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| Southeast Asia |
| Recent developments on the Filippino front |
| 2005-12-01 |
| The Arroyo administration is coming under increasing pressure to deal with a mounting communist insurgency. The past week has seen a series of attacks against military and business targets that have caused damage to property and left a dozen Filipino solders dead and more than 30 injured. On Monday the New Peopleâs Army, which is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines attacked a tower in Sampaloc town in the province of Quezon. Globe Telecom, the countryâs second-largest mobile phone company, owns the tower. Police believe that the attack came because Globe Telecom has refused to pay ârevolutionary taxes.â The attack killed three soldiers and wounded nine others. The communists have been fighting the government for the past three decades and government sources confirm that their ranks have swelled in the last few years. It is estimated that the New Peopleâs Army has armed regulars numbering 8,000 to 10,000. The authorities and commentators believe that the reason behind the intensification of the fighting is due to the Community Partyâs desire to undermine the government. Luz Lorenzo, research director of the ATR Kim Eng, an investment house in Manila said, âThe New Peopleâs Army is doing this because it wants to increase the level of dissatisfaction against the government, especially because the new law will result in price increases.â In a separate development, intelligence officials confirmed at a hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday that members of Jemaah Islamiah are out to âdetonate 1,000 kilos of super bombâ targeting embassies, particularly the US Embassy. The Jemaah Islamiah were behind the Bali bombing in October 2005 and the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Indonesia in 2004. Mayo testified, â[The national security] threat is still terrorism. In fact, we have received reports that [some] Indonesians in the country are plotting suicide bombings . . . [by detonating] 1,000 kilos of super bomb.â Commenting on the âsuper bombâ retired Gen Cesar Garcia, the director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, explained that the terrorists have manufactured âan improvised explosive device targeting the US Embassy and other areas representing US interests.â According to the Department of National Defence, 33 members of Jemaah Islamiah have been operating in the Philippines since 2004, and they are all Indonesians. The Department believes that the 33 Indonesians form a group called the âWakalah Hedeibiah,â who allegedly are led by a certain âMantiqui 3.â Wakalah Hedeibah is the local JI chapter, while Mantiqi 3 is the JI command node responsible for the Philippines. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 How much support - and direction - is the 'New People's Army' getting from Beijing? The Philippines would seem a logical place for China to 'invest' in expanding a New Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-12-01 08:47 |