Dumaan ako noong nakaraang linggo sa Baywalk sa Roxas Boulevard at maaliwalas na. Makikita na ang Manila Bay.
Mabuti naman at ginawa kaagad ni Mayor Alfredo Lim ang pagpatanggal ng mga pangit na structures doon. Ngayon talagang Baywalk. Pwedeng lumakad at mamasyal ng maayos. Hindi madumi at magulo.
Kaya malaki talaga ang pasalamat ko na nanalo si Lim. Kasi kung si Ali Atienza ang nanalo, baka hahaba pa ang linya ng mga pangit na restaurant at bar sa Roxas Boulevard. Ang tsipipay tingnan!
Coming from a meeting with detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, said there’s a lot of similarities of the deadly incidents that happened in Lamitan on June 2, 2001 and in Tipo-Tipo last July 10, both in the province of Basilan.
Last Saturday’s hostilities also in Basilan remind us of the Lamitan siege because the five officers who perished during the assault to take the Abu Sayyaf camp in Ungkaya Pukan were part of Force Reconnaissance. They were on a test mission that is a prerequisite before graduation. In Lamitan, Scout Ranger Class 142-2000 under Course Director Capt. Ruben Guinolbay had just completed their test mission when ordered to prepare for deployment to the Southern Command area of responsibility.
In fact, one of the recommendations that came out of the Lamitan debacle was to “desist from employing units which are not 100 percent combat ready.”
Habang sinusulat ko ito patuloy ang bakbakan sa Basilan. Labin-limang Marines na naman ang patay.
Lima ay mga opisyal at sampu ay enlisted men. Ang babata ng mga namatay na Marine officers. Ang isa ay 22 taong gulang. Ang isa sa mga namatay, si si Lt. Salvador, ay number 7 sa PMA Class 2005. Number one sa Philippine Navy.
Kailan pa hihinto itong walang kabuluhang kamatayan ng ating mga magigiting na sundalo?
Update: Bodies in crashed helicopter recovered
From ABS-CBN online:
A Philippine Air Force (PAF) pilot was killed while his co-pilot and a crewman were wounded when a military helicopter crashed during a clash with al Qaeda-linked Muslim extremists in Basilan province Saturday afternoon, ABS-CBN News reported.
Lt. Col. Epifanio Panzo, PAF spokesman, said the MG-520 helicopter plunged into Bubuan Island, south of Basilan, around 5 p.m.
Panzo said the Philippine Navy has rescued the two injured helicopter crewmen and retrieved the body of the unidentified pilot. They were brought to the headquarters of the 1st Marine Brigade in Basilan.
Breaking news.
Fifteen Marines died in Basilan today – five officers and ten enlisted men.
The officers who died are so young.
Lt. Salvador, PMA Class 2005.
Lt. Loperaz, PMA Class 2006
Lt. Sumera, PMA Class 2006
Lt. Solorin, PMA Class 2006
Lt. Pinera, PMA Class 2006
On August 3, U.S. federal agents arrested Rahmat Abdhir, a 43-year old dual Malaysian national working as a computer engineer in California. In the 16-count indictment, he was charged with providing material support to a designated terrorist, Zulkiflir Abdhir (aka Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan)—a senior leader of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), currently based in the southern Philippines—and Rahmat’s younger brother (Terrorism Focus, April 3).
Rahmat was in frequent e-mail contact with Zulkifli, and sent him more than $10,000, and also packages of materials, including ammunition clips, two way radios, rifle scopes, uniforms and other equipment.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the indictment was e-mail correspondence between Zulkifli and Rahmat’s brother that sheds some important light on the very complicated dynamics of the ongoing relationship between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), hardline elements within the MILF and JI.
by Ashzel Hachero
Detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has rejected an “all-encompassing” amnesty proposed by Speaker Jose de Venecia.
“I won’t accept an amnesty especially coming from such an illegitimate government. That’s the easiest way out but I would not accept it,” Trillanes said Thursday after attending a hearing of his coup d’état case at the Makati regional trial court.
Superiors sent men to their deaths in Basilan?
by Victor Reyes
The 28 military officers implicated in the failed power grab last February said they have an “idea” on who led the Marine contingent to their deaths in Basilan last July 10 but said they have to validate it.
Fourteen Marines died, 10 of them later beheaded, in clashes with forces from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Abu Sayyaf and lawless elements.
In a statement to media during the continuation of court martial proceedings, Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, a former Marine commandant, said “all of these will come to light if there is an honest to goodness investigation so that the deaths of those Marines will not be in vain…and for the sake of the living who are still willing to offer their lives,” he said.
Supporters of detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV are set to launch next week the “Trillanes Paglingkurin Movement” that will campaign for the reversal of the Makati regional trial court’s rejection of the detainee’s petition to be allowed to attend Senate sessions and have access to media.
Trillanes is currently held at the Marine brig in Fort Bonifacio pending completion of his trial in civilian and military courts for his role in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.
Trillanes’ spokesperson Sonny Rivera said the new group will hold an information campaign beginning next week and solicit signatures of support. “We should put pressure into this illegitimate government to grant the wishes of the people, not only those who voted for Senator Trillanes, and to allow him to function as a lawmaker,” he said.
Military officials facing mutiny charges in connection with the February 2006 aborted withdrawal of support from President Arroyo yesterday dared Speaker Jose de Venecia to go beyond “floating” his proposed “all-encompassing” amnesty proclamation.
“Don’t just float it… offer it. Then we will decide,” Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, former Marines commandant, said after a court martial hearing in Camp Capinpin, Tanay today.
Miranda said they still have to look into the proposed amnesty.