Five Myths About Helping the Philippines
Five Myths About Helping the Philippines
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
An interesting day in Jolo
This group:
https://www.facebook.com/BASSAKAO
Is entirely local, and has received little local and no foreign press coverage that I've seen. Today, though, they are doing the unthinkable and saying the unsayable. This afternoon, March 14, there will be a local citizens rally in the town of Jolo demanding an end to kidnapping and other crimes, which are increasingly targeting local residents. The rally will go on despite discouragement and thinly veiled threats (will you take responsibility if there's a bombing?") from local officials.
What makes this historic is that the group is openly declaring what everyone has long known but nobody, until now, has been willing to say: that local government and security officials are complicit in and directly involved with these activities and the groups, including the ASG, that pursue them. It is fascinating that this wall of silence is being finally broken not by the Manila government, not by the US leaders who have surely known about this for years, but by fed-up local citizens.
Where it goes remains to be seen, but I wish them luck, and hope they stay safe: what they are doing is very, very dangerous.
U.S. Phasing Out Its Counterterrorism Unit in Philippines
U.S. Phasing Out Its Counterterrorism Unit in Philippines
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
Peace plan looking shaky...
The GRP/MILF peace process always looked to have some serious issues, but it's looking more and more as if it may be sunk before it really gets started, a casualty of Manila politics. Basically, Manila is at a point where anything associated with the current President is being put through the wringer by well connected political opponents. The plan as agreed might have gotten through the legislature and survived the Supreme Court at the peak of Aquino's power. Today it probably won't. In an effort to make it palatable the administration seems to be trying to water it down, predictable incurring the wrath of the MILF negotiators, who expect to be accused of selling out their own people.
Some coverage:
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/philippine...063640481.html
The comments section of the article is revealing: it's a fair representation of public opinion among the Christian majority, much of which opposes any concession to the Muslims.
Not clear yet how it will sort out, but there's little basis for optimism. If this agreement is ditched it will be the second time: several years ago the MILF reached an agreement with the Government only to see it shot down by the Supreme Court. If that happens again the credibility of the moderate, negotiation-oriented factions in the insurgency is going to be largely gone, and the radicals will presumably take advantage.
Another incident potentially involving a US serviceman...
This hit the social media mill yesterday, in the news today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/wo...=pl-share&_r=0
Quote:
OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines — The Philippine police and United States Navy officials are investigating whether a member of the United States military killed a 26-year-old Filipino cross-dresser in a hotel over the weekend, the police said Monday.
Superintendent Pedrito Delos Reyes of the Philippine police said Monday that the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service was questioning a member of the United States military in connection with the death on Saturday of the Filipino, Jeffrey Laude, a resident of Olongapo City.
Additional coverage:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/10...sgender-murder
Apparently the US Navy has stopped the departure of the ships, suggesting that there is something to it all:
http://www.rappler.com/nation/71882-...longapo-murder
Quote:
US Pacific Command Admiral Samuel Locklear III ordered to put on hold the scheduled departure of US ships pending the investigation on the murder of a transgender that tagged an American serviceman.
The incident, no matter how it plays out, will be gleefully received by the left and will be a substantial embarrassment to the Philippine government, which has just negotiated an expanded military access agreement.
These things happen every so often, and the publicity is always huge and damaging... in 2005 a Marine named Daniel Smith was convicted of raping a girl he picked up in a bar, to enormous attendant outcry. The conviction was reversed by a higher court, after the victim recanted her testimony... a few weeks later she got a shiny new US visa, so you can figure what happened. On the basis of evidence presented, if he'd done the same thing in the US he'd have unquestionably been convicted.
What completely baffles me is why they keep letting these guys to hit the town and hit the booze. Given the nature of the alcohol/testosterone mix, that's a guarantee that sooner or later someone is going to step in the scheisse . I know everyone remembers the bad old days in Subic and how much fun it all was, but those days are gone and mistakes now have consequences. All they have to do to prevent these incidents is keep the boys on the boat or at least under supervision, and keep them off the booze and the hookers. If they can do it in Afghanistan they can do it in the Philippines... but they don't, and this is the result.
To me the only available option is to turn the guy over to the local justice system, let the embassy monitor proceedings, sail away and dump him. There's going to be all kinds of commotion over having him detained and questioned by Americans, and that's understandable. I would also hope that there are some kind of consequences for whoever made the stupid-ass decision to let him off the leash in the first place, because these incidents are totally preventable.
/rant