Hahaha,I have been thinking a lot lately about the Filipino penchant for acronyms.ABB was interesting,its akin to CPP/NPA-SPARU,overkill (pun intended hahaha).In reality though it represented RPM's fear pf the organisation.Originally they functioned purely like SPARU (who co-incidentally nearly developed into an organisation of its own just as ABB did).Neutralising the ABB was an incredible coup for the Government,all the more so because it was entirely on the political front though the should have drawn out the process to allow more communal in-fighting so as to weaken the much larger NPA.

In the Cordilleras,I think that the profusion of sectoral front organisatiobs is a natural outgrowth of the above board engagement I envisioned for Caraga.The armed movement in Northern Luzon,excepting Abra,is nearly inconsequential.Outside of Abra it is a policing action.Just going on memoury,I believe the Cordilleras has had only 2 fatal Armed contacts,neither of them tactical.It is nothing more than rank banditry.Conversely the sectoral fronts as you correctly noted are incredibly strong.

You are right about Caraga.More than any other island Mindanao has a semi-feudal (to quote JOMA) society.Likewise on funding.The third component though is the large indigenous population.Manpower wise,over all of Mindanao the NPA rank and file are almost entirely Lumad (the local equivalent of Igorot or Tingurrian,it would simplify things if the Government just said"Hilltribes"or"Animists").Lumad are the least educated and most impovershed of any Mindanowan demographic.This is why the AFP has been running strong with OPlan Alsa Lumad and its silly PDT nonsense.

Caraga actually does have a strong sense of identity.In Caraga the only Christian ethnicity are the Bisaya,Cebuanos.Though some have come to the region within the last 50 years Bisaya Culture in Caraga predates the Spanish.The Tausug actually are Islamicised Bisaya,originally Butuanons who migrated,so that is how old and well entrenched the Cebuanos are.However,the push in Caraga has almost always centered upon a push for a Federalist Government,either within the Philippines or else as part of an independent Mindanao.Caraga and most of ComVal (Compostela Valley),Davao Rwgion (the 3 Davaos), most of Zamboanga and the Northern Coast up to Iligan City inMisamis Oriental Province.This"Christian,"or Bisaya zone would comprise 1 of 3 federated states or regions.

The Lumad would have Bukidnon,most of ComVal and roughly half of South Cotabato and Sarangani Provinces and part of the Pulangi Plateau in North Cotabato.The

Muslims would get the rest (ARMM,island provinces of Basilan,Sulu and Tawi Tawi,and roughly 1/3rd of the Zamboangan Peninsula.

Interestingly,the Mindanowan Bisaya,despite having kinship and cultural ties with Cebu and the rest of the Eastern Visayas haven't moved to unite with the autonomous anf independence movements centered in Cebu City.I am afraid that a Balkanisation of the Philippines is inevitable and that it will take place sooner,rather than later.

For the first time since (the current) Aquino took office the local powers that be have begun agitating for independence.It happens every 2 or 3 years with everyone getting stirred up until they lose interest.It will only take the right leader to make it happen.Ironically,last week Jesus Dureza sounded the call.In fact,he came within an iota of being charged with Rebellion.The former OPAPP hack (Office of the Presidential Advisor for the Peace Process) and concurrent MinDA (Mindanao Development Agency) Chairman gave a speech which was then widely published in local papers in which he pounded that nail over and over.

In Caraga itself there are various groups.I mentioned BULIF,the Bungkatoal Liberation Front,a Higaon-on Tribal paramilitary seeking independence for Higaon-on and allied tribes though they were intelligently co-opted by the AFP and folded into ISP-IP (Op.Alsa Lumad).There is the Lademora paramilitary.Col.Carlos Palabrica Lademora (actually he's my Godfather in Marriage),the Marcos crony who slaughtered an entire village in Samar while still in the PC (the original Philippine Lost Command),and a tonne of other groups.What is lacking is a charismatic leader that can rise above the petty nonsense.

"Settlers"...Here is the thing,the whole "Settlers"thing is almost entirely manufactured by Muslim propagandists.On Mainland Mindanao only 3 provinces have ever held Muslim Majorities (North Cotabato,Maguindanao,Lanao del Sur).Those 3 provinces have never been united,and have not,contrary to Muslim propaganda,been at war with"invaders"for 400 odd years.

It is absolutely true that beginning with the Americans in 1902,the year they neutralised the Anti-American Insurgency on Mindanao,there were laws enacted that limited Muslim land ownership in (what is now) those 3 provinces.The reasons for that are manifold but mainly because the Sultans and lesser Datus (Chiefs) held absolute authority and if these restraints hadn't been enacted the tribal aristocracies would have legitamised their total control of land.The mistake was in the Americans thinking that they were going to assimilate these Islamicised Tribes,and to do this they actively recruited Northern,Christian Tribes to move to that small area of Central Mindanao.In that area composed of 3 provinces,Christian barangays and towns ARE the result of settlement schemes (this was repeated by Quirino and Magsaysay with rebels,especially the Huk,moving them south).Today Filipino-Muslims look at any Christian as a"Settler."

In Caraga there are absolutely no settlements.Tribes like the Butuanon and Suriganon are Bisaya,but indigenous to Mindanao.Basically,in Caraga,until the 1920s very few Bisaya lived inland.They are a coastal people.Even today most Bisaya in Caraga disdain freshwater fish,etc.Bangus is seen as a poor man's food.There have been land conflicts.For example,Col.Lademora,whom I just mentioned?He settled in Caraga because he was employed to"acquire"land for the Guthrie Palm Oil plantation in Agusan del Sur Province.Entire vilages were burned out but by and large these were isolated events.Though the Bisaya and Lumad don't intermarry (I personally don't know of a single case) they are integrated socially to a moderate degree.In fact,my Godmother in Marriage is an Agusan Manobo.

On the term"Caraga."You wouldn't have heard it because in those years the Regional Administrative System hadn't been created.Caraga Region (Region XIII) was created in 1995.The term historically can be found in the 18th Century annals of the Jesuits who tried prostelysing.It is usually spelled"Karaga."It was a Spanish bastardisation of the word"Kalaga,"or"Kalagan" (both were used interchangably).The Kalagan were a Bisaya Tribe indigenous to the area.The reason the name is used in Davao Oriental Province"us because a band of Kalagan had settled there.The first concrete history of the Kalagan was recorded by the Spaniard. Francisco de Castro in 1538.Ironically,at that time there were no Muslims at all on Mainland Mindanao and the Maguindanowan and Maranaw (Maranao) hadn't even entered existence (both are merely Islamicised offshoots of the Iranun Tribe).So you see,there is an incredible amount of propaganda and manipulation taking place even within the Philippines,

On timber output...In terms of illegal output noone can honestly say but in terms of legal output Caraga is number 1,and is also the most heavily forested region according to the government.Of course the Philippine Government's data is nearly inconsequential so...

I just saw you mentioned Col.Lademora,guess I should read your post in its entirety before composing a response hahaha.He was never involved in any drive for autonomy or independence and in fact isn't even a Cebuano.He's an Ilonggo who settled in San Franz (Agusan del Sur) because of his relationship with Conjuangco,and also because Marcos urged him to.The UN wanted him tried for War Crimes and Marcos had enough headaches.At the time there were no phones in the interior,only a gravel track where National Hiway now sits so that the isolation was a factor.

The Maneros,though I don't know them personally (actually Col.Lademora was their handler for awhile so maybe in a 6th Degree of Separation type way I can say I know him) also never bothered with autonomy or independence.

Col.Noble was a unique man.I did know him but not well but enough to understand why others would follow him.He was an opportunist though,what Pinoys love to call a"military adventurist."He apparently didn't think in the long term.His big coup attempt wasn't planned.He scrambled to make a deal with Reuben Canoy,the island's biggest partisan for independence but just in the way he did it...As I said there were no phones in the interior back then (aside from the goverment call centres which rarely worked) and so to broker his deal with Canoy he loaded up 11 truckloads of Lumad guerillas and drove from Butuan to Canoy's home in Cagayan del Oro,back then it was an 8 hour drive (actually not much better now at almost 5 hours). Then,securing that he tried capitalising on the momentum and linked up with RAM.He actually did come close to overthrowing President Aquino but she managed,as always,to dodge the bullet (Hmmm,maybe not a good turn of phrase considering Ninoy's Assaination hahaha).RAM would have eliminated Noble had they been successful so it was best that he lost in the end.

Luce was another one who was almost entirely apolitical.He simply wanted to be able to live without people trying to steal his land.Those people happened to be Muslims so it wasn't even ethnically driven,at least in the beginning.