U.S.-BACKED STATE TERRORISM AND MILITARY BRUTALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Millions of US taxpayers' money are supporting de facto President Arroyo's despotic rule in the Philippines. The continuing torture of 43 health workers may be an alibi to cover up the horrendous Ampatuan massacre and numerous corruption scandals, a preparation for martial rule by May 20. Fascist violence will surely be met by the enraged mobilization of the masses. The US public needs to protest the use of their taxdollars to fund Arroyo's extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances of thousands of Filipino civilians.
Very few people know that the US military is directly involved in the fierce fighting going on in the Philippines between the Moro insurgents and the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime supported by the Bush neocons and the warmongering Pentagon planners. Will you continue to allow US tax dollars to be wasted in this barbaric genocidal war against indigenous peoples? Over a thousand extrajudicial killings and "forced disappearances" under Arroyo's tenure, plus a few hundred Muslims dead as "collateral damage," may be the signs of US "benevolent hegemony" (Robert Kagan) and US "magnanimous imperial power" (Dinesh D'Souza). McKinley's "Benevolent Assimilation" lives on!
PHILIPPINES: Suspend US Military Deployments to Mindanao (tags)
A broad coalition of NGOs, social movements, and political parties from Mindanao and the rest of the country today called for all US military deployments in Mindanao suspended pending the conclusion of a fair and thorough probe by lawmakers.
Philippine Government Launches New War on Muslim Groups (tags)
War officially came to southern Philippines again as the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo unilaterally put an end to eleven years of negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) September 3. A month early the government abruptly broke off talks with the MILF on the eve of signing an autonomy pact. There are numerous reports of U.S. Special Forces accompanying Philippines Army units on their deadly sweeps in the Bangsamoro (land of the Moro people) region. More than 100 people have been killed so far and half a million refugees have fled from the fighting. Bourgeois liberals and the petty-bourgeois left lamely call on the government to resume the “peace process,” which in any case was only intended to wear down the insurgents. Revolutionaries instead seek to mobilize Philippine workers to drive out all U.S. forces, whatever their legal status; to force the withdrawal of the AFP from the contested southern areas; and to defend the Bangsamoro people and their right to self-determination.
MINDANAO:80 SAYYAF KILLED IN PATIKUL SULU FIGHTING (tags)
Military officials said Wednesday that more than 80 members of the Abu Sayyaf have been killed in three days of fierce fighting in Jolo, where soldiers were trying to capture two Jemaah Islamiah leaders linked to the 2002 Bali bombings.
AFP Southcom split into 2 commands (tags)
Southcom split into 2 commands By Jaime Laude The Philippine Star 08/27/2006 The military’s biggest troop contingent in Mindanao will be deactivated and split into two separate commands effective today. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the Southern Command under Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon will be divided into the Western Mindanao Command and the Eastern Mindanao Command. Esperon stressed the division of the Southcom into two military units is for a more effective control and deployment of troops in the whole of Mindanao. Maj. Gen. Eugenio Cedo has been designated as first commander of the Western Mindanao Command that will be based at the Southcom headquarters at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City. On the other hand, the Eastern Mindanao Command to be based in Davao City will be under the command of Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana. Esperon explained the split of Southcom is necessary for better control of the troops and to put more focus on the fight against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in the eastern part of Mindanao, and the fight against the Abu Sayyaf and other terror groups in the western part of the region. Southcom, which has responsibility over the whole of Mindanao, is composed of three Army divisions, two joint task forces, two naval forces, a tactical operations wing of the Air Force, two elite Special Forces battalions and one company of troops from the Light Reaction Battalion. Esperon said there would be some redeployment of troops where their presence is mostly needed. The Southcom comprises roughly 60 percent of the 120,000-strong military, all under its administrative and operational control. "These two targets (Islamic extremists and communist rebels) are very important that’s why we assigned two commanders there. With the split, we believe that the commanders will be more focused," Esperon said. Esperon said the decision to split Southcom into two units is a strategic move to sustain the pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. The decision, however, left Habacon with no unit to command. Habacon, one of the remaining so-called "Garci generals," said the deactivation of the Southcom will mean the closure of his military career. He opted to retire early, with only a few days left on his active service before his mandatory retirement on Sept. 9 on reaching the age of 56. "He (Habacon) decided to retire early due to personal reasons. He may have planned it earlier," Southcom spokesman Col. Susthenes Valcorza explained yesterday. Esperon will preside over the deactivation of Southcom today, on the same occasion where Habacon will be given retirement honors, Valcorza said. When asked if the splitting of the Southcom prompted Habacon to seek early retirement, Valcorza replied: "It could be one of the reasons." Habacon was among the generals mentioned in the controversial wiretap recordings that became an issue against President Arroyo. Aside from Habacon, among the generals mentioned to have helped in the rigging of the results of the May 10, 2004 elections in Mindanao include retired Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, former Southcom chief and retired Marine Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, along with Esperon. Kyamko has already retired when the tapes were leaked in June 2005. Gudani retired in October that same year, days after he exposed alleged cheating operations in Central Mindanao before a Senate investigation. A military fact-finding board headed by Navy Chief Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga cleared the four generals of involvement in the alleged cheating operations.