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Southeast Asia

Filipinos have mixed reaction to coup rumors

2014-08-03

[ARABNEWS] Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom have expressed mixed reactions to the news that Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino lll "seeks to quash rumors of a military coup." Some believe that there's really a coup being planned. "If there's smoke, there's fire," said one community leader in the Saudi capital. Earlier, Sen. Antonio Trillanes lV, who has contacts inside the military, claimed that there was a coup brewing against the Aquino administration. Trillanes was with the Philippine Navy and was involved in the so-called Oakwood mutiny on July 27, 2003 during the presidency of former president and now Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. "However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the alleged plotters said to be retired generals are not that strong to lead a coup. Besides, President Aquino is on top of the situation, having done much for the military and its personnel," the community leader said. He noted that aside from launching housing projects for and increasing salaries of military personnel, President Aquino also bought arms and ammunition in order to maintain peace and order in the country and in protecting citizens. In all likelihood, he added, the military won't turn its back on Aquino, who still enjoys popularity among the majority of Filipinos.

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Southeast Asia

Military: Filipino rebels kill 100 troops in 2011

2012-01-23

Review and summary of the past year. MANILA: Communist guerrillas killed about 100 government troops and police and waged 447 attacks last year despite a continuing decline in their 43-year insurgency, the military said Sunday. The reported attacks by New People’s Army guerrillas included 31 assaults on mining firms, banana plantations and other businesses. They earned nearly $7 million (300 million pesos) from extortion in 2011, military spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos said. Although the Marxist insurgency, one of Asia’s longest-running, remains the Philippines’ leading security threat, rebel attacks have declined in recent years. The number of armed rebel fighters dropped 7.8 percent last year to 4,043, Burgos said. The 447 rebel attacks last year were 11 percent fewer than in 2010 and consisted mostly of small assaults on remote detachments, killings, kidnappings, bombing and arson conducted as part of extortion demands, Burgos said. He said only 69 were major assaults, including simultaneous attacks in October on three nickel mining complexes in southeastern Surigao del Norte province that involved more than 200 guerrillas. About 100 soldiers and troops were killed in rebel assaults last year, down from 184 in 2010, he said. The Maoist rebels’ reliance on extortion from businesses and even poor villagers reflects a decline in their support from communities, Burgos said. President Benigno Aquino III has opened peace talks with the rebels but the negotiations have been stalled for months over a guerrilla demand for officials to release more jailed rebels. Norway, which has been brokering the talks, has tried but failed so far to bridge the differences. Political analyst Ramon Casiple said it is much harder now for the rebels to win political support from the people under the popular Aquino, son of revered pro-democracy figures, than in the time of disgraced leaders like former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has been detained for alleged corruption, and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was accused of plunder and massive human rights violations. “The rebels are dealing with a government that they cannot isolate politically like Marcos,” Casiple said. “It’s also a political conflict, a battle for hearts and minds.”

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Southeast Asia

Manila, MILF extend peace monitors' stint

2011-02-11

[Arab News] The Philippine government and the country's biggest Mohammedan rebel group agreed Thursday to extend the stint of international peace monitors helping to preserve a cease-fire in the southern Philippines. Negotiators from the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front announced the decision after a two-day meeting in Malaysia that marked the resumption of formal peace talks for the first time since President Benigno Aquino III took office in June. The grinding of the peace processor seeks to end a decades-long armed struggle by the 11,000-strong rebel front for Mohammedan self-rule in the southern Philippines, the homeland of minority Mohammedans in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. Both sides said in a statement that the mandate of a Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team in the south would be extended by a year. The team's current mandate ends Feb. 14. The team comprises about 40 members from Malaysia, Brunei and Libya who handle security issues involving a current cease-fire, while two Japanese representatives monitor socio-economic developments. The two sides also agreed to continue arrangements for joint efforts to interdict criminal groups, particularly kidnap gangs whose members include rogue Moro rebels. That agreement has been credited with winning the release of kidnap victims in the past, including Irish missionary priest Rev. Michael Sinnott in 2009. The negotiators said they hope to hold their next talks March 29. Countries backing the grinding of the peace processor hope it would turn the resource-rich southern Philippines into an economic growth area instead of a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda-linked thugs. Formal talks collapsed in 2008 after the Philippine Supreme Court rejected a preliminary accord with the government of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that would have expanded an existing Mohammedan autonomous region in the south.

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Southeast Asia

Former Philippine military chief in graft probe commits suicide

2011-02-09

[Arab News] A former military chief accused of embezzling at least $1 million from the armed forces died of a gunshot wound Tuesday in what witnesses described as an apparent suicide at his mother's grave. Retired Gen. Angelo Reyes, 65, was pronounced dead on arrival at a Manila hospital from a single gunshot wound in the chest after visiting the grave, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said in a news conference broadcast nationwide. Reyes, who headed the military from 2001 to 2003, was at the center of a Congressional probe into one of the biggest corruption scandals to have hit the Philippine army. Corruption, entrenched in the Philippine society, is an especially explosive issue in the inadequately equipped and poorly paid 120,000-strong military that has sparked several insurrections in the last two decades by disgruntled soldiers. Witnesses interviewed by DZBB radio station at the cemetery said they saw Reyes send his children to his car before a single shot rang out. Health Secretary Ona refused to immediately confirm that Reyes had did away with himself, saying he was awaiting autopsy results. The powerful military expressed shock at Reyes' death and urged Congress to expedite its probe into military corruption. President Benigno Aquino III, elected last year on the promise to prosecute corrupt officials, sent his condolences while his predecessor. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, praised Reyes as a good soldier. Corruption is an explosive issue in the Philippines' inadequately equipped and poorly paid 120,000-strong military. It has sparked several insurrections in the last two decades by disgruntled soldiers.

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Southeast Asia

Witnesses promised protection

2010-07-14

[Straits Times] THE Philippines' new government said on Tuesday it would protect witnesses to the massacre of 57 people last year, after one was shot dead last month, ... just not that one... and ordered prosecutions of those attempting to buy their silence. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima met with prosecutors, police investigators and jail wardens to assess the case and the key suspects, members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, as well as plan the next steps, including ensuring the safety of witnesses. The trial of the main suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr, has been suspended since February. Since then, 57 murder charges have been brought against Ampatuan's father, uncle and three brothers, as well as 191 others, but their trial has not started. There is an expectation the case will be pursued urgently by the two-week-old government of President Benigno Aquino III. 'The Ampatuan case will define the commitment of the Aquino administration to pursue cases without delay, and determine whether or not they can actually protect witnesses,' said Marvic Leonen, dean of the College of Law at the University of the Philippines. The Ampatuans are being held in detention in Manila. The clan had ruled southern Maguindanao province on Mindanao island for a decade and were strong supporters of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose term ended on June 30.

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Southeast Asia

Coup leader turns himself in

2010-07-08

[Straits Times] A FUGITIVE marine captain, who led two attempts to oust former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has given himself up, a spokesman for the Philippine Navy said on Wednesday. Nicanor Faeldon, who had been in hiding since November 2007, arrived at the headquarters of the Marine Corps on Wednesday, navy spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Edgard Arevalo, told reporters. Faeldon's lawyer confirmed the surrender, saying the fugitive coup leader was hoping for a just and fair trial under a legitimate government. 'He was not captured,' Trixie Angeles told reporters. 'He voluntarily returned to his camp. This has been planned long ago because he wanted himself to be under the jurisdiction of a duly elected president.' Faeldon was first implicated in the takeover of high-rise apartments at the heart of Manila's financial district in July 2003, when 300 junior officers staged a mutiny demanding the resignation of then president Mrs Arroyo over corruption charges. He escaped from military detention in December 2005, but was captured a month later. He escaped a second time after a handful of soldiers occupied a luxury hotel in Manila's financial district in November 2007.

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Southeast Asia

Philippine Maoists set terms

2010-07-04

[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE Maoist-led guerrillas demanded on Saturday that the government help locate three missing rebel leaders and free from jail about a dozen others before they would agreed to return to peace talks. The Philippines has been fighting two insurgencies by communists and Muslim separatists since the late 1960s. The internal security risk has delayed development of parts of the country, particularly investment in resource-rich Mindanao. The government of President Benigno Aquino III promised this week to restart talks with both groups of rebels in an effort to end the two long-running conflicts. In a statement, the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) welcomed the initiative but set demands it said must be met before it could negotiate. 'To resume and push forward the peace negotiations, the Aquino government needs to commit itself to all previous agreements,' the CPP statement said. It called for the release of NDF figures held under Aquino's predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Peace talks with the CPP, like those with the Muslim separatists, have been a stop-start process. Communist Party spokesman Marco Valbueva said the abduction, enforced disappearance and illegal detention of rebel leaders violated a security and immunity deal with the government.

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Southeast Asia

Philippine troops kill 3 commies

2010-06-04

[Straits Times] MILITARY officials say troops have clashed with about 20 communist rebels in the northern Philippines, killing three guerrillas and capturing three others, including one wounded. The country's communist insurgency, one of Asia's longest-running, has raged on despite a deadline by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the military to crush the rebels by the end of her term on June 30. Army spokesman Maj Ronald Jess Alcudia says a soldier was wounded in the fighting that broke out before dawn Thursday in Batangas province's Taysan township, 90km south of Manila. Several firearms also were recovered. He says troops responded to a tipoff from civilians that rebels were in the village of Mabayabas.

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Southeast Asia

Aquino win to be confirmed

2010-06-03

[Straits Times] SENATOR Benigno Aquino III could be officially declared the next Philippine president on Monday, four weeks after his landslide win in the May 10 polls, with lawmakers set to soon complete their canvass of votes. Mr Aquino, only son of the country's revered democracy icon, Cory Aquino, has an insurmountable lead of more than 5 million votes over his nearest rival, former President Joseph Estrada, based on unofficial tallies from the election commission. The deadline for Congress to declare the winners in the presidential and vice-presidential elections is June 30. 'It's safe to say that we'll be able to proclaim by Monday,' Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate majority floor leader and a close ally of outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, told reporters. By Tuesday, lawmakers had confirmed 203 vote tallies out of a total of 278 from provinces, cities, embassies and consulates. The canvass showed Aquino had 9.6 million votes, or 42.5 per cent of more than 22.5 million votes counted, and Estrada had 5.9 million or 26.3 per cent. The election commission has estimated around 38 million people voted on May 10.

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Southeast Asia

Aquino: Justice for massacre

2010-06-01

[Straits Times] THE Philippine president-apparent vowed to bring to justice members of a powerful political clan charged in the country's worst massacre of 57 people, telling European Union ambassadors on Monday that he will not tolerate armed groups outside the law. Sen. Benigno Aquino III, who is awaiting an official proclamation by the Philippine Congress following May 10 presidential elections, told reporters he discussed the Nov. 23 massacre in southern Maguindanao province with EU ambassadors and made a commitment to obtain justice. Members of the Ampatuan clan who were allied with outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo are among 198 suspects charged with murdering their political rivals and at least 30 journalists in an election convoy. They allegedly led more than 100 police and government-armed militia in the slaughter. So far, only one member of the family, former town mayor Andal Amptuan Jr, has appeared at a trial that opened in January. The other six are in custody waiting to be arraigned. They have denied the charges against them. Mr Aquino said he will not tolerate a situation where 'one entity or a group or a family thinks they are above the law.' However, Mr Aquino so far has refrained from promising to disband the government-allied militia - an auxiliary force that has augmented outstretched government troops battling communist and Muslim insurgents for decades, and often ended up as a private army on the payroll of local politicians. Human Rights Watch has recently expressed disappointment with his refusal to disarm poorly trained village fighters. Mr Aquino also said he intends to seek justice for hundreds of victims of extrajudicial killings - mostly left-wing activists accused by the military of collaborating with communist insurgents and sympathisers .

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Southeast Asia

Aquino promises clean govt

2010-05-13

[Straits Times] THE Philippine president-apparent and nominees to what he pledged would be a lean, graft-free Cabinet promised on Wednesday to travel overseas less, investigate corruption and renew peace talks on ending decades-long insurgencies. With the vote count nearly complete, Benigno Aquino III began assembling his Cabinet from the ranks of defectors from outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo"s administration. One ministerial nominee said bloated contracts, especially from Mrs Arroyo"s last six months in office, would be investigated before being honoured.

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Southeast Asia

Arroyo picks chief justice

2010-05-13

[Straits Times] OUTGOING Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed an ally as Supreme Court chief justice on Wednesday, a move critics said was aimed at shielding her from graft investigations promised by her likely successor. Senator Benigno Aquino, son of two revered pro-democracy icons who challenged the kleptocratic regime of Ferdinand Marcos, is far ahead in unofficial vote tallies after national elections on Monday that went far more smoothly than markets had feared. Mr Aquino, who shares the same reputation for probity as his mother Corazon who died last August, campaigned on a platform of cleaning up politics and cracking down on corruption, tax evasion and smuggling. He looks certain to become the next president. Mrs Arroyo still plans to be a political force. She has won a seat in Congress in the election and the Philippine media says she hopes to become house speaker and use this position to challenge the power of the presidency. Mrs Arroyo has said she will ensure a smooth transition before her term ends on June 30. But her appointment of Renato Corona to head the Supreme Court sparked renewed accusations that she is trying to put allies in key positions before leaving office. Mr Corona was her chief of staff when Arroyo was vice president and also for a year after she became president in 2001. Of 15 Supreme Court judges, 14 will be Mrs Arroyo's appointees when Mr Corona replaces current Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who retires on May 17, with one position remaining vacant.

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