Image via WikipediaFollowing an April 13 Islamist terrorist attack that destroyed 70% of his cathedral, a Philippine bishop says that he and the other Christians of the city fear for their lives.CNA has more on the Bishop's statements:
“It is the first time we are attacked so directly and with such force,” said Bishop Martin Jumoad of the Territorial Prelature of Isabella. “In the past, I received several threatening letters and intimidation. There have been other smaller attacks, but now it is very different. This could be a tragedy. I seriously fear for my life and the lives of the faithful.”
“I have prepared a pastoral letter calling on Catholics to stay in Basilan, which is our home, and asking them to remain calm, not to react to violence, and to pray for peace,” he added. “Today, a procession of people carrying candles as a sign of peace lit the city. Our hope must not die.”
81% of the Philippines’ 88.7 million people are Catholic. However, the territory in which Bishop Jumoad ministers is predominantly Muslim, with only 27% of residents being Catholic.
LWJ reports on other aspects of the attacks:The 53-year-old prelate said he does not know how to rebuild the cathedral (left), constructed in 1970 with a capacity for 1,400 worshipers.
Sta. Isabel Cathedral via.
...The blasts shattered the cathedral’s stained glass windows and damaged the priests’ rectory. Several priests’ service vehicles were also destroyed.
Regional military chief Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino said military intelligence had received reports of an impending attack, but not its details, AFP says.
"They were planning something big. This was well planned and apparently they were well funded."
Authorities suspect that politicians who hired mercenaries may have been behind the attacks.
Five civilians, five Philippine Marines, a policeman, and four Abu Sayyaf Group fighters were reported killed in the ensuing clashes, and five Abu Sayyaf fighters were captured. Police and Philippine troops are currently pursuing the remaining Abu Sayyaf fighters.
Today’s attacks in Isabela are reminiscent of recent terror assaults by the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other al Qaeda-associated groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Yemen.
A reasonable cause to attack his Cathedral, isn't it?He said the government must unleash more troops with a mission to finish off the militant group in the southern provinces of Basilan and Sulu. “They don’t have ideology. They are plain terrorist and I think there should be no dialogue with them,” Bishop Jumoad said over Church-run Radyo Veritas Friday.
“I am a bishop saying but I'm saying things like this because I know when it comes to terrorists, there are no negotiations,” he said.
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A senior Islamic militant was among six killed in an assault by Philippines troops on a rebel camp on the southern island of Jolo, officials say.
Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad was wanted for the abduction of three Red Cross workers on the island last year.
Gen Benjamin Dolorfino said his death was a "big blow" to the group.
Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for bombings, beheadings and kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners. It has been accused of links with al-Qaeda.
"We have confirmed that one of the six bodies found belonged to Albader Parad as confirmed by independent civilian sources," said Gen Dolorfino.
"We consider it a big blow on the cause of Islamic militants in the south."
[...]
Abu Sayyaf is the smallest and most radical of the Islamic separatist groups in the southern Philippines....
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Most or all of the 22 women among the 57 people massacred Monday in the southern Philippines were sexually mutilated, the authorities said Friday, adding grim new details to the catalog of horrors that has already emerged.
“Even the private parts of the women were shot at,” the justice secretary, Agnes Devanadera, said on national television. “It was horrible. It was not done to just one. It was done practically to all the women.”
While work continued to identify all the dead, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it appeared that 30 journalists and support staff had been killed. About a dozen of the victims were the relatives, lawyers and supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, a local politician whose determination to challenge the entrenched Ampatuan clan in an upcoming gubernatorial election touched off the violence.
As is the case with most articles which have come out since this massacre, it is not mentioned that the perpetrators were Muslim.
Obama has sent a letter to the leader of the main Muslim rebel group in the Philippines, a guerrilla official said Saturday.
Manila - US President Barack Obama has sent a letter to the leader of the main Muslim rebel group in the Philippines, a guerrilla official said Saturday.
The letter to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman MuradIbrahim was delivered to rebel peace negotiators by Deputy Assistant State Secretary Scot Marciel, according to Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the MILF secretariat. Ameen said Marciel and two other US diplomats met MILF peace negotiators headed by Mohagher Iqbal on November 6. Ameen did not disclose the contents of the letter but said it was a response to a letter Murad sent to Obama after he won the election last year.
September 20,2008: MILF officially declared jihad on Filipino government...
MANILA, Philippines —Religious leaders in Lanao are calling for a jihad (holy war) in fighting "oppressors" against Islam, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed Saturday.
In a statement on its website (www.luwaran.com), the MILF said the calls were made in sermons of religious leaders during Friday congregational prayers.
"Sermons of the religious leaders of Lanao provinces in Friday's congregational prayers called on the Bangsamoro to unite and wage jihad fi sabilillah in fighting the oppressors, religious persecutors and enemies of Islam," it said.
Here's a screen-grab from their official website (they've scrubbed it of most jihad-related content over the last few months)...
For many of the 12,000 MILF rebels, especially the young, peace is likely to bring an uncertain future.They are not used to it, so even in case the conversations end in some kind of peace, they will search for another target to "achieve". Now they are going to have a "limited autonomy", then they will ask for independence...
MILF
chief Murad Ibrahim, in a rare interview with AFP, said he was worried
for their future, especially for those born into war and the many whose
parents and older relatives have died as "martyrs". [...]
The Philippines government says it has reached an agreement with the country's main Islamic separatist group on boundaries for a Muslim homeland.Yeah, good luck with that peace agreement.
Government negotiator Rodolfo Garcia said "demarcation" was agreed after two days of talks in Malaysia with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Officials say the deal in Kuala Lumpur could pave the way for a final peace deal between the two sides next year.
MILF has been fighting for decades over land in the southern Mindanao region.
Negotiators are hopeful that a permanent peace agreement can be sealed by the middle of next year.
The two sides did not disclose the shape of the new agreed borders, but the talks' Malaysian hosts said the territory would be greater than the present autonomous region in Mindanao.Since when has any such surrender to militant Muslims resulted in any form of peace other than that which forces dhimmitude upon non-Muslims?
Mr Garcia said the borders agreement was a "significant breakthrough".
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal told the AFP news agency his side hoped "to find closure to the centuries-old problem in Mindanao which various regimes in Manila have not solved".
Formal talks began in 2003 after MILF, which is thought to have around 12,000 members, signed a fragile truce with President Gloria Arroyo's government.
It is the largest of several Muslim separatist groups battling the government in the predominantly Catholic country.
Analysts say the Philippine and US governments hope a peace settlement with MILF could stop the Mindanao region becoming a base for militants linked to al-Qaeda.
...The government has been talking with Muslim rebels to end nearly 40 years of conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.
Talks over the size and wealth of a proposed Muslim homeland have been stalled since September 2006 although backroom negotiations continued, resulting in a breakthrough in December when Manila agreed to grant Muslims the right of self-determination....
