Martial Law: MILF War Over

These days the NPA is getting all the attention. Mostly it has to do with the Red October ouster plot the AFP is stirring everyone up about. Being that the communist rebellion is the longest is the longest on-going rebellion in the Philippines the NPA are old hands at killing and causing destruction. It is way past time to put down the rebellion.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/669835/duterte-calls-for-neutralization-of-communist-rebels/story/

Duterte assured the military that his order to neutralize the rebels is "legal." 

"I will be criticized but I’m telling you, I am guiding you what is practical and what is true and legal. Legal ‘yan," he said, as he repeated his vow not to let soldiers go to jail for performing their duty. 

He also reiterated the administration’s call for the "communist terrorists to abandon their extremist activities and return to the fold of the law."

Does the AFP have to be told to do their job? Being soldiers who have taken an oath to serve and protect the nation surely they know it is their duty to put down this rebellion. What is holding the AFP back from blasting these people away? Engaging in an all-out war with the Reds might be just what the Reds want. Such action might force Duterte to declare nationwide martial law. He's not falling for that trap.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1767390/Manila/Local-News/Palace-says-Duterte-will-not-fall-into-martial-law-trap

"We stand by the statement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is pushing the President to place the country under martial law," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said. 

"By sowing chaos through its Red October ouster plot, the CPP hopes that a nationwide martial law declaration would spark people’s outrage. We will therefore not fall into this trap hatched by the enemies of the State," he added. 

The communist group debunked Galvez's claim and claimed that it is Duterte who wants to place the entire country under martial law. 

Roque said there was no basis for the President to declare martial law nationwide. 

"President Duterte sees no ground to declare martial law nationwide as the whole situation is under control," the Palace official said.

Roque's assertion that it is the Reds who are attempting to trap Duterte into declaring nationwide martial law is interesting. Last year I wrote an article about how Duterte would use the fake peace talks and increased violence as a pretext for nationwide martial law. Now that the peace talks have failed utterly and Duterte is calling for neutralisation of the Reds and the Reds are calling for more violence there has still yet to be any call for nationwide martial law. There might not be any such call. Maybe that was Duterte's plan but then he changed his mind. Maybe he realised that ultimately love wins. As Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau so famously did not say, "If you kill your enemies, they win." It's better to give them free housing and job opportunities.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1050118

Escalada said 50 of the 375 units will be initially turned over to recipients, who are former rebels from Davao Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, parts of Compostela Valley province, and Davao del Norte. 

The Freedom Residences is a secured subdivision-type housing project, with each unit costing PHP450,000. Each unit is tiled with 22 square meter floor area in the first floor and 11 square meters for the loft, a provision ready for light and water connections and other facilities. 

He said the housing units are also resilient from worst calamities like a 7.2 earthquake or typhoon. 

“We will restrict improvement in the entrance but they can do improvements at the back,” he said, adding the government will also offer livelihood or income-generating opportunities for the beneficiaries. 

A wet and dry market will also be built in the subdivision, where owners can engage in small business with the assistance of the government agencies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).

What a deal. Fight against the government, maybe kill a soldier or two, decide to give up, and the government gives you free housing and business opportunities. And the housing they give you is more stable than many millions of poor Filipinos have. So many living in shanties easily destroyed by typhoons and earthquakes and yet it is these men of blood who are given freebies paid for by the people.

No wonder so many NPA rebels are surrendering.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1050086

https://www.update.ph/2018/10/20-npa-rebels-97-supporters-surrender-bukidnon/25603

Free housing and jobs provided by the government? It's their communist dream come true. Almost. Not exactly. But it's as close as they will get. It's because of these mass surrenders that the AFP is confident that the insurgency will end next year.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1767533/Davao/Local-News/Army-Insurgency-problem-to-end-in-2019

“We will support the statement of the President to put an end to the insurgency problem by the second quarter in 2019. We have basis because of the number of surrenderees that we have experience which is overwhelming in the area of 10th ID alone,” he said. 

In their area of responsibility, they recorded 7,327 surrenderees and of this number, 437 are regular members of the New People’s Army (NPA), Militia ng Bayan (560), Sangay ng Partido sa Lokalidad (216), supporters (6,097) and left-leaning organization (17). This is an indicator that the strength of the reds is going down. 

“We will beat the timeline,” he added.

Such overconfidence about timelines has been a pitfall for the AFP. They said the would take Marawi by a certain date, they said they would wipe out Abu Sayyaf in 6 months. Both timelines had to be revised. Besides they are forgetting about the Muslism terrorists. Or are they not a part of the insurgency? Maybe the AFP thinks the passage of the BOL is the end of war with Muslim terrorists?

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1040109/government-milf-war-over-says-afp-chief

Addressing military troops and MILF fighters, Galvez said: “Today I can now declare that the war between the armed forces and the MILF is finally over. To my commanders, let us embrace our brothers and sisters and give them respect and lasting peace that the Moro people deserve.” 

“Today I came back to one of the most revered place[s], a place I can call home because here live those gallant men I consider my brethren, those whom I have been working with for a peaceful Mindanao,” Galvez said. 

MILF chief Murad Ebrahim led the rebels in welcoming Galvez and presented to the military chief a “Soldier of Peace” award, the first time the rebel group honored a military officer. 

Galvez retires on Dec. 12. 

He promised the MILF that he would campaign for ratification of the BOL after leaving the service. 

“Starting Dec. 12, once I hang my uniform, I will campaign for a yes vote to the [BOL] as my contribution to the Mindanao peace process,” he said to applause from MILF fighters.

How amazing that the AFP Chief calls the MILF fighters his brethren. Men who have without blinking slaughtered AFP troops. Men who have not only the blood of the SAF 44 on their hands but the blood of countless civilians as well. For Galvez to make such gestures of peace is totally repugnant to the memory of the dead and is without a shred of decency.

The BOL plebiscite is set for January 21, 2019 so there is plenty of time for Galvez to campaign for the final passage of this law but why he does total into account is that the BOL only settles the issues between the government and the MILF. There are other groups out there who are still at war with the government and don't like the BOL one bit as it solidifies the MILF's power in the region. He also seems to forget about ISIS who does not care about the BOL at all and will continue to fight as they gain strength.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/sep/30/isis-fighters-philippines-threaten-us-anti-terror-/

A growing diaspora of battle-hardened Islamic State fighters fleeing lost territory in Syria and Iraq have returned to the southern Philippines, providing a major complication just as the Trump administration quietly ramps up a U.S. counterterrorism operation in the Pacific island nation. 

There are more Islamic State-affiliated foreign fighters in Southeast Asia, especially from jihadi groups based in the southern Philippines‘ autonomous Muslim Mindanao region, than there ever were fighting in *Afghanistan at the height of the Soviet Union’s invasion of the country in the 1980s, according to figures compiled by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

But a rising level of American support can be dangerous to indigenous counterterrorism operations led by Manila, the analyst said. U.S. forces run the risk of creating “a situation of dependency” among local forces should commanders with the new Philippines operation conduct business as usual. 

The U.S. mission will have the desired effects against Islamic State’s growing presence in the Philippines only if military measures to curb extremism in the southern Philippines “are a stopgap” to allow for a counterinsurgency run by Manila.

You can read the CSIS report here.

What "military measures" this article is referring to is not exactly clear since the US is allegedly only working in an advisory capacity as well as providing training, intelligence, and weapons and not providing active support with troops. Manila and not Washington is running the show though to be sure the AFP continues to receive a lot of help from the US military.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/170203/us-ph-agree-increase-joint-military-exercises-281-261

Military help from the US to fight Islamic terrorists has been coming since just after 9/11 but the terrorists have only increased in numbers. What better approaches are there? How can the nation secure itself especially after the Marawi siege which revealed gaping holes in the nation's security and intelligence networks? What laws can be enacted or should be changed to help secure the nation?

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/10/01/1856346/security-officials-want-longer-detention-surveillance-periods-suspected-terrorists

Top security officials on Monday said the detention and surveillance period of suspected terrorists should be extended to help strengthen the country’s anti-terrorism law. 

During a Senate hearing on proposed amendments to the Human Security Act of 2007, Gen.Carlito Galvez, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, lamented that the 11-year-old measure “does not really help security elements do their job.” 

“I’ll cite an example of Isulan incident when we captured already the supposed bomber. But because of the very permissive law, the bombers were able to be released from detention,” Galvez said. 

He proposed the detention period of suspected terrorists be extended to 30 days from three days. 

Under the HSA, security personnel must bring a suspect before a court "within a period of three days counted from the moment the said charged or suspected person has been apprehended or arrested, detained, and taken into custody." Failure to do so is penalized with ten to 12 years in prison. 

“Normally, [terror suspects] will break in information maybe [by] second or third week,” the AFP chief said, adding the 30-day period can also help security forces disrupt and eliminate the threat. 

“Thirty days is actually enough time for the security sector to conduct all extensive investigation to follow up operations and be able to do counteractions,” Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año, a former military chief, also said. 

National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director General Alex Monteagudo even suggested to extend the proposed 30-day detention period to determine the domestic or foreign links of the suspected terrorists. 

Monteagudo also pushed to extend the period of surveillance to 90 days from 30 days. 

“A longer period of surveillance will allow us to identify the network of the organization, including their international connection. Thirty days is short; 90 days is not even sufficient if we’re working with organizations with both local and international connection,” he said. 

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the author of Senate Bill 1956, which seeks to amend provisions of Human Security Act of 2007, called the legislation a “dead-letter law.” 

“Since the 9/11 terror attack against the US, Australia has already legislated 61 new anti-terror measures. As lawmakers, we cannot in good conscience remain silent and do nothing about our primary law against terrorism, becoming nothing more than a useless piece of legislation,” Lacson said in his opening statement.

It has almost been a year since the Marawi siege and there has yet to be an investigation into the circumstances which allowed the siege to happen. After the 9/11 attacks a commission was set up which investigated those attacks and issued recommendations for securing the nation. Why has this not happened here? Why does the Senate continue to sit on its keister when it comes to this issue?

It's ironic to hear Senator Lacson lament about "a useless piece of legislation" and praise the USA for their efforts at curbing terrorism after 9/11 when not even he has called for a Senate investigation into the Marawi attack. Such an investigation would lay bare the whole mess and then proper legislation and proper protocols could be passed and put into place.

An investigation is the right thing to do and until that happens why should anyone think the government is serious about fighting terrorism? The AFP and Duterte are dead wrong when they say the insurgency will end next year. Violence and terrorism will continue. If not from the communists then most certainly from the Muslims. They have been at it for 500 years now and show no signs of stopping anytime soon.