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The Philippines' nasty little
war
By Leila Halud and Tyrone
Velez
MAIMBUNG, Sulu - A website of the
Philippines Department of Tourism describes Sulu
as the southernmost part of the Philippines, lying
between the Sulu Sea on the north and the Celebes
Sea on the south. It says fishing is its most
important industry, making it a first-class
province in terms of income. Sulu is famous
worldwide for the 33,200 hectare Tubbataha Reef
Marine Park, but more recently it has become
better known for the violence and terror that grip
the area.
Three years ago, a fact-finding
mission to Sulu by human-rights groups and
non-governmental organizations reported on a
hidden war in the province "waged by the AFP
[Armed Forces of the Philippines] against
defenseless and deprived people, hidden from
public consciousness like a nightmare".
Until now, the nightmare has not ended for
the people in Sulu.
Another fact-finding
mission, the Sulu Mercy Mission*, led by Kalinaw
Mindanao, a group tapped by the House Committee on
Civil, Political and Human Rights to look into the
human-rights situation in the south, found that
the military forces have turned the province into
a virtual garrison, driving more residents out of
their homes and farms in fear for their lives.
This happened following military operations
against a group of Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF) members who attacked soldiers after the
latter massacred a number of Sulu residents on
February 1.
The
massacre
"The
military men swore to kill me next if I didn't
keep my mouth shut," seven-year-old Almujayal
Padiwan told human-rights members in the local
Tausug dialect. He demonstrated how the military
men had run their fingers across their necks, a
gesture warning he would be killed. Fearing for
his life, he escaped from the hospital where he
was being treated after surviving the massacre in
which several of his family members died.
Almujayal, who lived through the massacre
along with his sister Madzrana, 10, and brother
Aljeezmer, 3, recounted how his parents Tal and
Nurshida "Sidang" Padiwan, Uncle Salip Faisal, and
14-year-old brother Aldasir were killed by the
military.
At about 6am on February 1,
soldiers of the 53rd Infantry Battalion reportedly
under Colonel Dennis Villanueva's command,
surrounded and fired at the Padiwan house in Sitio
Baunuh Ice, Barangay Kapuk Punggol in Maimbung,
Sulu. Faisal, Aldasir and Almujayal were sleeping
while Tal and Sidang, Madzrana recalled, were
felled by the bullets.
Fact-finding
mission
Kalinaw Mindanao, a network of
non-governmental and people's organizations,
conducted the fact-finding mission on March 17-21
in Sulu. On a visit to Almujayal's home, mission
members saw how all corners of the house - from
the kitchen to the terrace, the floor up to the
roof, even the surrounding coconut trees outside -
were full of bullet holes, leading the team to
believe that indiscriminate firing took place.
When asked why their house was attacked,
Madzrana innocently replied in Tausug, "I don't
know, but only we were barraged with gunshots." At
the time of the attack, she was preparing to head
to the madrassa (Islamic school). She ran
out with her brother Aljeezmer when the shooting
started.
Almujayal also escaped, though
his right hand was mutilated by gunshots and had
to be amputated. His upper body sustained severe
burns as a result of close-range shots.
On
board a military truck, the AFP brought Almujayal
and Aldasir to the AFP's Southern Command
headquarters, but Aldasir did not make it.
According to witnesses, when Aldasir died he was
stuffed inside a sack and thrown out along
Kilometer 2 in Indanan, Sulu. Almujayal was later
released to the Department of Social Welfare
Development and brought to the hospital for
treatment, but escaped shortly after the military
threatened him.
About to take a bath when
the soldiers came, Babu Ayn (not her real name),
whose house is about 30 meters away from the
Padiwans', suddenly heard a series of gunshots and
Almujayal's voice crying for help: "Help us! We
are all being killed!" Seeing a group of heavily
armed men, Babu said she had no choice but to run,
even without her clothes on, for her and her own
son's safety. Just after, her house was similarly
fired at.
"Tal was being accused as a
member of the Abu Sayyaf, but no, he's not; in
fact, he's a councilor of our barangay
[village]. He is a good parent; he loves his sons
and daughter. [He is] an elder person in the
community whom we all trust, and I don't know why
such a good person was killed," Babu said.
Retaliation
The Padiwan massacre
prompted the Jabalul-Uhud Command of the Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF) under Ustadz
Habier Malik to retaliate. The MNLF launched on
February 6 simultaneous attacks on government
forces in Siit, Panamao and Patikul. In Patikul,
the MNLF confirmed that eight military trucks were
blown up in an ambush operation leaving hundreds
of soldiers dead.
"If we do not fight, we
will get decimated," replied the soft-spoken
Ustadz Malik when asked in an interview with Suara
Bangsamoro (Voice of the Bangsamoro) party-list
leaders why war had erupted again in Sulu.
"The massacre was a breaking point of a
long, restive social volcano that could have had
erupted any time," the Moro Christian People's
Alliance (MCPA), which is a member of the Kalinaw
Mindanao, remarked.
On February 7, the day
following the first MNLF attacks, Southern Command
chief Alberto Braganza ordered bombings in Panamao
that later spread to the nearby municipalities of
Patikul, Panglima Estino, Parang, Indanan,
Talipao, Luuk and Maimbung.
Braganza was
quoted in the papers as saying, "I have ordered
air strikes to punish these renegades ... They
have asked for it and they will get it."
Panamao residents who were trapped by the
operations sought refuge in a small cave for more
than a week. They told fact-finding mission
members that for nine consecutive days about 80 to
100 bombs, released through aerial, artillery,
mortar and canyon fires, were released at
communities in Panamao.
Even AFP officers
issued contrasting statements regarding the
operation. Brigadier General Gabriel Habacon,
chief of the 1st Infantry Division, was quoted as
saying: "The honest truth here is that the [death
of three civilians] have infuriated the [Misuari
breakaway group]. The attack [of army posts in
Panamao] was triggered by the death of three
civilians, including 14-year old Aldasir Padiwan
on February 1."
Denial
However,
in the congressional hearing conducted by the
Peace Committee of the House of Representatives,
AFP Chief of Staff General Efren Abu denied that a
massacre occurred in Maimbung.
Amirah Ali
Lidasan of the MCPA and Suara Bangsamoro
party-list group lambasted the AFP chief: "Abu's
denial of the Kapuk Punggol massacre perpetrated
by his pack of bloodthirsty wolves in Sulu is a
blatant lie.
"If the military hierarchy,
represented in this case by General Abu, would
simply dismiss the people's testimonies and
complaints as being black propaganda against the
military then they are denying the people,
especially victims of such brutal crimes, the
right to be heard and to be served justice. If the
military leadership as well as President [Gloria
Macapagal-]Arroyo will accept their field
commanders' black-and-white report, it is the same
as coddling and condoning despotic military men,"
she said.
The hidden war
continues
The Padiwan massacre served as
the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
According to Kalinaw Mindanao, there have been
continuing human-rights violations in Sulu, with
the Padiwan massacre as the last straw that
resulted in Moro guerrillas retaliating.
In its statement, the fact-finding mission
cited violations including indiscriminate aerial
bombing and shelling on civilian populations using
artillery, mortar, cannons and OV-10 warplanes.
The bombing resulted in the massive evacuation and
displacement of civilian populations in the
municipalities of Panamao, Indanan, Patikul,
Maimbung and Parang. The MCPA reported that
evacuees have reached around 50,000 individuals.
Schools turned into
barracks
What was appalling, according to
the mission, was that after the bombings military
troops were deployed to schools and villages where
the evacuees sought refuge.
At Hadji
Panglima Tingkahan Elementary School in Barangay
Kaha, Parang, and Kahuy-Sinah Elementary School,
evacuees told the fact-finding team that around 10
to 20 soldiers set up camp on school grounds for a
week and interrogated the refugees regarding rebel
presence.
The mission also saw how the
Indanan National High School in Lampaki, Indanan,
has been turned into a military camp. Two cannons,
an armored personnel carrier and other heavy
artillery have been stationed on school grounds,
while soldiers have pitched tents all over the
school.
The team noted that this "glaring
and incessant violation has resulted in the
disruption of classes, thus affecting children".
As a result, many evacuees have chosen to stay at
their relatives' homes rather than in schools
where soldiers would come in to interrogate them.
This, according to the fact-finding team, was a
new phenomenon.
Meanwhile, even the
mosques were not spared. A number of them were
bombed while some, like those in Maimbung and
Parang, were turned into military camps like the
schools.
Some civilian houses also
reportedly were used for military purposes,
without permission from their owners and
endangering the lives of civilians. Such cases
were reported in Maimbung and Barrio Upper
Tambaking, where 200 soldiers were deployed to a
community consisting of 194 families. In Barrio
Lower Tambaking, a platoon held camp for almost a
month and installed waiting sheds in the barrio.
Looting
In addition, displaced
persons reported to the mission members that the
roofs and walls of their houses were taken by the
marines to build more camps within the area.
The mission also documented hamletting and
encirclement of communities, terrorizing the
residents. The mission gathered testimonies
stating that the military gave village residents
only a short period to visit their farms. By 3pm,
they have to be at their houses or risk being shot
at by military patrols.
In district
Indanan, 21 civilian men were reportedly arrest -
and two were badly beaten - after they were caught
by soldiers visiting their coconut farms. After
receiving several reports of killings and beatings
for coming home late because of farm work, Kalinaw
Mindanao coined the term "guerilla farming", where
farmers sneak into their homes and take a look at
their farms.
Most of those displaced
report having been looted. Babu Hai and her
neighbors said they saw their kettles and other
kitchenware at the military camp. They also saw
their domestic animals such as goats and cows
being slaughtered.
Bapah Sam, 70, left his
home in Bakud, Panamao, at midnight, after
high-powered bombs hit his community. Returning
home after several days, he saw that all his
property was gone, including four goats and 20
chickens. The bombings, he complained, damaged 50
of his coconut trees and scorched his house.
Babu Hamsia suffered similarly. She lost
all her clothes and kitchenware, as well as the
six goats and 40 chickens from which she draws her
daily sustenance.
"Where are we going to
get our source of income now?" both Bapah Sam and
Babu Hamsia asked.
Meanwhile, the
fact-finding mission reported that a water
installation in Barrio Lampaking, Parang, was
"intentionally bombed, sabotaging the water supply
of the town, affecting even nearby
municipalities". According to the mission, the
bombing of water installation "plus the use of
private dwellings and public schools as military
camps prove that civilians are the direct targets
and victims of these intense military operations".
Arroyo is
responsible
In its
statement, Kalinaw Mindanao held the
administration of Arroyo responsible for the
escalating war in Sulu through its all-out war
policy against the Moro secessionist group.
"The women and children of Sulu bear the
brunt of this all-out war policy," the statement
says. "Children directly affected by the armed
conflict have been traumatized by aerial bombings,
the presence of government soldiers and
high-powered firearms. This has affected their
psychosocial well-being, such as the erosion of
self-esteem and self-confidence, and whose
development is adversely affected by the
inculcation of a culture of war and violence at
their early age."
The mission further
drives the point that the war "is but a part of
[Arroyo's] campaign against so-called terrorists
in blind obedience to the US's 'war of terror'. In
effect, the legitimate struggle of the Moro people
for self-determination and recognition is being
undermined and maligned as terrorist acts."
Kalinaw Mindanao laid down five
recommendations for ending the violence: "an
immediate stop to the military operations and
pull-out of the military in Sulu; holding of peace
talks between concerned parties; review of the
Tripoli Agreement and other peace agreements;
independent investigation on the cause of the Sulu
war; and indemnification of civilian victims,
allowing them to go back to their homes, their
properties and other structures rebuilt and their
livelihood restored."
Finally, the mission
said, "serious efforts should be undertaken by the
government to address the problem of peace and
development of the Moro people. Foremost of which
is to respect the right to self-determination of
the Moro people."
Waiting for the
elusive peace
"For seven and a half years
to date, the Junior Cadre Officer Corps [JCOC] of
the MNLF waited in high hopes for the full and
proper implementation of the Final Peace Agreement
[FPA], but in vain," the JCOC stated in its
manifesto.
The JCOC lamented that since
the signing of the FPA in 1996 - an attempt to
negotiate an end to the 24 years of civil war in
the region - no significant development has been
felt in the poor Bangsamoro communities,
particularly in the island provinces of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Sometime in 2001, the MNLF split into
factions - the mainstream MNLF of Misuari, which
Ustadz Malik claims, and the Executive Council of
15 that is the breakaway group. "They are the ones
who went out of the organization, hence, they are
the breakaway group," Ustadz Malik has said.
All groups, however, pronounced that they
are still covered by the FPA as each group has
been embracing the peace provisions.
Yet
as the MCPA put it, "The massacre once again
demonstrates the military's utter disregard for
peace and civilian rights ... If there was no
other ulterior motive, the government's potent
attitude would have been remorse and
reconciliation. But troop movements in the area
proved otherwise. After the massacre, it seemed
the military was bracing for large-scale
operations.
"The boldness of the MNLF to
engage the government troops in a full-scale war
was the ultimate act of an enraged people who had
long tried to hold back their discontent over the
shameless and arrogant betrayal of the government
to their cause," MCPA further stated. "And as if
waiting for the right cue, the MNLF's retaliation
has been used as a pretext by the military to
justify its call for a full-scale war in Sulu."
In a public forum, Dr Abdulrackman Amin,
MNLF liaison officer to the Organization of
Islamic Conference (OIC), cited some of the
violations as such: military troop movements in
MNLF territories in the form of regular military
operations or under the guise of Balikatan
military exercises; killings of known MNLF leaders
and commanders; sowing intrigue and fueling
division within the MNLF leadership and
organization by electing the MNLF Committee of 15
- an organ which was non-existent prior to the
signing of the peace agreement; undermining the
MNLF organization by trying to discredit and
abrogate its position in the OIC; and continued
incarceration of chairman Nur Misuari and the
conspicuous cold-shoulder treatment of his case.
The JCOC has demanded a separate MNLF
formation in the AFP and pushes for a critical
review of the FPA with a view to institute
remedial measures to flaws and shortcomings in the
implementation of the process.
Meanwhile,
the Kalinaw Mindanao fact-finding mission
concluded that there has been a "blatant disregard
of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement on the side of
the government".
Long confronted with
demands for justice and lasting peace, Arroyo,
however, has ordered no ceasefire since the
outbreak of fighting. Instead, Kalinaw Mindanao
said, state terrorism is clearly manifested
through the violation of peace agreements and
international humanitarian law.
Meanwhile,
women's networks in Sulu have called for an end to
military offensives and the pull-out of military
troops. "The war has sent psychological trauma to
our kids and they can't go to school now because
most of the schools have been turned into military
camps and evacuation centers," they said.
"If they can't govern us well, better yet,
the government gives us our freedom and
independence," the women's groups demanded.
* The Sulu Mercy Mission was composed of
representatives from Initiatives for Peace in
Mindanao; Karapatan National and its chapters in
Southern Mindanao, Socsksargen, Caraga, Western
Mindanao and North Central Mindanao; the Moro
Christian Peoples Alliance; the Suara Bangsamoro
Party; Promotion of Church People's Response
National and its chapters in Southern Mindanao,
North Central Mindanao and Western Mindanao;
Health Action for Human Rights; Mindanao
Interfaith People's Conference; Ecumenical
Movement for Justice and Peace; HALAD Western
Mindanao; CONCORD; JAGA Human Rights-Basilan and
Tanjuh.
(Copyright 2005 Bulatlat; Alipato
Publications.)
Permission to reprint
this article has been granted by
Bulatlat. |
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