Today is still Wednesday, Janurary 7th, 2009 and it is now 3:57 PM here in the Philippines.
So, in late 1977 the MILF and BMLO had just begun operations and the MNLF is struggling on Mindanao with its only real effectivness on points south.
The MILF took off with a vengance, while the BGLO was wracked by infighting of its own and soon became the MNLF-RM, with the "RM" standing for "Reformist Movement," trying to capitalise once more on its much more powerful previous incarnation (MNLF).
By 1983 the once gigantic and powerful MNLF had only 15,000 armed fighters, which still represented a formidable force except that its mass base of support, absolutely crucial to any guerilla campaign was all but gone on Mindanao. This was reflected by what took place in the near future, when voting took place for the ARMM for the 2nd time.
Marcos was overthrown and Cory Aquino rose to power. One of Aquino's promises had been dialogue with the MNLF and a solution to the Mindanao stalemate. With the Organisation of the Islamic Conference once again supporting the MNLF both sides entered into Peace Talks in 1986.
In Jaunrary of 1987 the MNLF agrees to Aquino's push for autonomy at the expense of independance and formally reneges on its long standing Objective of Muslim Independance. Instead Aquino will allow any provinces wishing to from Mindanao and all points south, to join the soon to be autonomous region.
The MILF was adamant about rejecting this offer but one month later it too laid down its arms so that Muslim Mindanao would progress forward, before resuming its battle for seccession.
When it came to a vote though even the govt was suprised that only Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces on Mindanao, and Sulu and
Tawi Tawi in points south opted for the new autonomous status.
By the end of 1987 all sides were hopelessly deadlocked and in Feburary of 1988 when the Organisation of the Islamic Conference accedes to Aquino's wishes and denies the MNLF membership in the organisation the MNLF resumed its guerilla campaign.
In 1990 the MILF agrees to a short Cease Fire in honour of the progress made towards realisation of the ARMM Agreement, but soon resumed business as usual.
I know this sounds complicated, all this explaining but someone, somehwere just might want to learn about this now, or sometime in the future and who is to say I would even be around to talk about it?
In 10/92 the MNLF agreed to talks and headed back to Tripoli, Libya to give it one more shot with the govt. These talks continued in Jakarta, Indonesia in 4/1993 and lasted a total of 47 months before they came to a viable agreement over implentation of ARMM.
1996, ARMM was finally realised with then President Ramos appointing Misuari to be the region's 1st Governor, a position he would hold until his failed bid for seccession in Jolo, in 2001. Most of the MNLF is deactivated in Mindanao, except for his personal paramilitary which receives new weapons from the govt, and has an estimated 7,000 full time soldiers.
The MNLF-RM is the faction that disagrees with both Misuari's leadership AND the direction of the MNLF, and continues waging a small but ineffective war and finally ended up dissipating into oblvion after which its more committed members joined other armies.
President Ramos agreed to a Reintegration Programme for the MNLF under Misuari that saw a little over 5000 MNLF soldiers and commanders that were not accepted into Misuari's paramilitary being assimilated into the AFP, with the commanders becoming 2nd Lts and the rest of the rank and file becoming privates. Of that number, only 4300 managed to comeplte the AFP's required training.
In 7/97 the MILF agreed to a bi-lateral Cease Fire but the next President, Estrada, breaks it unilaterally in 2000. Again , in 2003 the MILF agrees to yet another Cease Fire with Preisdent Arroyo, the President that year as well as currently.
In 2000 a new vote is taken to expand the ARMM, but only Basilan (excepting its mostly Bisaya capital city of Isabela) and Marawai City ( a city in the province of Lanao del Sur which itself was already included in the ARMM ) opted to join.
In 2001 the MNLF that had neither been "Assimilated" or coopted into Misuari's private paramiliatary force in ARMM regained a tad bit of momentum in the southern islands and Chairman Misuari capitalised on that as he launched a bid for a coup on Jolo. He planned to declare independance but was beaten back by the Philippine Marines.
His followers in Zamboanga then staged a diversionary tactic by taking more than 100 civlians hostage as Misuari snuck out of the country and took refuge in Malaysia.
Ironically, Malaysia ended up arresting him in late 2001 for illegal entry, despite the fact that there is unimpeded transit between Sabah and Mindanao (not to mention the southern islands). There is no passport or immigration controls to facilitate both trade and family ties for southern Philippine tribals and relatives on Sabah and Borneo. It holds true for Indonesian islands nearby as well.
Misuari was then deposed as Chairman and replaced by MNLF-RM factional leader Parouk Hussin (sic) who had been idle when MNLF-RM dissipated in power.
In 1/2005 a small force of MILF led by Kummander Abdul Rahamn Binago , joined by a small guerilla army called "Abu Sofia" led by his brother Bebis Biago, and Abu Sayyaf surround a military unit and killed nearly 50 govt. soldiers reiniating hostilities. The MILF leadership stresses that the organisation did not authorise this attack and was willing to remain engaged in the Cease Fire but the govt refused the offer and so hostilities take off once again.
In 2005 a scion of a powerful Maguindanao Province clan, the Ampatuan Family was hand picked by President Arroyo to run for Governor of ARMM and despite accusations of outright fraud he still kept the seat, and was reelected this past year..
In 2006 both sides were able to effect a Cease Fire once again, until the summer of 2007, in July when on Basilan 14 Philippine Marines are killed and 9 are decapitated by a joint MILF/Abu Sayyaf operation, reacting to stepped up military activity on the island in response to the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping of Italian citizen and priest, Father Bossi.
MILF and the military come to an understanding and no hostilities take place until the summer of 2008 when the Philippine Supreme Court issued an injunction against implementation of the "Ancestral Domain Memorandum" which guaranteed both tribals and Muslims that they would have the level of autonomy they had been counting on.
The court declares the Memorandum must be ruled on by the Surpeme Court and decides to effect such Ruling at a later date to be determined, which in turn leads 3 Base Commands of the MILF to go "off the reservation" and begin slaughtering Bisaya villages which are a minority in those particular 3 provinces. The 3 Brigades, known as "Base Commands.":
I) 102, commanded by Ameril Umbra Kato, AKA "Kummander Kato" in Lanao del Norte.
II) 105, commanded by Abdullah Macapa'ar, AKA "Kummander Bravo" in Maguindanao.
III) 103, commanded by Solaiman Pangalian, AKA "Kummander Solaiman" in Lanao del Sur Province.
The Court then ruled, in October that the Memomarandum is illegal and un-Constitutional and is nullified.
Since August, 2008 the MILF has insisted, even as these 3 Brigades expand their scopes of operation and miraculously seem to have gained many new Battalions that they are acting against the wishes of the MILF leadership, and are called, "Lost Commands" a phase that has special meaning on this island, which I will eventually get around to explaining.
The MILF scope of operations are from ARMM all the way iup to Cagayan on the north coast of the island, but are heaviest in Cotabato N. and S., Lanao N. and Sultan Kuradat.
There is also one Base Command on Basilan, 114, that is also engaging govt. forces but in tandem with ASG and the MILF leadership denies that the 114 is actively in rebellion.
MNLF is still active in Sulu now, with the last large scale engagement having taken place this past July (2008) when an MNLF Battalion killed almost 50 people, roughly half of whom were Govt Marines, the rest being govt paramiliary soldiers.
Nur Misuari, the man who has probably had more to do with Islamic Insurrectionism on Mindanao than any other single person is finally free and back on the island, last seen a couple of weeks ago in Bukidnon Province, over seeing the conversion of some Lumad (animist tribals) recruits in the MNLF, which is just bizarre.
They were converting to Islam, and promised a salary of 12 to 15,000 Pesos a month which is a real fortune here abouts. There were only 18 but it is still almost unheard of in otday's world to see Lumad converting to Islam, but then there are many tribals who are horribly marginalised. Lumad probably have it worst here and have for as long as records have been kept.
Minsuari had been reinstated as the Chairman, in 2007, and then last April pushed back out by the then mayor of Cotabato City, the capital of ARMM and an old leader of the MNLF as well. Now Misuari has gathered most of the actual fighting force of the MNLF behind him and is seeking to reassert his leadership. Until this autumn he had been on house arrest in Manila and now that he is back in the south he very well probably will take control once more. He has committed himself to enlisting 200,000 soldiers by next summer (2009) and has formed a political alliance with the current Sultan of Sulu, and seems to be trying for independance once again.
More to come...
So, in late 1977 the MILF and BMLO had just begun operations and the MNLF is struggling on Mindanao with its only real effectivness on points south.
The MILF took off with a vengance, while the BGLO was wracked by infighting of its own and soon became the MNLF-RM, with the "RM" standing for "Reformist Movement," trying to capitalise once more on its much more powerful previous incarnation (MNLF).
By 1983 the once gigantic and powerful MNLF had only 15,000 armed fighters, which still represented a formidable force except that its mass base of support, absolutely crucial to any guerilla campaign was all but gone on Mindanao. This was reflected by what took place in the near future, when voting took place for the ARMM for the 2nd time.
Marcos was overthrown and Cory Aquino rose to power. One of Aquino's promises had been dialogue with the MNLF and a solution to the Mindanao stalemate. With the Organisation of the Islamic Conference once again supporting the MNLF both sides entered into Peace Talks in 1986.
In Jaunrary of 1987 the MNLF agrees to Aquino's push for autonomy at the expense of independance and formally reneges on its long standing Objective of Muslim Independance. Instead Aquino will allow any provinces wishing to from Mindanao and all points south, to join the soon to be autonomous region.
The MILF was adamant about rejecting this offer but one month later it too laid down its arms so that Muslim Mindanao would progress forward, before resuming its battle for seccession.
When it came to a vote though even the govt was suprised that only Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces on Mindanao, and Sulu and
Tawi Tawi in points south opted for the new autonomous status.
By the end of 1987 all sides were hopelessly deadlocked and in Feburary of 1988 when the Organisation of the Islamic Conference accedes to Aquino's wishes and denies the MNLF membership in the organisation the MNLF resumed its guerilla campaign.
In 1990 the MILF agrees to a short Cease Fire in honour of the progress made towards realisation of the ARMM Agreement, but soon resumed business as usual.
I know this sounds complicated, all this explaining but someone, somehwere just might want to learn about this now, or sometime in the future and who is to say I would even be around to talk about it?
In 10/92 the MNLF agreed to talks and headed back to Tripoli, Libya to give it one more shot with the govt. These talks continued in Jakarta, Indonesia in 4/1993 and lasted a total of 47 months before they came to a viable agreement over implentation of ARMM.
1996, ARMM was finally realised with then President Ramos appointing Misuari to be the region's 1st Governor, a position he would hold until his failed bid for seccession in Jolo, in 2001. Most of the MNLF is deactivated in Mindanao, except for his personal paramilitary which receives new weapons from the govt, and has an estimated 7,000 full time soldiers.
The MNLF-RM is the faction that disagrees with both Misuari's leadership AND the direction of the MNLF, and continues waging a small but ineffective war and finally ended up dissipating into oblvion after which its more committed members joined other armies.
President Ramos agreed to a Reintegration Programme for the MNLF under Misuari that saw a little over 5000 MNLF soldiers and commanders that were not accepted into Misuari's paramilitary being assimilated into the AFP, with the commanders becoming 2nd Lts and the rest of the rank and file becoming privates. Of that number, only 4300 managed to comeplte the AFP's required training.
In 7/97 the MILF agreed to a bi-lateral Cease Fire but the next President, Estrada, breaks it unilaterally in 2000. Again , in 2003 the MILF agrees to yet another Cease Fire with Preisdent Arroyo, the President that year as well as currently.
In 2000 a new vote is taken to expand the ARMM, but only Basilan (excepting its mostly Bisaya capital city of Isabela) and Marawai City ( a city in the province of Lanao del Sur which itself was already included in the ARMM ) opted to join.
In 2001 the MNLF that had neither been "Assimilated" or coopted into Misuari's private paramiliatary force in ARMM regained a tad bit of momentum in the southern islands and Chairman Misuari capitalised on that as he launched a bid for a coup on Jolo. He planned to declare independance but was beaten back by the Philippine Marines.
His followers in Zamboanga then staged a diversionary tactic by taking more than 100 civlians hostage as Misuari snuck out of the country and took refuge in Malaysia.
Ironically, Malaysia ended up arresting him in late 2001 for illegal entry, despite the fact that there is unimpeded transit between Sabah and Mindanao (not to mention the southern islands). There is no passport or immigration controls to facilitate both trade and family ties for southern Philippine tribals and relatives on Sabah and Borneo. It holds true for Indonesian islands nearby as well.
Misuari was then deposed as Chairman and replaced by MNLF-RM factional leader Parouk Hussin (sic) who had been idle when MNLF-RM dissipated in power.
In 1/2005 a small force of MILF led by Kummander Abdul Rahamn Binago , joined by a small guerilla army called "Abu Sofia" led by his brother Bebis Biago, and Abu Sayyaf surround a military unit and killed nearly 50 govt. soldiers reiniating hostilities. The MILF leadership stresses that the organisation did not authorise this attack and was willing to remain engaged in the Cease Fire but the govt refused the offer and so hostilities take off once again.
In 2005 a scion of a powerful Maguindanao Province clan, the Ampatuan Family was hand picked by President Arroyo to run for Governor of ARMM and despite accusations of outright fraud he still kept the seat, and was reelected this past year..
In 2006 both sides were able to effect a Cease Fire once again, until the summer of 2007, in July when on Basilan 14 Philippine Marines are killed and 9 are decapitated by a joint MILF/Abu Sayyaf operation, reacting to stepped up military activity on the island in response to the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping of Italian citizen and priest, Father Bossi.
MILF and the military come to an understanding and no hostilities take place until the summer of 2008 when the Philippine Supreme Court issued an injunction against implementation of the "Ancestral Domain Memorandum" which guaranteed both tribals and Muslims that they would have the level of autonomy they had been counting on.
The court declares the Memorandum must be ruled on by the Surpeme Court and decides to effect such Ruling at a later date to be determined, which in turn leads 3 Base Commands of the MILF to go "off the reservation" and begin slaughtering Bisaya villages which are a minority in those particular 3 provinces. The 3 Brigades, known as "Base Commands.":
I) 102, commanded by Ameril Umbra Kato, AKA "Kummander Kato" in Lanao del Norte.
II) 105, commanded by Abdullah Macapa'ar, AKA "Kummander Bravo" in Maguindanao.
III) 103, commanded by Solaiman Pangalian, AKA "Kummander Solaiman" in Lanao del Sur Province.
The Court then ruled, in October that the Memomarandum is illegal and un-Constitutional and is nullified.
Since August, 2008 the MILF has insisted, even as these 3 Brigades expand their scopes of operation and miraculously seem to have gained many new Battalions that they are acting against the wishes of the MILF leadership, and are called, "Lost Commands" a phase that has special meaning on this island, which I will eventually get around to explaining.
The MILF scope of operations are from ARMM all the way iup to Cagayan on the north coast of the island, but are heaviest in Cotabato N. and S., Lanao N. and Sultan Kuradat.
There is also one Base Command on Basilan, 114, that is also engaging govt. forces but in tandem with ASG and the MILF leadership denies that the 114 is actively in rebellion.
MNLF is still active in Sulu now, with the last large scale engagement having taken place this past July (2008) when an MNLF Battalion killed almost 50 people, roughly half of whom were Govt Marines, the rest being govt paramiliary soldiers.
Nur Misuari, the man who has probably had more to do with Islamic Insurrectionism on Mindanao than any other single person is finally free and back on the island, last seen a couple of weeks ago in Bukidnon Province, over seeing the conversion of some Lumad (animist tribals) recruits in the MNLF, which is just bizarre.
They were converting to Islam, and promised a salary of 12 to 15,000 Pesos a month which is a real fortune here abouts. There were only 18 but it is still almost unheard of in otday's world to see Lumad converting to Islam, but then there are many tribals who are horribly marginalised. Lumad probably have it worst here and have for as long as records have been kept.
Minsuari had been reinstated as the Chairman, in 2007, and then last April pushed back out by the then mayor of Cotabato City, the capital of ARMM and an old leader of the MNLF as well. Now Misuari has gathered most of the actual fighting force of the MNLF behind him and is seeking to reassert his leadership. Until this autumn he had been on house arrest in Manila and now that he is back in the south he very well probably will take control once more. He has committed himself to enlisting 200,000 soldiers by next summer (2009) and has formed a political alliance with the current Sultan of Sulu, and seems to be trying for independance once again.
More to come...