Fisherman after a catch

Philippine troops capture militant suspected of arranging trips of foreign terrorists

Troops have captured a Muslim militant who allegedly arranged trips by Indonesian and other foreign terrorists to the Philippines for training and attacks, security officials said Tuesday.  Uktud Bayro, an alleged member of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, was captured by military and police intelligence agents in southern Tawi Tawi province several days ago after months of surveillance, two security officials said on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk to the media.

Bayro has provided crucial details to military interrogators about the Abu Sayyaf and its operational links with other Filipino Muslim groups and Indonesian militants, one of the officials told The Associated Press without elaborating.

Bayro allegedly helped arrange foreign militants’ trips into the southern Philippines through Malaysia, accompanying them on perilous sea voyages to Jolo island, where Abu Sayyaf leaders and Indonesian terror suspects have been evading a monthslong U.S.-backed offensive, they said.

Last November, Bayro allegedly helped the group of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and two top Indonesian terror suspects — Dulmatin and Umar Patek — evade a major military manhunt in southern Maguindanao province by escaping to nearby Jolo in speed boats, the officials said.

Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Patek are key suspects in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

International Herald Tribune

Army detonates unexploded ordnance

ARMY explosives experts safely detonated two unexploded mortar shells that residents of a town in Maguindanao had discovered by the side of a road early Tuesday, the military said.  Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro, said the two 60mm mortars were found in Sitio Bombaran, Barangay (village) Tugaig, Barira.

Explosives experts of the Army’s 37th Infantry Battalion immediately responded and detonated the mortar shells.  Bacarro said the discovery and safe detonation of the shells prevented what could have been a major explosion.

Officials have not discounted the possibility the shells had been deliberately placed.

INQ7

Short Story from a reader

I received an e-mail from Mindanao Blog reader Jed Reston, he wrote a short story and wondered if we could post it on this blog.  Thank you for sharing your contribution, Jed, I am happy to get it from you!  I see no reason why we should not share it, so here it goes:

Her eyes- that danced like flickering fire on the golden ambers of an Arabian campfire, betrayed what’s Hidden behind her burka. A soft, sensual, intelligent soul concealed underneath the dark blue layers of her velvety reformatory.

I was sitting idly one afternoon, watching life pass me by. Everybody’s in a constant state of hurrying-and-scurrying, except her. Like a regal queen from a hazy dream she walked by me. Not mindful of the curiously fast gaits that separated the others from her. She glided by my seat, threading on air.

It was not the finely crafted and highly detailed “tandong” that caught my attention, it was not the ghost-like presence by which she arrived. It was the dark, mysterious eyes that amazed me. Like two exquisite diamonds with dark-black irises crafted by the worlds best jewelers. It rolled and flowed with the crashing waves of its eyelids and invited attention by slowly and temptingly flickering its long eyelashes. Capturing those idle enough to notice its existence.

And just as fate would have had it, she caught me staring at her and our visions connected. For a fraction of a second all the bitterness, love, hopes, dreams, beauty and tears shed, conjured and seen by her eyes were felt, tasted and shed by my own. I dreamed her dreams, shared her hopes and aspirations and I savored every sweet memories she had experienced. And every horror she saw, I relieved. I tasted her kiss that she shared only to amorous lovers in her dreams. I tasted the salt of every tear that ran down her porcelain cheeks, chase by every tongue and frustrations that cut her down. I was caught, pulled, dragged by the enigma of her being-projected by her eyes. All these she did within a milli of a second.

She came into my life fast as a thief. Stole my heart, rocked my world and pulled my heart out of its foundations and just like that she left, never to be seen. And I will be forever enthralled and in search for the answers to the “mystery of the Maranao’s eyes.”

*FYI Maranao is an ethnic group here in Mindanao

Thanks again, Jed.  Good luck to you!

Voters approve new Mindanao province

Voters in Maguindanao’s 29 municipalities have approved the creation of a new province to be composed of 10 towns, the Commission on Elections here said.  Kasan Usi, acting Maguindanao provincial election supervisor, said the plebiscite conducted Saturday was peaceful.

Of Maguindanao’s more than 500,000 registered voters, 285,372 approved the creation of Shariff Kabunsuan province. Only 8,802 voted against the proposal, Usi said.  The new province, carved out of Maguindanao, is composed of the towns of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Kabuntalan, Upi, Sultan Kudarat, Datu Blah Sinsuat, Sultan Mastura, Parang, Buldon, Matanog and Barira.

It is the sixth province in the ARMM and the country’s 80th.

ARMM is now composed of Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and the city of Marawi.