I was just told that a documentary had been made by some dickhead foreigner who idealises the NPA (Maoists) and their "struggle." In the late 1990s he embedded with the NPA and shot a film about it, focusing on a particular Hilltribe, the Mandaya. It is on Youtube, in three parts, actually uploaded by the Bicol Regional Command, an NPA formation on Luzon. The title is "Green Guerillas."
The film allows one to see what life is like here in the bush although the filmmaker, Ron Prosser, painted the NPA as environmentalists which is bullshit. When they blow up mining camps it is because the company is delinquent on its quarterly Revolutionary Taxes, not because the Maoists actually give a flying fuck about birds and worms. If they did they would prevent Artisinal Mining, small scale miners pouring cyanide and mercury into once pristine waterways, and small time loggers cutting the nation's last large virgin forest, the jungle around me.
Some may recall that we used to broker timer. When I would go to Seoul or to Nagoya in Japan it was to sell shiploads. We got into it because among our other busineses we farm timber. Actually not much farming goes on. We live in the Andap Valley, near Agusan Marsh. Agusan makes the Everglades in America look like a joke. 6 meter crocodiles are common. Now, I know many reading this will smell bullshit. After all, the world record is less than 6.5, or 19 feet, in Australia. Some may recall I told how a Hilltribe girl living in the Marsh had been snatched out of her dugout and decapitated on the way to school by a 7 meter (21 footer), well, to any doubters, Lolong, a 21 footer, was captured alive not even actually in the marsh a month ago. He has been certified by Guiness OFFICIALLY...anyway...in our tracts inside the Marsh we have a shitload of trees. Indeed, that is where my Mitragyna is. We harbest it for architectural trim and furniture manufacturers but of course I sell the leaf (Kratom), making me one of only two actual wholesalers in the world.
However, in 2008, when Dad, Rizza's father Mario, asked me if we should branch out into logging I immediately shut him down. He had his eye on tropical hardwood like Gemelina, which some are even cultivating here now, but there is too much violence related to actual logging, not worth the headaches.
One of my two oldest brothers in law, though I won't say which, had been pushing for logging. When I said no he argued that since we already brokered loads FOR logging outfits, consolidating loads, etc., that it wasn't that great a leap. Well, I thank him because it was that frame of reference that made me shut down that sideline. No more environmentally destructive bullshit.
Anyway, the film? It was shot in the hills right behind my home. As noted it focuses on the Mandaya Tribe. When you marry here you get G-Dparents. My G-Dmother is Colonel Lademora's daughter, one of the 3 revolving mayors. My G-Dfather though is a Manobo Tribesmen from the Marsh though he was "civilised" (terrible word but that is what they use here) in adolescence. He is liason between our provincial governor-another of Rizza's relatives- and various paramilitaries including mine.
The paramilitary, BULIF, or Bungkatoal Liberation Front, is a Tribal Army, from the Higaon-on Tribe, Jackie's tribe. The word "Bungkatoal" means "Truth in the Golden Cup," which relates to Higaon-on Tribal Law. The Higaon-on were militarised heavily under the counterinsurgency plan OPlan Bantay Laya I and II (Operational Plan Guarding the People), from a sub-protocol in the ISP (Internal Security Plan), " IP," meaning "Indigenous Peoples." BULIF was extant, but under the sub-protocol was grandfathered into the AFP's CAA (Civilian Active Auxiliary) programme. Specifically, it is an SCAA (Special Citizen Active Auxiliary). SCAAs are private armies that are highly co-ordinated with the military, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines).
The film allows one to see what life is like here in the bush although the filmmaker, Ron Prosser, painted the NPA as environmentalists which is bullshit. When they blow up mining camps it is because the company is delinquent on its quarterly Revolutionary Taxes, not because the Maoists actually give a flying fuck about birds and worms. If they did they would prevent Artisinal Mining, small scale miners pouring cyanide and mercury into once pristine waterways, and small time loggers cutting the nation's last large virgin forest, the jungle around me.
Some may recall that we used to broker timer. When I would go to Seoul or to Nagoya in Japan it was to sell shiploads. We got into it because among our other busineses we farm timber. Actually not much farming goes on. We live in the Andap Valley, near Agusan Marsh. Agusan makes the Everglades in America look like a joke. 6 meter crocodiles are common. Now, I know many reading this will smell bullshit. After all, the world record is less than 6.5, or 19 feet, in Australia. Some may recall I told how a Hilltribe girl living in the Marsh had been snatched out of her dugout and decapitated on the way to school by a 7 meter (21 footer), well, to any doubters, Lolong, a 21 footer, was captured alive not even actually in the marsh a month ago. He has been certified by Guiness OFFICIALLY...anyway...in our tracts inside the Marsh we have a shitload of trees. Indeed, that is where my Mitragyna is. We harbest it for architectural trim and furniture manufacturers but of course I sell the leaf (Kratom), making me one of only two actual wholesalers in the world.
However, in 2008, when Dad, Rizza's father Mario, asked me if we should branch out into logging I immediately shut him down. He had his eye on tropical hardwood like Gemelina, which some are even cultivating here now, but there is too much violence related to actual logging, not worth the headaches.
One of my two oldest brothers in law, though I won't say which, had been pushing for logging. When I said no he argued that since we already brokered loads FOR logging outfits, consolidating loads, etc., that it wasn't that great a leap. Well, I thank him because it was that frame of reference that made me shut down that sideline. No more environmentally destructive bullshit.
Anyway, the film? It was shot in the hills right behind my home. As noted it focuses on the Mandaya Tribe. When you marry here you get G-Dparents. My G-Dmother is Colonel Lademora's daughter, one of the 3 revolving mayors. My G-Dfather though is a Manobo Tribesmen from the Marsh though he was "civilised" (terrible word but that is what they use here) in adolescence. He is liason between our provincial governor-another of Rizza's relatives- and various paramilitaries including mine.
The paramilitary, BULIF, or Bungkatoal Liberation Front, is a Tribal Army, from the Higaon-on Tribe, Jackie's tribe. The word "Bungkatoal" means "Truth in the Golden Cup," which relates to Higaon-on Tribal Law. The Higaon-on were militarised heavily under the counterinsurgency plan OPlan Bantay Laya I and II (Operational Plan Guarding the People), from a sub-protocol in the ISP (Internal Security Plan), " IP," meaning "Indigenous Peoples." BULIF was extant, but under the sub-protocol was grandfathered into the AFP's CAA (Civilian Active Auxiliary) programme. Specifically, it is an SCAA (Special Citizen Active Auxiliary). SCAAs are private armies that are highly co-ordinated with the military, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines).