Oust Gloria Macapagal Arroyo!

Gloria Arroyo has no moral authority to lead our divided nation. Political scandal, scams and anomalous transactions under her bogus regime is no longer acceptable.
What else is new? Impeach me! Coup Me! And now Assassinate Me! I think the alleged Al Qaeda plot to assassinate Gloria Arroyo is just a squid tactics to divert public attention on ZTE scam. Lozada’s expose’ has been in the headlines, talk shows and blogosphere for two weeks. Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts need a breathing space. Why only now? The timing is very suspicious.

Nov.29 Movement: dissent in action
ZTE scam

Mindanao Conflict: Tipo-Tipo Fiasco

Marine officers probed: Wrong frequencies prevented aerial bombing, strafing


Tell that to the Marines

It appears that the intervention of OIC Defense Chief Norberto Gonzales in the Tipo-Tipo fiasco may have prevented military ground commanders from pursuing Moro rebels after the firefight. Politicians should not intervene in military operations. Radio snafu is a flimsy excuse.

Excerpts from Daily Tribune: “They (officers) said if not because of him (Gonzales), our men could have already pursued the enemies right from that incident in Tipo-Tipo. But he intervened. He paraded himself in Basilan, talked to the local government units there, governors, other civilians including the MILF or members of the CCCH (Ceasefire Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities). He should get out from the DND (Department of National Defense). He may be good in another Cabinet post but not in the DND,” the Yes Arms spokesman said.

“He (Gonzales) is creating too much furor already within the AFP, (causing) more dissension on the part of our soldiers. They (Malacañang) are making our soldiers look stupid when these people are more intelligent than their leaders who show no leadership,” Aparri said.
He added the soldiers who survived the Al-Barka clash “feel that they are being sacrificed by this government for an objective that they don’t know.”


Related Links:

Trillanes: Govt execs led Marines to death trap
Ancestral Domain in Comparative Perspective
Ancestral domain still top issue when talks with MILF resume
SELF-DETERMINATION AND PEACE IN MINDANAO
The Akbar connection
The Story of the Moros

Lives Destroyed: Attacks on Civilians in the Philippines

Philippines: Extremist Groups Target Civilians
More Than 1,700 Killed and Injured in Bombings and Kidnappings

(New York, July 30, 2007) – Violent Islamist groups in the Philippines have killed or injured more than 1,700 people in bombings and other attacks since 2000, Human Rights Watch said in a new report and photo essay released today. The attacks, mostly in Mindanao, Basilan, Jolo, and other southern islands, have also included kidnappings, executions, and shootings.

The 28-page report,“Lives Destroyed: Attacks on Civilians in the Philippines,” contains personal accounts and photographs of bombing sites and of victims of attacks and their relatives. It describes how attacks have killed children, parents, husbands, and wives, and caused terrible suffering among wounded survivors and relatives. The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), based in the southern Philippines, are implicated in or have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks.

“Extremist armed groups have spread terror among civilians in the Philippines,” said John Sifton, senior researcher on terrorism and counterterrorism at Human Rights Watch. “They have bombed buses carrying workers, food markets where people were shopping, airports where relatives were waiting for loved ones, and ferry boats carrying families.”

The casualties since 2000 amount to more than the number of people killed and injured in bombing attacks during the same period in neighboring Indonesia (including the 2002 Bali bombings), and considerably more than the number of those killed and injured in bombings in Morocco, Spain, Turkey, or the United Kingdom. The scale of the violence, however, has not received widespread attention outside the region.

Human Rights Watch faulted the Philippines government for not prosecuting those responsible for attacks. Although numerous suspects in bombing attacks have been arrested since 2000, Human Rights Watch said that very few have been successfully brought to trial, and prosecutions in some cases have been delayed for more than four years. The rest of the story.