A Decisive Victory of Government Forces over Misuari's MNLF in the Siege of Zamboanga City

Pres. Aquino

After Nur Misuari’s declaration of independence of the Bangsa Moro Republik in Talipao, Sulu on August 12, 2013, his more than 200 armed Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) followers led by Ustadz Habier Malik sneaked into the coastal villages of Zamboanga city on September 9, 2013, to hoist the Bangsa Moro Republik flag at the front of the city hall.

Maria Isabelle Climaco- Salazar, the mayor of the City, refused to give in to the demand of the armed groups, and this led to firefights between the combined city police and the military personnel that were assigned in the area against the intruding militants. The fighting forced civilians to leave their homes and to evacuate in safer places at the heart of the city. As the fighting continued more people left their homes to seek refuge in evacuation centers. In addition, the conflict forced business, schools, airports and other establishments to shut down. Mayor Climaco sought the assistance of the national leadership to help her deal with the crisis.

President Benigno S. Aquino III ordered Manuel Roxas III, his DILG Secretary, to go to Zamboanga to oversee the police operation against the militants. As the battle raged on and the number of evacuees increased, the president also ordered Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and AFP Chief of Staff Gen Emmanuel Bautista to go to Zamboanga to further strengthen police and military actions there. Later, the president who is also the commander in chief of the police and the armed forces joined his troops in Zamboanga.

Having previously warned Misuari’s group that the government would not hesitate to use its power and its resources against those who would break the law, the president made good his words. Aside from the troops that were already on the ground, he called in the most elite fighting units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines such as the Scout Rangers and the Special Forces to further strengthen his forces. In addition air assets and naval ships were also directed to bear down on the militants.

The forces of Misuari led by Ustadz Habier Malik however were unyielding. Since they could not engage the government forces head on, they took some civilians as hostages to shield themselves  from government forces’ fires. The militants were even accused of deliberately burning houses to conceal themselves and slow down the advance of government forces.

Eventually, the MNLF forces were pushed and constricted into the coastal villages but were still holding some hostages and exchanging fires. Despite their difficulties, the militant refused to capitulate and gave the government forces as good as what they got. They might have think that by prolonging the battle as long as it take would exacerbate the crisis and bring it to the attention of international media, the intervention of the United Nations or the Organization of Islamic Conference. Moreover, the destruction of homes and properties, the paralysis of businesses and the increasing number of evacuees were about to create a humanitarian crisis in the city. These situations might prompt the government to initiate a ceasefire, a development that would be favorable to the militants.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay had a communication with Nur Misuari on a ceasefire between the government forces and the latter’s armed group. The Vice President then reported to the president in Zamboanga to present his proposal to him. However, the president turned down the idea.               

Apparently the president made the right move in rejecting a ceasefire because it would enable Misuari’s troops who participated in the siege to get away with their deeds. A ceasefire could also be misinterpreted that it was the militants who had the control of the situation, and Misuari might later exploit it to his advantage. A ceasefire would also have given a morale boost to the remaining MNLF fighters and restore the sagging image of Misuari as a leader of the Moros. On the other hand, a ceasefire declared by the commander-in-chief when his troops had already taken a number of casualties, and when they were in the upper hand in the battle would have demoralized them.The surrender of the militants to end the fighting would have been more acceptable to them.

With no ceasefire effect, the remaining militants took a beating from the government forces. As the fighting continued, they ran low on ammunition, and they starved because their supporters could not penetrate food supplies past the cordon of troops. Slowly but surely, the remaining militants surrendered or were killed. It was a surrender or die situation for them. On September 28, 2013, the government declared an end of military operations when all of the remaining hostages were rescued by the soldiers. However, the fate of Habier Malik, the leader of the militants in the siege of the city is still unknown. He was not among those who were captured or had surrendered, and the troops could not identify him among the dead militants either.

The government declared the end of the crisis on September 28, 2013. But losses in terms of lives and cost of properties were enormous. The MNLF suffered 183 killed and 192 members captured. The government forces had 25 soldiers (two officers) killed and 184 wounded. On the civilian side there were 12 dead and 70 wounded. There were about 10,000 houses that were burned and more than one hundred thousand people were displaced. It is estimated that the government must have to spend billions of pesos to rehabilitate Zamboanga City and help its people that were affected by the armed conflict.

The government forces under the leadership of President Benigno Aquino III have decisively defeated the forces of Nur Misuari in the siege of Zamboanga. Many however are perturbed with the massive destruction suffered by the city as a result of the siege. But it is the responsibility of the president to impose his powers under the law to protect his people and assert state’s sovereignty even if the price of doing so is heavy.

Laguindingan International Airport Has Opened for Business

The largest and the first ever in Northern Mindanao, the Laguindingan International Airport has officially opened on June 15, 2013. The event is a milestone in the history of Northern Mindanao and the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Personnel of the old Lumbia airport move its equipment and facilities to the new airport which will serve the airline passengers of the region. Lumbia airport is turned over to the Philippine Air Force which will use it for its flight operations.   

                                                                                                                             

A flagship project of the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor Development Project (CIC), the new airport was conceptualized in 1991 during the term of the late President Corazon C. Aquino. The CIC was envisioned to develop a growth area in Northern Mindanao with the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan as hubs of economic activities. The plan for the airport was started during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos. On January 10, 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo led the ground breaking ceremony for the start of its construction.

The newly finished airport sits in 4.17 square kilometers of land at Barangay Moog, Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental. It has a 2.1-kilometer long and 45-meter wide runway. A 4.4-kilometer, four-lane access road connects the new airport to the Laguindingan national highway. It is 46 kilometers from Cagayan de Oro and 61.9 kilometers from Iligan. The airport is equipped with the most modern facilities. However, for the meantime, the airport will operate under the Visual Flight Rule (VFR) because the Instrument Landing System (ILS) which will enable the pilots to land plane at night and in poor visibility is yet to be installed. 

                                                                                                                                                                       

The construction was undertaken by Yooshin Engineering of Korea, Schema Konsult Inc. of Ortigas Center, Pasig and Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Company, the general contractor of the project. Cost of the airport which was funded by the Philippine government and foreign loans was 167.09 million US dollars or 7.853 billion Philippine pesos.    

On April 18, 2013, the Department of Communications and Transportation (DOTC) announced that the opening would be postponed to June 15 instead of April 30, 2013 because the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) received request from airline companies to postpone the transfer after the summer peak season because the April 30 opening would require cancellation of several booked flight tickets.

Business groups from Cagayan de Oro such as the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce Foundation Incorporated voiced their concern and opposition to the “premature” opening of the airport citing safety reasons since the new airport has yet to install the ILS which means that the airport could operate only during day time. They also added that the lack of night flights could mean losses in billions of pesos. But aviation authorities said that the problem can be dealt with by increasing the number of flights during the day. And that the airport can operate safely without the ILS. The Mactan International Airport in Cebu operated without ILS for 3 years.

CAAP Director General William Hotchkiss and Secretary of DOTC Joseph Emilio Abaya assured the public that the airport is safe for the aircraft and passengers. They added that the Laguindingan Airport is safer than  Lumbia Airport because of the ideal ground elevation of the former. They said that Lumbia is difficult to land during extreme weather because it is on a mountainous ground with an elevation of 183 meters or 601 feet while Laguindingan is situated at a coastal area with an elevation of only 190 feet above sea level which makes it easier for a pilot to land a plane even in an unfavorable weather condition.    

                                                                                                                             

President Benigno Aquino III inspected and inaugurated the airport on June 11, 2013. He was met by notable personalities such as Governor Oscar Moreno, the newly elected mayor of Cagayan de Oro City, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Manila-based business Tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala. With the president were DILG Secretary Manuel Roxas III, DOTC secretary Jose Abaya and other presidential staff. The landing of the presidential plane at the airport’s runway is a tacit assurance from the president himself that the airport is indeed safe for airline passengers.

Remaining navigational aid equipment is expected to be installed within this year and that by early 2014 the airport will be capable of accommodating bigger planes for international flights such as an airbus with a seating capacity of 300 passengers. The volume of traffic in 2012 in Lumbia airport is about 1.4 million of passengers. The new airport at Laguindingan has a terminal that can accommodate 1.6 million of passengers annually. Another terminal will be constructed to accommodate the influx of more passengers in the future. The Laguindingan International Airport will surely boost tourism and economic activities of Northern Mindanao with the city of Cagayan de Oro having the lion’s share of the economic windfall that comes with the opening of the new international standard airport. 

Philippine Midterm Election 2013: President Benigno Aquino III versus Vice President Jejomar Binay

President Aquino

Even though President Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay are not candidates in the upcoming May 13, 2013 Philippine mid-term election, both of them are spearheading the campaign of their party or coalition’s local and national candidates all over the country. Aquino is campaigning for Liberal Party led coalition Team Pinoy while Binay is campaigning for the opposition coalition UNA. The struggle of the two highest officials of the Philippines in this campaign period to make their candidate win in the election is a prelude for the things to come in the 2016 Philippine Presidential Election. Vice President Binay has already expressed his desire to run as president in the 2016 election. President Aquino on the other hand will not be vying for that position because he is given only one term of office under the Philippine Constitution.

Senatorial candidates of the president under the Team Pinoy coalition have been leading in the surveys conducted by different public opinion polling bodies. In a recent survey 9 out of the 12 senatorial candidates of the president have a big chance winning in the election. UNA candidates are expected to win at least 3 senate seats.  

The result of the midterm election is crucial for President Aquino because after the election he will be already in the second half of this term. If majority of the mayors, governors, congressmen and senators who win are members of his own party, the Liberal, or the administration coalition, then he will have a majority of members of congress and local officials who are supportive of his policies and programs. An overwhelming win by the administration party will make the president stay strong for the remaining years in his office despite the fact that he is ineligible for reelection.                                                                                                                 

The president should come to terms with a Supreme Court (SC) that is filled with majority of justices who are appointed by a former president who is his political adversary.  The president supported and signed the Reproductive Health (RH) Law. However, the petitioners against it successfully got a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from the SC suspending its implementation.  The SC’s issuance of TRO on an administration sponsored law is a reflection of the state of relationship between the executive and the judicial branches of government.

A win by the opposition coalition UNA of the majority of the elective positions in the government in the election bodes no good for the president. It is a scenario on which he will become a lame duck president. Majority of the members of congress and the heads of local government units will gravitate towards a figure which they will see as having the best chance to become the next president. In that kind of situation the president will be hard put in pursuing his policies and programs that may result in unsatisfactory performance and his unpopularity to the people. It will also be difficult for his anointed candidate to succeed him win against an opposition candidate who has the support of the majority of incumbent national and local officials who are candidates in the next presidential election.

Vice President Jejomar Binay’s bid for the 2016 presidential election will be surely boosted by a win of UNA candidates. However, his early pronouncement to aspire for that position has put him under the scrutiny of many people, and some issues that came out are negative. There are allegations that he and his family have amassed unexplained wealth while in office. And there is also the hot issue of political dynasty. Members of the vice president’s family hold different elective offices all at the same time. His son Jun-jun is running for reelection as Mayor of Makati, and so is his daughter, Abigail who seeks reelection as a representative of Makati. Nancy, the eldest daughter of the vice president is running for senator.  

It is believed that President Aquino will choose as his successor Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas III in 2016. A resounding win of the president’s Team Pinoy in the midterm 2013 election and his good performance in the second half of his term will boost the chance of his anointed one to become the next president of the Philippines.

The Passage of RH Bill: Has the Catholic Church Become Irrelevant?

Pres. Benigno Aquino III

The Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives passed the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill on third and final reading in the evening of December 17, 2012. A joint senate and house bicameral committee will reconcile their respective versions of the bill, and it becomes a law after President Benigno Aquino III signs it.

The passage of the bill is hoped to usher a better future for Filipino families and put into rest one of the most contentious issues that has divided the Filipinos. Introduced in 1995, the bill has been languishing in congress for 13 years because lawmakers feared of a Catholic backlash. The Catholic Church has been campaigning for its passage and reaching out to its faithful to oppose it.

Proponents of the RH bill said it contains provisions that are pro-life, pro- women and anti-poverty that will provide Filipinos sexual education, maternal care and access to modern methods of family planning with government support.                                                                                                           

For his support of the RH Bill, President Benigno Aquino III has been the object of criticism especially from the Catholic Church which views the bill as anti-life and immoral because the use of contraception kills a fertilize egg which the church considers as a human life. But Aquino said that family planning will not be forced on the couples who do not want it. Family planning and spacing of children will be a matter of couples’ own choice. However, those couples who seek support in connection with family planning will be helped by government such as giving them free contraceptives.   

Those people who are against the RH bill attributed its passage on the endorsement of the president and his certification that the bill is urgent. Many Filipinos including the Roman Catholics view the bill as a necessity whose time has come. They see the burgeoning population of the Philippines, the 39^th most populated country on earth and the lack of appropriate measure on family planning as hindrance to the country’s economic progress.                   

The voting of the RH Bill by the lawmakers is indicative of the thinking and sentiment of many Filipinos on the issue. And they are not one with the church on it. Overpopulation, poverty, ignorance and women’s and child care are matters that cannot be addressed by the Catholic Church’s emphasis on the moral and spiritual dimension of the issue alone. Sexual education of couples, access to modern method of family planning and government support can help couples raise a family that is within their means to support its basic needs such as the education of their children.

The passage of the bill however, is not a rejection of the Catholic Church by its faithful. Although it failed to get the support of the majority of the lawmakers to support the bill, the Catholic Church and its leaders are still treated with high respect by some people including those who voted in favor of the RH Bill. For them, the church is just doing what it is supposed to do.                                                                                                                                                                       

Filipinos still look up to the Catholic Church as one of their vanguards against government abuses and corruption and in other matters where spiritual and moral issues on government policies are involved. Despite the criticism leveled against it, the Catholic Church has been instrumental in the ouster of past presidents who were perceived to be tyrant and corrupt. The church is also a consistent advocate for free and honest election and the defender of the rights of the poor. It is a fact that the church and its leadership have contributed to the good of the society. The late Jaime Cardinal Sin was at the forefront of leading the people against what he saw was the excesses of the Marcos regime. He was actively visible and vocal in his crusade against the administration of Marcos.  To his credit Cardinal Sin never interfered in the people’s right of suffrage. He never told his followers who to vote for during election.                                                                                                             

Although Catholics are always respectful to their church and its leaders, there are instances when their views run in conflict with the desire of their priest and bishops. A case in point is the call of some Catholic groups for a “Catholic vote” in the coming May 2013 election to penalize those lawmakers who voted for the RH Bill. In most likelihood such a move will not be heeded by most Catholics because they will most probably vote for those politicians whom they believe as the most deserving to put their trust on regardless whether they voted for or against the RH bill.