Tuesday, June 29, 2004


From the documentary 'Bihag'
THE MAKING OF A MINDANAO MAFIA
By JOSE TORRES JR.


(This article, published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, has been nominated as finalist in this year's Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Awards for Explanatory Reporting. The winners of the Awards will be announced on July 1.)


The Kuratong Baleleng began as an anti-communist vigilante group but has become a diversified kidnapping, smuggling, and extortion syndicate with close links to officials in Northwestern Mindanao and elsewhere.


ZALDY (not his real name) was 17 years old when he first killed a man. Today, some 12 years or so later, he says he has lost count of many people he has killed. "It's just like killing a cow," says Zaldy, who has spent seven years in the National Bilibid Prisons. "There's always that last gasp of breath before dying. You'll get used to it."

But Zaldy apparently got tired of killing. After his release from prison in the mid-1990s, he went home to Mindanao, seeking a "new life." He tried farming in a remote village in Zamboanga del Norte, but "got bored" after only a few weeks. Lacking the means to survive, Zaldy remembered the advice of friends he met in prison: "If you're desperate for work, go to Ozamiz and ask for help from the Kuratong Baleleng."

For most Filipinos, the Kuratong Baleleng is that notorious group of bank robbers that met a bloody end in a supposed shootout with the police one May morning in 1995 in Quezon City. But down in Ozamiz City, in northwestern Mindanao, Kuratong is said to be well-loved — and well-connected, even if no one denies that it is a criminal syndicate. The mayor, Reynaldo 'Aldong' Parojinog, is a son of the group's founder, the late Octavio 'Ongkoy' Parojinog. Some people even say Aldong became titular head of the group, when his older brother Renato or 'Nato,' then a provincial board member, was killed in February 2002.

Mayor Aldong seems to have chosen to ignore the whispers about his current connections with the Kuratong, concentrating instead on a personal drive against criminality in his city. In a 1999 interview, however, he admitted that he was once part of the group, and that his father had founded it. When asked how many Kuratong members there were in Ozamiz, Aldong said, "Almost everybody." But then he had yet to be elected mayor of Ozamiz at the time.

Aldong Parojinog, however, is not the only one who would rather not talk about Kuratong Baleleng — at least not openly. Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Leo S. Ocampo refuses to be interviewed about the group, although he says the notoriety of the Kuratong Baleleng is a myth created by the media. Another article about the group will only "boost the ego of its leaders" and make them stage new criminal activities to make the myth live, the governor says. Misamis Occidental Rep. Ernie D. Clarete, known to be a critic of the group and its alleged leaders, also thumbed down a request to be interviewed for this article. He says he has been receiving threats from the Kuratong.

Zaldy, the self-confessed murderer, sounds like he regrets ever encountering the group as well. He had followed the advice of his jailmates and looked up the Kuratong in Ozamiz.

With the help of his newfound friends, Zaldy worked as a barker at a bus station, picking pockets on the side. Then he began pushing drugs and extorting money from businessmen. He remitted his earnings to his "handlers" who gave him a generous share of the loot. He was later asked to join store robberies and truck hijackings. Recalls Zaldy: "It was exciting and fun and there was no shortage of money."

But Zaldy soon got bored with that life as well. He again went home, built a house, and bought a small piece of land. One day, however, he was visited by two men who told him, "You must go back to Ozamiz immediately. Work is waiting for you." That same day, Zaldy fled to a nearby town. But his "friends" found him again after several weeks. It was then, Zaldy says, that he realized there was no escape. "There is no getting out of the Kuratong Baleleng," he says.

Fear has become Kuratong Baleleng's most effective weapon. "They have no qualms in killing perceived enemies," says a local journalist who asked not to be named. "They are untouchables." This perception is fueled by the fact that authorities refuse to even investigate criminal activities allegedly perpetrated by the group.

According to a 2001 briefing paper on the Kuratong Baleleng by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), "several national and local government officials reportedly provide protection to the group." It also describes the Kuratong as "one of the many criminal syndicates being controlled and used by powerful individuals for financial, political, and even personal undertakings."

"Neutralizing the group per se would be child's play," says the ISAFP, "but to uncover the entire expanse of the networks controlled by these unseen hands would prove to be a very difficult task."


IT HAD been the military that created the Kuratong Baleleng in 1986. The military wanted a vigilante organization that would counter the growing influence of communist guerillas in the provinces of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, the first guerilla front of the Communist Party of the Philippines in Mindanao. Kuratong is actually a traditional bamboo instrument used to call villagers for a meeting or to alert them of the approach of enemies; baleleng means young lady, although it is also used as a term of endearment. The Kuratong Baleleng, or the "darling bell," became a group that would inform soldiers of the presence of rebels.

Army Maj. Franco Calanog, who formally organized the Kuratong Baleleng, put the organization under the supervision of the Philippine Army's 101st Battalion based in Misamis Occidental. Calanog appointed Ongkoy Parojinog as the "chairman" of the organization. Its first members were militiamen from three urban poor barangays known collectively as Lawis or "sulod (inside)" in Ozamiz City. But they were said to have done double duty as Kuratong and as protector of Ongkoy's illegal activities, which reportedly included robberies in the provinces of Siquijor and Misamis Occidental. Ongkoy, however, was also known for his generosity and was dubbed the "Robin Hood of Lawis."

One local journalist says the Parojinog family "would help everybody in need." He describes the Parojinogs as "simple people" who are "approachable" and have a "soft heart." This is partly why Aldong Parojinog won the 2001 mayoral elections by a landslide.

But it was Nato who assumed the leadership of the Kuratong Baleleng after five soldiers of the 466th Company of the Philippine Constabulary killed Ongkoy in September 1990 during a cockfight. All the suspects in Ongkoy's slay were later killed one after the other. Calanog himself was killed in a drug bust operation by the National Bureau of Investigation in the early 1990s.

"The group was very effective as a counter-insurgency organization," states the ISAFP briefing paper dated April 20, 2001. "But with the decline of the insurgency threat, the Kuratong Baleleng group was officially disbanded in June 1988. Without military supervision, the group rapidly metamorphosed into an organized criminal syndicate. A lot of kidnappings, robberies, smuggling, murders, and extortion were attributed to the group."

Other criminal groups also started using the Kuratong Baleleng name to ride on its notoriety. "This explains why almost all crimes were traced to the (organization)," says the ISAFP.

The "real" Kuratong Baleleng, however, began branching out, operating not only in Mindanao — Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibuguey, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Cagayan de Oro City — but also in Cebu City, Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.

The Kuratong Baleleng eventually splintered into three major groups. The original group of Ongkoy Parojinog based in Ozamiz City and adjacent provinces was believed to have focused on extortion and illegal gambling. Another group led by sons Nato and Aldong operated in Metro Manila and other big cities and specialized in bank and armored car robberies and kidnappings. A third headed by Ongkoy's nephew, Carlito 'Dodo Miklo' Calasan, concentrated on robberies, but would later venture into other illegal activities.

Several breakaway groups later emerged, including the Kuratong Baleleng I or the Wilson Soronda group, the Kuratong Baleleng II or the Robert Ramos/Edla Oliver group, the Socrates Aguilar group, the Joedisil Siong group and the Ozamiz Boys group. It was Soronda's group that got riddled with bullets in Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City in 1995.

Among the many crimes the ISAFP attributes to the Kuratong Baleleng are the P2 million robbery of Solid Bank in Tangub City in 1988, the P12 m Monte de Piedad armored van robbery on Roxas Blvd in 1990, the P5 million heist at an RCBC bank in Pampanga, and the P12 million Traders Royal Bank robbery in Buendia in 1991.

The ISAFP also says Kuratong was behind the smuggling of 40,000 sacks of rice and 28,000 sacks of white sugar unloaded in Ozamiz City on June 25, 1999, an undetermined number of sacks of rice shipped to Cebu City on June 26, 1999, 40,000 sacks or rice unloaded in Ozamiz City on June 27, 1999, and 170,000 sacks of imported rice and 5,000 cases of blue-seal cigarettes unloaded in Ozamiz City port from February 1 to March 10, 1999.

In addition, the ISAFP has linked the group to the transport of illegal drugs into the country from Malaysia via the country's southern backdoor in partnership with the Taiwanese Triad. It says Kuratong has a shabu factory in a secret tunnel in Barangay Tinago in Ozamiz City while protection money from Chinese businessmen continues to be collected. The group, says the ISAFP, is still into gunrunning, gun-for-hire services and massive extortion.

Other Kuratong watchers say the latest innovation in the group's activities is the establishment of lending agencies that also serve as an intelligence network for the group.

Joint operatives of the defunct AFPCIG and CAPCOM arrested Nato Parojinog in Cainta, Rizal, on April 30, 1993. Aldong and another brother, Ricardo or 'Ardot' surrendered to Brig. Gen. Dominador Salac, former ISAFP chief, in Camp Aguinaldo shortly afterwards. Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) agents gunned down Calasan in Cebu City in 1993.

Two years later, Nato, Aldong and Ardot Parojinog were back in Ozamiz, the charges of assault and bank robbery filed against them dismissed for lack of evidence. Nato ran for Congress in 1998 but was defeated by Hilario Ramiro. He became provincial board member of Misamis Occidental in 2001. Aldong, a high school dropout, became president of the federated Association of Barangay Councils and later city councilor before he was elected mayor.


SHORT and beer-bellied, Aldong Parojinog may not look like the chief executive of any city, even if it happens to be in a far corner of Mindanao. But Aldong, who in 1995 was the second most wanted man in the country, with a P500,000 price on his head, commands respect in Ozamiz, not in the least because of his determination to clean up the city in more ways than one.

Barely three weeks after he assumed office, Aldong launched a cleanliness campaign that resulted to the classification of the city as the fourth cleanest in Region 10, from a consistent record of being the dirtiest. He also convinced his supporters that it would be for Ozamiz's good if not one of them were taken in as city government employees, even as casuals. Aldong's flagship program is to trim the local government.

But the son of Kuratong Baleleng's founder also told journalist Merpu Roa in an interview, "I am committed to even use the whip if necessary as proof of my determination to curb the city's rising criminality and illegal drug trade."

Roa observed that petty crimes dipped to low levels after Mayor Aldong warned both offenders and their parents that they will be dealt with accordingly. The mayor issued stronger warnings to druglords and illegal drug peddlers. In an address after his election, Aldong vowed to even run after his relatives and friends if they were ever caught engaging in illegal activities.

Businessmen acknowledge that Aldong is gaining the support of the usually apathetic people of Ozamiz. Several surveys conducted by Freeman Mindanao, a regional daily newspaper, showed the people giving approval ratings to Reynaldo for focusing on the city's crime situation, illegal drug trade, garbage and drainage problems. Even the Roman Catholic Church has given the mayor a "breathing space" so he could "prove himself."

Aldong Parojinog now leads policemen in arresting suspected petty criminals. He believes his small victories would usher in a new era of peace and order and vowed an "all-out war" against criminals, the same phrase used by a political ally of Aldong, then President Joseph Estrada, in declaring war against Muslim insurgents in 2000.


POLITICS may not be the only thing linking the Ozamiz mayor with the ousted president, if Indian national Danny Devnani, manager of "Club 419" (later changed to Club IBC), is to be believed. In August 23, 2001, Devnani told the Senate that Estrada had links to Kuratong Baleleng, through Aldong's older brother, Nato.

Devnani was the manager of Club 419, an exclusive joint in Greenhills believed to be owned by Estrada. In a sworn statement, Devnani said he saw Renato, five or six times between 1996 and 2000 in the company of Estrada's close friend, Charlie 'Atong' Ang, and a certain Eddie Boy Villanueva. Devnani also said he had been pressured at the time by persons close to Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson, former National Police chief and PAOCTF head, to engage in kidnap-for-ransom activities so that he could pay off his gambling debts.

In a 15-page affidavit, Devnani said ex-basketball star Arnulfo Tuadles and Kuratong Baleleng member Joel Arnan told him Lacson had "ordered" the killing of 11 suspected Kuratong members in 1995. Devnani quoted Tuadles and Arnan as saying the group had "wanted to assassinate Estrada and Lacson because of the rubout," but subsequent negotiations between the group and Estrada's emissary, Villanueva, averted it. "The deal that was brokered was the Kuratong Baleleng would be allowed to commit kidnappings for ransom, and the group of Lacson and Ang would supply the victims," said Devnani.

Devnani said he tried to pass onto Estrada the same information. But when he was granted an audience in Malacañang on July 4, 1999, Devnani said Estrada "did not want to listen." Devnani said Estrada instead gave him a P3 million check dated July 2, 1999.

By then Tuadles and Arnan were dead. Tuadles was shot to death in Club 419 in 1996, while Arnan was arrested and killed in 1997. Nato, meanwhile, would get to live three more years, before being felled by assassins' bullets in 2002.

The Parojinogs blamed Nato's murder on local political feuds. But news reports at the time raised the possibility that before he was killed, Nato was about to reveal new information that would implicate Lacson as principal player in the 1995 killing of members of Soronda's group. Years earlier, the Ombudsman had downgraded the charges against Lacson in the Kuratong case, meaning he was no longer among the principals. But there was still a case against Lacson and other generals, and when Nato was killed, the Supreme Court was deliberating whether Lacson, who has declared his intentions to run for president in 2004, would have to stand trial.

Lacson has retorted that the attempt to link him to the Parojinog killing is "stupid and insensible." Nato's death and the Kuratong Baleleng case are not related, he said. "My fellow police officers and I have suffered enough," the senator added. "Some people are hell-bent on putting me away for good using this case and a series of other fabricated, (and) poorly executed cases."

In any case, a congressman from Mindanao says the number of people who attended the funeral of Nato is a good indicator that the Kuratong remains alive — and everywhere. He says, "People from everywhere, even from as far as Manila, were there. It was a show of force. The Kuratong Baleleng is an organized group, which has lot of connections with the police and the military."

The congressman says the Kuratong can be a force to reckon with in 2004 "depending on the political alignments in the national level." The lawmaker is himself counting on the support of the group. He says there are already several layers of Kuratong Baleleng "operators" up to the national level.

An Ozamiz-based journalist also says the Kuratong Baleleng "can deliver in 2004, but only in the local level." He says among the Parojinog brothers, only the late Nato had the ambition to run for a provincial position. "Aldong has ambitions only in the local level," says the journalist.

So far, Ozamiz residents say they are pleased with Mayor Aldong's performance, noting that he seems to be making good his pledge to rid the city of hoodlums. But there are those who say Kuratong has never stopped recruiting new members among local petty criminals in Ozamiz, and that the new recruits are trained in the city until they qualify for bigger and more sensitive assignments in other provinces.

Some Kuratong watchers say that these days, there are at least nine criminal gangs affiliated with the group: the Bana Gang, Bularon Gang, Daroy Gang, Francisco Gang, Ochagovia Gang, Solid Gang, Pagente Gang, Cenas Gang and Bronze Gang. A subgroup is said to have invested in commercial malls, computer stores, construction companies, hotels and restaurants, pubs and karaoke bars, but only so that these could serve as "fronts" for illegal operations.

Zaldy, the ex-convict who tried to leave the group, may be in any one of these gangs. Or he could have escaped again. Or he could be dead. In an abbreviated phone call several months ago, he told this writer: "I am back in Ozamiz with my old job. Wish me luck. Don't call this number, this is not my phone."

Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

'I am a Subano'
THE SILENT DEATH OF MINDANAO’S LUMADS
Jose Torres Jr.
Speech delivered during the awarding of the Tolerance Prize by the International Federation of Journalists in Manila on June 25, 2004.

I am a Subano, a lumad from Mindanao. My grandparents lived in the mountains. In exchange for several yards of cloth, my grandfather sent his son, Onti, who later became my father, to the lowlands to become a houseboy. My future father was only seven years old then. He married my mother, a farmer’s daughter, when he was 19. They became farmers and our journey from one place to another began.

When I was young, Idad, my grandmother, came down from the mountain. She was crying. She said soldiers entered her hut in the middle of the night and pointed guns at her and Indong, my grandfather. The soldiers said my grandparents supported the rebels. Papa Indong, a Subanen timuay (leader), died of fear. Mama Idad was never the same again. They were driven from their land. I lost my river, my mountain and my forest that my grandparents promised they would give to me when they join the Almighty.

For a long time, my father refused to accept that he is a Subano. He got himself baptized and acquired a Christian name that he bequeathed to us his children.

My father had reasons to be ashamed of being a Subano. Anyway, how many times have lowlanders called us baboy sulop (wild pigs), deserving only the wilds? How many times have they cursed our tribe, saying we’re dirty, uncultured and ignorant? Didn’t we hear them say “Para kang Subano (You’re like a Subano)” whenever one of their children messes in dirt? Didn’t they laugh as we danced in thanksgiving to our diwata (goddess) for keeping us safe and our harvest bountiful?

It seems to be a long, long time ago when I was a kid. I used to understand our language. I used to sing our tribal songs while my grandparents would laugh because I was out of beat. Now, I don’t know our language, I can’t sing our songs and can’t dance to the beat of our music. I have become a native without a tribe, a Subano without a river. Suba means river and the Subanen are the people of the river.

My grandparents said they used to roam the Zamboanga Peninsula freely. The land was theirs. They had a bountiful life. They lived in peace as land was held in common, the harvest shared to every member of the village. They lived in harmony with nature, as forests were allowed to grow; the water systems were never polluted because they drank from its springs and rivers; the birds and flowers were their brothers and sisters.

Then came the dumadaong (settlers). Our tribe was wary of them. But my forefathers had an open mind and welcomed the newcomers. First, they were respectful as they borrowed portions of our land to till. Generously my forefathers shared the land – land that is given to all by the diwata – hoping that the newcomers too will live a life of communal abundance.

But they did not share their harvest with their neighbors. They sold it. They did not allow others to use the land. They kept it as their own.

It was too late. Our grandparents thought we would never run out of land. They thought that land was limitless. They did not foresee that time would come when man will claim the land as his own, his private property. They did not know then that land could be sold and resold and in the process they would be left with nothing.

And they pushed the river people to the mountains, in the wilderness, among the baboy sulop. Those years were not too long ago.

OUR LAND

The Philippines is an archipelago and mountainous country approximately covering about 30 million hectares of land surrounded by the Pacific, China and Celebes Seas. It comprises 7,100 islands with major islands grouped into three geographical regions: Luzon in the north, Visayas in the central region, and Mindanao in the south.

The Philippines is home to around 140 ethnolinguistic groups that comprise more or less 10 to 12 percent of the total population of approximately 80 million Filipinos. Interchangeably, they are called “indigenous peoples” or “national minorities.” Unlike other indigenous peoples in other parts of the world who were marginalized by the ever-expanding settlements of white colonizers, the indigenous peoples in the Philippines suffered a different fate. When the colonizers converted communities in low-lying areas as subjects, the upland communities managed to resist and preserve their traditional socio-political and cultural structures.

Thus a social dichotomy was born among the indigenous population in the country. The Filipino majority pertains to those who relate and adopted the imported ways of the colonizers while the minorities retained some if not all of their pre-colonial lifeways.

In Mindanao, the indigenous peoples are called lumads. They are the biggest in number among indigenous peoples in the Philippines. They comprise about 18 ethnolinguistic groups whom anthropologists refer to as Subanen, Manobo, B’laan, T’boli, Mandaya, Mansaka, Tiruray, Higaonon, Bagobo, Bukidnon, Tagkaolo, Ubo, Klagan, Banwaon, Dibabawon, Talaandig, Mamanua and Manguangan.

When political governance was turned over by the colonizers to the natives, the social structures that relegate the indigenous peoples into a disadvantaged position did not change. The founding of a Filipino state only aggravated and institutionalized the oppression of the indigenous peoples.

Laws practically converted the indigenous peoples ancestral domain into corporate properties. Legal shields, like land lease and joint concessions, aided the wholesale expropriations of land by foreign and local businesses. From then on the indigenous inhabitants of these lands lived a destructive cycle of forced eviction, military harassments or forced assimilation to give way for the entry of prospective investments.

The shifts from one power bloc to another in the government did not bear the realization of the indigenous peoples’ aspirations. Instead, it intensified the plunder of resources and rapidly institutionalized the systems that enforced disfranchisement and marginalization.

Using the euphemism and rhetorics of globalization, the government tried to open the economy to the unrestrained intervention of foreign corporations.

Aside from mining operations, which continue despite the decision of the Supreme Court to thrash the Mining Act of 1995, “eco-tourism projects” found its way into indigenous villages. So that they can continue to stay in their lands, the government encourages indigenous peoples to build their communities as components of tourism projects. The National Integrated Protected Areas System Law, for instance, segregates indigenous communities as “tourist attractions” along with the wild flora and fauna. The project does not only smack of stupidity but is also an affront to the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples.

These government projects and programs amount to no less than the landgrabbing of ancestral territories for business interests. Resistance by indigenous communities was met by militarization of the countryside, which has only aggravated the disfranchisement of tribes and peoples.

OUR PEOPLE

Way back then, the Subanens were the majority in the Zamboanga peninsula. Now, we are less than 300,000 individuals. Where have our people gone?

Children below ten years old die in hamlets designated by the military, people succumbed to measles and gastric infections in evacuation centers, children and adults die during military operations, in massacres, in summary executions.

Lives are lost. There seems to be no end to the rain of bullets. Bullets rain on our land. Bullets kill. The rains bring flood. Blood floods on our fields. Tears of those whose loved ones are killed by armed men flow with the rain. We lost our homes to war that we don’t have a stake on.

But death and displacement do not end there. The Subanen, and the other lumads of Mindanao, are silently being killed by government-sponsored development projects and mining operations. Some say there’s an ethnocide going on in Mindanao. Is it real?

The Ata-Manobos of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, struggled against the expansion of the Industrial Forest Management Agreement project on their land by the influential C. Alcantara and Sons, Inc. The Ata-Manobos’ opposition to the project resulted in the deployment of the Army, who harassed and even sexually molested their women.

The Banwaons of Mahagsay, Agusan del Sur were displaced by counter-insurgency operations. They blamed logging interests and the Industrial Forest Management Agreement lease acquired by the Woodland Domain Industries from the government.

Thousands of B’laan people were evicted from their ancestral lands because the Western Mining Corporation, an Australian mining firm acquired a license to explore and exploit gold and other mineral deposits in a 10,000 hectare concession in shared boundaries of South Cotabato, Saranggani and Davao del Sur Provinces.

The Subanen people in the village of Malubo, Zamboanga del Sur, are threatened by the P3.4-billion multi-purpose dam project that would inundate homes and farms and dislocate 2,000 settlers and lumads. In Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, the Subanens are being threatened and displaced by the mining operation of TVI Resource Development Philippines.

The Mandaya tribe suffered no less. Land grabbing by the Chinese and Spanish businessmen in the past drove them to the hills, making ranch farms out of ancestral domain. Ignorance of land laws due to lack of education was used as weapon against them.

The lumads of Mindanao are being silently killed by the onslaught of mining and logging explorations, from displacement and dispossession of their homeland, which ironically are being dubbed as development by the government and the business sector.

There are government institutions created to help the lumads but they have not done enough. Some of those appointed to these posts even became instruments in the exploitation of our ancestral domains.

Our ancestors taught us that our land is our identity and our history. They said it is our heritage. Our life. Our survival as a people. They taught us to defend it. So many of my brothers and sisters, those who were left in my homeland chose to fight. But they fight not for land’s sake, they are fighting against this society’s extermination of the lumads as distinct peoples.

Likid Magdagasang, chief of the Mandayas of the Davao provinces envies the Philippine eagle. On the verge of extinction, the bird was given a beautiful home, protection and bountiful attention by the government, even declaring thousands of hectares of forest reservations for the cause, while the lumads were driven out from their ancestral domain.

“We too are endangered. We are also on the verge of extinction. Even eagles have the right to forest reservation, should we have less?” Magdagasang said.

OUR STRUGGLE

Our struggle for land is a struggle for self-determination. As we pursue for control, management, development and enjoyment of the fruits of our land, with an inseparable right, we also pursue self-determination, self-governance, management of our own economic activities, protection of our environment, inter-personal relations, and the entirety of our culture as extensions of our ancestral domain.

The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, which was enacted on October 29, 1997, with all its shortcomings, tried to provide a venue for working out the kind of peace, justice and development we have dreamt of for so long. But it seems that the government is using dilatory tactics not to implement the law.

The lumads need to survive. Our physical existence and identity are linked to our land. To survive, we have to have our land back and defend what is left of it. Only in the restoration of respect for the lumads’ rights to ancestral domain and self-determination, will we be able to accept the true meaning of socio-political, economic, cultural and spiritual freedom that the government continues to claim we already have.

Years and years and we have kept our silence – a semblance of what the government and the majority call peace. Now as the lumads are left with no place to go – for even the baboy sulop scampered when bombs fell and the development machines started to roar in the mountains where the dumadaong drove us before – our options are getting limited. Death in hunger or death in bullets. Some say they want to fight back. Let us help them expand their options.


Jose Torres Jr., is a Subano journalist based in Manila. He started as a writer of the alternative news service Philippine News and Features, which gave him the opportunity to bring to light for the first time in the early 1990s the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group. He later worked as sub-editor for Saudi Gazette, the national paper of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He came home in 1997 and worked as investigative reporter of the defunct Isyu newsmagazine. He later joined The Manila Times, The Philippine Post and The Sunday Paper while doing a radio show on Radio Mindanao Network. His articles appear on i, a magazine published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Newsbreak and MindaNews. He also writes for the Union of Catholic Asian News, a news service run by the Catholic Church. Joe was a fellow at the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. He is senior editor of abs-cbnNEWS.com and his first book, Into the Mountain: Hostaged by the Abu Sayyaf, won the National Book Award for Journalism in 2002. His article on Filipino Muslim converts titled “Troubled Return of the Faithful” is a finalist in the 2004 Tolerance Prize.

Somewhere in Rizal Province
JVO Awards Winners to be announced July 1

The six top winners of the 2003 Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) will be announced July 1 during ceremonies at the AIM Conference Center Manila in Makati City. The awarding will be preceded by the annual Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar, which will start at 9:30.

Eighteen investigative reports and explanatory stories published in 2003 have been chosen finalists in the Awards, now in their 15th year. The JVO awards had been solely for investigative reports from 1989 to 2000. This will be the third year that the explanatory report as a separate category will be recognized.

The first prize winners in each of the two categories will receive P70,000 each; the second prize P40,000 each; and the third P20,000. The remaining 12 finalists will receive P10,000 each.

The finalists and first three prize winners in each category will also receive a plaque. The first prize winner in each category will also receive travel grants in addition to the cash awards.

This will be the eighth year that the Canadian Embassy will award the Marshall McLuhan Priza, a travel study tour of Canada, for the first prize winner in the investigative report category. For the second time, the Australian Embassy will present the Australian Ambassador's Award, an observation tour of Australia, to the first prize winner in the explanatory report category.

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) which administers the Awards, in cooperation with Ateneo de Manila University with support from The Asia Foundation, organized the Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar as a venue for the announcement and awarding of the finalists and winners of the top three prizes in each category and to enable journalism students to learn firsthand from their authors how the winning reports were written.

The seminar and announcement of the winners in each category will be held at the AIM Conference Center Manila's SGV Hall (Benavidez corner Trasierra Streets, Legaspi Village, Makati City). A cocktail lunch will be served at 12 noon.

The first awards were given in 1989 to honor the late Jaime V. Ongpin, who was Secretary of Finance during the Corazon Aquino administration. A press freedom advocate, Ongpin was involved in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship and was instrumental in harnessing public support for the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.

The 2003 finalists for the Explanatory report category are, in no particular order:

Cancer of the poor
Margarita de Pano
Newsbreak
July 7, 2003


Coco levy fund
‘Kakang-gata’ ng paggawa ng mga maliliit na magniniyog
Jim Fernando
Pinoy Weekly
July 16-22, 2003


The making of a Mindanao mafia
Jose Torres Jr.
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
i Magazine
January-March 2003 and
TODAY
April 9, 2003


Ang Petron, desperasyon at deregulasyon
Danilo Araña Arao
Pinoy Weekly
July 23-29, 2003


PX tuyo
Ilang-Ilang D. Quijano
Pinoy Weekly
February 26-March 4, 2003


Taxing out the Philippine auto industry
Raul C. Dancel
Philippine Daily Inquirer
May 12, 2003


Who was responsible for the IMPSA deal?
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
TODAY
January 15-16, 2003 and
The Philippine Star
January 15, 2003


Wills: What you need to know (and do) before dying
Jeffrey O. Valisno
BusinessWorld
July 7, 2003


The 2003 finalists for the Investigative report category are, in no particular order:


The AGILE factor
Unseen hand behind 50 laws, executive orders
Volt Contreras, Juliet L. Javellana, Elena R. Torrijos and TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
March 19-23, 2003


Barbers’ cut?
Gemma B. Bagayaua
Newsbreak
October 13, 2003


BIR officials amass unexplained wealth
Tess Bacalla
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Malaya, Manila Standard, The Manila Times and Sun Star Daily
May 12-14, 2003 and
Abante Tonight
May 13-14, 2003


‘Bribery thrives because talents have no skills’
TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
March 5-7, 2003


Controversies hound landmark BOT law
Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Cecille E. Yap and Leotes Marie T. Lugo
BusinessWorld
April 9-11, 2003


Corruption still goes on at DepEd field offices
Yvonne T. Chua
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Malaya, The Manila Times, The Philippine Star and TODAY on June 9-11, 2003


Land row grips Los Baños science, technology agencies
David L. Llorito
The Manila Times
July 14-18, 2003


San Francisco: The Arroyos’ favorite city
Miriam Grace A. Go
Newsbreak
November 10, 2003


Sins of the father
Aries Rufo
Newsbreak
February 17, 2003


Tony’s fortune
Gemma B. Bagayaua
Newsbreak
April 14, 2003

For more information, please check the JVOAEJ page or contact the JVOAEJ Secretariat, 2/F Ateneo Professional Schools Salcedo, 130 H.V. dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City

Tel. Nos.: 894-1314/894-1326

Monday, June 28, 2004


The winners of the 2003 Tolerance Prize of the International Federation of Journalists

Joe during the awarding ceremonies of the Tolerance Prize at Westin Philippine Plaza in Manila on June 25.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Winners of the Southeast Asia IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize

The winners of the IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize for Southeast Asia were announced June 25 in a ceremony at the Westin Philippines Plaza in Manila, the Philippines.

The awarding ceremonies took place in the Grand Ballroom of the West Philippine Plaza at 12 noon, following a forum on Ethnic Tolerance: Trends and Challenges in Journalism.

The IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize, an annual competition among journalists from all sectors of the media, is run by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation of journalists. The ceremony was hosted by the IFJ’s affiliate in the Philippines, the National Union of Journalists (NUJP).

The Prize, supported by the European Commission, is awarded in five regions around the world: Latin America, Central and Western Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Each region will have a total pool of 3,000 Euros to award the winners.

The winners of the Southeast Asia prize were chosen from 128 entries and 6 finalists by a jury composed of senior journalists and media experts in Southeast Asia.

The Southeast Asia Jury members are:

K.P. Waran, Chief News Editor of New Straits Times (Malaysia)

Dwi Setyo Irawanto, former Managing Editor of Tempo Magazine (Indonesia)

Lor Chandara, Associate Editor of The Cambodia Daily (Cambodia)

Sek Barisoth, Head of Media Unit, Open Forum of Cambodia (Cambodia)

Georgina Encanto, professor of journalism, College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines (the Philippines)

The winners of the 2004 IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize are:

Print Category

Nezar Patria (Indonesia), “May 1998, The Razing of Jakarta”, Tempo Magazine, 26 May, 2003

Jury comments:

“An excellent piece of investigative journalism. It also emphasises the discrimination factor. “May 1998, The Razing of Jakarta” has originality and depicts the comprehensive story of the Jakarta riots. Even though the riots happened five years ago, there still remains questions for Indonesians about who was behind the riots and who has to take responsibility for them. These questions need to be answered as the public is demanding justice to bring the guilty to the court process.”

Broadcast Category:

Ayu Purwaningsih (Indonesia) “Indonesian Migrant Workers, the Neglected Foreign Exchange Heroes”, 68 H Radio, 18-26 December 2003

Jury comments:

“A powerful presentation of a migrant workers’ issue which actually is not limited to Indonesia. Dramatised well and forceful depiction of the problems of the victims. The problem was addressed and the shortcomings are highlighted.”

The finalists are:

Print Category


Jose Torres Jr. (the Philippines) “Troubled Return of The Faithful”, ABS-CBN INTERACTIVE, Apr-June, 2003

Jury comments:

“This kind of article is needed to promote more understanding among the people of different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The powerful message behind the story is that the clear and fair information corrects the wrong notion and stereotyping. It has a strong impact on society.”

Karaniya Dharamasaputra (Indonesia), “A Lie Snatched Away”, Tempo Magazine, 26 May, 2003

Jury comments:

“An impressive article on the rape of women during the Jakarta riots. It has the victims talking about the pain and suffering which does not seem to be over for them. The acts of rape as a form of systematic terror has been portrayed well and brings about a shocking revelation to the readers.”

Broadcast Category:

Masrur Jamaluddin (Indonesia) “For A Piece of Paper”, Metro TV, 28 December 2003

Jury comments:

“The TV program covers one important social and political aspects of the Chinese minority group: citizenship. It shows genuine and straightforward characters. The comment of the authorities was sought and showed no clear guidelines to solve the problem”.

Helmayanti (Indonesia) “A Bitter Life of the Tionghoa Ethnic”, 68 H Radio, 8-14 December, 2003

Jury comments:

“An emotional issue portrayed well to radio listeners. It tells us the lives of the minority and highlights the problems they face. In terms of the subject, treatment, relevance and context, this is well within the spirit of the Tolerance Prize.”

The Prize giving ceremony was attended by more than 100 journalists from the Philippines and from around Southeast Asia.

The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries worldwide.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD OF DEVELOPMENT

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

THE TROUBLED RETURN OF THE FAITHFUL
By Jose Torres Jr.

Finalist, Tolerance Prize Award of the International Federation of Journalists




MAR AMORES was already in his late 20s when Islam caught his attention. Born to a traditional Roman Catholic family in Samar, in the Visayas, Amores was enraged by stories in the media about Moro bandits killing Christians in Mindanao. His hate pushed him to learn about the “enemy,” the Muslims.

“I wanted to discover what kind of people they are,” recalls Amores. He read history books and studied every available material on Muslims and Islam. After two decades of “discernment,” his hatred against Muslims turned into “understanding.” In 1999, Amores decided to change his name to Zulfikar Muamarjalil Amores, and became a Balik-Islam.

Muslims believe that people are born into Islam and converts are just “reverting” to their original faith. They are thus called “Balik-Islam” or Islam returnees.

“It was a long process,” Amores says of his return to Islam. He also says it became a “cultural liberation” for himself, and that his concept of God became clear and his view of life and society changed. “I learned discipline and became free from idols,” says Amores. “It’s a conversion from vices and sin to humbling oneself before God. It’s a personal discovery.”

But it has also been difficult. “It’s hard to be considered an apostate and live in a society dominated by Christians,” he says. He became the first Balik-Islam in his hometown of Calbayog. “I did not shout from the rooftops and declared that I was a Muslim,” he says. But his friends laughed at him anyway, and called him “bandit” and “Abu Sayyaf.”

“It shows how insensitive the majority of our society is,” says Amores.

These days, life has become even harder for Balik-Islam like him after the reported involvement of Muslim converts in terrorist networks. Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza, former intelligence group chief of the Philippine National Police, has even said, “The new wave of converts to Islam could prove more dangerous than established Muslim guerilla groups. Converts are ideal terrorists and they are eager to prove themselves worthy of their new faith.”

Those are words that Amores, whose latest act of daring consisted of having his head shaved clean, may find fault with. Yet he goes only so far as remarking, “It seems that Muslims themselves are the ones who hinder the growth of the religion.”

The police say they have the goods on some Balik-Islam-dominated organizations, which they say have links with international terrorist groups like the Al-Qaeda. They have also trotted out the likes of Marvin Geonzon — a Christian who became Balik-Islam in 1997, and who later confessed to being part of the same terrorist network responsible for the 9-11 attacks in the United States — to support their claims

Geonzon, now 26, had been convinced that converting to Islam would help him overcome his drug addiction. Invited by a Saudi national who befriended him, Geonzon attended an “Islamic school” where, he later said, subjects like jihad (holy war) and bomb-making were taught.

According to the police, Geonzon’s Saudi friend was Sheikh Hamoud Al-Lahim, who had connections with Mohammad Jamal Khalifah, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, head of Al-Qaeda. Khalifah headed the Philippine office of the Saudi charity International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) from 1986 to 1994. Al-Lahim joined the IIRO in Manila after Khalifah left.

The police said the “Islamic school” that Geonzon attended in Pangasinan was actually a training camp for future terrorists. After his arrest in Zamboanga City in 2002, Geonzon admitted to being part of an Al-Qaeda cell in the Philippines. He also owned up to setting off a bomb in a Zam-boanga restaurant in October 2001 that killed six people.

Geonzon’s aunt said her nephew had “psychological problems.” But police claimed they found posters of bin Laden on the walls of Geonzon’s rented room, as well as a piece of paper listing targets of bomb attacks, blasting caps, and other bomb-making equipment. Still, they had to release him from detention in February last year, when the court found out the arresting officers did not have a warrant to search his apartment. He has made himself scarce since, and has not been seen since October 2002.

About six million of the country’s 84 million-strong population are Muslims. Records at the Office for Muslim Affairs estimate that more than 110,000 Filipinos have converted to Islam over the past three years. Balik-Islam groups, however, say converts have already reached a million in number.


ISLAM RETURNEES, though, are nothing new in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. Even during the Spanish period, some Christians embraced Islam for reasons that ranged from the very personal to the practical.




One of the more prominent converts was a Christian fugitive from Cavite named Pedro Cuevas. In 1842, Cuevas escaped to the island of Basilan in Mindanao where he fought and killed a Muslim chieftain named Datu Kalun. For him to be recognized leader of the mostly Muslim Yakan natives, Cuevas had to convert to Islam. He adopted the name Datu Kalun, married a Yakan woman, and instituted sociopolitical changes in the island. Datu Kalun consolidated the natives, led battles against invaders from Jolo and rid Basilan of pirates and marauders. He died in Basilan on July 16, 1904.

Islam is said to have begun taking root in the Philippines in 1380, although some scholars believe that it spread in some areas of the archipelago during the early 1200s. The inhabitants of Sulu have been described as among the earliest converts to Islam in the country. Historians, however, say the converts retained much of their pre-Islamic beliefs because the conversions were mostly done not by full-time religious teachers but by Arab Muslim traders.

By the early 1700s, the Sultan of Sulu defeated the Sultan of Maguindanao, signaling the rise of the Sulu sultanate in Mindanao and the spread of Islam. The Spaniards made several attempts to control Jolo, the capital of Sulu, but failed.

Conversion to Islam peaked in the 1970s during the height of the Moro uprising against the government. Fearing for their lives, many Christian settlers in Mindanao converted to Islam. “It was this strong feeling of insecurity that made them decide to convert,” says Dr. Luis Lacar in his unpublished study “Balik-Islam: Christian Converts to Islam in the Philippines.” He also says that the converts, finding security in their newfound religion, became zealous defenders of Islam.

Lacar, who teaches at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, adds that the Balik-Islam “tend to identify more with their newfound faith” that born Muslims even think “the converts are overdoing it.”

He says the most significant factor in bringing about such zeal among the converts is the “dawah (propagation of Islam) especially by the Tabligh.” A missionary movement, the Tabligh became strong in the Philippines during the 1980s when foreign preachers, especially from Pakistan, Libya and Egypt arrived in Mindanao. “It is inevitable,” writes Lacar, “that some of the missionaries teach radical Islam.”

The number of Filipino workers who went to the Middle East in the 1980s boosted the ranks of the Balik-Islam. Amores says, “There are Filipinos who became Muslims for practical reasons while working in the Middle East as laborers.” Having the same faith as their employers was apparently regarded as a plus and enabled them to enjoy benefits denied other workers such as being able to stay on and look for other jobs once their contracts had ended. But indications are many of the converts took their new faith to heart.

In the 1990s, groups propagating the Islamic faith multiplied, some of them composed mostly of converts. Among the more prominent organizations are the Fi Sabilillah Dawah and Media Foundation, the Islamic Studies for Call and Guidance (ISCAG), the Islamic Information Center (IIC), and the Islamic Wisdom Worldwide (IWW).

Former overseas Filipino workers from Saudi Arabia who became Balik-Islam established the Fi Sabilillah in 1998. The organization produced a weekly television show on SBN21, “Discover Islam,” and a radio program on DWBL.

The IWW has similar activities with Fi Sabilillah, although most IWW members are born Muslims, not converts.

The IIC is a library and resource center, which gets “financial and moral support” from “generous brothers.” The center declares “to uphold the banner of Islam and to propagate its religious beliefs to the unbelievers” by “propagating the religion of Allah, follow-up of new Muslims, media programs, and distribution of literatures and other dawah materials.”

In 2000 alone, IIC “sent follow-up letters to 4,000 new Muslims, conducted prison visitations, visited 325 brothers, printed 90,000 books and pamphlets, and distributed 4,570 pieces of Islamic literature, 307 copies of Koran in English, and thousands of cassette tapes in lecture form.” Its resource center gets thousands of visitors each year.


WHILE OTHER nongovernmental organizations get financial support from Western countries, Islamic groups in the Philippines source their funds from donors in the Middle East.

Samira Ali Gutoc, spokesperson of the Young Muslim Professionals, says the lack of government support for Islamic propagation force local Islamic scholars to seek donations from funders in countries like Saudi Arabia. Intelligence reports concede that most of that money is used to build mosques, medical clinics, and schools. But they also say some of the funds have found their way into the hands of terrorist organizations.

One of those accused of channeling funds from Islamic charities to support terror groups is Khalifah, the former head of the IIRO’s Manila office. Khalifah established the Benevolence International, an Islamic charity organization that used to hold office at Room 202 of the United Methodist Church in Manila.




Khalifah, who was married to one of bin Laden’s sisters, registered his organization as a rattan-furniture trading company. But intelligence reports say Khalifah used the company to siphon off money from Islamic charities to support the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group.

A “confidential intelligence report” shown to i magazine even links a Balik-Islam organization to several foreigners believed to have financed the “recruitment and indoctrination” of members of a local terrorist cell allegedly connected to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

An intelligence briefing posted in 2002 on the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies website named the “terrorist cell” as the “Rahah Saliaman Movement.” The APCSS is a joint project of the United States Pacific Command and the armed forces of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Another intelligence report talks of a “Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM),” which it describes as a small cell of “Muslim radicals” that has links to some of the institutions established by Khalifah “in support of Ramzi Yousef, the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF.” According to this report, the “funding and support for the movement came from the (ISCAG) led by (Al-Lahim), a 67-year-old Saudi National, who is thought to be a key conduit of money to terrorist and separatist groups in the Philippines.”

In addition, the report says, “Beneath the ISCAG are three smaller NGOs, the Darul Hijrah Foundation (DHF), (ICC) and the (IWW) Mission.” It says the DHF was founded by “several MILF members” including Abdul Nasser Nooh, reportedly the MILF liaison officer in Manila, and Yusop Alongan, said to be the MILF finance committee chairman.

The report says that the IWW, which is said to be run by Mohammad Amin Soloman Al-Ghafari, took over where Khalifah’s organization left off in 1995, when the Philippine government shut it down. According to the report, the IWW hired Khalifah’s staff and took over much of its “philanthropic” network.

The report also links the IWW to both the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf. One of RSM’s supposed central committee members, Sheikh Omar Lavilla, was reportedly a classmate of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani at Mindanao State University.

Lavilla traveled to Mindanao in November 2001 where he received P10 million from Janjalani, says the report. It also claims that several RSM leaders went to MILF camps between August 1999 and December 2001 and received training there.

Yet another intelligence report identifies Al-Lahim and Jordanian Nedha Falah Awwad Al-Dhalain as RSM financiers. According to this document, the two funneled funds to the RSM using several layers of fronts and conduits.

Al-Lahim is said to be the head of ISCAG, which is based in Dasmariñas, Cavite, while the report points to Al-Dhalain as the boss of the Darul Hijrah Foundation, as well as the IIC in Makati. Darul Hijrah has been closed after media reports began linking it to terror groups. Al-Lahim has been in and out of the country since Feb. 2, 1998, first arriving as a temporary visitor, then later admitted as permanent resident. His last recorded departure was on April 7, 2002.

Al-Dhalain is a holder of a temporary resident visa issued on July 19, 1995. His visa was extended twice, the first until July 1998, and then until July 2002. The last extension, however, was discovered to be a fake. Al-Dhalain reportedly left the country on Oct. 27, 2001. Authorities believe, however, that he has been able to reenter the country using a false passport.

Other organizations mentioned in the intelligence report are the Fi Sabilillah, the IWW, and the Al Maarif Educational Center. All groups have denied allegations that they have connections with terrorists or terrorist organizations and insist they conduct only legitimate activities.

When i magazine tried to talk recently with members of the IIC and the IWW, they said they would agree to an interview if it would be only about Islam. A member of one of the groups said, “Huwag mo sanang i-associate ‘yung center para ‘di alanganin. Iba ang issue ngayon, ‘pag may konting sablay ka lang ng words mo, pwede kang i-associate sa terrorism (Please don’t associate the center with anything else so we won’t be put in a delicate spot. It’s difficult these days, you say just one small thing, and you can already be associated with terrorism).”

ISLAM IS “under attack,” says Abdullah Yusuf Abu Bakr Ledesma, spokesperson of the Balik-Islam Unity Congress. “If we were terrorists, we would have gone into hiding.”

He says he has court papers to disprove allegations that the Islamic school in Pangasinan was a military training camp for terrorists. He also denies statements that accused converts of being prone to terrorism. If one chooses to become a Muslim, he or she might be more zealous, but not turn terrorist, says Ledesma, a scion of a landed Bacolod clan who converted to Islam two years ago.

He says, though, that he expects more crackdowns against the ranks of the Balik-Islam, especially with the renewed military campaign against Moro rebels in Mindanao. In the last few months, he has already spent days on end tracing the whereabouts of converts who were reported to be arrested by the police or picked up by the military. Those he found, he has had to raise bail money for, which meant soliciting extra funds from Muslim businessmen.

Ledesma, who used to be called ‘Joey’ by his friends but now answers to ‘Yusuf,’ assails the “black propaganda” he says is being waged by the government and the media against Muslims. He says of the media reports linking converts to terrorist groups: “I would like to ask, why do they continue to publish military intelligence reports verbatim without checking?”

To Ledesma, “What we feel as Muslims is different from what comes out in the media.” Yet he also says that many Muslims are filled with a deep “anti-Western anger” especially after authorities linked Islamic groups to terrorist organizations. He adds that the methods used by some Muslim groups in their effort to assert their rights “may be questionable, although not wrong.”

The “brotherhood of Islam” is under a global attack spearheaded by the United States right now, says Ledesma. If pushed to the wall, Muslims might fight back, he warns.

Ledesma, who holds a PhD from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, says he became a Muslim because Roman Catholicism has been “hijacked by the West.” He also says the history of persecutions and dictates by the West “leaves not a very good taste.” He believes that unlike in other religions, there is no mystery in Islam, only “pure logic.”

“When you do something for God, everything comes easy,” says Ledesma. But he admits that his conversion has cost him a lot of work opportunities. His mother even drove him out of their palatial home soon after she learned of his becoming Balik-Islam. Although she has since welcomed him back, other relatives have not been as understanding, and have taken to excluding him from clan gatherings.

Ledesma now goes around wearing a scarf, which he spreads on the ground and kneels on whenever it is time for him to pray. Says Ledesma: “In Islam we are called upon to establish the rule of God on earth. In spite of all the deceptions, lies and other evil doings that the unbelievers are trying to do to suppress our faith, they will not succeed.”

“Allah has promised us that His Religion or deen, the path of submission to His Will, would eventually succeed even if the unbelievers like it not,” he says “Our Muslim brothers will continue to unite and propagate our faith until it is safe for anyone in the world to say La ilaha illallah. There is no god but God. There is not god but Allah.”

Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Winners of top journalism prize to be announced Friday

The winners for Southeast Asia of the IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize, which recognizes journalists for work that promotes deeper understanding of ethnic, racial, religious, cultural and other differences, will be announced in Manila on June 25, 2004.

The awarding ceremonies, for work done in 2003, will be held at the Grand Ballroom of the Westin Philippine Plaza at 12 noon on Friday. The awarding ceremonies will be preceded by a forum, starting at 9 a.m., on the theme "Ethnic Tolerance: Trends and Challenges in Journalism."

The IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize, an annual competition among journalists from all sectors of the media, is administered by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world's largest organization of journalists. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the IFJ's Philippine affiliate, hosts this year's awards for Southeast Asia.

The prize is supported by the European Union and is awarded in five regions around the world: Latin America, Central and Western Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. Each region will have a total pool of 3,000 euros (around Php200,000) to award the winners.

The Southeast Asia finalists were chosen from 128 entries submitted from the region. They were selected by a jury composed of Southeast Asian media practitioners.

The Southeast Asia finalists for print and online media are:

Jose Torres Jr. (Philippines), for his story, "Troubled Return of The Faithful," published in i magazine, a publication of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and ABS-CBN Interactive, in 2003;

Nezar Patria (Indonesia) for "May 1998, The Razing of Jakarta" published by Tempo Magazine on May 26, 2003; and

Karaniya Dharmasaputra and Iwan Setiawan (Indonesia) for their story "A Life Snatched Away" printed in Tempo Magazine on May 26, 2003.

The Southeast Asian finalists for broadcast media are:

Helmayanti (Indonesia) for "A Bitter Life of the Tionghoa Ethnic," aired on Radio 68 H in December 2003;

Ayu Purwaningsih (Indonesia) for "Indonesian Migrant Workers, the Neglected Foreign Exchange Heroes" on Radio 68 H aired in December 2003; and

Masrur Jamaluddin (Indonesia) for "For A Piece Of Paper," aired on Metro TV on December 28, 2003.

During the forum, a representative from IFJ Southeast Asia will present "Crossfire: An overview of how media has covered Southeast Asian ethnic issues, and how journalists have been casualties of conflicts."

Maurice Malanes, a member of NUJP-Baguio and a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, will talk on "development aggression" and the need to give voice to indigenous peoples as they struggle to preserve culture and livelihoods amid encroachment by government and commerce.

Noralyn Mustafa, the Jolo-based columnist and correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Jose Torres Jr., a senior editor at ABS-CBN Interactive and
award-winning journalist, will tackle the different forms of intolerance that breed what has been referred to as "ethnocide" in Mindanao.

Mustafa will navigate the convoluted history of the Bangsamoro struggle in Mindanao and untangle the stereotypes that fuel alienation and radicalism among
Filipino Muslims.

Torres will talk about the "silent death" that stalks the Lumads (indigenous people) of Mindanao, particularly the Subanen tribe, of which he is a member. He says Mindanao's Lumads are dying slowly, victims of wars of aggression and rampant land-grabbing of their traditional homelands.

Merpu Roa, editor of Freeman Mindanao and a member of the board of the Center for Community Journalism and Development, will present "Beyond War," which acknowledges the role of peace and development workers in Mindanao. Roa's presentation will tackle this question: "Which comes first, peace or development?"

Carlos H. Conde, secretary-general of NUJP and editor of the online journalism site PinoyPress, will talk about the lies, deceptions and double-speak by sources - mostly from government - in the war against terror in the Philippines.

A group of panelists will then react to the presentations. The panelists are Rony Diaz, publisher of The Manila Times and a veteran development worker; Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute for Bangsa Moro Studies based in Cotabato City; Joan Carling, secretary-general of the Cordillera People's Alliance; and Prof. Georgina Encanto, a journalism professor at the University of the Philippines and one of the prize's jury members.

The IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize, according to the IFJ, "celebrates the work of those journalists who have offered a deeper understanding of ethnic, racial, religious, cultural and other differences." The prize, it says, "encourages journalistic work that acts to promote a thorough and deeper understanding of the issues surrounding conflict and tension."

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Ricciardone: Losing candidates must accept defeat

United States Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone called on the losing candidates in the presidential and vice-presidential elections to accept defeat and give way for the proclamation of the winning president and vice-president.

In a video-teleconference held Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Ricciardone said the U.S. government will wait for the official proclamation of President Arroyo and Sen. Noli de Castro as vice-president.

Ricciardone said Washington will send a delegation chosen by President Bush to attend the proclamation rites. He said high-ranking American officials will be part of the delegation.

Arroyo is set to assume a fresh six-year term after the joint congressional canvassing committee confirmed Sunday night her victory in the May 10 presidential elections.

The canvassing panel is expected to submit its report to the joint session of Congress Wednesday which will formally vote on it .