December 5, 2007: Moslem
separatists are under a lot of grass roots pressure, by their three million
Moslem constituents in the south, to sign the peace deal, and move forward. The
MILF has factions that do not want to sign, either because they want more concessions
(mainly in the form of cash or similar benefits), or want to hold out for a
separate Moslem state. It's feared that
these factions will again splinter off, and keep the separatist violence going.
That's what happened in the 1990s, when the separatist group MNLF made a deal
with the government. Their rival, the MILF kept fighting.
December 2, 2007: The
communist NPA announced that it was going to increase its decades old effort to
overthrow the government. The NPA is encouraged by the success of European
leftists to get the UN to condemn the Filipino government for not stopping the
murder of leftist activists by their enemies in the police and army.
November 30, 2007: Three
Basilan politicians are being charged with the murder, by bomb, of another
Basilan politician last month. The killing, which took place in the capital,
outside the House of Representatives, reminded everyone that, in the Moslem
south, political and clan feuds tend to get very nasty. Meanwhile, military
operations on Basilan, against Islamic terrorists have resulted in over twenty
dead in the past few days.
November 29, 2007: A group of soldiers seized a luxury hotel in
the capital and called on the army to overthrow the government. Police came and
arrested the rebellious soldiers. This is typical of the coup attempts in the
Philippines for the last decade or so. Mostly it's small groups of lower
ranking officers carrying out a poorly planned, and unsupported effort that
quickly fails. This one was led by officers already on trial for a failed 2003
coup. This time around, they had the support of some leftist politicians and
activists.
