Reports from Mindanao

Members of two feuding organizations, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), clashed in Basilan.

The gunbattle started when some MILF elements killed an MNLF member at an MILF-manned checkpoint.

The military, as well as leaders of the two warring groups, went to the scene of the clash to pacify ill feelings.

Why pacify? They should be left alone to annihilate each other.

Matira ang matibay. Let the better of the two survive.

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Lt. Reynaldo Samson, police chief of the Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, was killed along with his aide, Cpl. Salipudin Endab, while trying to serve a warrant of arrest on a crime suspect.

Three other policemen, M/Sgt. Renante Quinilayo and Cpls. Rogelio dela Cuesta and Mark Clint Dayaday, were wounded.

The policemen were after Kamir Kambal, who is wanted for robbery and intimidation of persons.

Kambal and his cohorts are probably the remnants of a militia group formed by the notorious Ampatuan family, supposedly to fight Moro rebels.

The Ampatuans had a large private army composed of policemen, soldiers and local militia, who got their arms from the government of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

GMA turned a blind eye to the brandishing of arms by the Ampatuan family, as they contributed to her win over actor Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 presidential election. The actor, who was popular among Muslims, had zero votes in Maguindanao.

Before the Maguindanao massacre that the Ampatuans perpetrated, a platoon of uniformed Army and police personnel always escorted the abusive family when they came to Manila.

They made quite a spectacle in public because of their bodyguards, who didn’t have the scruples of hiding their firearms.

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The Ampatuans – patriarch Andal Sr. and siblings Andal Jr. and Zaldy – were heard complaining that GMA had abandoned them while they were being tried for mass murder in connection with the Maguindanao massacre that took place on Nov. 23, 2009.

They were banking on president Arroyo’s promise that she would support them.

Arroyo sent an emissary, Jess Dureza, to convince the Ampatuans to surrender to the government after the massacre.

Of course, the Ampatuans were hoodwinked into surrendering by Arroyo. No president in his or her right mind would be crazy enough to tolerate mass murder.

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A Quezon City policeman, Cpl. Felipe Pauig Jr., and Jail Officer 1 Job Gatan of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) are in hot water for firing their guns indiscriminately in public.

Their abusive behavior happened in Barangay Tumana at 10:50 p.m. last Thursday, after they got intoxicated in a drinking binge.

Those guys can’t hold their drinks and are now apparently regretting their behavior.

There’s one notable thing that should be brought to the attention of the public: Why are jail guards allowed to carry their issued firearms in public?

A policeman is allowed to carry his issued firearm even when he’s off duty, because he’s expected to do the job of enforcing the law 24/7.

The practice of allowing jail guards to carry their firearms in public should be stopped. The guns they carry while on duty should be left at their posts when they go home.

Why? Because members of the BJMP are not law enforcers. Jail officers are actually glorified security guards; their police power – guarding detainees – ends when they’re not on duty.

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From what I gather as a former police reporter, many members of the BJMP are among the most abusive and oppressive uniformed government personnel.

Why do I say so? Because they prey on people that they guard. Most detainees are poor and are in jail because they can’t afford to post bail while on trial.

I’ve heard of jail guards and wardens collecting bribes from detainees so they can enjoy small privileges like sleeping on a bed, or being allowed to have visitors.

Some guards partake of food brought to detainees by their families.

I’ve been told that some guards impregnated girlfriends, wives, or daughters of detainees who visited them. The guards promise the women their family member would not be harmed in detention, in exchange for sexual favors.

I challenge Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos to look into the reports I cited above.

Abalos might puke if he learned about the abusive behavior of some BJMP members toward detainees.

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When public works and highways engineers widened some roads and highways in Laguna and Quezon, they didn’t think of removing and reinstalling electric posts properly next to the affected thoroughfares.

It’s probably only in the Philippines – particularly in Laguna and Quezon – where the electric posts are in the middle of the road!

I saw ludicrous – and dangerous! – examples of this “practice” when I went to Quezon over the weekend.

Electrical utility posts are aplenty on the Cavinti-Lukban-Luisiana Road. Many of the posts don’t even have markings to warn motorists or drivers of public utility vehicles.

Some portions of the Cavinti-Lukban-Luisiana Road are winding, like the Marcos Highway going up to Baguio City.

A driver or motorist who’s not familiar with the terrain would run smack into an electric post.

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The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) can’t be a gaming operator and a regulator at the same time, according to lawmakers during a House committee hearing.

Yes, how can Pagcor compete with private casinos, whose franchises to operate were granted by them?

The anomaly of Pagcor as regulator and operator at the same time should have been noticed a long time ago.

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Joke! Joke! Joke!

Woman: I used to be Christian.

Man: I don’t care about your religion and even your past because I love you.

Woman: No, you don’t understand. I used to be Christian, not Christine.