Tuesday, September 18, 2012

 Muslim leaders call for patience toward anti-Islam film

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Muslim leaders and local clerics want the local communities to be sensible rather than be sensitive and emotional in dealing with the mounting indignation over the controversial “The Innocence of Muslims” film, which has been perceived as a means to malign Islam.

Acting Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Mujiv Hataman said that he is convinced that the film’s having been uploaded to the video-sharing site, YouTube, could be a ploy to stir violent reactions from among Muslims and, as a consequence, destroy the image of Islam.

Hataman said he is confident that while ARMM residents look up at the issue as an affront to the Islamic faith, they will deal with it according to the value of saba’r, the Arabic for patience and endurance.

Islam strictly prohibits retaliations against groups or communities for an offense supposedly done alone by a solitary individual.

“Under Islamic principles, one cannot force Pedro to do reparation, or be penalized for an offense done by Juan,” said Ustadz Esmael Ebrahim, a commissioner in the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos.

Patience and perseverance

“Now is the time for us to exemplify what Prophet Mohammad had taught us, to be patient in addressing challenges that come our way,” Hataman said.

Even officials of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which crafted a peace pact with the national government on September 2, 1996, agreed that reacting violently to the controversial
YouTube video will only unduly glorify the anti-Islam film and its producer.

Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, also chairman of the largest and most politically-active of the three groups in the MNLF, said preachers in their ranks have been tasked to educate their followers on the need for them to be patient and forgiving in dealing with the issue.

Sema said Islamic history books tell of the examples on how Prophet Mohammad opted to “swallow pride,” accept humiliation and opt for reconciliation to end conflicts; initiate the settlement of disputes peacefully and promptly, instead of witnessing any violence.

Sema said many of them in the MNLF are convinced the anti-Islam YouTube film happened for a purpose; to put into test the sobriety and perseverance of Muslims in confronting any affront against Islam.

“We, Muslims believe that sometimes we stumble and fall today, purposely for us to rise and bounce back as better, peace-loving Muslims the next day,” Sema said.

“Reacting violently on that YouTube movie will only create a bad image of Islam,” he added.

Impregnable

For Hataman and Sema, evil motives must not prevail over good and affect peaceful coexistence among followers of the world’s great religions.

“It is not easy to destroy the image of Islam, by any form of media, unless Muslims themselves do wrong and destroy themselves,” Hataman said.

Hataman said the book, “The 100: A List of the Most Influential Persons in History” by Michael Hart has retained in its No. 1 slot the name of Prophet Muhammad, 37 years after its first and only edition was written.

Members of the newly-launched provincial party chapter of the joint United Nationalists Alliance-Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan have called on Muslims in Maguindanao to be sober and avoid instigating any unruly reaction against the YouTube publication.

The party’s figurehead in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat Mayor Tucao Mastura, who is running for governor of Maguindanao in next year’s elections, and his running mate, former Talayan Mayor Datu
Ali Midtimbang, both asked preachers to remind Muslims about how Prophet Mohammad used diplomacy in addressing attacks on Islamic communities.

Mastura and Midtimbang, who were sworn in, along with dozens of their followers, into the PDP-Laban by Vice President Jejomar Binay and the party’s secretary-general, Jose Peping Cojuangco, Jr., in Manila last week, are both keen on introducing “religious awakening” as a platform for propagating Muslim-Christian solidarity in the province.

Mastura and Midtimbang, who are both close to clerics in the province, and members of their newly-launched political group, all acknowledge that any sectarian animosity among Mindanao’s Muslim and non-Muslim folks can stifle the Southern Mindanao peace process.

From:
John Felix Miciano Unson

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

MNLF warns MILF over allegations of BIFM association

COTABATO CITY, Philippines- The Moro National Liberation cautioned on Tuesday the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for its insinuation that the MNLF aided the group of bandit gang leader Ameril Umbra Kato in its violent incursions in five Maguindanao towns early this month.

The MNLF signed on September 2, 1996 a final peace pact with the national government, which paved the way for the integration of some 10,000 former guerillas into the Armed Forces and the police.

The truce, according to the MNLF, also ushered in the assimilation into the political mainstream of several MNLF leaders, some of them now actively involved in local governance and in helping manage the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as members of the ARMM cabinet and the 27-seat Regional Assembly.

“Those imputations, obviously not supported by evidence, are not good for the Bangsamoro people, to where these two fronts belong,” the general secretariat of the largest of three factions in the MNLF said in a statement.

The largest of the three MNLF groups also pointed out that it cannot comprehend why the MILF has dragged the MNLF into the “dirty foray” instigated by Kato’s Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM).

The MNLF said the issue of its alleged “cooperation” with the BIFM cropped after an unnamed MILF source revealed to reporters that certain politicians, among them Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, were aiding the bandit group.
Mangudadatu has denied having any link with the BIFM and even branded as “unfounded and an absolute fiction” an August 11 published report claiming he is coddling the criminal gang for political objectives.

Mangudadatu said he is even ready to shell out a reward in exchange for information that would lead to the arrest of all members of the BIFM’s top leadership core, including Kato and his spokesman, Abu Misry Mama.

The MNLF said such assertions also came at a time while it was trying to reaffirm, through regular press communiqués, its religious compliance with its final peace pact with the national government. The group said it will not be a stumbling block to a successful conclusion of the now 14-year GPH-MILF talks.

The issue surfaced after peace activists, some of them involved in foreign-funded peace-building projects complementing President Aquino’s Mindanao peace process, expressed apprehensions on possible effects of president's final peace accord with the MILF, while the tripartite review of the GPH-MNLF peace accord is still underway.

“It is not a wise move on the part of the MNLF to cooperate with the BIFM/BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters),” the MILF said in an article posted on its website luwaran.com.

The three-way tripartite review, which involves representatives of the Aquino administration, the MNLF and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, is to enhance the weak provisions of the peace agreement and to resolve misunderstandings on the implementation of some of its sensitive provisions.

The MNLF earlier said a total of “42 consensus points” have already been reached by the three parties, mostly all parallel, or “synonymous” with what the GPH and MILF panels have agreed on wealth-and-power sharing, management of natural resources in Moro-dominated areas, education, regional security and the setting up of a more politically and administratively empowered self-governing Southern autonomous government.

“What logic is there in helping the BIFM perpetrate violent attacks in Maguindanao when we in the MNLF are busy strengthening our peace agreement with the national government through a peaceful tripartite initiative? That would be too counter-productive,” the MNLF said.

The MNLF said it is “not at war with the MILF” and that most of its members in Maguindanao are now peacefully thriving as farmers in their government-acknowledged camps and in 3,000-hectare enclave in Bago Inged in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, where they are operating a newly established rubber tree seedling facility and orchard plantations. 

from: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com
PCID JOINS THE NATION IN GRIEVING THE LOSS SECRETARY JESSE ROBREDO
August 27, 2012  |  Quezon City


The Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) joins the nation in grieving the loss of Secretary Jesse Robredo, an outstanding political leader, steadfast in his conviction that leaders are accountable to their constituents; an exemplary public servant, firm in his commitment to transparency in governance; and a friend and brother to the Muslims, a pillar of support for reform in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

He was seen as the icon of genuine reform as exemplified by his several campaigns for good governance, such as the Full Disclosure Policy (FDP) that requires absolute transparency in the reporting of expenditures by local government units, a move that gained him deeper admiration from his peers.

Secretary Robredo will be remembered for his hands-on approach to dealing with peace and conflict issues in ARMM by being very visible and vocal about the challenges in the region. He welcomed regular dialogues with local leaders in the most conflict-stricken provinces and even convening the provincial peace and order council in Basilan following recent incidents of violence.

Muslims in Mindanao and in the rest of the country have indeed lost one of the most important advocates of their cause who had high hopes that the region would realize its full potential through long-term and genuine reform programs, such as the Seal of Good Housekeeping Award, which Secretary Robredo personally initiated.  Thirteen of 116 ARMM municipalities have succeeded in gaining this award, thru Secretary Robredo’s encouragement and support.

His death removes a crucial pillar for the reform movement of the ARMM, led by Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman.   It is our hope that the President honors the late Secretary by appointing a servant-leader who can adequately fill the shoes left by Sec Jess as the next Secretary of the Interior and Local Government. 


From: MKFI PCID mkfi.pcid@gmail.com
Maguindanao residents still face security woes

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines -Thousands of evacuees dislocated by recent attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao are reluctant to return to their villages due to threats of retaliations following the Army’s takeover of BIFF camps last week.
Public officials said they would rely on security assessments by the Maguindanao police, the provincial peace and order council, and the local government units (LGUs) of the five troubled towns, to determine when to start returning evacuees to their residences.
The apprehensions of the evacuees languishing in squalid evacuation centers escalated Saturday with the BIFF’s bombing of a detachment of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) in Barangay Labo-Labo in Maguindanao’s restive Datu Hoffer town.
Riding in separate motorcycles, one of four BIFF bandits that launched the attack casually pulled over near the detachment and lobbed a fragmentation grenade to the CAFGUS inside, wounding five of them - Suiti Salik, Tata Salik, Kamad Guialudin, Dante Ali, and Tautin Upaw.
The incident came following the Army’s closure for about four hours of a stretch of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos City Highway in Datu Unsay town Friday after bandits came close and fired at nearby Army detachments.
The acting governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mujiv Hataman, said the ARMM’s peace and order council has to build consensus first with Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu on how to return displaced villagers to their conflict-stricken barangays.
The violent incursions by the BIFF, which started midnight of August 5 with its simultaneous attacks on military positions along stretches of the highway straddling through five towns forced more than 20,000 people to evacuate to safer areas for fear of their lives.
Mangudadatu already ordered last week the LGUs of the affected municipalities to convene their respective disaster mitigation councils to formulate measures for the return of the evacuees and ensure their protection from the BIFF’s continuing attacks.
BIFF gunmen plundered farming enclaves, carted away farm animals and water buffaloes of fleeing peasants, and burned down abandoned houses as they escaped from pursuing soldiers in their weeklong attacks early this month.
Hataman and Mangudadatu both said the newly-installed provincial police director, Senior Supt. Jaime Pido, the ARMM’s social welfare department, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDDMC), and Army units on the ground would be recommending security measures to prevent any recurrence of the BIFF attacks.
Mangudadatu acknowledges the “complexity” of the security situation in areas the BIFF subjected to violent attacks owing to the group’s being not covered by the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The MILF has disowned the BIFF and declared it an “open game” for the police and military, after trying thrice to convince its chieftain, the ailing Ameril Umra Kato, to disband his gang and rejoin his former organization.
Kato, a cleric trained in Saudi Arabia, started as chief of the MILF’s 105th Base Command, but was booted out two years ago for various offenses, including insubordination. His ouster from the MILF prompted him to launch his own group, comprised largely of rogue Moro guerillas.
Kato’s spokesman, Abu Misry Mama, told ABS-CBN in Cotabato City last week they will stage more retaliatory attacks, warning residents in barangays where there are military detachments and camps to start evacuating to prevent from getting caught in the cross-fire.

by: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Military accused of using mosques as camps

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A human rights group on Friday accused the military of turning some mosques in Maguindanao into temporary camps at the height of the clashes with Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

But Colonel Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the 6th Infantry Division, denied the allegation saying it was the BIFF fighters who occupied the mosques.

Bai Ali Indayla, secretary general of Kawagib (Rights), said her organization had gathered enough evidence and witnesses to support the filing of charges against the military before the United Nations Human Rights Council.

She said under UN war conventions, places of worship should always be spared in times of conflict.

Indayla said that according to witnesses’ accounts, soldiers occupied mosques in Guindulungan and Datu Unsay towns as they launched operations against BIFF members responsible for the Aug. 5 attacks in Maguindanao. Soldiers also occupied civilian houses during the operations, Indayla said.

“The encampment by the military in the houses and mosques was non-adherence to international laws,” she said.

But Asto denied the claim.

“It’s not true. Our troops know their limit…that’s a violation of international law. The ones who occupied the mosques were the enemies. Our men weren’t able to fire their weapons at some BIFF forces because they hid in the mosques,” Asto said.

As this developed, Asto said the bullet that killed a four-year-old Asnaira Usman  inside an evacuation camp in Datu Unsay on Tuesday had been fired by a BIFF sniper.

He said two days later, BIFF snipers in Pikit, North Cotabato, also killed Anwar Langalin on suspicion he was a military agent.

BIFF forces continued to harass civilians outside of Maguindanao, another military officer reported.

Lt. Col Adolfo Espuelas Jr., commanding officer of the 73rd Infantry Battalion, said BIFF forces have occupied four villages in Maitum, Sarangani, and driven away 200 families to evacuation centers.

Espuelas said the military could not easily drive away the rebels because they also brought with them their families and were using them as human shields.

“They resort to using their own family members as shield whenever they are under attack. So, our soldier can’t do anything except to stay put,” he said.  With a report from Aquiles Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao
This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.
1 dead, 2 hurt as BIFM attacks NCotabato town

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Bandits belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement killed a villager and wounded two government combatants, attacking an Army checkpoint in Pikit, North Cotabato Wednesday night.
The incident was preceded by the death on Tuesday of a four-year-old girl, Asnayra Usman, who, along with her parents, were inside a makeshift shelter in an evacuation site in Datu Saudi, Maguindanao when unidentified gunmen shot the site with long-range weapons.
Inspector Elias Dandan, chief of the Pikit municipal police, said the BIFM gang members were traversing Pikit, en route to the nearby Malitubog-Maridagao area, when they spotted a team of soldiers and militiamen manning a checkpoint in Barangay Inog-og and opened fire at the government troops.
A militiaman named Rafael Palomar, 29, and a soldier, Pfc. Jose Morales, of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion, were wounded in the ensuing firefight.
Police and Army reinforcements managed to drive the bandits away and wounded seven of them, according to barangay folks.
The fleeing rebels opened fire at houses, killing a civilian named Anwer Langalin, who died while being treated of gunshot wounds in a hospital at the town proper of Pikit.
The incident came at the heels of Monday’s sightings of BIFM bandits at marshlands at the border of North Cotabato’s adjoining Aleosan and Pikit towns.
Inspector Carl Jason Baynosa of the 2nd Maneuver Company of the Regional Public Safety Battalion based in North Cotabato told reporters that the sightings of BIFM bandits forced villagers to evacuate.
The mayor of Pikit, Datu Sumulong Sultan, has confirmed the evacuations, but assured the public that local officials are working with the police, the military and with local commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in preventing the bandits from closing in.
Bai Ali Endaila, secretary-general of Kawagib, a Moro human rights group, has called on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the circulating stories that soldiers could be responsible for the shooting of an evacuation site in Datu Unsay that left a four-year-old child dead and his 33-year-old father wounded.
The victims were among dozens housed in makeshift shelters at an evacuation site near an Islamic school in Barangay Salbo in Datu Saudi.
Col. Prudencio Asto, public affairs chief of the 6th ID, said it is unlikely for soldiers to shoot evacuation sites by accident owing to their careful plotting of their movements based on map and satellite positioning calculations.
“Just the same we shall have that issue investigated. Let’s us not discount the reality, in the meantime, that these bandits have long-range sniping rifles. Soldiers, in fact recovered last week two Barret caliber .50 sniping rifles from their abandoned hideout not far from Datu Unsay,” Asto said.
A police officer and three civilian commuters were slightly injured early Wednesday when BIFM bandits set off a roadside bomb along a thoroughfare linking the provincial police headquarters to the town proper of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.
Army and police bomb disposal experts found fragments of a 105 Howitzer cannon round and pieces of an improvised contraption designed to detonate the explosive using a mobile phone.[]


By: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Roberdo supported ARMM reform program

 

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Muslim local executives are mourning the death of Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.

The acting governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mujiv Hataman, said Robredo was an active supporter of President Aquino’s reform agenda for ARMM and in fixing region’s problematic political and administrative processes.

“Secretary Robredo shall be mentioned in the history of ARMM as the national government official who was a frequent visitor of ARMM. He came over many times to check on problems about regional governance,” Hataman said.
Robredo last met with local officials in Maguindanao, a component-province of ARMM, in Kidawapan City more than a week ago for a dialogue on security problems in conflict-stricken towns in the province.

“Robredo’s role in the pursuit of our reforms agenda in the ARMM is beyond personal reckoning,” Hataman said.
Hataman said Robredo had kept his communication lines open to ARMM leadership, getting updates on issues and concerns besetting the region.

“He was very approachable and brotherly,” Hataman said.

from: John Unson


 

Central Mindanao tribes seek protection vs Kato, BIFM


COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Central Mindanao’s highland tribes are urging Malacañang to declare “protected areas” their lands where the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the bandit gang of Ameril Umrah Kato established lairs which soldiers took over last weekend after five days of offensives.

The abandoned hideouts of the Kato-led criminal gang and the MILF’s Camp Omar are located inside a sprawling 12,000 hectare mountain range, which is a known domain of non-Muslim highland communities, and surrounded by Maguindanao’s adjoining Guindulungan, Datu Saudi, Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, and South Upi towns.

Timuays (chieftains) of the ethnically-related Teduray, Teduray-Dulangan, and Dulangan-Manobo tribes in the adjoining provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat said in a press statement Monday that they want to “freely thrive in peace” in their enclave, where Mount Firis, a centuries-old tribal sanctuary, is located.

Fierce clashes erupted in the surroundings of Mount Firis last week as soldiers drove followers of Kato away from the area following their bloody incursions on nearby five Maguindanao towns that started midnight of August 5 lasted for a week.

Tedurays have been performing their religious rites atop Mount Firis even before the Spaniards came in the 16th century to spread Christianity and long before Sharif Mohammad Kabunsuan, an Arab-Malay prince from Johore, arrived at the Pab-paiguan area at the Bucana District near the border of what are now Cotabato City and Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao.

Tedurays villagers have long been complaining about the presence of Kato and his men and forces of the MILF in their mountain stronghold.

Teduray tribal leaders, in a statement emailed to various media outfits, also described as “so harmful” to their tribe and their traditional and religious practices the spate of violent incidents that rocked Mount Firis and its surroundings last week.

Mount Firis was also a traditional burial site for Teduray chieftains in ancient times, until sacred burial grounds were established in other areas.

The Tedurays at Mount Firis started complaining as early as the late 1990s when MILF forces established camps in their mountain enclaves.

The tension worsened when Kato and his followers broke away from the MILF two years ago and built a community in the area and enforced a strict, Taliban style justice system.

Hundreds of Tedurays were forced to abandon their homes at Mount Firis when bandits led by Kato, leader of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement ((BIFM), attacked Army positions and farming villages to avenge the death of
Abdullah Mahmoud, who was killed in an encounter with patrolling soldiers last June 21.

Members of elite Scout Ranger units, the 33rd and 45th Infantry Battalions, and the 1st Army Mechanized Brigade, have cleared Mt. Firis of bandits, but evacuees from the area are worried the rebels could return once the soldiers pull out.

Oblate missionary Eliseo Mercado, Jr., director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said rebuilding the conflict-stricken Teduray lands will require various social, economic and political interventions by government agencies and non-government organizations.

Mercado, whose peace-building projects in Mindanao are assisted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany and the European Union, said it is also good for Mount Firis and its immediate surroundings to be declared a “protected, demilitarized peace zone” to prevent any outbreak of hostilities in the area between rebel forces and the military.

France Milla, chief information assistant of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, told reporters via text message that the provincial governor’s office will support any move to ensure the protection and privacy of Tedurays in the mountains surrounding Mount Firis.

Milla, however, said any effort to convert the area into a “peace zone” has to involve both the government and MILF peace panels, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, the Armed Forces, the Philippine National Police and local executives in the towns around the tribal domain.

Milla said Mangudadatu is also recommending the immediate establishment in the area of a monitoring post for the joint GPH-MILF ceasefire committee and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT).

The IMT, comprised of military representatives from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, Indonesia, and non-uniformed conflict resolution and rehabilitation experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union, has been helping enforce the government-MILF ceasefire in flashpoint areas in the south.
 
 
 
From:

Monday, August 20, 2012

MT FIRIS IS SACRED GROUND
A UNIFIED STATEMENT OF
NON-ISLAMIZED INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE ARMM

We, the Indigenous Peoples of the ARMM, particularly the Téduray, Lambangian and
Dulangan Manobo, who are directly affected by the recurring cycles of violence in the
Mt Firis Complex call upon one and all to hear our plea;

 -That the recent armed conflict between the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters and the Armed Forces of the Philippines as we all know has done
indescribable harm not only upon each other but most especially to the peace-
loving non-Islamized Indigenous Peoples of the Mt Firis Complex;

-That this is not the only violent incident in recent history that has marred the
land of our ancestors;

-That the suffering brought about by displacements is another blow to the efforts
of many people including the government to attain peace, genuine reform and
development;

-That we are grateful for the government and other kindhearted sectors that
have provided relief assistance to displaced persons;

-But the situation is more complex than just being addressed in a temporary
manner like the provision of food, medicines and shelter.

In the face of all this, let it also be known to one and all that since time immemorial,
Indigenous Peoples like the Tédurays, Lambangian, and Dulangan Manobo have lived
peacefully in the mountains of the Daguma Range where Mt Firis is located. Mt Firis
holds among these peoples a revered history that has been handed down the
generations through oral tradition;

-That this is where Lagey Firis practiced his tribal spiritual leadership;

-That Lagey Firis ascended onto heaven without dying (demniyat) from an exact
spot known as Batew;

-That Gogon Ignacio was the last Chieftain at Batew afoot Mt Firis, the sacred
ground of the Teduray and Lambangian;

-That since then, we, the non-Islamized Indigenous Peoples regularly visited the
place for pilgrimage and spiritual nourishment.

But on the evening of July 27, 2000, many of us had to leave Mt Firis after armed men
claimed the land to establish their camp. Shortly after, several municipalities were
carved out from its surrounding land; and many non-IPs have titled portions of the
land under their names.

We have become strangers in our own land and we have been victims to countless and
recurring conflicts since then.

For us indigenous peoples, land is life. We cannot be separated from the land because
it is what gives us life. It is our source of food and medicine, our home, burial
grounds, recreation and our place of worship. To systematically remove us from our
land is tantamount to annihilating our identity.

We earnestly call on the government to exercise its democratic mandate to protect its
people. We’d like to think that you consider us Tédurays, Lambangians and Dulangan
Manobos to be one of your people.

Mt Firis is Sacred Ground.

Signed this 17th day of August 2012, Maguindanao, Philippines
Timuay Justice and Governance (TJG)
Lumad Development Center Inc (LDCI)
Teduray, Lambangian Youth and Student Association (TLYSA)
Mamalo Descendants Organization (MDO)
Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan Manobo Ancestral Domain Claim (TLADMADC)
Organization of Teduray Lambangian Conference (OTLAC)
Teduray Lambangian Women’s Organization Inc (TLWOI)
Kena Menuwa (Dulangan Manobo Governance)
Mindanao People’s Peace Movement Katawhang Lumad (MPPM-KL)



IPDEV supports all initiatives geared toward the Recognition and Protection of the Rights of the
Indigenous Peoples in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for their Empowerment and
Sustainable Development


from: IPDEV IPDEV ipdev.ipdev@yahoo.com.ph

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Face challenges to International Humanitarian Law with greater hope and courage -PCICC

The Philippines marks International Humanitarian Law Day, August 12, this year with greater hope and courage.
We mark this day with our achievements in creating a favorable policy environment for the promotion of the international humanitarian law (IHL). The most significant of which is the ratification of the Philippine Senate of the Rome Statute of the ICC in August 2011 and the enactment of the IHL law by the Philippine Congress in December 2010.
We mark this day with the positive response of the Philippine government, the security sector and other government agencies, notably the paradigm shift being undertaken by the Armed Forces of the Philippines with its Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan which aims for zero tolerance for human rights and international humanitarian law violations, the establishment of Human Rights Offices within the AFP and the Philippine National Police, as well as the humanitarian interventions provided by government agencies to communities, especially women and children, in conflict-torn areas.
We mark this day with the increasing participation and vigilance of civil society groups in monitoring compliance to IHL and for initiating various programs that would prevent or mitigate conflicts such as education and information campaigns, policy advocacy and community dialogues.
The PCICC recognizes the valuable efforts of many civil society groups like WeAct 1325 or Women Engaged in Action on 1325 (United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325), a national network supporting the National Action Plan on of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325; Bantay Bayanihan, organized as an oversight monitoring and engagement group on the AFP’s 2010-2016 IPSP Bayanihan; and the Civil Society Initiatives for International Humanitarian Law (CSI-IHL).
PCICC individual and organizational members — Amnesty International Philippines, Ateneo Human Rights Center, BALAY Rehabilitation Center, Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), Medical Action Group, PhilRights, Task Force Detainees-Philippines (TFDP), Women’s Legal Bureau and WEDPRO, among others – continue to monitor and document human rights and IHL violations, provide relief and rehabilitation services to internally displaced persons, and advocate for IHL and legal remedies to violations.
Indeed, the Philippines has achieved significant strides in recent years in promoting humanitarian law, albeit with greater challenges in the face of the continuing war between the Philippine Government and the New People’s Army, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and other armed groups – - aggravated by infightings among rebel groups.
Impunity continues. Extra judicial killings, enforced disappearance, massive displacements of communities and other war crimes continue. Our efforts still fall short in relation to the magnitude of the problem.
As the Philippines mark IHL day on August 12 this year, the imperative of intensifying our efforts to establish and institutionalize mechanisms that would effectively stir the wheels of justice and rule of law within our national jurisdiction is the order of the day.
Important questions and areas of concerns have to be acted upon urgently, e.g., how to operationalize observance of the IHL at the field level of the AFP and PNP; the protection of victims and witnesses; designation of special courts to try cases involving crimes punishable under RA 9851 or the Philippine IHL law; designation of prosecutors and investigators by the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Justice, the Philippine National Police or other concerned law enforcement agencies; training of judges, prosecutors and investigators in human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law; ratification or enactment of important pieces of legislation like the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the ICC (APIC), enforced disappearance, internally displaced persons, children involved in armed conflict, among others.
This calls for a review of our work in education, information and communication, our work on humanitarian interventions, and our work in monitoring, investigation and prosecution.
Monitoring, investigation and prosecution demands that we act not only with hope but with courage. This we do for the victims of IHL violations, for defenders and humanitarian workers who are threatened in their work and for our future as a nation. Past and present cases of IHL violations must be addressed or they will be repeated.
The imperative of realizing our commitment to IHL is underlined by the clashes in Central Mindanao that broke out a week ago. The fighting now affects three provinces and, as of August 9, has caused the internal displacement of over 5,500 families or 27,862 persons of which 30 percent are children. (Data from the Protection Cluster Mindanao, Philippines)
The PCICC shall continue to strengthen its work with other stakeholders against war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity with the end in view that structural and social inequities are eradicated – - where justice, peace and the rule of law prevails.

REBECCA E. LOZADA
National Coordinator

MPC August 12 Statement on current Mindanao conflict

Media Statement
12 August 2012

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus calls on all peace loving peoples of Mindanao and the entire country to close ranks and unite behind the earnest efforts of the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to put a final closure to the armed conflict in Mindanao by signing a peace agreement at the soonest possible time.
MPC believes that the current attacks in the municipalities of Datu Unsay, Guindulungan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) are being used as a proxy war by politicians and powers that be in Mindanao who feel threatened by an incipient peace agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF.
The developing scenario is reminiscent of MOA-AD in 2008 where provocation and harassments were launched by armed groups to cause chaos, confusion and hysteria among the people.
From the reports of Bantay Ceasefire, the sporadic attacks by the BIFF have already affected seven towns in Maguindanao and one barangay in Pikit, North Cotabato, displacing around 7,000 families.
While BIFF may have grievances, MPC believes that there are influential politicians riding on in their issues in order to create a scenario that will put to serious question the viability of signing a peace agreement with the MILF. This is an old recycled tactic that is being used every time there is a clear breakthrough in the negotiations.
MPC is also deeply concerned over messages circulating via mobile phones, Facebook and other social media networks on rumors and false information, causing public alarm and panic in the conflict-affected areas.
We urge fellow peace advocates and media to help verify and validate information so that we will not become willing victims of war propaganda.
MPC calls to mind its 16 April 2011 meeting with Ustadz Amiril Umra Kato, leader of the BIFF, who said that he will leave it to the MILF to negotiate with government. His group does not need to negotiate. The peace panels can continue the talks “at kung maganda ang resulta, automatic, agree na kami”. But, “to see is to believe, huwag agad maniwala sa mga salita nila. Hindi na kami madala sa deception ng gobyerno, the MOA-AD is the best proof of such deception.”
Given the positive developments in the peace talks, with the panels already at the homestretch of the negotiations, we challenge the leadership of BIFF to maintain its “wait and see” attitude and not to make further moves that can only derail the negotiations and put civilians in precarious and uncertain conditions in the evacuation centers.
We call upon Moro civil society to initiate intra dialogues among the Moro political elites who could have valid concerns and fears of an incipient political settlement with the MILF.
It is time to unmask the interests and handiwork of those interest groups who clearly benefit from the status quo that the peace negotiation seeks to change. As a self-styled traditional Moro politician aptly said “pag magka pirmahan na ng peace agreement, saan na kami pupulutin?” Indeed, selfish as it may be, the current breed of traditional politicians stands to lose if the status quo will be changed. Thus some of them have already started moving – just as many of them did in 2008 in the run-off towards the signing of the MOA-AD.
We call on Secretary Jesse Robredo and OIC ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman to ensure that the Local Chief Executives, who have recently taken their oath as member of the President’s Liberal Party, will support President Aquino in his desire to resolve the armed conflict in Mindanao and that their actions on the ground are consistent with the national policy.
MPC also recommends an independent investigation over the ambush incident which happened inside the premises of the Mindanao State University main campus in Marawi City. Again, let us not simply lump this incident with the BIFF attacks as this is clearly a distinct and separate case and hopefully isolated as it happened in an academic community.
MPC calls upon friends, allies and supporters of the GPH-MILF Peace Talks to closely guard and protect the gains of the peace process. Let us work hand in hand in order to overcome whatever move that will derail the negotiations. This is a critical moment in our long journey to peace. Let us unite and contribute our time, energies, resources, talents and creative ideas in order to bring about a peace agreement.
When the peace talks resumed in 2009 after the post MOA-AD debacle, all the efforts and interventions of the peace panels and peace advocates were designed to prevent a repeat of the MOA-AD tragedy.
Let us never allow the MOA-AD experience to repeat itself. (30)

Contact:
Jun Aparece
Media Officer
Mobile: 0920-276-2676
Email: junaparece@mpc.org.ph


From: Maryann Arnado <mary_arnado@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 6:35 PM
Subject: Fw: MPC August 12 Statement
To: kiloskapayapaan@googlegroups.com, mindanao1081@yahoogroups.com
Cc: weact1325@yahoogroups.com
ARMM regional aseembly to probe on BIFM attacks


COTABATO CITY, Philippines– The 27-member Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will conduct an inquiry on last week’s attacks by bandits in Maguindanao and look into its long-term implications to the Southern peace process and the ARMM’s reform agenda.
The central leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front already asked the national government to flex its muscles and neutralize the BIFM, led by radical jihadists booted out from the MILF due to abuses and insubordination.
Members of the ARMM’s law-making body, dubbed as the “little Congress” of the region, announced here Tuesday that they are also to help determine possible peaceful measures that can stave off any repeat of the BIFM’s violent attacks.
Peace activists, some of them involved in various foreign-assisted projects, said concerned agencies and foreign donors should focus on immediate interventions meant to rebuild the communities affected by the conflict, particularly those that dwell in the mountains at the western side of the conflict-stricken Datu Saudi, Datu Unsay Shariff Aguak and Guindulungan towns.
Major Gen. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said there is an urgent need for the construction of farm-to-market roads connecting the affected hinterland communities to trading centers of the five municipalities the BIFM attacked last week.
Ardo said the BIFM used the area’s underdevelopment and poverty to obscure its setting up of enclaves there and run a shadow government that imposed a Taliban-style justice system.
Aveen Acuña-Gulo, manager of the foreign-supported Indigenous People’s Development Project, said projects meant to empower the displaced natives in the former BIFM strongholds have to directly involve the local communities.
“These projects must be culture-sensitive and must not dislodge the natives due to what we call `development aggression’ which causes more troubles in the communities,” said Gulo, whose office is jointly bankrolled by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany.
Acting Governor Mujiv Hataman said the ARMM’s regional peace and order council was elated with the military’sreopening of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos City Highway BIFM bandits occupied for four days last week.
The ARMM governor also commended the 1st Mechanized Brigade under Army Col. Mayoralgo de la Cruz, and the Army’s 601st Brigade, led by Col. Edmundo Pangilinan, for the liberation of the BIFM’s two major hilltop enclaves on mountains overlooking the five towns the group repeatedly harassed from August 5 to 11.
Hataman said it was also vital to the greater interest of the local public that the BIFM gave up the camps so that sections of the highway the rebels occupied will again be safe.


from:
John Felix Miciano Unson
journjohn@gmail.com
Add to Contacts
Emails

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

                               MILF sees success of current round of peace talks
Home Updated August 14, 2012 02:01 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front expressed confidence that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will be converted into an entirely new autonomous political entity, or NAPE under  expected forthcoming agreement  between the government and MILF peace panels.
Ghadzali Jaafar, the MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said the 14-year peace talks with the national government have been progressing smoothly, particularly with the efforts of both sides to iron out the remaining wealth-and-power sharing topics of the negotiations.
“...I cannot reveal yet bigger details on that because there are communication protocols binding both sides. Surely, the media will know of it sooner or later,” Jaafar told Catholic radio dxMS in a phone interview Tuesday.
The wealth-and-power sharing topics in the GPH-MILF talks are by far the most contentious and negotiators are trying to strike a final peace deal before next year’s synchronized ARMM, local and senatorial elections.
The GPH and MILF panels even agreed, during last week's 30th exploratory talks in Malaysia, to create technical working groups to study the wealth-and-power sharing issues being discussed by both sides, to easily reach a consensus on the agenda.
The government’s chief negotiator, Marvic Leonen, told reporters earlier that he is optimistic they would craft a final peace deal with the MILF before the 20113 polls.
Leonen, however, said it is unlikely for the ARMM’s regional polls next year to be postponed anew in case the GPH and MILF fail to reach a final accord before the conduct of the electoral exercise.
Local peace advocacy outfits are apprehensive an election in the ARMM next year may “hold hostage” any transition in the regional leadership, and the subsequent conversion of the present autonomous regional government into a NAPE.
Elected ARMM officials, under the region’s charter, Republic Act 9054, are mandated to hold office for three years and may not be unseated during their tenure to allow the new political body to take over the regional leadership.
Another issue bothering local officials and peace activists is the implication of any crafting of a final government-MILF peace pact sooner than Malacañang, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Moro National Liberation Front can wrap up their tripartite review of the September 2, 1996 final GPH-MNLF truce.
The parties involved in the three-way effort to enhance the GHP-MNLF peace pact, which started in 2007, already agreed on more than 40 “consensus points” essential to improving the weak provisions of the agreement and in addressing misunderstandings on the implementation of some of its sensitive provisions.
The OIC, a pan-Islamic block of more than 50 Muslim states including wealthy oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa, helped broker the GPH-MNLF final peace agreement.
The OIC is involved only as an “observer” in the on-going talks between the government and the Aquino administration.
The chairman of the largest of three groups in the MNLF, Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, said they are open to the idea of a dialogue with the MILF and representatives from Malacañang about the government's separate overtures with the two Moro fronts.
“This we can willingly do, without hesitation, because we’re not at war with the MILF. The MILF and the MNLF have one objective, that of pushing forward and upholding the good of the Bangsamoro people,” Sema said.
Sema said the 40 “consensus points” reached by the OIC, the MNLF, and the national government are also centered on governance, wealth-and-power sharing, natural resources, education, sharia, and regional security, which the government and MILF panels have also been trying to “package” into a peace agreement.
The acting governor of ARMM, Mujiv Hataman, said he and all his constituent-caretakers of the region support the peace effots.
“We in the ARMM government will never be stumbling blocks to the attainment of lasting peace and sustainable development in Mindanao’s Muslim communities, under whatever governing mechanism acceptable to the two fronts and all sectors in the present autonomous region. We are here in the ARMM to help introduce reforms, in fact,” Hataman said.
Hataman represents the ARMM government in the GPH-MILF talks. - John Unson

Monday, August 13, 2012

BIFM attacks in Maguindanao recounted

 
NATION PAGE, philSTAR (www.philstar.com) August 13, 2012 05:21 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement bandits gunned down two security guards and an Army intelligence agent in separate attacks the past two days in two more Maguindanao towns that also left five others wounded.
Datu Genuine Kamaong, acting mayor of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town, said the bandits first surrounded Barangay Magaslong, not far from their municipal center, and opened fire with rifles and grenades.
The attack forced hundreds of ethnic Maguindanaon families to evacuate to safer areas for fear of their lives.
Kamaong said a 40-year-old civilian named Umbak Sapan was wounded in the shooting, which triggered a firefight between the bandits and combined soldiers and militiamen.
The incident caused the closure of the only highway linking Datu Piang, formerly named Dulawan, a centuries-old Moro settlement that became a chartered municipality before World War II, to major thoroughfares linking the area to Cotabato City and nearby provinces in Administrative Region 12.
“We were forced to evacuate the wounded civilian to Midsayap, North Cotabato via a river because the highway was closed so we (couldn't) bring the victim to a hospital by means of an overland travel,” Kamaong said.
The attack came after suspected BIFM members wearing black ski masks raided a safe house also in Barangay Magaslong of an Army intelligence team under the 45th Infantry Battalion.
Combatants of the 45th IB led efforts to drive away hundreds of bandits that raided and plundered villages in Maguindanao’s adjoining Shariff Aguak, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Datu Hofer and Guindulungan towns in a spate of attacks that began August 5 and waned only after five days.
The bandits, coming from various directions, barged into the agents’ hideout and opened fire, killing Pfc. Roger Warde on the spot and wounding his companion, Cpl. Edison Medina.
Medina and other Army agents inside the safe house escaped by jumping out through open windows after sensing that they were outnumbered.
The attacks in Datu Piang was followed by the BIFM’s ambush in Barangay Alip in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao of a group of security guards escorting a convoy of trailer trucks carrying vans filled with Cavendish bananas for export to the Middle East and China.
The ambushers, positioned at one side of the highway, opened fire at the vehicle carrying the security guards, killing two of them instantly and wounding three others.
The fatalities, Deodemar Barbosa and Moises Catalan, who were employees of the Columbia Security Agency, which secures the Alip River Development Export Corp. in Datu Paglas.
The chief of the private security group guarding the banana plantation, Rogelio Ladio, and three farm workers, Ronald Benzon, Allan Tanalgo and Carlos Chavez, were wounded in the attack.
The area where the BIFM pulled off the ambush is not far from Buluan, the hometown of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo issued last week a “show cause order” to the mayors of the five Maguindanao towns the BIFM attacked last week, asking them to explain why they should not be charged with dereliction of duties owing to reports they were out of their offices during the rebel incursions. - John Unson

from: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Statement of ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman On circulating info on social media
that war has allegedly broken out in Mindanao

There is no truth to the information circulating on Twitter, Facebook and
social media which allege that war has allegedly broken out in Mindanao.
Please refrain from sharing and posting similar information so as not to
cause undue panic.
While it is true that there were attacks on military installations by the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Movement (BIFF-BIFM), a group led by breakaway MILF commander Ustadz Ameril
Umra Kato, most of these have already been contained by our armed forces and
they shall continue to protect and ensure the safety of our people. At the
same time, last night's attack to a contingent of the military undergoing
mobile patrol in Mindanao State University in Marawi City is a handiwork of
lawless elements. Security and law enforcement operations are currently
ongoing.
We also support all efforts to curb the ongoing drug syndicate inside the
MSU Campus. The Regional Government will definitely flex its muscles to
clamp down these people who uses the academic institution as a haven of
their illegal business while destroying lives of our people.
Again, I'd like to appeal to everyone to please double check facts before
posting on social media. Let us not cause undue panic which may hamper
government operations. Let us be part of the solution and not cause further
trouble. Rest assured that we in the ARMM are doing whatever we can to
ensure the welfare and security of our people. Inshallah! #
-----
Please help disseminate. Salam!

from: Norkhalila Mae B. Mambuay-Campong khalmambuay214@gmail.com
'BIFM not behind university attack in Marawi'
NATION PAGE, philSTAR (www.philstar.com) August 09, 2012 04:09 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Authorities on Thursday said the Wednesday night ambush in Marawi City which left three dead and 10 others was unrelated to the continuing strife in certain towns in Maguindanao.
Soldiers have been fighting since Monday dawn marauding bandits belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement.
Radio reports from Marawi City said 13 were wounded in the ambush, who are now confined in different hospitals.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, in an emailed statement, said the incident is now being investigated and that leaders in the area are now helping identify the attackers.
Col. Daniel Lucero, commander of the Army-led Task Force Ranao in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City, said the soldiers were on their way to the MSU campus for a regular security tour when gunmen, positioned at one side of the road, opened fire with assault rifles.
“Three of our men were killed while 10 others were wounded,” Lucero said.
Lucero said they are convinced that a group affected by their continuing anti-crime operations is behind the ambush.
Lucero said the military was present inside the MSU campus to protect dozens of students who were forced by owners of boarding houses in the campus to register using fictitious names in different Lanao del Sur towns during the July 9-18 registration of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Lucero said they are also considering the possibility that illegal loggers were behind the attack as Army units in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur seized about 40 truckloads of logs and flitches, called “tablon” in the vernacular, from January to May this year in compliance with a directive from ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.
The seized forest products were smuggled from the rainforests and supposedly protected watersheds around Lake Lanao, whose downstream flow propel hydro-electric plants that supply three-fourths of Mindanao’s power requirements.
Lucero said the ambush incident was preceded by the murders in Marawi City of two soldiers in two recent separate attacks.
“The latest[incident] happened last July, where a soldier was gunned down cold-bloodedly,” Lucero said.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said officials of the regional and local government departments are now helping investigate the incident.
Hataman said he is certain the incident in unrelated to the on-going hostilities in Maguindanao.
“Let’s give investigators enough time to identify the ambushers and file criminal charges against them,” Hataman said.
The director of the ARMM police, Chief Supt. Mario Avenido, said he has directed the Marawi City police to investigate the ambush that triggered panic in the surroundings of MSU.
Avenido said more policemen have been deployed around the MSU campus to prevent a repeat of the attack. - John Unson

From: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com

Monday, August 6, 2012

Latest Incident in Pikit
A Test to the strong Faith of the Moro on the Observance of the Holy Month of Ramadan

Last August 6, 2012 a grenade explosion took place at the CAFGU-AFP detachment along the National Highway of Barangay Batulawan Pikit, North Cotabato with five casualties (four military men and civilian women residing near the blast site). These atrocities brought about by the BIFFM Headed by Ustadz Umbra Kato a breakaway group from the MILF.These atrocities brought about by the BIFFM Headed by Ustadz Umbra Kato a breakaway group from the MILF. With main concentration of conflict in the second District of Maguindanao in the municipalities of Datu Saudi, Sharif Aguak and nearby municipalities to include Municipalities of Pikit and Midsayap of Cotabato. These situations resulted to massive displacement and great difficulty on the lives of the fasting residents who were affected by the conflict.

August 07, 2012. Pikit Cotabato counted head of families left their homes on 12:29 midnight mostly residents of Barangay Dalingawin Pikit Cotabato with roughly 165 head of families vacated their houses and move to Barangay Batulawan,Pikit, North Cotabato  particularly at the Mindanao Islamic Polytechnic College campus , the residence of Barangay Chairman Datu Faisal Ayunan and  Kagawad Abdila Kumpa  due to their fear that rumors circulated last night that their village will be attack by the BIFM forces.
Up to the present numbers of evacuees are more increasing with the tension of upcoming fire fight between the AFP and the Freedom Fighters.


Reported by:
Tiyakap Kawagib Volunteer from PIKIT