Today is Sunday, Feburary 1st, 2009 and it is now 12: 48 AM here in the Philippines.
Yet another continuation, don't you just love character counts!?
The man usually called the "Founder" of the MNLF, although he did NOT found it (I talked about it in an earlier entry) former Professor Nir Misuari is on Mindanao, in Davao trying to arrange furether benefits for his former fighters who deactivated during the 90s, under the first major Amnesty Programme on the island.
Most of the men have remained armed, and some belong to newer groups like the MILF or ASG, while others only engage in banditry or in the many smaller guerilla bands like Pentagon (sic), Abu Sofia, ad so on.
Apparently, the forms for "re-integration" are supposed to be personally dsitributed by AFP (army) officers at their discretion and one can easily imagine the graft that this would entail in any nation. when you are talking about the nation consistently listed in official tables as the "most corrupt nation in SE Asia" than it is becomes an actual clusterfuck of greed and chaos. Ergo, men "de-activated" in 96 are in 2009 clamoruring for these "applications."
Misuari has been publicly asking how can there be non-Muslims (en masse) beging given Amnesty for having supposedly fighting in a Muslim Separatist army? He has a point.
Meanwhile, the MILF is seatedily making progress in the more southerly parts of west Mindanao, while in the north it remains as bloody as it ever has with ALL groups fighting one another.
I spent many years fighting in southern Lebanon and Beka'a and at its worst there 70 OFFICIALY listed groups at war. This does not come close to THAT cahotic theater but itcertainly is close enough. Most of the other features are here for sure: IEDs, catastrophic Collateral Damage incurred, allies by day- enemies by night and so on.
On Sunday, a week ago on 1/25 there wasa heavy engagement between the AFP's 38th IB and alied paramilitaries (CAFGU, ILG and Ilaga) are duking it out against the MILF in Barangay Pamadtingan in Esperanza village which is in Sultan Kudarat Province.
Esperanza is a Biaya village with a very well armed Ilaga faction. Ilaga is the Bisaya word for "Rats" and denotes several loosely allied Biasaya and to a smaller degree Illongo paramilitaries. Often used interchangably with the phrse "TadTad" or "ChopChop" which is not neccessarily the same thing.
Ilaga grew out of a parallel movement within mostly Illongo villages, called "Illongo Land Grabbers" in English, known as such for their propesity to settle on land claimed by Muslims.
I have gotten into the history in a few other entires but will say fro breivty's sake that the Muslims here only settled within the same century as the Spanish , and while most Bisaya and Illongo have less than 150 years on the land the Muslims are not any more "indgenous" than either Bisaya OR Illongo.
Muslims claimed much of south and west Mindanao, but only along very coastal regions, and up certain rivers for a few kilometers. Esperanza is one village that lies in that coastal settlement path and so it fell under a "Muslim Sultanate," or Kingdom. there were 2 main Sultanates on Mindanao, "Maguidanao" which took up just about all of Maguidanao Province along with most of Caotabato N. and S. Provinces.
The second was the "Sulu Sultanate" which of course was centered far south in the Sulu islands which ar due south of us, but also in Sabah on Borneo which led to an International Incident and even almost official war between the Philippines and Malaysia.
So, although the Spanish claimed Mindanao, and some of the more southerly islands, they really only ever settled Zamboanga City and Butuan (Butuan is a city about 90 klicks north of me) and even then only in a very limited way. Mindanao in name belonged to the Spanish, but in reality it was inhabited and ruled by Muslims a century before and so began the situation we have now.
Esperanza was unihabited, but was somewhat arable (conducive to farming) and when the Bisaya population explosion took place in the late 1960s the govt. offered freepassage and grants to homestead on this island. Bisaya Datus (chiefs) led enitre communities from the most impovershed parts of the Visayan islands (Bisaya and Visaya are interchangable and I use the English name for the Visayan Islands).
At the same time, those regularly reading my entries will remember that the late 60s saw the crystallisation of the MODERN Islamic Insurgency. In the first years of the 70s the world saw the Illongo LGs and Ilaga take form. In the mid 90s they mostly disbanded although of course, as with most families here, the men retained their weapons and attitudes. When the Philippine Supreme Court overturned the "Ancestral Domain" agreement the MILF's 3 largest factions went on a rampage that is apparently blessed by the larger leadership. That is the current heart of the Islamic War right now.
On 1/21 in Barangay Malisbong in Palembang village in Sultan Kudarat Prvince 100 AFP soldiers from the 2nd Infantry (IB is "Infantry Brigade") fought against a larger force of MILF when they stumbled upon a 20 bunker encampment while on Patrol.
Fighting contued into the 22nd (next day) and then spread to Branagays Maguialis, Lumitan and Butri. No word on the number of deaths but said to be many, including, as always, civlians.
On 1/27 the 2nd IB set up a FOB (Forward Operating Base, a small base with which to maintain a "Front" or concerted armed presence) in Barnagay Butri in Palembang due to the various small skirmishes that took place between the end of the huge engagement on the 22nd and the
27th.
A second much smaller FOB was also then set up in Barangay Mibuk which is more outlying, and will be manned by only 1 platoon from the 2nd IB and mostly by Ilaga Paramilitary soldiers.
On 1/26th the AFP' was ambushed by the MILF in Barangay Ngingiri in Calanogas village killing 7 soldiers and an no MILF.
On that same day, the 26th, the AFP's 55th IB was riding in paramilitary truck when a single well placed sniper shot caused the truck to tumble into a deep ravine killing 7 soldiers, who were based at a FOB in Lumbayangue in Lanao del Sur Province. they had been heading to their C and C ( Command and Control Center AKA HQ) at Pualas village in that same province. It happened on the main road outside of Lumbayangue at 930 AM.
Also on the 26th, a second Refugee Camp came under fire. This one was in Barangay Libutan in Mamasapano in Maguindanao and again it was 105 MM shelling! Hmmmm....
It had been preceeded by 2 days of fighting in Barangays Tapikan 1 and 2 in Shariff Aguak also in Maguindanao which had then spread to the villages of Datu Unsay and Datu Saudi Ampuatan.
On the 27th, in Barangay Dado in Alamdao village, a Bisaya and illongo village in Cotabato the AFP and Ilaga fough the MILF all day, beginning before day break.
This past Thursday, 1/29 in Barangays Pagatin and Pusao in Mamasapano village in Maguindanao Province the AFP (army) fired 10 rounds of 105 MM shells into a Refugee Camp just as the 20,000 Refugees within were chowing down on their breakfast rice and putrid water, goes great with cholera! YET ANOTHER REFGUEE CAMP!!! It is the 8th that i know of in 2 months...
While the MILF DOES have Howitzers its placement of them is VERY limited and NONE are in that part of Maguindanao.
And that is my world!
Yet another continuation, don't you just love character counts!?
The man usually called the "Founder" of the MNLF, although he did NOT found it (I talked about it in an earlier entry) former Professor Nir Misuari is on Mindanao, in Davao trying to arrange furether benefits for his former fighters who deactivated during the 90s, under the first major Amnesty Programme on the island.
Most of the men have remained armed, and some belong to newer groups like the MILF or ASG, while others only engage in banditry or in the many smaller guerilla bands like Pentagon (sic), Abu Sofia, ad so on.
Apparently, the forms for "re-integration" are supposed to be personally dsitributed by AFP (army) officers at their discretion and one can easily imagine the graft that this would entail in any nation. when you are talking about the nation consistently listed in official tables as the "most corrupt nation in SE Asia" than it is becomes an actual clusterfuck of greed and chaos. Ergo, men "de-activated" in 96 are in 2009 clamoruring for these "applications."
Misuari has been publicly asking how can there be non-Muslims (en masse) beging given Amnesty for having supposedly fighting in a Muslim Separatist army? He has a point.
Meanwhile, the MILF is seatedily making progress in the more southerly parts of west Mindanao, while in the north it remains as bloody as it ever has with ALL groups fighting one another.
I spent many years fighting in southern Lebanon and Beka'a and at its worst there 70 OFFICIALY listed groups at war. This does not come close to THAT cahotic theater but itcertainly is close enough. Most of the other features are here for sure: IEDs, catastrophic Collateral Damage incurred, allies by day- enemies by night and so on.
On Sunday, a week ago on 1/25 there wasa heavy engagement between the AFP's 38th IB and alied paramilitaries (CAFGU, ILG and Ilaga) are duking it out against the MILF in Barangay Pamadtingan in Esperanza village which is in Sultan Kudarat Province.
Esperanza is a Biaya village with a very well armed Ilaga faction. Ilaga is the Bisaya word for "Rats" and denotes several loosely allied Biasaya and to a smaller degree Illongo paramilitaries. Often used interchangably with the phrse "TadTad" or "ChopChop" which is not neccessarily the same thing.
Ilaga grew out of a parallel movement within mostly Illongo villages, called "Illongo Land Grabbers" in English, known as such for their propesity to settle on land claimed by Muslims.
I have gotten into the history in a few other entires but will say fro breivty's sake that the Muslims here only settled within the same century as the Spanish , and while most Bisaya and Illongo have less than 150 years on the land the Muslims are not any more "indgenous" than either Bisaya OR Illongo.
Muslims claimed much of south and west Mindanao, but only along very coastal regions, and up certain rivers for a few kilometers. Esperanza is one village that lies in that coastal settlement path and so it fell under a "Muslim Sultanate," or Kingdom. there were 2 main Sultanates on Mindanao, "Maguidanao" which took up just about all of Maguidanao Province along with most of Caotabato N. and S. Provinces.
The second was the "Sulu Sultanate" which of course was centered far south in the Sulu islands which ar due south of us, but also in Sabah on Borneo which led to an International Incident and even almost official war between the Philippines and Malaysia.
So, although the Spanish claimed Mindanao, and some of the more southerly islands, they really only ever settled Zamboanga City and Butuan (Butuan is a city about 90 klicks north of me) and even then only in a very limited way. Mindanao in name belonged to the Spanish, but in reality it was inhabited and ruled by Muslims a century before and so began the situation we have now.
Esperanza was unihabited, but was somewhat arable (conducive to farming) and when the Bisaya population explosion took place in the late 1960s the govt. offered freepassage and grants to homestead on this island. Bisaya Datus (chiefs) led enitre communities from the most impovershed parts of the Visayan islands (Bisaya and Visaya are interchangable and I use the English name for the Visayan Islands).
At the same time, those regularly reading my entries will remember that the late 60s saw the crystallisation of the MODERN Islamic Insurgency. In the first years of the 70s the world saw the Illongo LGs and Ilaga take form. In the mid 90s they mostly disbanded although of course, as with most families here, the men retained their weapons and attitudes. When the Philippine Supreme Court overturned the "Ancestral Domain" agreement the MILF's 3 largest factions went on a rampage that is apparently blessed by the larger leadership. That is the current heart of the Islamic War right now.
On 1/21 in Barangay Malisbong in Palembang village in Sultan Kudarat Prvince 100 AFP soldiers from the 2nd Infantry (IB is "Infantry Brigade") fought against a larger force of MILF when they stumbled upon a 20 bunker encampment while on Patrol.
Fighting contued into the 22nd (next day) and then spread to Branagays Maguialis, Lumitan and Butri. No word on the number of deaths but said to be many, including, as always, civlians.
On 1/27 the 2nd IB set up a FOB (Forward Operating Base, a small base with which to maintain a "Front" or concerted armed presence) in Barnagay Butri in Palembang due to the various small skirmishes that took place between the end of the huge engagement on the 22nd and the
27th.
A second much smaller FOB was also then set up in Barangay Mibuk which is more outlying, and will be manned by only 1 platoon from the 2nd IB and mostly by Ilaga Paramilitary soldiers.
On 1/26th the AFP' was ambushed by the MILF in Barangay Ngingiri in Calanogas village killing 7 soldiers and an no MILF.
On that same day, the 26th, the AFP's 55th IB was riding in paramilitary truck when a single well placed sniper shot caused the truck to tumble into a deep ravine killing 7 soldiers, who were based at a FOB in Lumbayangue in Lanao del Sur Province. they had been heading to their C and C ( Command and Control Center AKA HQ) at Pualas village in that same province. It happened on the main road outside of Lumbayangue at 930 AM.
Also on the 26th, a second Refugee Camp came under fire. This one was in Barangay Libutan in Mamasapano in Maguindanao and again it was 105 MM shelling! Hmmmm....
It had been preceeded by 2 days of fighting in Barangays Tapikan 1 and 2 in Shariff Aguak also in Maguindanao which had then spread to the villages of Datu Unsay and Datu Saudi Ampuatan.
On the 27th, in Barangay Dado in Alamdao village, a Bisaya and illongo village in Cotabato the AFP and Ilaga fough the MILF all day, beginning before day break.
This past Thursday, 1/29 in Barangays Pagatin and Pusao in Mamasapano village in Maguindanao Province the AFP (army) fired 10 rounds of 105 MM shells into a Refugee Camp just as the 20,000 Refugees within were chowing down on their breakfast rice and putrid water, goes great with cholera! YET ANOTHER REFGUEE CAMP!!! It is the 8th that i know of in 2 months...
While the MILF DOES have Howitzers its placement of them is VERY limited and NONE are in that part of Maguindanao.
And that is my world!