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The
Hidden War in Sulu
A
fact-finding mission documented many cases of human rights violations in Sulu,
prompting the team to conclude that attacks against civilians are deliberate,
“not mere isolated events.” Members of the fact-finding mission team itself
got the shock of their lives when they came under heavy helicopter gunfire as
they visited Barangay Karawan, Indanan town to get the victims’ statements.
By
ROWENA CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com
A
bomb dropped by an OV-10 fighter plane bursts into flames and instantly a
cluster of houses is flattened to the ground. A MG-520 attack helicopter runs
after several persons, strafing their location continuously for 15 minutes. Some
150 soldiers in full battle gear encircle a small hut and, without warning,
pepper it with bullets.
Scenes
from another Hollywood B-movie? No. These are real-life events in Sulu in
southern Philippines that happen almost everyday. But if it’s a war movie,
men, women and children living in this string of islands would get top billing
as their daily lives are punctuated by the sounds of mortar shelling and smell
of burning wood. The other actors, definitely not the heroes, would be the
members of the 104th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (PA) under Col.
Romeo Tolentino and elements of Philippine Marines, Navy and Air Force deployed
in this province.
`Hidden war’
Karapatan, an alliance of human rights groups, calls what is happening in Sulu
“a hidden war.” In a fact-finding mission report, it said, “a war is being
waged by the AFP against (the) defenseless and deprived people of the province
of Sulu. Yet for all the immensity of its destruction and cruelty, this war is
appallingly an undeclared one, hidden from public consciousness like (a)
nightmare.”
 
(Left)
Evacuees for two years now; (Right) The stairs are all that's left
of this house reportedly bombed by the military
Residents
of Sulu have been on the run “literally and figuratively” since the year
2000 when the AFP launched military offensives in the province after the bandit
Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) kidnapped 10 western and 11 Asian tourists and workers in
Sipadan, Malaysia and brought them to Sulu.
Since then, the government has claimed that the military operations in Sulu are
against the ASG. Later, after Nur Misuari, former governor of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), staged what state authorities said was a
rebellion on Oct. 19 last year, the government said it is now after the
so-called Misuari Renegade Group or MRG.
In a fact-finding mission three weeks ago, however, Karapatan and other groups
found that innocent civilians, including women and children, are the primary
victims of the military offensives. They stressed that “the overwhelming
number of cases the team documented, plus the fact that such cases still happen,
point to the certainty that these attacks against civilians are deliberate, not
mere isolated events.”
On
the run
Residents in all of the five towns visited by the fact-finding mission team have
been forcibly evacuated, according to Karapatan. In Talipao alone, 50 out of its
52 barangays (villages) have been evacuated due to intensive military
operations.
The barangay captains themselves testified on the plight of their communities.
One of them, Hadji Ustadz Al Haji Yusuf Latip of Brgy. Upper Binuang, Talipao
said in an affidavit that their mayor warned him after the Sipadan kidnapping
that the military would be conducting operations in their area. Members of at
least 50 households then took whatever they could and hurriedly evacuated to
different barangays.
The following day, they heard explosions coming from their village. The barangay
captain said at least P1.5 million worth of property was lost and 40 hectares of
coconuts and other fruit-bearing trees were destroyed during the operation. The
residents did not dare go back since military operations continued and they
feared that soldiers would just be nearby. Two years after, they continue to
live with relatives or in evacuation centers.
Brgy. Captain Abdurahman M. Barri of Brgy. Tiis, Talipao, on the other hand,
recounted that of the more than 200 houses in his barangay, 75 were destroyed
and 14 were burned to the ground.
Houses razed to the ground are a common sight in the Sulu countryside, reported
Karapatan. “House after house along the national road have been burned, with
only stumps of the houses’ foundations or the unburned frames of bamboos that
used to support the houses remain.”
And the houses that survived the razing were allegedly destroyed or damaged by
artillery shelling. Shrapnel from the size of pebbles to soccer balls reportedly
destroyed houses, killed cows and goats or burned crops.
A
row of houses razed to the ground: a common sight in Sulu
Photo
by Karapatan
According
to the mission report, military operations would begin with aerial bombardment
or indiscriminate firing, followed by ground operations with more shelling or
strafing.
After the civilian population is forcibly evacuated, looting ensues, Karapatan
said. Residents would later find their houses ransacked, crops destroyed, and
farm animals and personal belongings missing. Even the coconut trees are
chain-sawed, the group also said. Some residents witnessed their personal
effects being hauled into military trucks. One resident remarked in his
affidavit that even his “dikdikan” (mortar) was taken.
Even the town proper of Jolo, Sulu’s capital, is intensely militarized.
Heavily-armed soldiers guard “every corner of the populated market place.”
At the town’s outskirts, military checkpoints and detachments “check the
flow of traffic.”
Under
fire
Members of the fact-finding mission team itself came under heavy helicopter
gunfire when they visited Brgy. Karawan, Indanan town to get the victims’
statements. Karapatan secretary-general Marie Hilao-Enriquez said the seven-man
group dispatched to the area passed by at least three military checkpoints and
not one of them stopped or informed the group of any military operation in the
area.
When they reached the village, they split into two groups to be able to cover
more ground. At 11:15 a.m., two MG helicopters arrived, one helicopter hovering
over each group. Without warning or provocation, the helicopters reportedly
opened fire at the mission members. One team rushed behind a large balete
tree and the other hid under a house. One helicopter fired at them continuously
for 10 minutes, the other for 15 minutes.
Amira Alidasan, Moro Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA) secretary-general and
mission member, stayed outside to take pictures of the helicopter gunships and
recorded the firing.
Residents later told them that aerial strafing is done regularly in the area.
Fear of the daily strafing has reportedly affected many children. Some fall
unconscious, burst into tears or turn frozen once they hear the sounds of
firing.
Unlike
anything imagined
In its report, Kaparatan described the situation in Sulu as “unlike anything
they imagined.” It concluded that “overwhelming evidence proves the
perpetration of human rights violations on a massive scale” in Sulu.
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The
team which interviewed victims and witnesses from five towns and 30
barangays and conducted extensive ocular surveys said the human rights
violations are “not mere isolated cases, but are apparently
systematically perpetrated.” The findings are allegedly corroborated by
an earlier investigation by the government Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
The April 2000 Sipadan kidnapping reportedly ushered in what the Karapatan
calls “open season” for the military in Sulu. While it acknowledged
that the documented cases against civilians occurred mostly at the height
of AFP pursuit operations against the ASG and MRG, it said the violations
persist even today.
Karapatan scored the military strategy of attacking civilian communities,
which it believes to be strongholds of either the ASG or Nur Misuari’s
men. It noted how airpower and artillery bombardment have been excessively
used during operations, resulting in casualties and injuries among
civilians and unnecessary destruction of properties.
It also criticized the military’s “penchant for burning and destroying
civilian houses and infrastructures” and extensive looting by military
elements conducting operations. |
Children
in Patikul, Sulu show a large piece of shrapnel they found after a bombing
incident
Photo by Karapatan |
No
breathing space
Meanwhile, Karapatan noted how the relentless military attacks since the Sipadan
incident have allowed civilians no time to recover from the damages and
casualties. The prolonged war kept the people in constant danger thus preventing
them from rehabilitating their farms and other sources of livelihood.
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The
military operations have thus aggravated the already deplorable economic
condition of Sulu. Sickness and diseases have reportedly reached
“untenable levels,” especially in areas of the military operations.
“If the military is not killing the people through bombardment and
strafing, it is killing them through disease and starvation,” said the
Karapatan report, which included medical reports by the doctors in the
mission team.
The military also showed disrespect for the Muslim religion as operations
deliberately targeted religious infrastracture like mosques and destroyed
copies of Qur’ans, the mission report said. Many of the attacks have
also been done during times of religious significance like the Ramadan.
Many
residents of Sulu, including this boy, suffer not just from military
operations but also from the diseases which the war conditions
spread.
Photo
by Karapatan |
As
a result of the widespread destruction and casualties, resentment against the
military and government has reportedly intensified in Sulu. Karapatan’s
Enriquez said that although many of the people were against Misuari before, many
have decided to support the former ARMM governor in the face of unrelenting
attacks by the AFP. Bulatlat.com
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