This little encounter...

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/re...rovince-ambush

Happened a few days ago a few miles from home, in an area where I often ride the bike and hike.

Certainly not notable in any way, and isn't going to change any games, just one more sporadic flare in a sporadic fight that's been going on for decades.

What I never quite understand is the predictability of it all. The NPA appear in a moderately remote village. The Philippine Army dispatches troops, invariably by land and by the most predictable route. The troops are ambushed. The NPA leave the area immediately, and long after they're gone military reinforcements descend on the place, accusing the locals of complicity and generally pissing everyone off. Right now, 3 days after it happened, I can hear a couple of UH1s clattering around over the ambush site... I can't imagine what they expect to see, you can hear them coming miles away and the guys who staged the ambush are far far away on the other side of the mountains by now.

So it goes. I'll have to ride a different trail for a while!