Zamboanga News Forum

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 28, 2010) – The killings never stopped. Two corpses had been found in Zamboanga City in Mindanao where the spate of gun attacks and murders continue to hound the locals the past months.

The bodies had been recovered Tuesday in the villages of Tumaga and San Roque and remain unidentified. One of the corpses had a severed head and both were believed to be victims of extrajudicial killings.

The discovery of the bodies came about the same day local government officials called for a peace and order council meeting to assess the security situation in the villages of Mampang, Arena Blanco and Talon-Talon where most of the spate of attacks had been reported in recent months.

More than two dozen people had been murdered in the three villages in what police claimed was all connected to clan war or vendetta killings. Since early this year, more than 100 people had been shot and many of these cases remain unsolved. Most of the murders were carried out by hired assassins.

One of the suspects in the attacks in Mampang, Nur Abdulsamad, had been arrested in Mindoro province after fleeing Zamboanga to evade criminal charges against him, but many of those accused in the murders are still at-large.

There was also a proposal to declare a state of lawlessness in the villages of Mampang, Arena Blanco and Talon-Talon. Extrajudicial killings in Zamboanga are not uncommon and over the years, dozens of corpses had turned up in remote villages and those unclaimed were buried in common graves. (Mindanao Examiner)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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Sulu police chief Elmer Escosia holds the passport of a kidnapped Japanese, Toshio Ito, which was recovered in Pangutaran Island in the Sulu archipelago where gunmen seized the Hiroshima native on July 16, 2010. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 26, 2010) – Philippine soldiers searching for a kidnapped Japanese man in the Sulu archipelago clashed Monday with Abu Sayyaf militants in the town of Patikul, officials said.

Officials were also investigating whether the militants were involved in the kidnapping of Toshio Ito, 63, who was captured by gunmen on July 16 in the town of Pangutaran.

“We have no reports of casualties, but troops are still in the area and searching for the kidnapped Japanese,” said Marine Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, commander of military forces in Sulu.

He said troops were tracking down Ito on the town when they clashed with a band of Abu Sayyaf fighters. The fighting erupted a day after security forces arrested an alleged Abu Sayyaf member – Mustakin – in Zamboanga City while awaiting for a ferry bound for Malaysia.

Authorities accused Mustakin as behind previous kidnappings in Sulu, but it was unknown whether he had a hand or involved in Ito’s disappearance.

Police last week said it recovered a letter allegedly sent by Ito, but details of its contents were not made public. It said Ito’s passport was also recovered by the police in Pangutaran town and had contacted the Japanese embassy in Manila about this.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Ito, a native of Hiroshima who moved to Pangutaran in 2004 where he established a pharmacy and a gravel business. Police said Ito is also a treasure hunter.

He previously lived in Marawi and Zamboanga cities and had a pending court case in the town of Plaridel in Misamis Occidental province where he is facing charges of trespass to dwelling.

Authorities were suspecting Abu Sayyaf militants with links to Jemaah Islamiya could be behind the kidnapping.

The Abu Sayyaf last year kidnapped three international Red Cross workers – Two European and a Filipino – in Sulu and had been ransomed off. The group was also behind high-profile kidnapping cases; including 21 mostly Westerners in Malaysia’s Sipadan Island in 2000 and three US citizens in 2001 in Dos Palmas resort in Palawan Island in the Philippines.

Police earlier said it put up a task force that will handle the investigation of the kidnapping under supervision of the crisis committee headed by Mayor Amilhamja Taib, of Pangutaran Island. (Mindanao Examiner)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 25, 2010) – Banas na umano ang maraming mga opisyal ng militar at pulisya sa kayabangan at ka-arongantehan ng mga Amerikanong sundalo na nasa Mindanao.

Ito ang ibat-ibang sinabi ng mga sundalo at parak na naka-trabaho o kasama ng mga dayuhang tropa ng Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines na naka-base sa Zamboanga City.

Ilang beses na rin umanong muntik magkapikunan at magsuntukan at nagkaroon rin ng tutukan ng baril sa ilang mga pagkakataon dahil sa pangaabuso ng mga Kano at hindi pagrespeto sa mga alituntunin ng mga kampo ng militar sa Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga, Marawi at iba pang lugar sa Mindanao na kung saan ay naka-deploy ang mga dayuhan.

“Mayayabang yang mga Puti at kung umasta eh akala mo Amerika ang Pilipinas. Mga arogante at parang mga hudyo, akala mo kung sino,” ani ng isang sundalong Pinoy.

Madalas rin umanong utus-utusan ng mga Kano ang mga sundalo na mistulang mga alila sa kanilang mga kampo na kung saan ay off-limits rin ang mga opisyal ng militar maliban lamang kung may passes ito.

“Kaya hindi na kami (nagulat) ng pumutok yun balita sa media na kahit may flag ceremony sa WestMinCom (Western Mindanao Command sa Zamboanga City) ay hindi man lang tumigil ang sasakyan ng mga Kano upang i-respeto ang ating watawat at ang (flag) ceremony. Bastos talaga ang mga yan,” dagdag pa ng sundalo.

Na-eskandalo rin kamakailan ang mga Kanong sundalo sa Basilan matapos na mambastos doon ng mga sundalong Pinoy sa kasagsagan ng selebrasyon ng Philippine Marines.

May balita rin na madalas pagtakpan ng ilang matatas na opisyal ng Philippine Navy at Western Mindanao Command ang mga pangaabuso ng mga Kano dahil sa tulong na ibinibigay ng JSOTF-P sa mga sundalong Pinoy.

Bihira na ang training ng mga Kano at Pinoy, ngunit nasa Zamboanga ang mga dayuhan mula pa nuong 2001 at nuong 2006 ay Naglagay pa ito ng dagdag na kampo sa bayan ng Jolo sa Sulu at gayun rin sa Basilan, Marawi at iba pang mga lugar upang tumulong sa militar sa paghahanap ng mga terorista tulad ng Abu Sayyaf at kasama rin sa operasyon kontra sa New People’s Army at Moro Islamic Liberation Front. (Mindanao Examiner)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 23, 2010) – At least six people were wounded in separate attacks in the restive region of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

A grenade attack in Iligan City had left at least 5 people wounded, but radio reports said as many as 7 were injured in the blast before dawn near a police post. No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack.

Most of the injured were civilians. Police immediately blamed the blast to criminal gangs, although previous attacks had been largely suspected on Moro rebels and extortionists.

One person was also injured after bandits opened fire on a commuter bus on the village of Muti in Zamboanga City. The attack which occurred late Thursday was largely blamed to bandits who were also linked to extortion and highway robberies.

Army Colonel Santiago Baluyot, commander of an anti-terror task force in Zamboanga City, said troops and militias were sent to the area, but did not catch up with the attackers.

“The area is isolated and troops did not catch up with the assailants. These people are bandits who were behind previous attacks on passenger buses. Failed extortion could be the motive behind the attack,” he said.

The latest attack added to the growing concerns of many locals worried about the spate of violence in at least three Zamboanga villages – Mampang, Arena Blanco and Talon-Talon – where bloody clan feuds had already claimed the lives of many people.

A village official on Mampang was killed and his companions injured after gunmen ambushed them July 13 in Zamboanga City.

The ambush came a day after a lone gunman fatally shot a jeep driver who was plying the village route in front of many people. Prior to the daring shooting, gunmen also killed several people and exploded a hand grenade in a house in Mampang.

The attack on village officials occurred just as the local peace and order council was meeting to tackle the spate of killings and gun attacks in Zamboanga. Just this month, villagers also discovered three bodies buried in a pit on a village called Mercedes. The cadavers bore stabbed wounds and its faces were covered in packing tape and one of the bodies was said to belong to a Muslim man.

Villagers were also afraid to come out in the open and tell what they know about the killings in the villages fearing reprisals from the criminals. One of the chief suspects in the murders was arrested by the police recently from his hideout in Mindoro province.

More than 100 people had been attacked by gunmen since early this year in Zamboanga City despite the presence of armed soldiers and policemen patrolling the streets. And police called these incidents isolated and government officials were quick to blame the proliferation of illegal firearms and urged authorities to intensify a campaign aimed at collecting these weapons.

Zamboanga has implemented a total gun ban the past years and despite this, the killings still go unabated, but most of the murders were perpetrated by professional killers who are actively operating in Zamboanga. (Mindanao Examiner)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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Muslim children dive from a boat anchored off Pangutaran Island in the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines. Police and military say a Japanese citizen was abducted by 10 armed men on the island Friday, July 16, 2010. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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Via Mindanao Examiner

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ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 15, 2010) – A member of the Philippine Marines was killed and a policeman seriously wounded after the two engaged in a duel before dawn Thursday in Zamboanga City in Mindanao.

The policeman had responded to emergency calls that the soldier, Rex Pamittan, was creating trouble inside a night club in the village of Putik.

The soldier was briefly pacified, but later engaged the officer in a heated argument. The soldier then pulled out a pistol tucked in his pants and shot the policeman who managed to return fire.

“It was the Marine who first drew his gun,” a police investigator said.

The soldier was already dead when police forces arrived in the club. They rushed the wounded officer to the hospital. The investigator said they recovered at least a dozen empty shells fired from pistols.

It was unknown how the soldier, clad in a pair of denim pants and shirt, was able to sneak his weapon inside the club which is strictly illegal. (Mindanao Examiner)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 14, 2010) – Troops killed the leader of a kidnap gang holding the son of a Philippine elections commissioner in a clash Wednesday in Mindanao, officials said.

Officials said soldiers pursuing the gang caught up with them in the village of Aleem Rayah Karamian in Lanao del Sur’s Masiu town and killed its leader, Dimaporo Dimasacal alias Commander Delta.

Dimasacal’s group is believed holding Nuraldin Yusoph, 22, who was seized outside a mosque on June 20 in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. But there was no report about Yusoph, whose father, Elias Yusoph, is one of seven commissioners of the Commission on Elections.

Troops also recovered Dimasacal’s automatic weapon and there were no reports of military casualties. And details of the operation were not made public because it may jeopardize efforts to rescue Yusoph. It was not immediately known whether Dimasacal’s killing could put the victim’s life in danger.

Dimasacal was also tagged as behind the ambush Tuesday of a group of soldiers in Gata village in Poona Bayabao town, also in Lanao del Sur, killing an infantryman and a civilian.

“The operation is part of the pursuit we launched against Commander Delta after the ambush of troops in Lanao (del Sur) the other day. There is no report about the kidnap victim Nuraldin (Yusoph),” Army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Yusoph’s kidnappers had demanded the annulment of recent elections in at least four towns – Malabang, Taraka, Pikong and Masiu – in Lanao del Sur in exchange for the safe release of the hostage, but later asked P25 million for his freedom.

General elections were held in the country on May 10, but some areas in Lanao province had been marred with violence and vote-buying that polls had been postponed and continued only last month. (Mindanao Examiner)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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Via Mindanao Examiner

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Seven government workers tasked to clean clogged canals and drainage in Zamboanga City in Mindanao buy their time Wednesday, July 14, 2010 outside the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Via Mindanao Examiner

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