Senate Investigating Airport Glitch as a National Security Issue?

2023 began with a bang in the Philippines as all airspace over Manila was closed due to a glitch that shut down everything. It was a total fiasco leaving thousands of passengers stranded. This blackout also laid bare the shoddiness of NAIA which is routinely ranked as one the of the worst airports in the world. Just last month in December, 2022 NAIA was ranked the third most stressful airport in Asia. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1707816/naia-third-most-stressful-airport-in-asia-study

For the longest time, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), considered as the main gateway to the Philippines, has been named one of the worst airports in the world and has received numerous complaints from passengers across the globe.

Ahead of the holiday season and the expected holiday rush, a new report released by the travel website hawaiianislands.com has once again ranked NAIA as among the worst airports in Asia and the world.

Last month, the travel website released its report titled “The Most Stressful Airports in America and the World,” which was done through analysis of over 1,500 Google reviews for over 500 airports across the world.

“We analyzed the sentiment of Google reviews and ranked airports around the world and within the United States based on the percentage of reviews that indicate stress,” hawaiianislands.com explained.

Delays, long queues, and crying babies—according to the report—are just among the many reasons that air travel can be stressful for passengers, adding issues such as turbulence, baggage claim, and costly beverage on the flight.

Yes, NAIA sucks but that is not what I want to discuss.  It is the Senate's reaction that I want to analyze.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1711938/senators-think-air-traffic-hitch-not-ordinary-may-have-huge-natl-security-implications

The disruption at the country’s main airport due to a hitch in the air traffic control system may not be an “ordinary glitch” and “has possibly huge national security implications,” according to two senators on Tuesday.

Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Risa Hontiveros issued separate statements following a power outage at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center on New Year’s Day, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights that affected at least 56,000 domestic and international travelers.

“As Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on National Defense, I believe that this incident has possibly huge national security implications,” Go said. “It appears that all it takes to paralyze the entire Philippine airspace is just one technical glitch.”

The senator added that it is unacceptable to see passengers stranded in airports and forced to spend money for new tickets. He also noted that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now worried about their job status for not returning on time due to flight delays and cancellations.

For Hontiveros, the snag may not just be an “ordinary glitch.” She thought there could be “more unseen problems down the line.”

“This may not be just an ordinary ‘glitch’, as the early diagnosis said. Dismissing it as a simple ‘bug’ ignores the systemic problems at our airports. Let us not take the easy way out and blame the equipment outright. The fact that the back up also failed could mean there are more unseen problems down the line,” she said.

“Before we get the much-talked about ‘upgrade’, let’s see if the problem was compounded by human error or negligence in maintaining the equipment,” she continued.

Vulnerability to cyber attacks using the current system, said Hontiveros, must also be assessed.

The concerns of Senators Bong Go and Grace Poe are well placed. The whole of Manila airspace being taken out as the result of a glitch is a national security issue. If it is this easy to take out NAIA and ground air travel to a halt then it ought not to be dismissed as just a glitch. An investigation is required into the entire matter.  That is exactly what some Senators are demanding. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1712172/senators-seek-thorough-probe-of-naia-fiasco

Senators on Tuesday urged transportation officials to dig deeper into the alleged technical glitch and power outage that crippled the country’s air traffic navigation system on Jan. 1, with Sen. Jinggoy Estrada saying the government should not set aside the possibility that it could be a cyberattack.

“We have to look at all angles possible. We cannot discount that this could be a cyberattack,” Estrada said in an online press briefing. “We do not know if terrorists [were behind it]. Let’s not be too complacent about it.”

When pressed, he clarified that he had no information showing it was a cyberattack.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) should not conveniently blame “outdated” equipment for the incident.

“Before we get the much-talked about ‘upgrade,’ let’s see if the problem was compounded by human error or negligence in maintaining the equipment,” she said in a statement.

Estrada, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. separately filed resolutions seeking a Senate inquiry into the incident, which the former referred to as “air traffic management fiasco.”

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, earlier announced that she would open an investigation of the matter.

Sen. Nancy Binay, meanwhile, rejected suggestions to hand over the country’s air traffic management to private companies to prevent a repeat of the incident in the future.

It's great that the Senate seems to be concerned with national security issues now. But I don't buy it. I don't buy their sudden concern about national security. I say this because it has been almost six years since the Marawi siege and the Senate has yet to make a peep about it.

Let me give a quick rundown on the Marawi siege. The details can be found in my articles Intelligence Failures and Prior Knowledge of the Marawi Siege and Book Review: "The Battle of Marawi" Reveals the AFP is an Inept and Ill-prepared Military Force.

In 2017 the Maute group, an affiliate of ISIS, planned to lay siege to the city of the Marawi in a bid to build a caliphate in the Philippines. The AFP and PNP knew of these plans at least a month before they happened but did nothing to attempt to prevent the siege and ignored and downplayed the fact that ISIS was in the Philippines. According to then DND Secretary Lorenzana prior to the siege the AFP had ceased urban combat training which is why the siege lasted for 5 months. At the end of the siege the AFP executed several men who surrendered while television reporters looked on. This event was covered up by the AFP and the reporters who witnessed the event. 

At no time since has anyone in the media or any politician asked the hard questions about exactly how the siege happened, why it happened, and how it can be prevented from happening again. Without a doubt the Marawi siege was the single most devastating blow to national security since World War 2 and the entire nation does not care to learn more about it or how to prevent it from ever happening again. 

So, please excuse me if I don't buy the Senate's sudden concern about national security because of a glitch at NAIA.

Did ISIS Attempt to Assassinate President Trump In Manila in 2017?

In 2018 National Geographic released a documentary about the United States Secret Service titled "United States Secret Service: On the Front Line." It is touted as "an unprecetended behind the scenes look" at how the Secret Service protects the Pesident of the United States of America. The first 40 minutes of the documentary are about President Trump's visit to the ASEAN conference in Manila in November 2017. It is in this section where we are told for the first time ever that President Trump was targeted for assassination by ISIS. 

I have edited the documentary to include only the relevant clips about the alleged ISIS assassin. You can watch the clip here:

Let's analyze this clip and see if the claims of the Secret Service claims make any sense. First of all we meet Audrey Gibson of protective intelligence. She says:

There is credible information that an incident could occur during ASEAN. This is a map of the threat actors that are present in this country. The more prominent colors on the bottom, those represent ISIS and ISIS affiliated groups. As of this week the Philippines has escalated to a critical threat level. The battle of Marawi lasted approximately from May and ended in October of this year. So, for five months the Philippine government and ISIS was engaged in a conflict. This is really significant because it's the only major city outside of the Middle East that was held by ISIS. During those five months these ISIS fighters were able to hone and develop tactics and their skill set: IED's, snipers, grenades. It's easy to obtain anything from a small fire arm to military grade weapons. So, although the government liberated Marawi the threat remains that these terrorists could travel north and conduct retaliatory attacks and it has been factored into the security plan. Thank you.   

If there is one take away from this brief speech it is that the US government, unlike the Philippine government, was taking the threat of ISIS seriously back in 2017. Audrey warns that there could be retaliatory attacks by ISIS during the ASEAN meeting and even says the threat is very credible. Harry Roque was saying the exact opposite.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/11/05/1755791/palace-allays-terror-fears-philippines-safe

Roque assured the public that there are no monitored terror threats so far in Manila and elsewhere in the country. 

“The Philippine government has no information about any increased terror threat in the country and we assure our foreign friends that local authorities have been enforcing tight security measures, especially in populated areas while we urge everyone to continue being aware of one’s surroundings,” he said.

Of course this was not true as three members of Abu Sayyf were arrested for planning to attack the 2017 ASEAN. 

https://www.rappler.com/nation/188738-abu-sayyaf-planned-attack-asean-summit-2017

Prior to their arrest, authorities monitored Jikiri's Facebook page where they reportedly saw "hints" of a plan to launch terrorist attacks in Metro Manila.

Jikiri posted photos of high-powered firearms, improvised explosive devices with a caption which said that they were to be used against “non-believers and Muslim apostates.”

He also posted photos of the places he supposedly planned to target including a mall and a park. Dela Rosa said Jikiri also “cased” the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), the venue of the ASEAN Summit.

Police found photos of him and “other armed youth” in his Facebook page. The posts prompted police to launch a background investigation and found that he was indeed a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group, linked to the Maute-Islamic State (ISIS) group which led the Marawi siege.

Police Director Oscar Albayalde, National Capital Region Police Office chief, said monitoring social media is part of  police intelligence-gathering.

Police said Sabtalin and Jhofar were linked to Jikiri as they met with the Abu Sayyaf member and were “supporters.”

The police tracked the men with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation and found them together at Salaam Compound in Barangay Culiat, Quezon City.

That sounds like Audrey Gibson was totally justified in giving her warning that a terrorist attack COULD happen during the ASEAN meeting. But this is NOT the assassination plot against Trump. That is something completely different. 

The next person we meet is Ruben Rivera-Perez who is a research specialist. His job is to monitor social media for possible threats. And boy does he find one. 

This guy just posted a concerning post. "Gonna be in Manila at the same time as Trump. I'll take one for the team lads." And there's a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald. And I mean, that's pretty concerning because he says, "I'll take one for the team lads." It may show that he's got others maybe working with him. Let's go to his Instagram. Just because he made a veiled threat saying I'm on my way to Manila and Trump's gonna be there that doesn't necessarily mean anything. It doesn't raise the hair on the back of my neck. Now, when I'm looking through his social media after the initial threat we're looking for weapons, or anything, any comments that are nonsensical. That's, that's concerning.

Scrolling around on this alleged threat's Instagram page Ruben finds the following two images:

So, this is definitely a red flag, a book that says "how to kill." We will investigate him. I'm gonna let Audrey know. 

Ruben believes a post reading "Gonna be in Manila at the same time as Trump. I'll take one for the team lads" is worth researching further. He then says he is looking for pictures of weapons or nonsensical comments on the suspects social media but instead finds that the suspect is reading a book about the history of assassins and decides that makes his post a credible threat. Is Ruben really on the internet all day sifting through endless chatter to ferret out threats to the President? If so how does he not know that the phrase, "I'll take one for the team, lads" is a meme used by 4chan and 8chan. I'd be rather surprised if ISIS used that kind of speech. 

This person's social media posts are a far cry from that of the Abu Sayyaf member who was arrested for planning a terrorist attack in Manila during the ASEAN. There are no pictures of weapons or buildings or any indication that this person is a bonafide terrorist. In fact, in the selfie it appears he is a white guy from Europe. Whatever city that is it's definitely not in the Philippines. 

Next the narrator says

Ahead of the President's arrival, the threat level in Manila is critical.

Just how critical is it? Analyst James Swanson tells us:

For the threat levels we're not seeing the organized presence of ISIS. They're spelling out right now as the possibility of the threat from lone wolves. It's possible there moving up here so that's why they're the main concern right now. Do we want to look into Facebook threat? 

Audrey: That's a little concerning the language which reads, "Gonna be in Manila at the same time as Trump. I'll take one for the team lads" uh, posted a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald. Um, also posted a photo of the current book he is reading, How to Kill the Definitive History of the Assassin. I don't know if we have an identity on this guy as of yet but it looks like he's got a few different social media platforms he uses one of his platforms, Twitter, says that he is currently in Manila. Um, maybe a couple different aliases so we probably need to see if we can run down what we can get on this guy.

At this point the Secret Service still has no idea the identity of this alleged threat. Note that they also admit there is no organized presence of ISIS in Manila at the time they are filming which is days before Trump arrives. Does that sound critical? Instead they are focused on "the possibility" of lone wolves which this anonymous threat could be.

Using the surveillance technology Edward Snowden warned us all about the Secret Service verifies that this person is really in Manila. Audrey Gibson reports to her boss:

So, we have some updates for you on the Facebook guy first off. We are still tracking him. We are aware of generally where he is. There is an active warrant so we're hooking this guy up. 

But then comes the big reveal. James Swanon says:

Um, so we've learned actually earlier that ISIS operatives could be coming to try to disrupt at ASEAN.  

His boss then tells the camera:

The big thing over here is that ISIS is very prevalent. Protective intelligence was giving us a lot of good information and they were able to figure out a member of ISIS made furtive movements to come to Manila. 

The narrator says:

An ISIS operative in Manila, his whereabouts and agenda unknown. 

Audrey just said they know where their suspect is and even have a warrant out for him. So that can't be the lone wolf ISIS member right? Wrong. The narrative from here on out will be that the person who posted a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald is an ISIS operative who made his way north. The switch from anonymous internet poster to lone wolf ISIS assassin is rather abrupt and makes no sense given what is known about this person which is practically nothing. Remember no weapons or actual threats or any indication this person is a terrorist has been found on his social media. Only a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald and a book about the history of assassins. 

In the final section of this clip there are just 20 minutes before Trump arrives and the suspect has yet to be caught.

Behind closed doors protective intelligence briefs lead agent Chad Reagan on the location of the ISIS operative.

Audrey: Our guy is in contact with an associate in Luneta Park, a mile north of our RON.

Chad: We'll work to get some assists over there. As luck would have it Audrey tracked him over to a park very close to our hotel. It's unnerving to us because he shows up right before wheels down. 

Back to the narrator:

Working in conjunction with the Philippine National Police, known as the PNP, agents have eyes on the ISIS operative and his associate. 

Finally we are shown a large contingent of police vehicles swarming Luneta park as the man is arrested and the clip ends. 

Now, this is all patently ridiculous to anyone paying the slightest attention. Somehow this anonymous internet poster goes from being wholly unknown to a bonafide member of ISIS and they find him at Luneta Park which is a rather popular place. Are we really to believe that this person knew exactly where Trump was staying or intended any real harm and that was why he was in the park? How would he have known Trump's location when that was a secret? Is there a mole inside the Secret Service? Compare Mr. "I'll take one for the team, lads" to the Abu Sayyaf member who posted pictures of weapons and actual threats of violence. They don't compare in the least. One is a real terrorist and the other sounds exactly like a shitposter of which the internet is full. He is even using their language when addressing the "lads."

If a lone wolf ISIS member bent on assassinating President Trump was arrested in Luneta Park in November 2017 during the ASEAN why did no one report on it at the time? The ASG members were reported on by Rappler but were not mentioned at all in this documentary despite being the larger and more realistic potential threat. Why is that? 

Nothing about this scenario comes off as true. If a lone wolf would-be ISIS assassin had been arrested in Manila during the ASEAN in 2017 that would have been huge news that no one would have been able to conceal. It's unfathomable that this incident went unreported for over a year only to be revealed in a National Geographic documentary. The details of the case also don't make sense. Whoever posted the picture of Lee Harvey Oswald is clearly not a Filipino or a member of ISIS. Reading a book about the history of assassination is not a crime and is not a red flag. If it were then why was it allowed to be published? 

While this nonsense may make for good enough TV to entertain the masses, anyone paying attention to the real threat of terrorism in the Philippines will be able to see right through the charade. Without any concrete evidence such as a mugshot and a police report this claim that an ISIS operative bent on assassinating Trump was arrested in Manila is totally bogus. 

Bongbong Marcos Praises Islamic Terrorists as Noble and Brave

President Marcos addressed the opening of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament paying tribute to the sacrifice of Moro revolutionaries and saying he vows peace and historical justice in Bangsamoro.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1665177/marcos-vows-peace-historical-justice-for-bangsamoro

President Marcos paid tribute to the sacrifices of Moro revolutionaries that fueled their dream of self-governance during his late father’s regime, while calling on new and old Bangsamoro leaders to unite to bring lasting peace to Mindanao.

“We set our feet before this place and herald the trials that you have won through courage, certainty and noble bravery,” Marcos told the inaugural session of the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex here on Thursday.

“The path to lasting peace is always under construction. But we walk this path not because it is an easy one,” the President said.

“We walk this path together because even if it is difficult, we know that at the end of the journey is historical justice, progress, peace, stability and the unity that our peoples and our nation … so rightly deserve,” he said.

It's rather weird that Marcos is haling them as noble and brave when just a few days ago he justified his Father's declaration of martial law because of both the NPA and Islamic insurgencies. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/09/15/2209778/president-marcos-my-father-was-not-dictator

President Marcos is not bothered being called the “son of the dictator” even as he defended his late father and namesake’s imposition of martial law in 1972, saying it was necessary to prevent rising disorder caused by communist and separatist rebellions at the time.

He emphasized that his father declared martial law as his government was simultaneously fighting communist and separatist rebellions and not to stay in power.

“Martial law was declared because of the wars, the two wars we were fighting on two fronts. The CPP-NPA was fomenting revolution. They wanted to bring down the government through violent means. The government had to defend itself,” the President said.

“The second front was the secessionist movement down in the South led by MNLF and chairman Nur Misuari at the time. He started that uprising, the secessionist movement,” he said.

Now these separatists are noble and brave revolutionaries? How does that work? Calling them such only undermines Marcos Sr's declaration of martial law. Perhaps he should have just given in like the recent administrations have done and given the Muslims their own autonomous region. 

Mindanao is Dangerous, That is a Fact

Journalist Raissa Robles tweeted about the incoming Department of Tourism Secretary's plans to promote Mindanao as a tourist destination. This tweet set off Sara Duterte who called her tweet irresponsible and reckless.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1175901

Vice President-elect Sara Duterte on Saturday night lambasted the social media post of a journalist who is a known critic of the Duterte administration, saying it demonized Mindanao and insult its people.

In her Twitter post on June 2, Raissa Robles said that as incoming Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco would like to open Mindanao to tourists, she is sure “the extremist Abu Sayaf and other bandits would be pleased by the prospects of so many potential kidnap victims”.

Robles asked Frasco to “prep yourself for ransom negotiations” as the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) might ask for her.

In a statement, Duterte said the views expressed by Robles on Mindanao in reaction to Frasco’s plans to develop the region as a tourist destination are “replete with journalistic recklessness and irresponsibility -- something that calls for our collective condemnation as it grossly discriminated against all Mindanawons, especially those living in Moro communities”.

The VP-elect pointed out that Robles clearly wanted to undervalue everything that the Duterte administration has done in keeping peace and security in Mindanao and ensuring that concerns caused by terrorist organizations, including kidnap for ransom groups, are addressed appropriately with the help of local governments and leaders of communities.

“As a Filipino, Robles should be ashamed of herself for dangerously trying to stoke and encourage terrorist groups to target tourists in Mindanao,” Duterte added.

She said that since 2016, the kidnapping operations by the ASG in Mindanao have been significantly reduced compared to the previous years and authorities have successfully rescued all victims.

“In Basilan, as confirmed by Rep. Mujiv Hataman himself, there had been zero kidnapping incidents since President Duterte came into office. All other incidents concerning ASG have been about the arrests and surrenders of their members and leaders,” the younger Duterte added.

Sara Duterte is out of her mind. Raissa Robles did not encourage terrorists groups to target tourists. She merely pointed out the fact that tourists get kidnapped in Mindanao. Here is her tweet.

https://twitter.com/raissawriter/status/1532179222420398081

There may have been zero kidnapping incidents in Basilan since 2016 but that does not mean there have been zero kidnappings in Mindanao. In 2019 a British national and his wife were kidnapped by armed men in Zamboanga del Sur.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/05/british-national-and-his-wife-kidnapped-in-southern-philippines

A British national and his Filipina wife have been abducted from a resort in the southern Philippines.

Armed men took the couple from a resort they own in Tukuran town, Zamboanga Del Sur, at 6.50pm on Friday.

The man is a dual national who has lived in the province, where he and his wife own and operate several businesses, since 2013.

A police spokesperson, Maj Helen Galvez, told the Guardian two of the suspects checked into the resort a day before the abduction and waited for the couple to arrive.

“They own a lot of properties and business so they are always moving. The suspects waited for the victims to arrive at the resort,” Galvez said.

More gunmen arrived and entered the resort on Friday, taking the couple to the shore, and forcing them into two motorboats. The vessels left in two directions but it was not clear if the couple were in one boat or were separated.

In 2020 a group of Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped and taken to Sulu.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1091641

The military’s Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) has confirmed that the five Indonesian fishermen seized on January 16 off Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia, were taken to the province of Sulu.

Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Westmincom chief, said Wednesday two of the six gunmen involved in the kidnapping, who turned out to be Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits, have been killed in an airstrike off Sulare Island, Parang, Sulu.

So, let's not pretend that kidnapping has ceased under Duterte. It still happens and is a real possibility and threat. And that does not include the general  lawlessness which abounds in Mindanao. On May 26th there was another bus bombing. This is why so many countries warn their citizens to not travel there.

USA

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/philippines-travel-advisory.html

UK

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/philippines

New Zealand

https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/philippines

Singapore

https://www.mfa.gov.sg/countries-regions/p/philippines/travel-page

Ireland

https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/a-z-list-of-countries/the-philippines/

Canada

https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/philippines

Can you see the pattern here? Foreign nations warn their citizens to avoid travel to Mindanao because it is unsafe. Will Sara Duterte go after them? Will she be calling the UK, USA, and New Zealand reckless and irresponsible. No she won't. She'd rather go after low hanging fruit like Raissa Robles. Raissa even had a follow up which was ignored.

https://twitter.com/raissawriter/status/1533447070404976641?cxt=HHwWgoDRlY3_8scqAAAA

It's certainly easier to feign outrage over a tweet than it is to deal with actual facts. 

Book Review: "The Battle of Marawi" Reveals the AFP is an Inept and Ill-prepared Military Force

The Battle of Marawi by journalist Criselda Yabes is an exciting look into the operations of the Marawi siege and the men who led them. We all know the story. ISIS militants laid siege to the city of Marawi and the AFP took it back five months later. Criselda's book fills in the gaps and gives us a fuller picture of just how the battle was fought and won. There is a lot of information here. Certainly too much to cover in a review. As she writes, "Marawi was not a one-dimensional war."

To purchase visit: https://www.facebook.com/thebattleofmarawi

While the book is largely composed of personal stories from the perspective of those on the ground Yabes also paints a deeply disturbing portrait of the AFP as an inept and ill-prepared military force which could have prevented the siege yet chose to ignore or downplay vital intelligence. Individually there is much bravery and courage among the soldiers but collectively there is much that is wanting. This book underscores the necessity of a Senate investigation into the lead up and events of the Marawi siege.

In my previous blog post and video titled "Intelligence Failures and Prior Knowledge of the Marawi Siege" I included an interview with DND Secretary Lacson where he claimed that they had a man inside the Maute Group. Yabes shines a light on this man whose code name was Jericho. He was very close to discovering what the Maute Group was planning but he was found out and rubbed out. She writes:

Jericho was going to put all the links together. He was going to how far into the terrorist cell the Maute brothers were, beyond their family relations with the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The intelligence headquarters in Manila didn't give much credence to the threat of the brothers, thinking that the guys in the field might be drawing conclusions from their imagination. Jericho had it so close and he told his classmates about it, that there's another one on the way to creating havoc. His death should have alerted the ground commanders: a warning bell of things to come.

p. 40

If the AFP ignored what intel this man had to offer then why did Lacson even mention him as if he had provided any information that the AFP actually used to prepare for the imminent siege?

Reading this book one is left wondering why the AFP announced that the siege would be over quickly by June 12th, Independence Day. When Zamboanga was under siege in 2013 it took 20 days to recapture the city from the MNLF. Marawi is much larger than Zamboanga and the number of terrorists as well as the city itself was a complete unknown to commanders on the ground. They literally were in the dark as to the reality of the situation yet Duterte was told on May 26th that it could all be over in 3-4 days!

The President arrived on May 26, first landing at the mechanized brigade camp in Ditucalan. The briefing was "generic," in the sense that nothing was clear. How long will this last? Previous experience will tell us that it could be over in three or four days, Com1 told the commander-in-chief. Everyone thought so too and they were all wrong. Whatever you need, just let me know, said the President.

p. 120

Exactly what previous experience was that assessment based on? Zamboanga should have been both a a wake up call to the AFP and an event to learn from but according to Yabes reports from Zamboanga collected dust on the shelves and any lessons that could be learned were missed.

The aftermath of the Zamboanga experience went into a compilation of reports given to general headquarters to digest and learn lessons from, especially when it came to improving capability. But like most things, the reports gathered dust on the shelves, and here they were again. The LRR (Light Reaction Regiment) was trained in precise urban combat, namely those that involved raids, hostage taking incidents, or putting down a lone wolf. Zamboanga taught them the need for extra manpower, recommending the use of infantry, for example, when the situation would get out of hand in a larger urban center that had civilian lives at risk. None of the infantry units was trained for such an eventuality.

p. 40-41

Yabes does not tell us exactly why the infantry was not trained properly but this paragraph is in line with what DND Secretary Lorenzana said about the AFP stopping training for urban warfare because they did not use the skill.

"It's a skill we used to have but we lost along the way because we didn't use it. We keep training our people in what we call the military operations in urban terrain, MOUT.  But we seldom use it, we never use it, so we stopped teaching our people at the Marawi camp. So now we have to reacquire that skill plus the necessary equipment that goes with it.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2018/06/martial-law-no-ready-reserve-ammunition.html

She also documents petty infighting between the various branches of the AFP. Instead of working together toward a common goal the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force were sometimes more concerned about their pride. Take the instance of one Air Force commander who ignored the requests of an Army commander to drop bombs until he was issued an apology for being shouted at.

Butler carried on with the immense duty of being the liaison, dispatching flights, choosing options, sometimes second guessing commanders. And sometimes, it felt as though he was the commanding general of the Air Force. Charlie got used to having him around, sige, alam mo na 'yan.  You know what to do.  

One of the battalion commanders gave him hell for delaying a flight when his troops were waiting for the bomb drop. Butler had to pull his phone away from his ears as the barrage of invectives came through; in retaliation he ignored the commander's bomb run requests in his sector for about a week until an apology was offered in a long and winding text message.

p 108

Could it be that petty actions like this are what prolonged the war? Was Butler ever reprimanded for his actions? There should be cooperation between each branch of the military but Yabes says this is not the norm and Marawi was a first where such cooperation was necessary.

Marawi was the first of many things. Here. the military learned the hard way that they had to come together for a "joint-ness" in their operation, an exercise they should have done previously and rarely did so for a number of reasons: lack of planning, lack of will that was bent on politics. As in the past, the battle was again an example of reacting to a visible threat that caught them by surprise, rather then preventing and nipping it in the bud. 

p. 216

With such a lack of coordination and cooperation among the branches of the AFP is it any wonder that the Islamic and communist insurgencies have been ongoing for 50 years with no end in sight?

But truly the most damning thing of all that Yabes writes is that the AFP lied in their reports about what happened in Marawi.

When I began writing the first draft of this book in July 2019, I knew I had more than enough to go by and yet, I could have also carried on searching for other lower-ranking officers down to the corporals and the privates who were at the frontlines. Every target, every objective, every major incident in the battle area was worth a book in itself. I wish the Armed Forces wold invest in such an undertaking without self-censorship, to have a better understanding of what went right or wrong. Each unit has an After-Review Report, as officially required, but in some cases it didn’t always match with the truth (how boldly they could defy their seniors!) For the first time in covering a major military event, I had to take detours at length and dig elsewhere for more accuracy. One officer joked that it would take me ten years to get to the bottom of everything. 

Notes From the Author

Such an accusation is a bombshell and only underscores the absolute need for a Senate-formed Marawi Commission to investigate what happened in the lead up to and during the siege. Yabes does not tell the reader what exactly the AFP lied about in those reports but a reasonable guess can be made that they lied about what happened while clearing building 1010.

This incident happened at the very end of the siege and was in fact the last operation of the entire battle. What happened? Yabes is not clear and that is no fault of her own because the men she interviewed were very reluctant to talk about it. Basically hostages and terrorists who had surrendered were being prepared to be taken out of the building when all of a sudden a rebel on the rooftop started spraying machine gun fire. In the resulting chaos all of the surrendering terrorists were slaughtered in an act of vengeance.

Tell me what happened in Ten-Ten, I ask him. 

He muttered the worthlessness of the human security act, a toothless law that the military says made it difficult for them to keep terrorists behind bars. The rebels who fought them will be the same rebels they will have to fight again in the future - that was how they judged their dilemma. The law might take too many long turns before justice was meted out.

p. 202

No you don't understand, I was told when I made the rounds asking some officers about this particular incident. If you had been there for five months, you would have done the same, you would have wanted them dead if you had seen what they did to our men. You don't know what it's like to see bodies of soldiers burnt and mutilated, to watch comrades die, to feel the loss and pain of wounds. 

p. 203

And how did senior commanders respond to this incident? By covering it up and asking television reporters who had video of the incident to not report it!

When senior commanders radioed to inquire what went on, the response was, tapos na. It's over. The deed was done. What did that mean, exactly? There was no sanction from the seniors; apparently it had spiraled out of control. There was a breakdown in discipline. WestMinCom privately asked a couple of television reporters, who managed to obtain snippets of other footage showing the gang-style thrashing, to withhold airing them. These were the videos, one text message said from one senior commander to another, "dat wud destroy the gud image we had worked so hard in Liberating Marawi." 

p. 202

AFP soldiers callously massacred surrendering rebels and the top brass covered it up. Which television reporters acquiesced to their requests to participate in that cover-up? Those reporters are also complicit.

There must be a Senate investigation into the Marawi Siege. People have to be held accountable.    Three years is far too long already. Does no one in the Senate care about the security of the nation that they continue to let this devastating terrorist act go unexamined?  Maybe Yabes' book will finally bring about such an investigation into reality. As for now this is the closest we can get to a definitive account of what happened in Marawi.

The Attempted Assassination of Bill Clinton in Manila 1996

Annie Jacobsen's latest book about American clandestine services, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins" is an interesting look at covert operations of the CIA around the world. Towards the end of the book she mentions a surprising story about the attempted assassination of Bill Clinton in Manila in 1996.

President Clinton with then Sen. Arroyo and President Ramos

It was November 24, 1996, and Lew Merletti accompanied President Clinton to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the Philippines. Security was intense, with an estimated 26,000 police and soldiers assigned to protect visiting dignitaries. The U.S. State Department warned its citizens to be on alert for a possible terrorist attack. In Manila, President Clinton was scheduled to visit a local politician. The route chosen would take him across a bridge in central Manila. 

“As the presidential motorcade began to move,” recalled Merletti, he received a “crackly message in one earpiece.” Intelligence agents had picked up a message using the words “bridge” and “wedding,” which Merletti “interpreted to be terrorist code words for assassination.” Merletti ordered the motorcade to change course, something only he had the authority to do. “The motorcade agent Nelson Garabito did a great job rerouting the president under those difficult circumstances,” he says, and that agents “discovered a bomb on the bridge.” The assassination attempt was not made public. The Secret Service keeps all assassination attempts against a U.S. president classified Top Secret so as not to encourage copycat attacks. The details of the Manila bomb were made known to only a handful of members of the U.S. intelligence community.

Pg. 330-331

A much fuller account of this incident can be found in "The Death of Virtue: Clinton Vs Starr" by Ken Gormley

One incident that Merletti kept locked in his mental file and that was unknown to the rest of the world related to a disagreement he had with President Clinton in November 1996. In this episode, Merletti had overruled Clinton and, in doing so, saved the president’s life. Merletti had been traveling with the president to Manila in the Philippines, when a snap decision confronted him as head of the presidential protective detail. Clinton was scheduled to attend a late-afternoon appointment with a senior member of the Philippine government. As was common for the gregarious Clinton, he was running late. The motorcade route from the hotel, where Clinton was wrapping up his meeting, to the government official’s office would take approximately “fifteen minutes. President Clinton instructed Merletti, “You gotta get me there fast. I’m really late.” 

One of the jobs of the Secret Service was to “make the president’s schedule work.” Merletti understood that. As they climbed into their long, black car, however, Merletti received a crackly message in one earpiece: Intelligence operators in the field had picked up a radio transmission in which the unknown speakers used the words “bridge” and “wedding” in close proximity. The latter word, he knew, was a code word once used by terrorists to mean a hit, or an assassination. On the motorcade route that had been mapped out, the president’s car was scheduled to cross a bridge. 

Merletti urgently requested if intelligence could get “more information.” After a momentary buzz in his earpiece, the response came back: “Negative.” In the meantime, the president was still pushing Merletti, “Let’s go, let’s go. We’re late!” As head of the PPD, Merletti had to take a stand. His paramount job was to protect the chief executive, regardless of what the president wanted. Merletti climbed into the car and looked directly at Clinton: “Mr. President, I have bad news for you,” he said. “We’re going to be real late, because we’re taking a different route.” 

There followed a “strong discussion” between the president and Agent Merletti. It was “professional” in every way, Merletti recalled, but the conversation involved “strong language” on “each side. In the end, Merletti directed the motorcade to travel the direction he wanted, and the president sunk back in his seat, unhappy but overruled. 

As the presidential entourage wound forward along its altered route, a U.S. intelligence team was dispatched to the bridge. The structure was a white concrete span in a busy downtown area of Manila and was flanked by picturesque palm trees and neat pedestrian sidewalks. Underneath the bridge, explosives specialists uncovered a bomb powerful enough to blow up the entire presidential motorcade. 

This thwarted assassination attempt was never made public; it remained top secret except to select members of the U.S. intelligence community. The American government’s subsequent investigation of this plot to kill Clinton, however, revealed that it had been masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan—a man named Osama bin Laden. Intelligence reports revealed that this bearded criminal’s nascent terrorist organization, known as al Qaeda, had engineered the effort to murder the American president. The Secret Service was already watching bin Laden—he had been involved in at least one earlier attempt to assassinate Clinton in the Philippines in 1994. The plot to kill Clinton in Manila had failed only because members of the PPD were trained to put the safety of the president first, regardless of conflicting instructions, even from the chief executive himself. In Merletti’s view, “If you’re not capable of making decisions like this, you don’t belong in that position.”

Pg. 491-492

Clinton arrived in Manila for the APEC summit a day before the attempted attack. How did his would be killers know the route his motorcade would take? Was there a mole? Was the bomb placed just shortly before Clinton's motorcade was due to cross the bridge? A boat stopping under a bridge so a man could hide a bomb would be noticeable. Neither account tells what bridge it is but from the description (white concrete, palm trees, pedestrian walk way) it might be the Jones Bridge. 

According to The Manila Standard there were two other bombs discovered, one at the airport and one at the APEC venue.

Manila Standard, November 23rd, 1996

But Philippine security sources said police had reported “srong indications” a leftist hit squad would launch terror attacks - including bombings and assassinations - to disrupt the summit, to be attended by US Presidney Bill Clinton, Chinese Presdeitn Jian Zemin, and other key leaders.  

An intelligence report obtained by Reuters meanwhile indicated explosives found at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday night were not part of a drill as originally announced. 

The report, for President Ramos, said a bomb made up of three hand gernades with their safety pins already removed and wrapped in tape had been found in a black bag on a stairway of the arrival area. 

It said members of an airport security task force were still investigating the incident. 

Officials at the time inisisted the explosives has been placed there as part of a security drill. The same explanation had been given for a pipe bomb discovered a few hours earlier inside the gates of Subic Freeport where the summit is to take place. 

The top secret, high-level Philippines police report on the overall terrorism threat did not specifically mention Americans as targets.

It is not surprising that Philippine security officials would lie to the public about the bombs found at both NAIA and Subic Freeport. That the report focuses exclusively on "a leftist hit squad," the Alex Boncayao Brigade, and excludes Islamic terrorists shows that Philippine security officials were not up to speed on the threat posed by Islamic terrorism and in particular al Qaeda despite uncovering the Bojinka Plot a year prior in January 1995.  The Bojinka Plot was a large scale terrorist attack planned by al Qaeda to blow up 11 planes and assassinate the pope. Prior to this plot al Qaeda made plans to assassinate Bill Clinton during his visit to the Philippines in 1994 which begs the question of why security officials did not consider a second attempt on his life from this same terrorist organisation as very likely.

He left Manila for several days, but was met by Islamist emissaries upon his return to Metro Manila. They asked him to attack United States President Bill Clinton, who was due to arrive in the Philippines on November 12, 1994, as part of a five-day tour of Asia. Yousef thought of several ways to kill the president, including placing nuclear bombs on Clinton's motorcade route, firing a Stinger missile at Air Force One or the presidential limousine, launching theater ballistic missiles at Manila and or killing him with phosgene, a chemical weapon. He abandoned the idea, as it would be too difficult to kill the President. However, he incorporated his plan to kill the Pope into the Bojinka plot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bojinka_plot

The "he" is Ramzi Yousef. Ramzi curently resides at ADX Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado for his role in the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Centre attacks. How was al Qaeda able to place a bomb under a bridge in Manila with no one knowing?  Security for APEC was tight.

As part of the preparation for the summit, the Philippines strengthened its security force. At least 26,000 police and soldiers were deployed to ensure the security of the delegates and guests. President Ramos assured APEC participants of their security in his speech during the inauguration of Subic Bay International Airport. On 22 November 1996, two days before the Economic Leaders' Summit, the US State Department, through its spokesperson Nicholas Burns, warned American citizens in the Philippines to take security precautions following threats against American diplomats attending the summit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APEC_Philippines_1996

Despite all the security precautions taken one of the more interesting incidents of the 1996 APEC meeting was when Vice President Estrada welcomed President Clinton at the airport and was blocked by the Secret Service.

Manila Standard, November 25th, 1996

Security was so tight when US President Bill Clinton flew into Manila Saturday night for an Aisia-Pacific summit that his minders stopped VIce President Joseph Estrada when he went to welcome the US leader at the airport. 

“You cannot tell me what to do right here in my country,” Estrada snapped to the US security men. “I am the Vice President.” 

Estrada, who described the incident to reporters, was blocked when he tried to approach Clinton after the US leader flew into Manila Saturday night for the annual summit of the 18-memeber Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. 

Estrada was allowed through after explaining who he was. 

Estrada headed the Philippine welcoming party for Clinton which also included House SPeaker Jose de Venecia and Sen. Gloria Mcapagal-Arroyo, a calssmate of Clinton years ago when she was studying in the United States. 

Summit security is tight due to fears that Philippine leftiss may try to mount an attack during the APEC conference. The Clinton motorcade made a last-minute  switch in its route from the airport after two men were reported acting suspiciously at a traffic signal control box on the original route.

The Bojinka Plot was discovered in January 1995 and by then Yousef was long gone from the Philippines. So who orchestrated this attempted assassination in 1996 at the behest of bin Laden? Who was left with ties to al Qaeda except the MILF and Abu Sayyaf? In fact just last year a bin Laden associate was arrested in Mindanao.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/08/02/1939912/bi-deport-jordanian-linked-bin-ladens-brother-law

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to deport a Jordanian man, an alleged former henchman of the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, a few weeks after he was arrested in Zamboanga City.   

Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 51, is now under custody of the government pending his deportation after the BI, military and police operatives arrested him last July 4, according to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente.  

Quoting authorities, the BI said that Abdeljalil had served as the point man of Saudi businessman Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s brother-in-law, in managing several charity organizations in the south that funneled money to al-Qaeda and the Abu Sayyaf group.

The public can never expect the government to tell them the true extent of security threats to the nation until long after the fact which leaves one wondering what is the real security situation in this country? The government continues to reassure the public that everything is fine and safe for tourists and investors despite the presence of communist and Islamic terrorists throughout the country. If anything the lesson to learn from the attempted assassination of Bill Clinton in Manila in 1996 is that Philippine security officials are not always up to snuff about the threats facing the Philippines.