MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE: (Mis)Calculated Risks
In the previous post, Maguindanao Massacre, a reader with the handle barbarichonesty commented thus:
i completely agree with you.
weird as this may sound, i have a feeling that vice mayor esmael had knowledge that this was going to happen but nevertheless sent his wife and cousins and the others to push through with the filing of his COC.
the way i see it, this was a win-win situation for him.
1. if the entourage could successfully file his COC, then it would be a big slap on the face of the ampatuans as he would be THE man who dared go against the giants, as no one dared to contest them before.2. but if something bad happens to the convoy composing of women and journalists, then the vice mayor would automatically gain the edge due to public sentiments and outcry.
i feel for him. but i don’t feel his decision. he literally fed them to the sharks.
My response is:
I doubt very much that the Vice Mayor nor anybody for that matter had any inkling that such a massacre would happen.
First, the Mangudadatus are not nobodies. They hold various political positions in different municipalities as well as the governorship of the adjacent province of Sultan Kudarat. The governor’s driver was also in the convoy. They, too, maintain a private army.
Second, one sister of Esmail is the incumbent Vice Mayor of the Mangudadatu municipality. She therefore carried political prestige/power in her own right.
Third, two lawyers accompanied them. Criminal elements are usually afraid of lawyers
Fourth, dozens of journalists were in the convoy.
Fifth, they had notified the military and the police of their intention.
Sixth, their going to the Comelec office was well publicized in the province.
Seventh, in Islam, it is forbidden to harm women, children and the elderly in times of war or conflict.
The Mangudadatus must have thought that they had all the bases covered.
No politician in Mindanao or elsewhere would dare do anything untoward to such a company.
Even the Ampatuans would not dare do such a thing if they were left on their own. They must have had EXTERNAL support. We now know that the POLICE was with them. In fact, the killings were done in a POLICE CHECKPOINT. And we now know that the military refused to give protection because they claim that their troops were leaving Maguindanao for Samar. (How convenient! And what will they do in Samar?)
The Ampatuans and their cohorts must have been convinced that the truth would not be known. As in the scenario discussed in the previous post, they already planned to lay the blame on the MILF.
Note that Sec. Dureza claimed that the helicopter carrying him and Ampatuan,Jr. were fired upon. Certainly the Ampatuans would not fire upon their own. And the Mangudadatus would not do such a reckless thing, especially since all eyes were on them. So who else would have the capacity to fire upon a helicopter gunship high above the ground?
The first statements of Gibo, Ermita, and Puno mentioned the MILF. Then came Dureza’s claim. Were they laying the ground for a cover-up?
When Andal, Jr.’s uncle, the DOE Undersecretary, was interviewed, his voice cracked as if ready to cry while pleading to Datu Toto (Esmail Mangudadatu) not to believe the allegations that the Ampatuans did it. He certainly did not sound like a “giant” of a man.
Fortunately, Andal Ampatuan, Jr. dug his own grave further. In an ambush interview at the NBI, Andal, Jr. blurted out that he was innocent and accused the MILF. Andal Ampatuan, Jr. said something like, “Wala ako doon. Nasa municipio ako. Ang MILF ang gumawa niyan. Si Umbra Kato yan. Mga terorista sila!” (I was not there. I was in the municipal hall. The MILF did it. Umbra Kato did it. They are terrorists!)
Andal Jr’s outburst ended whatever hope for a cover-up. Well, it should.
So, I think the Mangudadatus’ decision was well-calculated. Unfortunately, they did not realize that they were dealing with powerful madmen — men and women mad for power.
Losing one’s loved ones could never be a WIN situation. Gaining a governorship, or even a presidency, could never compensate for the loss of the lives of one’s loved ones.
The MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE
Whom the gods wish to destroy,
they first make mad.
There is world-wide outrage against the massacre in Maguindanao. This is mainly because at least a dozen journalists, most of them non-Moro Filipinos, were included in the carnage.
Many Moros were wondering if the massacre included only Moros and no journalists, would there have been such an outrage? These thoughts are valid because in Maguindanao, massacres happen once in a while, and the world’s media never gave a hoot about them. The fact that the victims’ families and/or the military immediately spotted the heavy-duty backhoe and immediately assumed that it was used to dig the graves of the victim could only mean that this must have been an old M.O. (modus operandi) of the powers that be in Maguindanao. The Mangudadatus, it must be noted, were very close to the Ampatuans and were therefore part of the power clique in Maguindanao.
THE DOMINANT MAJORITY AGENDA
The Christian Filipinos and misguided Moros are busy painting the picture that the whole Muslim-dominated regions are full of lawlessness and violence and ruled by warring feudal lords-cum-politicians.The decades-old struggle of the Bangsa Moro for self-determination is thus reduced to nothing. The narrative that is gaining popularity is that the whole Moro conflict is nothing but the violence among warring Moro clans.
First of all, the Mangudadatus and the Ampatuans did not have a “long-standing feud”, as widely reported in the media. If anything, they had a long-standing alliance.
Second, there were no rapes and beheadings. The media are having a heyday in picturing Moros as “barbaric”. There was not enough time for the criminals to rape, unless they have some members who are priapic (those who have a perpetual hard-on). There were no beheading too because it is doubtful that some members were carrying kris and bolos instead of hand guns and long arms. Some of the victims heads must have been shattered by bullets from shotguns and other long arms shot point blank. Also, the backhoe crushed the cars with the victims’ bodies still inside.
What the criminals did were indeed barbaric. But there were no rapes or beheading. That would be medieval. The criminals were more “modern and high-tech”.
They also imply that only the military and national police can give the place a semblance of peace and order. That is why the administration’s presidential bet, a supposedly intelligent Harvard graduate (LlM) Gilbert Teodoro, says that his solution to the Moro problem is “to put in more troops.”
I used to have high regard for Harvard University. But I simply don’t see the intelligence in most Filipino politicians who took their Masters in Harvard. But then, even George Bush, Jr. took his Masters degree from Harvard.
MILITARY CONTROL
Can any politician in any part of the country have as much power as the Ampatuans without full military, police and presidential backing? Of course not.
Mindanao or Maguindanao does not operate in a political vacuum. Political power in Mindanao can only be obtained through presidential and military support.
The power of the senior Ampatuan has not been seen in Mindanao since the Marcos era. Then President Marcos gave 101% support to Ali Dimaporo of Lanao. Dimaporo had the full backing of Marcos and his military. The only group that could stand up, and stood up, against Dimaporo was the MNLF.
In 2001, President Arroyo gave the senior Ampatuan full backing. Even before that, the military was already supporting him. Through the Arroyo years, Ampatuan gained so much clout over the President. His relatives who were not elected were given juicy positions by Ms. Arroyo.
In 2007, the Filipinos witnessed the massive election cheating in Maguindanao, which made a total mockery of the election and legal processes.
In the massacre of the Mangudadatus, the hand of the military was obvious. First, the request by the Mangudadatus to the police and military for escort were turned down. Second, there was the presence of police among the killers. Third, a big part of the killers came from the CAFGUs or government-deputized paramilitary units.
The government’s reaction to the killings was to put in more troops, to which the media and the Filipino people applauded. The military is ALREADY in control of Maguindanao. Why are they sending more troops? To protect their puppets, the Ampatuans?
PREVENTIVE SUSPENSION
If the Arroyo administration truly wants justice to prevail, the first thing it should have done was to SUSPEND all the Ampatuans from their elective positions and put in caretaker governors and mayors. This way, the Ampatuans would be dis-empowered and could not intimidate would-be witnesses to the criminal investigation.
The top military and police commanders should have been immediately relieved of duty for their incompetence, if not collusion with the criminals.
MY THEORY
SCENARIO:
The Mangudadatus are suddenly stopped along the highway on their way to COMELEC. The perpetrators strafe the first few cars of the convoy with bullets, making sure all the occupants are dead. Half of the convoy are then escorted to a nearby isolated place and killed. They are thrown into the freshly dug huge hole and their cars crushed. The backhoe then covers the grave.
Meanwhile, military and police come to the crime scene along the highway. The military claims that the ambush has the “signature” of the MILF. When others look for the rest of the convoy, the military/police say that they must have been kidnapped, which means that the Abu Sayyaf could be involved.
The Ampatuans, who are close allies and even kins of the Mangudadatus, come in and announce that they will do everything to capture the perpetrators of the heinous crimes.
The media cry to high heavens for justice. The Christian Filipinos clamor for all-out war against the MILF and Abu Sayyaf.
The President announces State of Emergency all over Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The ruling party and the Ampatuans can then do anything they want for Election 2010
Another scenario like this in another part of the country, then all will be set for Martial Law.
The above scenario was the plan. Had it succeeded, it would have been a masterstroke. The MILF and/or Abu Sayyaf would be blamed for the mass murder; the military, police and the Ampatuans would have carte blanche to fortify themselves with tons of money to buy the latest firepower to pursue the imaginary culprits; Martial Law would be declared all over ARMM and the set would be staged for the eventual martial rule all over the country. At the very least, the 2010 elections in the ARMM areas would be completely rigged.
But the planners forgot Murphy’s Law,. i.e. if there’s anything that can go wrong, it will go wrong.
What the planners did not foresee was Mrs. Mangudadatu calling her husband the Vice Mayor via the cellphone. The wife told the husband that Datu Andal, Jr. a.k.a. as Unsay blocked their way and was asking them to go out of their vehicles.
With this single phone call, perhaps done in just one minute, the scenario goes to naught. There is now nothing that could convince the Mangudadatus that the Ampatuans were not the culprits.
In Gilbert Teodoro’s press con, he kept on alluding to the MILF. Even Executive Sec. Eduardo Ermita also mentioned that the MILF once ambushed the Ampatuans.
Even if the government will continue with the scenario and will claim that the MILF or the Abu Sayyaf were the criminals, the Mangudadatus will not believe them. The media or the Christian Filipinos might believe that but certainly not the Buluan Vice Mayor and his kinsmen.
END OF THE AMPATUAN GLORY DAYS
The Ampatuans must now really be fearful for their lives and their fortune. Their patron and benefactress will soon be leaving Malacanang. And the whole Mangudadatu clan of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao will presumably not rest until vengeance is theirs.
Philippines Denied Observer Status in OIC
In 2004, the Philippine government had the funny idea that it should be granted an OBSERVER STATUS at the OIC instead of the MNLF. Finally, after FIVE YEARS, the OIC said “NO!”.
Surprisingly, our neighbor INDONESIA supported the Philippine proposal. The Philippines also got the support of US-occupied Iraq and Anglo-American-controlled island of Bahrain. If the Bahrainis can have country of its own, it is a crime that the Bangsa Moro nation is still fighting to have country to call its own.
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25 May 2009
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) decided not to grant the Philippines observer status at its opening session. The Philippines first applied for an observer status way back in 2004, but it has yet to be approved.
The OIC’s 36th meeting of foreign ministers, which was held in Syrian capital city of Damascus, ended on Sunday.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Philippine opposition group which is campaigning against observor status for the Philippines, claims that Turkey led the group of countries which opposed the Philippine bid for observer status. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Yemen strongly supported Turkey’s position. The reason the MILF gives for their opposition is the ongoing problems between the government and the country’s Moro Muslim minority.
However, Indonesia, the traditional ally of the Philippines, asked OIC foreign ministers to grant the Philippines an observer status. The motion was seconded by Bahrain and Iraq.
The Philippines sent a 33-man delegation to the conference. Two opposition groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) sent 22 delegates, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sent only three.
MILF said Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, the chairman, wrote official letters to the foreign ministers of Muslim states, requesting them to oppose the Philippine bid.
The Philippine government denies they were denied observer status due to the ongoing problems with the country’s Muslim minorities and dismiss such claims as MILF propaganda.
Philippine Foreign Affairs undersecretary Rafael Seguis maintained that all OIC member states welcome the Philippines’ admission as observer.
“Some of them, however, would like to defer admission on procedural basis, reason being that rules for observer status under new Islamic Charter have not been adopted yet while many others want to admit GRP now,” Seguis said in a text message to reporters.
Sequis is currently in Damascus, Syria after attending the 36th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM). He is also the head of the government panel negotiating with the MILF.
Seguis hastened to add that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has no wish to replace the MNLF in the OIC as observer, but seeks to work closely with the Islamic group as well as the MNLF in an atmosphere of cooperation that will bring about peace and development, and where all sides are given the chance to be heard.
CONTINUING MORO OPPRESSION
courtesy of MediaBangsaMoro
NO NEWS ON MINDANAO WAR?
It has been months since the non-signing of the Memo of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the Gorvernment of the Republic of the Philppines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The uproar against it led by a Christian settler in Mindanao (Pinol) , one Ilonggo senator (Roxas) and one Ilonggo former senator and Senate President (Drilon) became so great that President Arroyo backed out of the agreement and the Supreme Court declared it illegal.
Piqued by the government’s refusal to sign the agreement after almost four years of negotiations, two commanders of the MILF, Commanders Bravo and Kato allegedly went down from the hills and attacked a couple of Christian villages . The government answered with all the might and fury it could muster.
To promote the protest against the MOA-AD, the media bombarded the people with reports of the fighting in Mindanao, putting the blame on the two commanders who the government and the media called “rogue” elements of the MILF.
Funny thing is, while the MILF did not disown the two commanders, they announced that they would not join the fighting since they were still hoping for peace.
Was this another moro-moro (farcical stage play)? The government had a heyday of blowing away Moro villages and people while they claimed to hunt for the two commanders.
Now that the Supreme Court had declared the MOA unconstitutional, the media had stopped reporting on the clashes in Mindanao.
So what’s going on there now?
Here’s what the MILF website luwaran.com says:
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Government terroristic aerial bombings kill civilian, farm animals
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) unleashed again the brunt of her terrorism against the aggrieved and oppressed Bangsamoro people. Four innocent civilians were brutally wounded and one was killed by the indiscriminate air strikes of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in some barangays of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Killed by this inhuman state terrorism was Sindak Ismael, 30 years old. The wounded civilians were identified as Haja Bai Masla Zangkala, 45 years old, Haja Apisa Ibrahim, 47 years old, Rudy Kamsa, 23 years old and Fatima Kamsa, 12 years old elementary pupil.
Seven (7) farm animals were also killed by the government air strikes using three (3) war planes.
There was no actual ground forces encounter when the government aircrafts came to fire their bombs which killed and wounded innocent civilians.
“This government is killing us,” said Abdul Kamsa, relative of the victims.
“We are calling on the authorities and international communities to look into these government atrocities against civilians and to give justice to the victims,” he said.
Workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were witness to the brutal indiscriminate air strikes being unleashed by the government war planes against innocent civilians.
The ICRC people were distributing claim stubs for their relief assistance for the affected persons when the bombs fell at nearby village.
“Even ICRC people had been actually experiencing the deliberate violation of International Humanitarian Laws and human rights by the government,” conveyed a human rights expert to Luwaran.
“Certainly, no amount of development and relief assistance from the donor countries and agencies can make up for the deliberate killings, sufferings and devastations inflicted on more than half a million innocent civilians by the indiscriminate military actions of the government,” he said.
The aerial bombing stopped after five (5) in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Moro civilians in Barangay Rangeban, Midsayap, Cotabato are being fired upon by the Bantay Bayan or armed civilians of Midsayap everytime they go to their farms.
Accordingly, these Muslim civilians had been complaining to authorities but no action had been made to stop the Bantay Bayan, an act construed as condoning the criminal acts against the oppressed Muslim civilians.
In Basilan, the AFP war planes bombarded the MILF forces in some barangays of Maluso. This again had proven that the military actions of the government are not only against the forces of Commander Umbra Kato and Commander Bravo but against the entire MILF.
MILF’s Umbra Kato on YouTube
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) Commander Umbra Kato is alleged by the government to be a “lost command” of the MILF and is being relentlessly pursued by the Philippine military.
In this video interview done on Sept. 23, 2008, Kato, who says he’s the Commanding officer of MILF’s 105th commans, insists that he is not a “lost command” and challenges the people who says he is to texplain or define what is “lost command.”
On July 1 of this year, he says, the soldiers invaded his colleagues who are “living silently in their own place”. He says that his friends simply fought back.
He accuses the military of terrorism, saying that driving people out of their place is a terrorist act. He says that they had to fight back because they have nowhere else to go. If they go to Luzon or Visayas (the other islands in the archipelago), the people of Luzon and Visayas would be angrier as they would not want them (Kato et al) to claim their lands.
Here, Kato is alluding to the basic cause of the conflict – the people of Luzon and Visayas have occupied Mindanao and now claims it for themselves.
The interviewer asked Kato why the government put a price on his head – 10 million pesos.
Kato answered that it is an indication that the government has already run out of tactics to employ against him. They (the military) used air strikes, artiller, ground forces with heavy weapons and armored vehicles. “But we are still here,” he says.
Putting a bounty on somebody’s head is an old tactic used by the “enemies of Islam”, Kato says. He explained that even the enemies of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) had put a bounty on the prophets head worth say, 100 camels.
When asked why the conflict escalated to other parts of Maguindanao, Kato answered that he thinks it has been the plan of President Arroyo to start trouble in Mindanao to justify the non-signing of the MOA.
The Guantanamo Guidebook
In 2005, the British produced a series of documentaries regarding the barbaric and inhuman atrocities practiced by American forces in Guantanamo. Some parts of the series, titled Guantanamo Guidebook, are posted on YouTube.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBKHI1ef3W4
PHIL. ARMED FORCES BURN MORO HOUSES, KILL CIVILIANS
September 11, 2008
Some seven houses of civilians were reportedly burned down by the government forces in Barangay Sambulawan, Datu Piang, Maguindanao last September 9, 2008 at 4pm . Owners hit government soldiers “direct and indirect” involvement in this atrocities.
Makmod, one of the victims, chided on the unabated burning of houses that had took place right before the eyes of the military.
Hundreds of houses had been charred down in the provinces of North Cotabato and Maguindanao since the government launched joint police and military actions against the MILF in early August this year.
But these government operations had not been yielding decisive success despite employing excessive forces and incurring big deficits to national coffer.
Now, not less than a hundred thousands of Muslim civilians, to include children and aged, are still staying and severely suffering inside more one hundred evacuation sites and makeshifts along the roads and under the trees.
This poor constituency from this part of the country had long been deprived of government basic services and now what they are getting from the government are bombs and bullets in the wake of brutal indiscriminate ferocious military onslaught.
Cases of various illnesses had been rising and many more will meet their death at evacuation, according to reports of social and health workers.
Displaced communities are afraid to go back to their residences due to absence of security assurance yet the government has not indicated when to stop its operations.
Six civilians were hit and killed by the air strikes of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Barangay Tee, Datu Piang, Maguindanao. Two other civilians were also wounded during the air strikes.
That incident clouded even further the desire of the civilians to go back to their respective communities.
Hundred of farmers in Maguindanao are calling on the government to allow them to go back to their farms to harvest what remains to their produce. But unfortunately, the military had been ignoring the plea. Accordingly, the military are avoiding exposure of the extent of damages on civilian properties and sources of livelihood created by the gruesome government operations.
All concerned institutions, to include international bodies, must immediately look into to the prevailing plight of the civilians in the middle of ongoing military operations particularly in Maguindanao in order to avert occurrence of impending humanitarian crisis.
Media outfits being the “fiscalizers” are urged to document, report and expose the excesses, conduct unbecoming and human rights violations being committed by militaries and government authorities against Muslim communities down south of Philippines.
Certainly, the government is failing, if not the ultimate cause, of the looming humanitarian problem during this blessed month of Ramadhan.
Surrenderees not MILF but Christians, Higaonons of Iligan City
The 31 so-called surrenderees from Commander Bravo Macapaar are not MILF but Higaonons and Christians from Rugongen, Iligan City. This was the clarification made to Luwaran by an aide of Bravo yesterday
AFP uses excessive force against Muslim communities
Another new infantry unit arrived in Maguindanao to augment the already highly beefed-up AFP troops conducting cleansing operations against MILF and aggrieved civilian communities
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