Sulu, are now fighting alongside Malik.
Philippine Marines sent to finish off ASG, JI in Sulu, Mindanao (tags)
A ranking military official disclosed that some of the 1st Marine Brigade battalions will be redirected to Sulu instead of Basilan province from Lanao to help in the pursuit against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists in the area. The switching of deployment between the Lanao-based marine and Basilan-based Army 103rd Infantry Brigade was recently ordered by Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr.
The Philippine armed forces fielded more than 10 warships around Sulu in what could be the single biggest naval blockade meant to trap Abu Sayyaf terrorists in their lair. Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said yesterday the naval blockade formed part of the "small unit tactics" designed to eventually wipe out local and foreign terrorists holed out in Sulu, as part of the military’s ongoing offensive dubbed Oplan Ultimatum
The Ghosts of Bud Dajo return to Jolo, Sulu (tags)
Mindanao tales tells that whoever made or put the mysterious white “agong” in the small cave at the foot of Bud Daho remains a mystery to this day. The “agong” is a musical instrument which produces a single note when pounded with a mallet or a large drumstick. It is commonly used by many Asian tribes along with other native brass instruments and is largely associated with religious rituals or festivities. The people living near Bud Dajo even believe that the silver gong is enchanted and that nobody has dared take it away from its nesting place. The Bud Dajo massacre of 1906 IN villages near Bud Dajo (Mt. Dajo) in Jolo, Sulu, where over a thousand people died in a massacre by American forces over a hundred years ago, the sound of the puting agong has often been heard as a warning.
CIA, FBI, Aussie agents operating in south — AFP (tags)
Several American and Australian intelligence agents are in Mindanao to monitor terrorist activities, military sources here claimed yesterday. "Mindanao is crawling with CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and even Australian federal agents," a source told The STAR.
AJLPP-USA Protests AFP Operations Despite Ramadan in Sulu, Mindanao (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP) –USA and its allied organizations vehemently protests and condemns the Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon’s announcement Monday that military offensives against suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines will continue throughout the Islamic holy month of Ramadan
AJLPP-USA Protests AFP Operations Despite Ramadan in Sulu, Mindanao (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP) –USA vehemently protests and condemns the newly promoted and confirmed Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon’s announcement Monday that military offensives against suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines will continue throughout the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in the siland of Sulu and elsewhere.
Sulu offensives to continue through Ramadan – AFP Chief (tags)
Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. announced Monday. that military offensives against suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines will continue throughout the Islamic holy month of Ramadan
US to beef up hunt for Abu-JI terrorists (tags)
The United States is increasing its support for the ongoing military offensive in Sulu against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah to hasten the capture of Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and Umar Patek and Dulmatin of JI, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz said here yesterday. Cruz said Rear Adm. William VanMeter Alford Jr., chief of staff of the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM), made the commitment in a meeting with President Arroyo during her stop here on Sunday.
Aussie army chief gets briefing on hunt for JI leaders (tags)
Pesante-USA condemns Australia- A US junior imperialist partner in Southeast Asia's intervention in Philippine affairs. The chief of the Australian army secretly visited the southern Philippines yesterday for a briefing on the progress of the manhunt for two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants behind the October 2002 Bali bombings. Lt. Gen. Peter Leahy flew here from Jolo, Sulu where he was updated on the hunt for Umar Patek and Dulmatin, both wanted for their involvement in the 2002 bombings on the popular Indonesian resort island that killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians.
AFP 6,000 TROOPS NOW PURSUING ABU SAYAFF IN SULU (tags)
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon disclosed on Monday that 6,000 government troops have been deployed to intensify the ongoing pursuit operations against the band of Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and two Jemaah Islamiyah bomb experts in the jungles of Sulu.
US-RP Military dared to show proof of JI operations in Sulu (tags)
MILITARY authorities should justify their offensive in Sulu by presenting credible proof that Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) operatives from Indonesia are operating there, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said in a statement Saturday.
Sulu air, ground offensive continues (tags)
The Navy captured four suspected Abu Sayyaf supporters yesterday as they tried to breach a naval blockade of Jolo, Sulu to flee the military’s artillery bombardment and air strikes, which continued for the third day yesterday. The offensive is targeting Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants Umar Patek and Dulmatin who are wanted for the Bali bombings in Indonesia in October 2002.