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2 more Transco towers bombed in Lanao PDF Print E-mail
The News
Written by Aslani Montila   
Tuesday, 05 February 2008

By Richel Umel
Inquirer.Net
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 21:52:00 02/05/2008

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines -- Two more towers of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) in Marawi City were bombed early morning Monday bringing to 14 the number of the firm’s steel towers bombed since the start of the year, authorities said Tuesday.

Loremir Adasa, acting Transco vice president for Visayas and Mindanao, said the two towers, located in the village of Guimba in Marawi, are considered the 13th of 14th steel towers bombed by still unidentified men this year.

Emmanuel Abellanosa, vice president for Transco Mindanao Operations and Maintenance, said the bombs, fashioned from 81 mm mortars, were attached to steel towers No. 10 and No. 11.

Abellanosa said that after the attack, there was brief low voltage in the power supply in some parts of Mindanao but the problem has already been addressed.

Lanao del Norte Representative Abdullah Dimaporo on Sunday organized a Crisis Management Committee (CMC) composed of representatives from Transco, local government, the police and military, and civil society groups to help address the problem on tower attacks.

Bombed were Tower 83 in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte; Tower 22 in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte; Tower 26 in Agus 2-Kibawe line; Tower 4 in Abaga; Tower 39 in Kauswagan; Tower 19 in Sugod, Marawi City; Tower 15 in Abuno, Iligan City; Tower 8 and Tower 9 in Abaga and Tagoloan; Tower 50 in Bubong, Lanao del Sur; Tower 59 in Buadiposo Buntong, Lanao del Sur; Tower 13 in Kiamba, Marawi City; and Tower 44 in Pagayawan of Bacolod, Lanao del Norte.

Sources at Transco said the total damage has reached at least P14 million.

Transco earlier urged residents of the two Lanao provinces to help in securing the facilities.

Abellanosa said if the bombing of the towers would not be stopped, the company’s delivery of power to its service areas would be greatly affected and "darkness will engulf the island (of Mindanao)."

Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, chief of police in the Autonomous Region (ARMM), earlier said they believed that extortion groups were behind the incidents.

But the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said the attacks against the power transmission facilities of Transco could be linked to the long-standing gripe of the Maranaos (indigenous people of Lanao provinces) against the government’s energy program.

Khaled Musa, deputy chair of the MILF committee on information, said the government has been tapping energy from sources in the two Lanao provinces -- Lake Lanao in Lanao del Sur and Maria Christina Falls in Lanao del Norte -- but the Maranaos had been deprived of a steady and enough supply of electricity.

Musa said many areas in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte had remained without power supply for years now. With reports from Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao

 

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 February 2008 )
 
Lanao Sur rejects RP-US war games PDF Print E-mail
The News
Written by Aslani Montila   
Tuesday, 05 February 2008

By Charlie Señase
Mindanao Bureau
Inquirer.Net
First Posted 07:18pm (Mla time) 02/04/2008

 

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- Local officials of Lanao del Sur, including those of the Islamic Cities of Marawi, oppose the planned staging in their communities of the joint RP-US Balikatan military exercises.

Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. and Marawi City Mayor Fahad Salic agreed to join forces and invite civil society groups to join them in rejecting moves to hold the military training anywhere in the province.

Both known supporters of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the two local leaders said they have no other option but to rally behind their constituents who reject the entry of American troops and their Filipino counterparts.

Besides, Adiong and Salic claimed, they were never consulted about the planned holding of the exercise slated next month.

"I join my people in their opposition," said Adiong, who announced a people-initiated indignation rally scheduled at the city plaza where 45 cause-oriented groups are expected to converge February 5.

There will be streamers and placards calling for the rejection of the military exercise, said Salic, whose office approved a permit for the rally.

Some 5,000 residents of Iligan City and nearby Lanao del Norte towns staged their own mass action on the same issue on January 21. They included in their protest what they called the Arroyo government's dilly-dallying on the stalled peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Larry Galman, one of the rally organizers, said the Marawi City legislative council recently passed a resolution condemning the planned holding of the Balikatan exercise.

"We are just waiting for the civil society groups' protest resolution that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan [provincial board] will adopt [it] and plan to have it published in a major national daily," Galman said.

Over the weekend, Lanao del Sur Representative Ali Pangalian Balindong urged the Arroyo administration to heed the call of the Maranao folk for the sake of peace.

"There was no prior consultation and they have not considered the cultural and religious sensitivities of the Muslims," Balindong said.

The controversial Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) entered into by the Philippine and US governments mandates the holding of military exercises, and the sharing of logistics and tactics on anti-terrorism.

The planned inclusion of Lanao as a Balikatan venue this year surprised residents due to the absence of terror suspects in the province.

 

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 February 2008 )
 
RANAW CRESCENT AGAINST BALIKATAN EXCERCISES PDF Print E-mail
The News
Written by Meranaw Flash News   
Tuesday, 05 February 2008

(RACABE)

RANAW CRESCENT AGAINST BALIKATAN EXCERCISES

Marawi City

 

MANIFESTO


We, the concerned leaders representing the different sectors of the Meranaw Bangsamoro Society, vehemently manifest our opposition to the upcoming RP-US joint military activities dubbed as Baliktan Training Exercises to be held in the Ranaw areas starting February 18, 2008 on the following grounds:
 
1. The U.S government is responsible for the contemporary sufferings of the Bangsamoro people under the tyranny of the Philippine neo-colonialism when it granted independence to the Filipinos on July 04, 1946 and at the same time allowed the illegal annexation of the Bangsamoro Homeland to the Philippine territory notwithstanding the protests of the Bangsamoro people as expressed in a number of documents such as letters, declarations and the like. As a consequence, the birthright of the Bangsamoro people for freedom and independence was immorally usurped resulting to the centuries-old Bangsamoro in Mindanao .

2. The RP-US Balikatan Exercises is essentially a component of the US Global War on terror, a war that is premised on blatant lies and deception presented to the American people and the whole world by no less than President George W. Bush himself of which the real motive is foreign military occupation and economic exploitation such as what happened, and is still happening , in Iraq, a Muslim country that was invaded and occupied the false pretext of the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that was to proven untrue.
 
3. The US War on Terror is being utilized by the Philippine government to modernize its military hardware and has caused the destruction of Muslim places, death of innocent people who were caught in the crossfire and incarceration of Muslim civilians for being mistakenly apprehended as “terrorists”. The US global war on terror is in its true sense a hostile act against Islam and Muslims. The people’s mind-set has been conditioned through media type that terrorism is an ideology of the Muslim freedom fighters.
 
4. The US presence in the Bangsamoro Homeland is essentially to maintain its military presence in the Far East to monitor and prevent possible threat and pre-empt attack to the US mainland. The Bangsamoro areas may be used as military command base or launching pad for US military attacks against any countries hostile to US interests. Consequently, the Bangsamorp Homeland will become a potential target of military reprisals against the US .
 
5. The US continued stay in Ranaw may bring social ills. They will surely disregard the cultural sensitivity of the local populace such as what happened in much-publicized Nicole rape case in Luzon .
 
6. The US imperialistic design in the Bangsamoro Homeland is far from over after they left; they might exploit all resources that may be discovered in the Bangsamoro areas. They will be occupying strategic places with rich natural resources in the Bangsamoro Homeland. With all their advance technologies, they can siphon off in a few moments our natural wealth. Hence, the Bangsamoro people are wary that they will be deprived of their God-endowed natural resources.
 
7. Lastly, the presence of US troops in Ranaw will be a serious threat to the on-going peace process in Mindanao since the US troops may also help organize counterinsurgency groups to contain the progressive revolutionary movement of the Bangsamoro Mujahideen. On one hand, it will awaken painful memories of the past American invasions of the Ranaw areas such as the massacres in Padang Karbala, Bayang, Lanao del Sur that almost wiped out all able-bodied men in the said municipality except for seven who are either minors or infirm, in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur, and Pantar, Lanao del Norte, that may trigger violent retaliatory actions against US troops. On the other hand, spoilers of peace can exploit the presence of US troops to sabotage the on-going peace process.
 
By the foregoing reasons, we believed that any move of any individual or groups with vested interests that will help the realization of the proposed RP-US joint military exercises in the Ranaw areas is considered as betrayal of the Bangsamor nation especially the Meranaw people and must be condemned to the strongest terms possible.
 
Finally, we appeal to the us government in the name of heavenly relations and the brotherhood of Humanity, if indeed you are champions of peace, justice, and democracy, to respect the sovereign will of the Bangsamoro people, particularly the Meranaws by refraining from taking part in this military exercises in order to avoid igniting remorseful feelings of historical origin.
 
In the same vein, we demand from the Philippine government to show its genuine sincerity and strong commitment to peace in Mindanao by stopping this unwelcome RP-US Balikatan exercises.
  
Done in the Islamic City of Marawi on February 05, 2008.

(Sgd) AGAKHAN “BINLADEN SHARIEF
Chairman, RACABE
                                                        

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Ulama have set up madaris in the Philippines PDF Print E-mail
Article
Written by Ali B. Panda, Ph.D.   
Thursday, 31 January 2008
It is very interesting to note that while the Philippine government has been establishing schools patterned after the Western educational model, Meranao ulama (learned Meranao Muslims) with the help shared of concerned people have set up a number of educational institutions known as madaris  based on their Islamic knowledge and orientation. This has been reinforced by the standard works of Muslim intellectuals from the Islamic educational centers abroad.

Manaros Boransing, Federico Magdalena and Luis Lacar,  who wrote  their book: “The Madrasah Institution in the Philippines,” revealed that in 1950, two (2) Al-Azhar missionaries arrived here and they were, namely: Abdulgani Sindang (an Indonesian) and  Mohammad Taha omar.  They started their own madrasah, first in Mabul, Malabang, Lanao named “Al Kuliyatul Istihadiyah.”  Unfortunately, after a year of existence, the school was closed and one of the missionaries, Taha, moved to Jolo,  Sulu where he became headmaster of the Sulu Madrasah al Islamiyyah established there by Major Barely Abubakar.  The other missionaryu, Sindang, went to Cotabato on invitation of Datu Bara Lidasan who founded a madrasah at Barang, Cotabato.

Before the madrasah was introduced in this part of the country, some pandita or guro in the past and alim tutored students in their premises or the mosques.  In Lanao, one such person is Nuska Alim ko Ranao.  Some of his students included Guro-sa-Marawi and Kali (qadi) of Bayang, Madalum, Ramain, Ganasi and Bangon.  His successors were notably Sheikh Halabi  Mamantia (his student) and Imam Sasan (a Syrian missionary known as Hadji Muhammad Nur Yahya), both known as accomplished guros in Marawi  and adjacent areas.

It must be noted that the first “true” madrasah in Lanao was actually organized in 1938, with the name Madrasah Islamiyyah Kamilol Islam under the management of Kamilol Islam Society, headed by Sheikh Mohammad Saddiq, also known as Guro sa Marawi.

The establishment of madaris throughout the country has greatly influenced Islamic awakening among Muslims.  Such Islamic institutions are quite important for the Muslims nowadays. The enrollees, young and old and  male and female manifests Islamic awakening in the country.  Madrasah is  a religious educational institution designed primarily to strengthen Islamic faith and not the molding venue of terrorism as perceived by outside ignorant observers.   Madrasah is frequently staffed by ulama who have studied in Islamic educational centers.

Undoubtedly, almost  all of those pocket Muslim communities nationwide have built their own madaris.  Its rapid growth in  1970’s may deserve some attention. There are now Muslim communities with madaris in different places in the country.   In 1988,  about  2000 madaris nationwide with approximately 200,000 enrollees as cited in House Bill No. 14730 of 1988.

In 1999 Salipada Tamano revealed that “the coming of the Arab missionaries and religious teachers signified the resurgence of Madrasah in the country, particularly in Lanao, Sulu and Cotabato provinces.”

Factors associated to the decline of the traditional Madrasah education can be addressed in our upcoming articles.  Some questions have been raised. Is it because of the on-going accreditation policy of the government to integrate the curricular offerings  of the Madrsah into the Philippine educational system?  Is it caused by the foreign aid and guideline designed to improve the Madrasah education? These are among the questions that must be addressed by  studies that will be conducted in the future.

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Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 January 2008 )
 
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