Thousands of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters are expected to join the MILF’s expanded central committee meeting to be presided by Chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim on March 9-11 in Butig, Lanao del Sur to discuss the stalled Mindanao peace process.

Mohagher Iqbal, who chairs the MILF’s panel in the peace talks with the national government, said the event is intended for consultation with the various sectors of the Bangsamoro society.

"The MILF is holding a consultation meeting. We are inviting members of the media on the last day, March 11. A press conference will be held at 8 a.m.," said Iqbal.

It was recalled that Butig is the place where the then MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim died on July 13, 2003.

Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military chief, said the gathering is also an expanded meeting of the members of the group’s central committee, which is also the front’s highest policy-making body.

"We expect scores of participants and attendees because practically all the front’s leaders will be there. No politician was invited, but everybody is welcome," said Kabalu.

"This activity has already been coordinated with the government through the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities," he also said.

From Camp Darapanan in Shariff Kabunsuan, a convoy of tens of vehicles will travel to Butig, escorted by armed MILF guerrillas.

Kabalu said the arming of the MILF guerrillas was approved by the government through the CCCH.

At present, the negotiation with the government has again hit a snag due to the government peace panel’s insistence on using constitutional parameter for the creation of the homeland of the Moro people through the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).

But this has consistently been opposed by the MILF, with front leaders saying they won’t budge an inch from their stand.

Kabalu said all aspects of the Mindanao peace process will be tackled at the Butig meeting, and the stakeholders who are expected to attend will hear an update on the negotiations.

Last month, United States Ambassador Kristie Kenney visited the MILF’s Camp Darapanan and met with Murad and other rebel leaders.

Kenney reiterated the US commitment to help in the peace process.

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March 6, 2008
 
Almost four months after the death of Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar on November 13, 2007,  government lawmen are still struggling to collar the real killers. There were suspects including former Congressman Gerry Salapuddin and Partylist Cong. Mujiv Hataman, but were they the real killers or masterminds? Six persons including Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, were killed in the deadly Batasan blast. Five of the fatalities were employees of the House: Marcial Taldo; Jul-Asiri Hayundini; Maan Gale Bustalino; Dennis Manila and Vercia Garcia.

Wounded in the attack were Negros Oriental Rep. Henry Teves, Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan and three other House employees.
 
Whether Hataman and Salapuddin are guilty of the death of Akbar is the real purpose of the filing the case against them.
 
However, immediately after the deadly blast, a reporter of Luwaran based in Manila already received a very reliable report that one political leader in Central Mindanao, who begged off anonymity, was warned that he and Governor Akbar were the object of an assassination plot engineered by a powerful Moro politician. Said leader, fearing to be misunderstood by Akbar, informed a powerful man close to the corridors of power to instead relay the warning to Akbar. That was about a week before the blast. When inquired of the warning after the blast, whether relayed or not, the powerful man replied, “He forgot”.
 
The source said the motive behind the killing was political. Akbar was proved an ambitious politician. He did not hide his intention to become leader outside of his province, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
 
Meantime, the arrest order for the suspects was issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ralph Lee after Salapuddin and suspects Harajun Jamiri, Benjamin Hataman and Bayan Judda failed to attend a scheduled arraignment.
 
The four were earlier added as suspects in the amended information submitted by government prosecutors.
 
However, both the camps of Salapuddin and Hataman denied a warrants of arrest were issued against their leaders, saying the reports were not only “unfair” but also “inaccurate”.
 
Anak Mindanao Party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman, who was earlier implicated in the Batasan bombing, said he feels vindicated that the Department of Justice cleared his name on this unfortunate incident that brought so much pain to his family and Basileños.
 
“I just hope that our authorities will respect the rights of the accused who remain innocent. Let their constitutional right to due process be observed,” he said.
 
He added that law enforcers should refrain arresting “fall guys” just to show that they are doing their job, and that they dig deeper into the case.

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List of Nursing Passers:

TO FACILITATE viewing of the nurse exam results, the results have been broken down into separate files organized alphabetically by the surnames of the successful examinees. Click on a letter below to view the corresponding file.

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net / www.inquirer.net

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Cagayan de Oro - Thousands of people in Mindanao marched in key cities to protest the opening of the US-RP Balikatan exercises and denounced the Arroyo government’s puppetry to US interests.

Cagayan de Oro became a central point of the Mindanao anti-Balikatan protest, as 5,000 people joined the Peoples’ March for Sovereignty, Peace and Justice including contingents from Zamboanga, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and Caraga. 

Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Women Party representative Liza Maza joined the march and later in the rally called for the unity of Mindanao people to oust the US troops and President Arroyo.

Moro, Lumad and Christian groups led by the US Troops Out Now! Mindanao and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) convened the caravan.

Rallies in Cotabato City and Pikit, North Cotabato gathered around 10,000 people.  Davao City 3,000 protesters led a rally and a cultural program.  In General Santos City, 500 protesters marched in the streets after negotiating with police to allow their rally to push through.

“Along with our call for the ouster of US troops, let us also call for the ouster of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her puppetry to US interest,” said Ocampo, referring to the growing protest against Arroyo in Manila following the ZTE broadband exposé of Rodolfo Lozada.

Ocampo and Maza threw support to the resolution by some Mindanao congressmen to suspend the Balikatan, citing the February 4 incident in Sulu where US troops were alleged to be behind the killing of eight civilians in a military operation.

Amirah Ali Lidasan, vice president of Suara Bangsamoro, said the US troops have “turned the Moro people into live fire targets of their military exercises.” 

She cited various Moro civilians in Sulu and Basilan who have been killed or wounded during Balikatan war games. She said US troops were found to be joining ground operations with the AFP, in clear violation of our national sovereignty.

Lidasan challenged local government officials in the ARMM to side with the people and oppose the Balikatan over the grave human rights abuses of the US military against the Moro people.

Lidasan also lashed against the so-called ‘humanitarian missions’, saying that “US troops give us aid with their right hand, but their left hand is brandishing firearms that kill us.”

Groups such as the Sisters’ Association in Mindanao (Samin), Ranao Crescent Against Balikatan Exercises (Racabe) of Lanao del Sur, Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran), and Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao joined the rallies.

Samin executive secretary Sr. Elsa Compuesto, MSM, said that with the Visiting Forces Agreement, “the US perpetrates an unequal relation with the Philippines where we become dependent on their aid, while they secure resources for their own economic interests.”

Kalumaran and Racabe called for the unity of Lumads and Moro to defend their land against the entry of the American troops, which will pave the way for “development aggression.”

Atty. Frederico Gapuz, chair of UPLM, a long-time anti-bases activist, shared a personal challenge to the protesters:  “I’ve been fighting US military intervention for fifty years. It’s been that long, but are we ready to ensure that in our lifetime we can drive them away?”  The protesters responded with a resounding yes.

The march rally in Cagayan de Oro ended with the protesters burning the US flag and an effigy of Arroyo.

The peoples’ march was preceded by activities set by the Out Now! Mindanao coalition in various cities, including forums and rallies.  In Marawi, protesters threw stones at US military vehicles in protest of their presence.#


for reference:
Atty. Beverly Musni
Out Now! convenor
0920-9200-0522

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Activists were harassed and shot by two military agents as they were posting anti-Balikatan posters last night in Cagayan de Oro City.

In a blotter filed at the PNP Divisoria station, Jun Lopez, a member of the US troops Out Now Mindanao, said they were conducting their 'operation dikit' at Osmeña Street around 9 in the evening when two men aboard a motorcycle came and shouted at them, "Unsa man na?" (What are you doing?)

One of the men then alighted the motor and slapped the back of the head of Jaynie Omundang, 17 years old and a volunteer of the coalition. Lopez approached the unwelcome guest and asked for his identity and was pushed back.

Lopez said the man, identifying himself as Jaime Simbajon and a worker for the government, appeared drunk and reeked of liquor.

The other man also alighted and started firing his gun, causing Lopez and the rest of the volunteers to scamper for safety.  Simbajon was heard to shout at his companion, "Patya na! Pusila na! Kanang tambok unahon!" referring to Lopez. Some of the volunteers suffered abrasions as they were running away.

The Out Now Coalition condemns this desperate and cowardly act of the military agents for resorting to tactics of intimidation and harassment.  The AFP appears to be apprehensive of the people's expression against the US-RP Balikatan exercises disguised as humanitarian missions and the Visiting Forces Agreement.

No amount of intimidation will deter the people's movement from calling for the ouster of the US troops from Mindanao and the country. 


ATTY. BEVERLY MUSNI
Convenor, Out Now! Mindanao
0920-9200-0522

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Press Statement
February 17, 2008

The past two weeks, activities of Out Now Mindanao have been subject to military surveillance and intimidation in Marawi, Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon, showing the military's desperate attempt to suppress the people's protest against the Balikatan exercises.

The latest of these incidents is last night's harassment and dispersal of our volunteers who were posting anti-Balikatan posters in Osmeña Street by two military agents.  The volunteers were slapped in the head, pushed away, and dispersed by gunfire by these agents who appeared drunk.

Agents were also spotted spying in our forums in Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon and Marawi with speaker Prof. Roland Simbulan, a noted anti-US bases activist from the Center for People Empowerment in Governance.  In the forum in Xavier University last February 7, an agent was spotted taking note of the participants and the program. A student saw this agent writing on his paper “wala man dinhi si Satur” (Rep. Ocampo is not here).  We are treating this as an indication of a threat on Rep. Ocampo, if not an insidious monitoring of his presence and activities. Another agent was seen in the forum taking pictures with his video phone in Valencia, Bukidnon on February 8.  When asked for his identification and invitation, this man quickly vanished.

There was also the well publicized stunt by Major Benedicto Manquiquis who unashamedly disrupted a forum in Marawi State University by calling the forum a "communist activity" to brainwash and rouse the students to mount anti-government protests.  His unfounded and rude statement resulted to university officials and the students booing him away.

With the growing protests of the people against the Balikatan execises and the Visiting Forces Agreement, the military has shown its desperation by resorting to these tactics.  Their moves have shown that they can not stand up to any debate on the merits and demerits of the VFA and Balikatan. They have clearly acted as mouthpieces for the US military. 

These acts also betray the propaganda of the Philippine and US officials about the so-called good intentions of the humanitarian missions of Balikatan. The military is using underhanded methods to repress our efforts to expose the real intent of the Balikatan exercises which is to establish a permanent basing of the US military in the Philippines to promote and protect US economic interest in Asia Pacific.

No act of desperation and repression from the military will deter the people’s patriotism.  Our resistance will push on.  We warn the US-Arroyo government against employing tricks to delay, disrupt, or suppress the Mindanao Peoples’ March and Caravan today and tomorrow. We shall fight for the national sovereignty until US intervention is ended in the Philippines.#


ATTY. BEVERLY MUSNI
Convenor, Out Now Mindanao
0920-9200-0522

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COTABATO CITY – At the behest of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) will create a joint committee that would look into sensitive provisions of the Sept. 2, 1996 peace agreement.

In a statement, Speaker Paisalin Tago of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, who is part of the government’s delegation to the Feb. 14-16 second tripartite meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, said the OIC has urged the government and the MNLF to organize the committee as soon as possible to hasten the efforts of addressing perceived kinks in the 11-year-old truce.

The OIC, a pan-Islamic block of more than 50 Muslim states, including oil-rich Arab nations in the Middle East, helped broker the final peace pact between the Philippine government and the MNLF.

Tago said their group, led by Deputy Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hadji Nabil Tan along representatives of the MNLF, discussed with OIC officials the outcome of the initial review of the peace agreement by the five joint working groups (JWGs) in the past weeks.

The creation of the five JWGs, composed of three representatives each from the front and the government and focused on five parameters for the review of the peace pact – Sharia, education, political representation of Moro communities, regional security force, economy and natural resources – was agreed upon by the Philippine government, the MNLF, and the OIC during the Nov. 12-14 first tripartite meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“We held initial discussions in the group. The discussions were held in an atmosphere of cordiality, in the spirit of Islamic brotherhood,” Tago told The STAR in his e-mailed statement.

The OIC’s secretary-general, Ekmeleddin Ishanuglo, is representing the Islamic body in the tripartite meeting in Istanbul.

The OIC’s spearheading of the tripartite review of the peace agreement was prompted by complaints from the MNLF on alleged misunderstandings on the implementation of some of its sensitive provisions and the government’s non-involvement of qualified leaders in governance.

“We have agreed, along with our brothers in the MNLF, before the OIC people, to really pursue the peaceful resolution of the misunderstandings on certain provisions of the peace pact,” Tago said.

ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan was to represent the autonomous region in the Istanbul meeting, but asked to be excused due to pressing regional concerns he said he has to personally address.

Tago said he has told Tan, who as governor of the ARMM from 1993 to 1996 helped draft the 1996 truce, that the region’s 24-seat Regional Assembly is now working on the expansion of the coverage of Sharia jurisprudence in the autonomous region.

The MNLF wants the Sharia justice system strengthened in Moro communities in the south. The national judiciary has long established Sharia courts in parts of the country, but only for litigation of personal, family and marital laws.

“In essence, the OIC wants the GRP and MNLF to achieve tangible breakthroughs in this tripartite initiative of settling all misunderstandings on the peace agreement,” Tago said.      – John Unson

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In a rare instance of praising government officials, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) this time has extended congratulation to Lawyer Jose Manuel Mamauag, Commission on Human Rights director for Western Mindanao, for showing great impartiality in the investigation of the massacre of eight civilians in Ipil, Maimbung, Sulu on February 4, 2008. Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, told Luwaran today that conscience-guided men, like Mamuag, deserved to be commended by everyone, despite differences of loyalties and orientations.


He said only men of conscience and commitment to the rule of law could decide on the side of truth and justice, especially if the victims were only lowly seeweed workers.

Government soldiers were brandishing poor records as far the protection of the human rights of people especially those in Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, who are usually branded as “Abu Sayyaf supporters”.
        
Mamauag released their findings the other day, recommending that charges be filed against the officers and men of the Philippine Navy Special Warfare Group and the Army’s special Light Reaction Company involved directly or indirectly in the mission, planning, operation, intelligence gathering, command and control of the incident, that led to the deaths of eight residents of Barangay Ipil under the principles of direct participation and command responsibility.

The CHR report detailed how the troops attacked the village from sea and land positions and plundered the victims’ houses.

Mamauag lamented that the Maimbung incident happened on the same day a year ago when Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. issued a directive on “strict adherence to the doctrine of command responsibility.”

Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, chief of Joint Task Force Comet, said they are still awaiting the results of the Armed Forces Inspector General’s investigation.

“We have to follow the military justice system,” Rafael said, adding though that they respect the CHR’s findings.

“The February 4, 2008 Barangay Ipil incident is a clear case of grave breaches of human rights of the victims – a violation of human rights,” stated the six-page report which Mamauag transmitted to the CHR’s national office.

Mamauag said their report also called on concerned national government agencies and local government units to extend all possible assistance,including compensation, rehabilitation, psychological and traumatic therapy, stress-debriefing, counseling or any form of assistance, to the families of those killed and those who survived the alleged attack.

The report also disclosed that the deaths of the two soldiers could be the result of self-defense by vacationing Army Cpl. Ibnon Wahib to the first salvo of gunfire.

“By self-preservation, it was the strategy of the victim (Wahib) because in the first burst of fire he might not have recognized the marauders, until such time that he came to know that they were government troops, (which explains) why he was shouting ‘Papa Alpha!’(Philippine Army),” Mamauag said.

Wahid’s wife testified that his husband was hogtied although he had introduced himself as an Army soldier and was shot from behind while kneeling.
 

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 February) – It was like a scene straight out of martial law: students attend a forum, military intelligence agents pretending to be students enter the forum venue, listen and observe.
But the Army major at Wednesday’s forum at the mini-theatre of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) in Iligan City, did more than what his counterparts in the past did: according to a press statement of the US Troops Out Now! - Lanao Coalition (Out Now! - Lanao), Army Major Benedicto Manquiquis, moved to the center from the back, took the microphone, intrroduced himself, lambasted the organizers for allegedly “conditioning the minds” of the students to “hate government,” and not content with having said his piece, sang “Internationale,” the communists’ anthem, after saying he was surprised it was not sung at the opening of the program.

In a telephone interview, Prof. Geoffrey Salgado, Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences, told MindaNews that in his 33 years of teaching at MSU-IIT, it was the first time an incident such as Wednesday’s happened.

“Something like this did not even happen during martial law,” Salgado said.

Salgado said Maninquis “accused us of ‘brainwashing the students to hate the government and the United States.”

“Then he sang ‘Internationale’ with Pilipino lyrics after he asked why we did not sing that instead of Lupang Hinirang,” Salgado said.

Maninquis, MindaNews learned, is the Civil Affairs Officer of  the 4th Infantry Division of based in Cagayan de Oro but last week was a lecturer in a media briefing in Pagadian City which is under the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.

Salgado, who sat in front with speaker Jessica Tulloch, a Chicago volunteer with the United Methodist Church ...immediately told Manquiquis, “these are IIT students. They are very bright.They cannot be brainwashed. We are merely presenting the facts.”

The estimated 200 students applauded. One of them addressed Manquiquis, telling him the forum provided an important, alternative source of  information on the issue that opened their eys to what is happening in the country, the press statement of Out Now! – Lanao read.

The statement noted that Manquiquis and his companions “infiltrated”  Wednesday’s forum on the RP-US Balikatan, organized by the History Department and the Historical Society of MSU-IIT.

Balikatan is scheduled on February 18 to March 3.

Salgado told MindaNews they found Manquiquis misrepresented himself as “student ni Ma’am Baena” to gain entry in the campus.  He said they will file complaints against him, including intruding on an eudcational activity and insulting the integrity of the activity and institution.

He said Manquiquis violated academic freedom.

Kristian Mark Urbano, Public Information Officer of the Coalition told MindaNews that after the 1 to 3 p.m. forum, Manquiquis was interviewed by radio station DXIC where he allegedly “accused Salgado and the League of Filipino Students of being communists.”

“Manquiquis and others were also present yesterday during a student picket and candle-lighting at MSU-IIT against Balikatan exercises, taking pictures and video of the students engaged in their peaceful activity,” the February 13 statement of Out Now! – Lanao said.

The group said they observed the presence of military personnel during the discussion fora at MSU Marawi last week.

“Yesterday, anti-Balikatan posters were taken down from lightposts of barangays Fuentes to Camague, also in Iligan,” it said.

“These actions of the military intelligence are clearly a form of harassment against patriotic Filipinos who are actively campaigning against the Balikatan exercises,” said Br. Roseal Cabatcha, TOR, convenor of Out Now! – Lanao.  “We are open to the presence of the military during our activities in the name of healthy debate and discussion, but the actions of Manquiquis and his personnel demonstrated that their purpose is to disrupt the activity and create chaos, at the same time conducting surveillance on patriotic students and faculty,” he said.

Out Now! – Lanao denounced the actions of Manquiquis and other military intelligence as “sending the message that open discussion and debate of issues of national importance are not permitted.”

Manquiquis could not be reached for comment. But the Philippine Information Agency on  February 12, reported that he was among those who conducted a media briefing on the counter-insurgency program of government at the PIA regional office in Pagadian City last Saturday, February 9.

“Twenty media practitioners attended the forum focused on the topic ‘The Continuing Deception of the CPP-NPA-NDF’ and the strategies they employ, including their claims of a better life with the ideology of communism,” the PIA report said.

The PIA reported that “Major Manquiquis, one of the lecturers,  mentioned that in Palawan, there is a place called Vietnam Village where natives from North Vietnam endured the hardships of traveling the rough seas and risked their lives to find refuge in our country. Why then should we bargain democracy with communism?”  (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

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MANILA, Philippines- -Teachers from Mindanao State University will get free training in software development platforms like Java and Microsoft .Net courtesy of an initiative of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA).

PSIA recently signed a memorandum of agreement with MSU to become a pilot site for this teacher-training program, according to PSIA president Beng
Coronel.

"Hopefully, MSU becomes the pilot from which we would be able to get a lot
more schools in Mindanao to benefit from the program," Coronel said via telephone.

MSU also received funding from CHED (Commission on Higher Education) to
pursue training courses for its instructors, added Coronel.

MSU's main campus is located in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur and it has satellite campuses located in other parts of Mindanao.

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