Archive for the ‘mindanao’ Category
WTF are US troops up to in Marawi?
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OF GREGAN CARDENO AND CAPT. JAVIER IGNACIO
via Renato Reyes Jr.Gregan Cardeño was recruited by a private military contractor to work as an interpreter for U.S. soldiers last February 1. On February 2, he was found dead, a day after he started work in a military facility in Marawi City. He was working with an elite unit of US Special Forces called Liaison Coordination Elements (LCE).
Less than two months later, Capt. Javier Ignacio of the Philippine Army – a friend who helped recruit Cardeño and was helping the family shed light on his death – was gunned down while he was on his way to a meeting with a human rights group conducting an independent investigation on the case.
These two deaths have been a cause of great concern among human rights groups for more than four months now, mostly due to apparent cover up and the continued silence and seeming disinterest of the Philippine government to investigate the case and seek justice for the untimely demise of Cardeño and Capt. Ignacio. Adding to the frustration of the family are the Philippine government’s and the U.S. military’s failure to disclose the real circumstances that may have been the reason for Cardeño’s death.
A simple case of suicide was how the Philippine police treated Cardeño’s death, but the distress calls his wife has received before his body was found raised doubts as to the true nature and manner of his death. Even the Commission on Human Rights’ independent investigation report was inconclusive.
The untimely death of Capt. Ignacio (and the death threats he has been receiving and attempts to bribe him prior to his death) fuels speculation that a cover-up was being done.
These incidents have also led to the discovery of questionable U.S. military facility in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. Its presence, which heretofore was unknown, leads to questions on the United States’ plans to reestablish bases in the southern Philippines. What is the purpose of the military facility in Marawi City and why was it hidden from public knowledge? Why did the U.S. troops need the services of a translator who could speak Bahasa? What was Cardeño doing that caused him so much distress?
Beyond the need to take a more active role in the full and impartial investigation of the deaths of Cardeño and Capt. Ignacio, the next administration will ultimately have to deal with the question of expanded and continuing presence of U.S. troops in Mindanao and their costs.
I. Narrative of events
Thirty-three-year-old Gregan Cardeño signed on Jan. 30, 2010 a contract with Skylink Security and General Services, stating he would work as a security guard with the agency from Feb. 1 to April 30, 2010. The real nature of his employment, however, was as interpreter for US troops, subcontracted by the US manpower-providing firm Dyn Corporation.
Dyn Corporation
The Philippines is just one of the numerous countries in which DynCorp International has a presence. In an article for the March 2004 issue of Esquire, in which he described DynCorp as “an American firm that specializes in high-risk contract work for the Pentagon and the State Department,” conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson enumerated the other countries where DynCorp is present. Wrote Carlson:
“Pick an unsafe country and DynCorp is likely to be there. In Afghanistan, DynCorp bodyguards protect Hamid Karzai, the most imperiled president on earth. In Colombia, DynCorp pilots fly coca-killing crop dusters slow and low over drug plantations, an integral part of Washington’s Plan Colombia. DynCorp is in Kosovo, Israel (three of its employees were blown up and killed in Gaza last year), East Timor, Sarajevo, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Liberia, and many other sketchy places. Last spring, DynCorp – along with Kroll Inc. and as many as twenty other large private security companies, and perhaps dozens of smaller ones, employing tens of thousands of individual contractors – came to Iraq.”
In 2007, DynCorp was the subject of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) Session on Colombia. The indictment, prepared by the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, cites DynCorp for its role in the commission of human-rights violations and crimes in Colombia, as well as other offenses in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Part of the indictment reads:
“Its presence in countries receiving US military assistance (either in low-intensity situations or in settings involving open US intervention) have produced important scandals, directly implicating the enterprise in the commission of crimes and human rights violations.
“For instance, in the 1980s the enterprise was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal. In the 1990s, the enterprise became a fundamental component for the US intervention of Haiti. Lastly, DynCorp members in Bosnia were involved in the sexual trafficking of minors, but due to their immunity no one was ever tried before any court in the world.”
In Iraq, DynCorp has won several contracts amounting to $750 million for training police forces.
“Available information stresses that the Iraqi police, trained by private security enterprises like DynCorp, have become a key component in the current dirty war, rather than a foundation for democracy proclaimed by US authorities,” the indictment continues. “In fact, US federal investigators are examining reports of criminal fraud by DynCorp employees, including the sale of ammunition earmarked for the Iraqi police.”
In Afghanistan, aside from providing personal security for Karzai, it has trained police forces and has deployed 337 police advisers. In October 2004, one of Karzai’s security personnel from DynCorp aroused controversy after slapping the Afghan transport minister.
– from “What’s a Notorious US Military Contractor Doing Inside the AFP’s Camp in Zamboanga?” by Alexander Martin Remollino, Bulatlat.com, 12 September 2009
Cardeno was said to be fluent in several languages: aside from the national language, he also knew Tausug, Visayan, and Bahasa Indonesia.
He had learned about the job opening from his friend, Capt. Javier Ignacio of the Philippine Army.
Two days later, at about 6:45 am, his wife Myrna accompanied Cardeno to Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City, from where he was to be flown to Cotabato City en route to Camp Sionco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
At around 7:48 am on Feb. 2, Cardeno’s sister Carivel received a message from his mobile phone saying he had instead been brought to Marawi City. When asked whether he was fine, he replied in the affirmative.
At 2:00 pm that same day, his tone had changed. “This is not the job I expected, this is so hard,” Cardeno told Carivel during a call. He sounded as though he was crying, and when asked what his actual job was, he could not reply. He asked Carivel to contact Skylink, ask for his salary, and request that he be pulled out of the US military facility where he had been assigned. He also said the only Filipinos working in the US military facility were himself and the cook, who goes home every afternoon. The call was then cut off.
Two hours later, he called Myrna and said, “I’m in Marawi, they brought me here… I’m in a very difficult situation.” She advised him to return home anytime the following day to Zamboanga Sibugay, where they live. After that the call was cut.
Later that day Cardeno called Myrna again, asking, “If ever I go home, would you still accept me?”
“Why?” Myrna replied. “Did you do anything wrong?”
The line went dead.
At around 2:00 pm the next day, Carivel received a call from Cardeno’s mobile phone and was surprised to hear a different voice from the other end. It was an SPO3 Ali Guibon Rangiris of the Marawi City Police Station, informing her that Gregan had hung himself with a bed sheet at the barracks of the Philippine Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade at Camp Ranao, Brgy. Datu Saber, Marawi City. SPO3 Rangiris also told Carivel the US troops were preparing to transport Gregan’s body to Zamboanga.
The helicopter carrying the corpse arrived at Edwin Andrews Air Base at around 4:00 pm that same day. His relatives, however, were barred from claiming the body there, and were instead advised to later view it at the La Merced Memorial Homes in Zamboanga City.
The cadaver was brought to La Merced without the required certificate of clearance from the appropriate government agency and death certificate from the Office of the Civil Registrar. Instead, a physician from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Office in Zamboanga City, Dr. Rodolfo Valmoria, conducted a post-mortem examination.
As the family observed, the body was not yet in rigor mortis though they had been informed Cardeno had been dead for 16 hours. They also noticed that the area around his upper body was filled with ice.
That same day, the Marawi City Police Station reported on the incident, by radio, to the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office. The report identified Gregan’s assignment as a unit of the US military known as Liaison Coordination Elements (LCEs) based in Camp Ranao.
LCEs
In an article for the November-December 2006 issue of Military Review, “Anatomy of a Successful COIN Operation: OEF-Philippines and the Indirect Approach,” then-Col. Gregory Wilson of the US Army explained the work of LCEs as follows:
“Deployed at the tactical level, SF advisory teams called liaison coordination elements (LCE) are small, tailored, autonomous teams of special operations personnel from all services. They advise and assist select AFP units in planning and fusing all sources of intelligence in support of operations directed at insurgent-terrorist organizations. LCEs conduct decentralized planning and execution using a robust reachback capability to the JSOTF-P to leverage additional assets in support of AFP operations. These assets range from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets such as tactical unmanned aerial vehicles to humanitarian assistance to tailored information products.”
In one of his footnotes to the article, Wilson said LCEs “generally consist of 4 to 12 SF advisers who are embedded with select AFP ground, naval, and air forces down to the battalion level.”
At around 8:00 pm on Feb. 5, Carivel called SPO3 Rangiris, who this time contradicted his earlier statement saying Cardeno was actually found lying on the floor and when his body was found, the area was already contaminated.
Four days later, Cardeno’s sister Grace called Capt. Mike Kay, team leader of the US troops in Camp Ranao, and inquired about his death. Captain Kay replied that his colleagues had contributed money and asked how they can send it, saying further that they intended to send it the next day.
On Feb. 11, at around 3:00 pm, Cardeno’s relatives went to the headquarters of the Western Command at Upper Calarian, Zamboanga City and had a dialogue with US officers identified only as Captain Boyer and Master Sergeant Gines regarding his employment status with the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. Captain Boyer said Skylink should open dialogue with them after Gregan’s burial.
On Feb. 13, Dr. Atanasius Rufon of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) did an autopsy on Gregan’s body as the family requested.
That same day, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) investigators Raul Quiboyen and Reymundo Ituralde arrived in Ipil and asked Gregorio Cardeño, a relative of Gregan, to sign a complaint form.
Gregan was buried on Feb. 15 at the Ipil Public Cemetery.
On March 4, Gregan’s relatives received the autopsy results.
Two days later, they approached CHR Chairwoman Leila de Lima for help and asked for a re-autopsy, which request was approved.
That same day, Judge Advocate General Office (JAGO) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel went to the NBI-Zamboanga office. The JAGO personnel ordered the latter to investigate the case.
According to Faruk Batara of CHR-Iligan City, FBI personnel went to Marawi City and conducted investigation on the case.
The CHR, through Dr. Joseph Jimenez, conducted the re-autopsy on March 25.
On that same day he was expected to join the Cardeno family and a delegation from Karapatan, Cardeño family friend Captain Javier Ignacio was shot dead by four men riding on separate motorcycles. Before that, Captain Ignacio had been talking to the Cardeños and helping in the investigation. He had also met with representatives of Karapatan. He had been receiving death threats and was also subjected to an attempt to bribe him into silence. Captain Ignacio appeared to have information on the movement and activities of the US troops and how this was related to the death of Gregan.
II. Analysis
The autopsies conducted on Gregan’s body affirm asphyxia as the cause of death, but are inconclusive as to the manner of death.
There are several circumstances that point to possible attempts at a cover-up: the inconsistencies in SPO3 Rangiris’s statements, the refusal of Edwin Andrews Air Base personnel to let the relatives claim the cadaver there, and the refusals of Captains Kay and Boyer and Master Sergeant Gines to answer questions pertaining to Cardeno’s employment and demise.
The killing of Captain Ignacio further fuels suspicions that a cover-up is being perpetrated. Having been an officer of the AFP’s Military Police, he appeared to have relevant information on the circumstances behind Gregan’s death. Ignacio was personally helping in the investigation and had been talking to Cardeno’s relatives and to representatives of Karapatan before he was killed. Who would benefit from his silence?
Arousing more suspicion is the fact that the US FBI has stepped into the investigation of the case. Is the Philippine government aware of the FBI’s involvement in the probe? Why is the FBI even involved in a supposedly domestic incident, unless there may have been involvement of US troops in Cardeno’s death?
Based on the calls Cardeno made and the text messages he sent to his wife and relatives during his two days on the job, he clearly wanted out of his work. It is also interesting to note that all messages contained in Cardeno’s phone were mysteriously erased before the family arrived to retrieve the body, according to their account.
It was already public knowledge that US troops had facilities located within Camp Navarro, Edwin Andrews Air Base, and Camp Malagutay, all in Zamboanga City; Camp Bautista in Jolo Island, Sulu; Camp Sionco in Maguindanao; and the Philippine Naval Station in Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi. The deployment of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) can also be seen in their official website. Former Navy Lt. Senior Grade Nancy Gadian also revealed in her testimony the extent of operations of the US forces in Mindanao.
It was only through Cardeno’s death that we learned of the existence of a unit of the US military based in Marawi. From what we know of the nature of this unit, the LCE, we fear that it may be a combat unit operating outside the purview of the VFA and in violation of the Constitution. It is important that the public be made aware of the possible clandestine operations US forces are conducting in our country, in violation of our laws.
There are also questions as to the US forces’ engagement of Filipinos for undisclosed operations or work, via private military contractors and local sub-contractors, to avoid any public accountability. What does Dyn Corporation really do in the country? What about their sub-contractors like Skylink? What kind of operations do they run? How are they aiding the US military presence in the country?
There are also questions as to whether there was adequate response of the Philippine government to the death of a Filipino inside an American military facility, and employed though indirectly, by the US military. Could a deeper probe have been conducted, instead of declaring the case closed by simply ruling it a suicide? Did the Philippine government even inquire what Cardeno was doing in Marawi? Or is there a presumption of regularity because those involved are US troops? Is not the Philippine government duty-bound to investigate on the circumstances of Cardeno’s death?
The deaths of Cardeno and Ignacio should spur the Philippine government to review the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that allows US military presence on Philippine soil. This is just the latest of many incidents involving the US forces in Mindanao. The mysterious and possibly related deaths of Cardeno and Ignacio prompt us to ask these questions to the outgoing and incoming administrations.
SC ASKED TO AID PROBE ON PINOY’S DEATH IN US FACILITY
By Edmer F. Panesa
May 2, 2010A petition for the issuance of writs of Amparo and habeas data has been filed with the Supreme Court (SC) to compel authorities to do a more thorough and comprehensive investigation into the mysterious death of a Filipino in a United States military facility inside a Philippine Army camp in Mindanao.
The victim was Gregan Cardeño, who died just two days after being hired as an interpreter for American troops under the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF)-Balikatan in Camp Ranao, Marawi City, the home of the 103rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army.
The Marawi City police and US troops reported that Gregan committed suicide by hanging himself, midnight of Feb. 2, 2010.
But the Cardeño family believes he was a victim of heinous crime inside the barracks of the US troops.
In their petition before the SC, the Cardeños, assisted by a lawyer from the human rights alliance Karapatan, also sought the issuance of a protective order in their favor and to place them in a sanctuary of their choice.
Named as respondents in the petition were President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission (VFAC); the Zamboanga City-based JSOTF; Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, chief of the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Dir. Gen. Jesus Verzosa of the Philippine National Police (PNP); Brig. Gen. Rey Aldo, commanding general of the 103rd Infantry Brigade; Marawi City PNP; contracting company Skylink; and members of the US troops based in Marawi City, namely, Capt. Boyer, MSgt. Gines, Capt. Michael Kay and Lt. Theresa Donnelly.
The petitioners said they have been receiving threats and are under military surveillance.
They also asked the High Court to order authorities to include in their investigation the murder of Army Maj. Javier Ignacio, who was helping the family find out the cause of Gregan’s death.
Last March 25, Ignacio was shot nine times in front of the GSIS Building in Zamboanga City by motorcycle-riding men. He succumbed to bullet wounds in the head and other parts of the body.
The Cardeños claimed the assassination of Ignacio was “part and parcel of the cover-up of the killing of Gregan Cardeño by respondents.”
The petitioners asked the SC to order the respondents “to produce any report submitted to them regarding the matter of Cardeño and Ignacio, including but not limited to intelligence reports correspondence, operation reports and sundry subsequent to Feb. 2, 2010 relative to the death of Cardeño and Ignacio.”
They also sought the inspection of the US Army barracks within Camp Ranao where Gregan spent his last day.
The Cardeños said they found the report of the Marawi City police and US troops dubious, because of the wounds they saw on Gregan’s remains during autopsy.
This prompted them to seek the help of Karapatan and other human rights groups, which conducted a fact-finding mission from March 2 to 5, 2010.
Based on their findings, the groups were prompted to conclude that there was foul play that led to the death of Gregan.
The groups noted the lack of investigation, and the immediate recognition of the US troops on the motive as suicide despite the fact that they have been trained with the basic and may even have experience in more sophisticated forms of investigation.
The US troops did not even secure the crime scene and allowed contamination of the place where Gregan’s body was found, they added.
miriam eyeballs, gloria blinks, ermita fumbles
interesting, the sudden lifting of martial law in maguindanao effective saturday 9pm. what a relief, yes, but also what a surprise. with hostage situations erupting in basilan and agusan del sur while congress was holding that joint session to vote on proc1959, all the signs pointed to a set-up to systematically desensitize first the people of mindanao, then maybe of the visayas and luzon, to military rule for the sake of peace and order in the run-up to the may 2010 elections. and with gloria checking into st. luke’s for a check-up over the weekend, no one was expecting any kind of change in the new status quo.
so what are we to think? are we to believe gma’s cohorts that suddenly it came to pass that the objectives of military rule were attained, mission accomplished, time to lift martial law, everybody happy? parang fairy tale, if you ask me. just yesterday, friday, press secretary cerge remonde was being nasty, accusing anti-martial law people in congress and in the streets of sympathizing with andal ampatuan jr. and warning that if the supreme court listened to them and ruled proc1959 unconstitutional, it would make the ampatuans very happy indeed.
UNFORTUNATELY, a vocal minority in the combined chambers of Congress have joined agitators outside the Batasang Pambansa Complex, in condemnation of the President. The crisis in Maguindanao, for them, has become fresh fodder for their political agenda.
Are they now shedding copious tears in sympathy with Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., others in the clan, and some 160 individuals who have been arrested or are about to be arrested for planning or for participating in the gruesome massacre?
It is understandable that the Ampatuan clan should petition the Supreme Court to declare the Maguindanao martial law unconstitutional. Their awesome power to defy lawful authority is slipping away, and their ability to evade criminal responsibility is in jeopardy. But what are we to make of the politicians who have taken the side of this powerful family?
They do not say it out loud, but a Supreme Court decision favorable to their cause could nullify the arrest of the suspects and may render the evidence against them inadmissible.
i wonder what it was like for gloria, having to leave st. luke’s for a couple of hours or so just to preside over that national security council meeting and act upon the recommendation to lift martial law. she must have asked (if i were president i would have asked), why can’t it wait til monday?
why not indeed. i think because the order came from obama on high, no less. i think that miriam’s conspiracy theory, involving the notorious CIA, hit too close to home.
“This is part of a script. Who are orchestrating the events? It is obvious there is a conspiracy, a meeting of the minds. I have reason to believe that this (conspiracy) is not a random development. They’re not just happening. One, the timing is suspicious, second, there is no such pattern of one after the other in the history of this province,’’ she said.
…In a briefing for Senate reporters after attending the budget hearing of the Upper Chamber, Santiago said the conspiracy could consist of the beleaguered Ampatuan clan; the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); a cabal of a criminal group that would benefit the secretaries of the Department of National Defense (DND) or Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); and the military establishment.
… Santiago said the Ampatuans, one of the two strong tribal clans fighting for supremacy in Maguindanao, could be working out a deal where in they would prefer to be charged with the crime of rebellion rather than multiple murder. Rebellion is difficult to prove and carries a lighter penalty. In case of conviction on rebellion charges, Santiago said the Ampatuans could be given parole or pardon.
She said the CIA could become a plain pawn in the Mindanao game “so they could do what the Philippine government is preventing them from doing so.”
and i’m not alone in thinking that obama had something to do with the lifting of martial law. just saw this tweet by manolo:
mlq3 Billy Esposo thinks Madame had votes in SC and Congress to OK martial law, it’s Washington that made her revoke it.
and no doubt secretary ermita wasn’t too happy about it ’cause, well, he fumbled the announcement. after his pasakalye, that things were returning to normal in maguindanao, the criminal justice system is now working, local government in place, armm governor replaced, he asked na for questions from the press, haha, someone had to remind him that he had forgotten “the most important item”: that gloria had agreed to lift martial law. ano ‘yon, senior moment? lol. more like a freudian slip of the tongue, but in reverse, like selective forgetting? a sign of subconscious, if fleeting, resistance, at the very least.
just goes to show what puppets gloria and her gang are, dancing to the beat of washington, ora mismo, like it or not.
mad about martial law
i thought the maguindanao massacre was the worst that could happen. until gloria declared martial law in ampatuan country on the pretext of “virtual rebellion.” so. for peace and order, “normalcy,” to return to maguindanao we are trusting counting-on the rule of the military, the very same military that seems to be the / a source of the ampatuans’ guns and ammunition.
i was wondering, what is really going on ba behind the scenes, what’s the big picture ba talaga, until i read this.
Analysis of the Ampatuan massacre by Bertini “Toto” Causing
An analysis, in the wake of the Ampatuan murders, by Bertini “Toto” Causing, a member of the board of the National Press Club of the Philippines and also legal consultant for the National Press Club. Mr Causing is columnist both of Hataw and Police Files Tonight. With the kind permission of Paul Brinkley-Rogers.
ANALYSIS
You must know that Norberto Gonzales as Defense Secretary is a “terror” operator and if he is to work with political operator Ronaldo Puno, they become a dreaded pair.
Remember that Gonzales came from National Intelligence Security Agency, from where came the Vidal Doble who taped Garcillano’s talks with Gloria.
Also remember that Puno (the bad one) was instrumental in making Miriam Santiago lose to FVR and in Garci operations in Mindanao.
You must also know that before the Ampatuan massacre, there were hell-bent planning sessions on how Gloria could possibly hold over, de facto or de jure.
They were looking at how they can foment war in Muslim areas to have a justification for sinister plots. Instead of launching war against MILF and MNLF which is expensive, what Gonzales did was to make “chismis” circulating between two possible warring clans.
The timing was perfect because Datu Andal Sr. was so worried how he can stay in power because of the three-term limit. Andal Sr. even went to the Comelec in the Province of Maguindanao to ask what should he do to enable him to run again for the 2010 elections.
A “bobo” Comelec official advised him to take a leave. Another Comelec official advised him to resign. Confused, Andal Sr. went to Malacanang and asked an Arroyo confidante what to do. And Andal was told that the only way for him to hold on to power is to prevent elections there from happening. And he was advised to do what is necessary.
I do not know what was the advice; but I surmise that he was egged on not to give in to the Mangudadatus who were hell bent on grabbing power from him. In short, “binatirya” or “tsinismis patalikod ang mga Mangudadatu kay Andal na aagawin ang poder sa kanila.”
And once the power is taken over, the Mangudadatus would take revenge for the earlier raids done on them resulting in seizure of firearms. Obssesed with desire to keep power revved up by “chismis”, the Ampatuans harbored deep hatred and extreme fear of losing power.
And to ensure that no election shall occur, the killings should be done with extreme brutality to justify “martial law,” a condition when no election can be held in the province.
They were only looking at killing and burying to nowhere the Mangudadatus and families so that they would only be recorded as missing and would be charged against the rebels or Abu Sayyaf, not thinking they would be including 30 journalists in their plan for they did not think that Mangudadatu would ask for the help of media men.
And if there would be martial law, the Ampatuans stay in power under the hold-over principle. But their game plot failed during the execution. Thank God: before they knew it, Toto Mangudadatu was able to know the abduction because his wife was able to call him up, prompting Toto Mangudadatu to call for Army assistance; the soldiers responded quick enough that forced the killers to escape even though the other victims were not yet buried, leading to the discovery of the plan; thus, the execution failed.
The original plot was just to make it appear that the victims disappeared mysteriously so that it can be blamed to heightened rebellion that would justify attacks on MILF which, in turn, would justify martial law.
Until here, I believe I have answered now the question why it should be as brutal as this. It was the Ampatuans who did the act and planned the act. The Gloria government only happened to have benefited from it to justify martial rule.
What would be the net effect when martial law gains momentum in Maguindanao? It will embolden the Gloria machines to do the same in other Muslim provinces: (a) Wahab Akbar’s family vs Gerry Salappudin’s in Basilan; (b) Sakur Tan clan vs Tupay Loong clan in Sulu; (c) Jaafar clan vs opponents in Tawi-Tawi; (d) Dimaporo clan in Lanao Norte against a challenging clan; and (e) Many clans in Lanao Sur.
If Norberto Gonzales would have his way, he wanted all of them to fight each other to justify martial law in the rest of Muslim provinces.
Remember that the total number of votes in these provinces is substantially big enough to cause suspension of proclamation of winners in Presidential, Vice-Presidential and Senatorial races.
So that when proclamation cannot be had and it will be aggravated and prolonged by creative petitions and protests to be filed before the Comelec, the Speaker of the House (Gloria) would act as Acting President.
Why? Since there would be no president, vice president and senators who would be proclaimed, the Speaker takes over under the Constitution. Gloria would argue that the 12 present senators cannot choose a Senate President because it needs at least 13 votes to elect the Senate President.
Another plus or bonus for them: the House of Representatives will approve to extend martial law by means of them voting together with the Senators where the senator’s vote is only one. A dummy petition shall be filed to question the act of “voting jointly” by means of outnumbering the Senators; and hoping the Gloria-appointees- dominated Supreme Court would rule that “voting jointly” means lumping together the senators and the congressmen and each of them has only ONE VOTE.
And when the Supreme Court would go Gloria’s way, they would now implement House Resolution 1109 calling for the senators and congressmen to “vote jointly” for a CON-ASS to pave the way for a parliamentary government.
This PLUS or BONUS may happen before or after the 2010 elections. If it happens after elections, the picture that you would see is that the leading candidates for president, vice-president and senators cannot be proclaimed because their margin of leads can still be overturned by the total votes in areas where voting would be deferred till eternity by Martial Law. So that this is a GRIM POSSIBILITY.
Patriotically yours,
Toto Causing
gloria is clearly testing our limits. she has it all set up very craftily indeed, and it would seem that we are helpless to stop her. what a predicament. how about, we take a leaf from her book and ourselves resort to extraconstitutional measures before it’s too late.
ampatuan’s army
What happened in Maguindanao is more than a tragedy. It is a moment of insanity.
Condemn it, we must. Understand the circumstances that made this barbarity even remotely possible, we should.
Over the past few days, we have done the round of excoriations. The outrage is justified. The condemnation is well deserved.
This is a massacre whose barbarity rippled across the globe. The rest of the world is not satisfied with the simple explanation that a culture of impunity has evolved in this little corner of humanity. The rest of the world wants to understand why a condition like this one was allowed to persist — a condition where petty provincial rulers were allowed to keep so many men under arms with little control from the state and enforce their own rules of the game in defiance of the rule of law.
When Gibo Teodoro, former defense secretary, was asked in a press conference how something as mind-boggling as this one could even happen, he said the situation in the locality was complex. He could have gone on and on explaining what that means, but that would have required transforming the press briefing into a full-scale seminar on the vulnerabilities of the Philippine state.
True, a culture of impunity has evolved in that locality. True, political patronage has encouraged political warlordism. True, the authorities looked the other way while local tyrants became more abusive by the day.
But let us talk about the complexity as well. That is important, too. It will help us avert a repeat of such gross atrocities as this one.
The standing estimate is that the Ampatuan clan has 800 men (!) under arms. That virtual army is maintained largely at the expense of the state. Government armed and paid allowances to most of these men: a private army operating under the cover of “civilian volunteers” useful for containing the insurgency in the region.
Until this chilling tragedy happened, the authorities found the arrangement concerning “civilian volunteers” a largely functional one. A trade-off was adopted early in the game, many presidencies ago.
Since the AFP did not have enough men and equipment to effectively contain the armed secessionist groups in the area, the “civilian volunteers” functioned as force extenders. In the case of the Maguindanao “civilian volunteers” were very useful. They kept the MILF trapped in the Maranao areas, with the Maguindanao-speaking areas relatively free of insurgents.
There is a price to pay for that: government tacitly condoned warlords who did their best to contribute to suppressing the insurgency. This has been the unspoken arrangement since the days when these “civilian volunteers” were called BSDUs and then CAFGUs.
The “civilian volunteers” in Maguindanao province provided a crucial buffer, keeping the insurgent groups away from the productive plantations, tuna industries and bustling urban economies to the south. The occasional abuses committed by the warlords, until this week, were a small price to pay for the strategic role of keeping the Maguindanao area and those to the south of the province free of insurgency.
In a way, government had little choice. There was not enough money to enlarge the army so that it achieves an effective ratio of superiority over the secessionist guerrilla forces and the isolated communist gangs. “Civilian volunteers” might be a band-aid solution to a strategic vulnerability, but it was the best that could be done.
This is the complex structure of considerations underpinning Gibo Teodoro’s statement that the only way we can get rid of private armies is to enlarge the army. That is a statement made boldly and frankly — even at the risk of many voters failing to get the point.
Gibo Teodoro should know what the complex considerations are. He served an exemplary two years as defense secretary.
The warlords were not about to squander the leverage they enjoyed. They used the private armies to consolidate their local power bases and occasionally pleased their patrons in Manila by delivering votes in their favor. Still, the existence of these private armies is a by-product of a strategic vulnerability of the state, not just the administration.
Until we have enough money to invest in greater military capability to contain a well-armed insurgent movement, we will have to rely on the cheap repressive labor contributed by “civilian volunteers” organized by local warlords.
The Ampatuans are not an idle clan. They understood their leverage and employed it to the hilt. They won sub-Cabinet posts, the governorship of the ARMM, mayoral posts in towns they renamed after their forebears, and the largesse of government projects. They probably ran shady businesses, too, which should explain the great wealth exhibited by clan members. With their leverage, government simply looked the other way and pray nothing too disastrous would come out of this unholy but unavoidable arrangement.
But something truly disastrous has happened. The arrangement will now have to be abrogated. What that means is that the civilian volunteer groups need to be disbanded, the offending local tyrants made to face the full eight of the law and the military, although already thinly spread out, must be redeployed to cover the vacuum.
Andal Ampatuan Jr. will face the music. The outrage is such that this clan has become a political inconvenience. We will now have to find the means to replace the strategic role their private armies played in the counter-insurgency effort.
In the wake of this tragedy, the only guys who have anything to cheer about are the insurgent groups and their allied criminal and terrorist gangs. That is the greatest misfortune of this whole thing.
animals!
‘WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS ARE THESE KILLERS?’
MANILA, Philippines—Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chair Leila de Lima Tuesday said the perpetrators of the mass murder in Maguindanao were “not human.”
Saying she had been shaking with rage since Monday night, De Lima let loose a mouthful on the killings, the Ampatuan family, and the national government.
“What kind of animals are these killers?” she told reporters at her office. “We are so shocked and enraged. This is beyond words. It is most despicable. This is the work of someone who is not human. It is a bestial act of the highest order. I have never seen anything like it. It’s brutal ruthlessness all in the name of power. It’s an affront to all forms of civility.”
…She wondered aloud where the 100 armed men who had carried out the killings came from.
“This only confirms that [the Ampatuans] maintain a private army. Why is this allowed? I would understand that the local police and military fall within their sphere of influence. But the national government? They know. What have the police and military been doing all this time?”
She also noted reports that the killings were carried out near a military detachment, and that policemen were among the 100 armed men.
and from jarius bondoc:
Ampatuan dynasty grew under Arroyo
From survivors’ accounts, Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., namesake-son of the Maguindanao governor, led the massacrers. A hundred riflemen reportedly shot the 43 political rivals and journalists, mostly female, in broad daylight. The provincial police chief, now in custody, was alleged to have joined in the killing spr ee. Some of the victims were raped, beheaded and mutilated. They were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of Toto Mangudadatu for governor in May, against Andal’s dad. Their convoy was waylaid at a checkpoint of the Ampatuan private army. Andal slapped Mangudadatu’s wife in the face with the poll papers, provoking a sister-in-law to stab him. He ordered his men to fire at will, then had the backhoe of the provincial capitol brought in to hurriedly dig a mass grave.
How could Andal and his heavily armed band have acted with such impunity? No less than a Malacañang source answered: “He already had horns; Gloria Arroyo let them grow longer.”
Warlords rise because abetted by the President, with shortsighted army and crooked police generals. The Ampatuans came to control Maguindanao, Muslim Mindanao’s largest province, ever since Arroyo became Commander-in-Chief in 2001. A good number of town mayors are sons of Andal Sr. by different marriages, sons-in-law, and grandsons. Zaldy, a son, is governor of the Autonomous Muslim Region. The Mangudadatus are related by blood and affinity.
Arroyo owes the Maguindanao political dynasty. In her 2004 run for a full presidential term, the Ampatuans delivered to her nearly 200,000 votes. Closest rival Fernando Poe Jr., a matinee idol vastly popular in Muslim Mindanao, got only less than 60,000, and incredibly zero in three towns. In the 2007 senatorial election Arroyo’s ticket won 12-0 against the opposition. Again unbelievably, the opposition did not get a single vote in 20 of the 22 towns.
Arroyo returns the favors by letting them rule Maguindanao like a fiefdom. All economic initiatives need the Ampatuans’ assent; state funds are released through them. Even the posting of police and military generals are cleared with them. All the Ampatuans are with the admin party. Zaldy was Malacañang’s choice for ARMM governor in 2005.
The elder Ampatuan is said to have gained political clout in the ’80s when, as a mayor, he took the military’s side against Moro separatists. He so pleased the generals that they took his followers into the paid militia and lent them light armor. The arrangement goes on to this day with the sons. In 2006 the Ampatuans’ might was enhanced when the interior department approved the arming with rifles of civilian volunteers against separatists. That practically allowed their supporters to stage checkpoints and patrols, and made the police a mere adjunct.
so. the united nations and the european union have been quick to condemn this atrocity. but we have yet to hear from the u.s. of a., our mighty ally with troops in mindanao, no less. what’s going on???