BIL on Miami Herald

Philippine troops rely on a sympathetic public
By WARREN P. STROBEL
McClatchy Newspapers

PATIKUL, Philippines -- Philippine Marine Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban strides through a large roadside field, gesturing to the location where volunteers are spending their Sunday building homes for the homeless.

"This was once a battleground," he says. "It was abnormal for you to see people gathering like this. But now it's normal."

Lush with palm trees and jungle greenery, Patikul municipality used to be one of the most dangerous addresses on Jolo island, a favorite ambush point for Moro Islamic Liberation Front insurgents and a haunt for the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf Group.

Much of the southern Philippines, however, remains violent. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which seeks an autonomous Muslim homeland, and the government have been engaged in their fiercest fighting since 2003.

However, places such as Jolo and Basilan - a larger island to the north - that once were the Filipino equivalent of Iraq's Anbar province have remained relatively calm since the fighting resumed in mid-August.

U.S. military commanders here give much of the credit to Sabban, and he said that U.S. forces are indispensable to his effort.

Sabban's baby-faced demeanor and soft voice belie a complicated past. As a junior officer, he was among those who helped overthrow dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Three years later, he participated in a coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino. He spent several years in jail and then on the run.

Sabban's marines took over from the Philippine army here three years ago, and began implementing a "hearts and minds" strategy to win over the populace. He calls it "a scramble for the masses."

It was a sharp change in approach for the Filipino government, which over the years had alternated between negotiating peace with the rebels and attempting to bludgeon them into submission.

Sabban gives his troops human rights training, and seems convinced - and proud - that the populace has shifted to his side and away from the rebels.

One day, a local village chief told Sabban's troops that Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and 150 of his men had just passed nearby. Filipino troops killed Janjalani in a firefight on Sept. 4, 2006, dealing the group a blow from which it's yet to recover. Sabban recounted the story in an interview a mile from where Janjalani died.

"Now we have early-warning devices all over the jungle," he says, referring to sympathetic civilians.

U.S. Special Operations Forces play a supporting role that's highly sensitive politically. Opponents of the U.S. military presence here charge that Washington is trying to re-establish the Philippines bases it closed in the early 1990s, an intention American commanders deny.

U.S. Army Col. Bill Coultrup, the commander of the 500-person Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, includes a slide in his standard PowerPoint briefing that warns: "Any perception of U.S. offensive or unilateral operations equals U.S. strategic failure in the Philippines."

So, while American funds help pay for rebuilt bridges and refurbished wells, U.S. soldiers don't do a single good deed without Philippine military officers beside them, ensuring that the Filipinos and the government in Manila get the credit.

Officials at the Pentagon and the State Department say that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, an early convert to President Bush's war on terror, has every incentive to keep the arrangement going for as long as possible - and with it the flow of U.S. money and expertise.

Filipino commanders say they still need U.S. assistance, particularly in the form of sophisticated intelligence.

The U.S. troops "have been a very big factor in our success here," Sabban said. "If the U.S. forces will be out, it will be a big blow to our strategy."

Another Impeachment Case...

4th Impeachment Case vs GMA Filed in the House
By EDMER F. PANESA/ Manila Bulletin

Administration critics yesterday lodged a new impeachment complaint at the House of Representatives against President Arroyo, signaling the start of the so-called "impeachment season."

The 97-page complaint, filed by 19 individuals led by businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia III and endorsed by three partylist lawmakers, is the fourth impeachment try against Mrs. Arroyo in four years.

The Chief Executive has survived three attempts to impeach her in the past three years, including one that accused her of rigging the 2004 presidential election with the help of then Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and some loyal generals.

According to the House secretariat, the De Venecia complaint is the first to be "accepted" by the House since the one-year ban on the filing of a new complaint against the President expired last Saturday. For the rest of the story click here.

My thoughts---nothing will come out of it. They simply don't have the numbers in Congress. This is a futile exercise. We have no choice but wait til 2010.

The Signs of Hard Times

The daily news of bus hold-ups and bank robberies plus cellphone & bag snatching makes me paranoid. I've seen and experienced first hand what one guy or a gang of thieves desperate for money can do.

One time my husband, his former classmate and I ate at Aristocrat Restaurant in Roxas Blvd.(it happened years ago, am gonna write it just the same). While we were eating, I didn't notice a group of people sat on the table near my chair. Then, a waiter pointed to a 20 peso bill under our table, we bend down and got it. In a matter of seconds, my black Guess bag is gone. We alerted the guards but one guy (probably just a bum) told us that they went inside the nearby casino. My husband and I hurriedly went to the casino, looked for them (even though I didn't see their faces but my husband saw them) around the gaming tables even in the restrooms. But they're nowhere in sight. We just reported it to the nearest police sub-station. I frantically called all the banks to report my stolen credit cards and atm cards. Inside my bag is my pager, perfume, shades and a newly bought bracelet. Sayang, I should have just use it that time (but I don't want my husband to know that I bought a new one). Good thing my new Nokia 8810 is in my pocket.

After 2 weeks, I've read in the paper that this "salisi" gang were caught in the same resto, victimizing a returning ofw from Japan. She also lost her bag with all her "lapad". The policemen chased them and there's actually a shoot-out. But her bag was never recovered. They're all in jail at the Quirino police station. I asked my husband to go with me at the station. We went there, saw all the bags they have stolen. Looked among the bags, but mine wasn't there. Maybe they even sold it. My husband was trying to remember and ascertain that those guys were the ones who sat behind me at the resto. When we are about to file the formal complaint, there comes a group of big-bellied policemen from the WPD UN Avenue Station as I've heard them, introducing themselves. The robbers' (the gang, which actually includes a pregnant woman) faces all lit up. They were beaming with joy as if they saw their saviour. The policemen pretended to be taking their pictures but actually whispering something to them. They were glancing each other with their mischievous smile. When I told my hubby what I just saw, we went out of the station. He said there's no use filing a complaint then after all the complainants left, they will just release the gang. Because they're protected by the same people who are supposed to protect us...Tsk. tsk... I have posted my not so good experience in my college classmates' yahoo group but I still want other people to read this story.

Another story, my sis and her hubby stopped at a pancit malabon resto at Kalayaan Avenue near the Quezon City Hall to take out some pancit. There's no other customer inside. While they're waiting for their order, two armed men who alighted from a motorcycle, poked a .45 caliber gun on them, asked for her bag and my BIL's wallet. They gave it right away. All the staff have run away from the kitchen. The robbers just walked outside the resto and rode away on their motorbike. They didn't bother to file for a police report on the incident. Same reason as mine.

My other sister was inside a bus on her way home from school, when they reached the South Expressway, armed men announced a hold-up. My sister tried to remove her earrings and rings but one of the guys pointed a gun on her, asked for the jewelries. They collected all the wallets and jewelries (no cellphone yet that time) and put in inside a knapsack which they got from a male student (whom they also robbed of the shoes he's wearing). The poor guy had to walk with only his socks on upon alighting from the bus. The robbers jumped out of the bus when they reached Alabang. As simple as that...

A good friend was also robbed while she's having her teeth and braces fixed inside a dental clinic somewhere in Quezon City. The robbers pretended to be clients waiting for their turn. I couldn't imagine how she reacted when it happened with all the dental gadgets in her mouth. The policemen were of no help either when they reported the incident.

So when these things are happening everyday, I am not at ease when I'm out, either in the mall, bank, resto, riding a public utility vehicle or even inside beauty salons...I just pray harder for safety when we (my kids, hubby) are all out of the house. I believe He is our only recourse, the True Protector.