Wednesday, May 03, 2006

m… Philippines Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita; has cautioned Chinese officials against assuming that the attackers were Filipinos in the Spratly incident.

He's right- other nations and groups have done this using another countries ships to scare off fishermen from an area they want to do something in.

China did this; So has Vietnam in the parcel islands in the early 80's when they went to small unit naval action in the area over a much larger group of islands north of the Spratly's.

Each side used "Q-boat" tactics to scare off the other sides fishermen.

And Indonesian Bahasa and Tagalog can sound alike to people who have not heard the Malay languages before.

But one thing is clear unless pirates or another armed group from another country are using "Basnig" vessels as described in the Chinese report - then it is highly unlikely to be" suspect" of anyone scrutiny Filipino suspects.

Why? because only the Philippines has fishing vessels that look the way a Basnig does - with huge outriggers and its low silhouette and fast speed in calm seas compared to other more traditional fishing vessels.

The reports from China are a vessel with outriggers.

BUT; Could it be another of claimants playing a deadly game to put the blame on the Philippines? Who and why? Who has complained recently about rebuilding facilities in the South China Sea Islands of the municipality of Kalayaan or freedom land.

I must admit it is a theory- but- it is one needing a look into also along with the terror plot idea.

I know all too well the undeclared "no man's zone" that exists there in certain parts of the area near Palawan.

During fishing season it is not unheard of that people get hijacked , lose a cargo of fish one good haul can be worth over $15,000 so its not unheard of for a slow heavily laden vessel to have a crew get thrown overboard and or have vessels get into fire-fights over fishing grounds.

And I'm just talking about the fishermen here; not even the others;

"Free-traders" or smugglers also use the area in bulk; one of the largest ever hauls of Heroin smuggling captured in the USA came off a tip from local customs people in Palawan who got the tip from fishermen who saw cargo being transferred from one vessel to another at sea.

You name it, small motorbikes, electronics, cigarettes, clothing, dvd's, people- also drugs, guns, and anything else; that can fit into a small ship are commonly smuggled and trans-shipped here; methamphetamine or shabu is also common and also other contraband.

When ever we would go that far out before We'd always convince a of duty maritime policemen, or even those from the Navy to tag along. M1 Garand bearing militiamen or cafgu men is not unheard of

Before the runway at Kalayaan could accommodate c130's anew - the journey to the island was done mostly by either Navy Islander or Nomad aircraft.
Or PCF naval patrol vessel or the slow way a LST or slower still a fishing boat.

Another thing comes to mind; I remember a old incident many are not aware of way back in the 1970's a group of Filipino sailors and marines were dressed up like Vietnamese and went out in the area looking for smugglers.

The group was accompanied by a then Palawan congressman who told me about it; His son is now the local representative; Anyway; the group he was with went around the area in a Vietnamese fishing boat pretending to be Vietnamese in order to check on reports of the Chinese PLA and Kuomintang China Navy harassing fishing boats in the area.

They stumbled into a war zone of sorts! When the group’s other vessel was captured he was set to make a privileged speech to congress and expose the ongoing battle zone to the world.

He never got a chance; he was called into the Speakers chambers after he had presented his draft and rushed over to Malacanyang where with a smile on his face he was told not talk about it; the men who were captured had seized the island they were held at; they were a Philippine Navy special warfare team.

The capture was ruse to gain intelligence and eventually bribe the communist countries small garrison into defecting to the west. It worked; the small reef is now part of the Kalayaan area; the man who told me the story in 1990 was the late speaker Ramon Mitra; the President he told me said not to spill the beans was Ferdinand Marcos.

He told me back then don’t think the events out there are always as they seem; the islands small rocks and reefs are almost worthless; the location, known marine wealth and rumors of oil and natural gas make it Asia’s chess board and all nations play the game 24/7 to control the area.

May 4th, 2006 Posted by mikeinmanila | Uncategorized, News and politics, pirates, News Of China, china, asia, terrorism, Palawan, Views, Rants, Raves, Whathaveyou..., war on teror, abu sayyaf

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