Last of three parts Are Negotiations Possible…Or Even Desireable? In a speech given in a military camp recently, President Duterte ordered the troops to “crush” the insurgents in Marawi, adding “when I say crush them, you have to destroy everything”.
Second of three parts Addressing the Crisis Right now, the Government is addressing the crisis in Marawi primarily with a military response, with an aid package of P10 billion set aside for the rehabilitation of the city after the fighting
1st of three parts As the ten-part series on the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) was being published in MindaNews (May 20 – 29 2017), the news broke out about the fighting that started on May 23 in the Islamic City
Last of 10 parts 29 May 2017 By definition, the majority of the population of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are Muslims – 98% in Sulu, 97% in Tawi-Tawi, 94% in Lanao del Sur, 82% in Maguindanao and 80%
Seventh of 10 parts 26 May 2017 Whenever lengthy discussions of the Abu Sayyaf are undertaken, the matter of the possible collusion of persons in authority, whether they be military or police personnel or local government officials, with the ASG
4th of 10 parts It has long been recognized that governance is a key issue in the Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi (BaSulTa) area. In fairness, governance is an issue in most local government administrative units in the Philippines and even at
3rd of 10 parts 22 May 2017 In the second article in this series we raised the question as to whether feelings of enmity still exist among significant portions of Muslim and Christian Filipinos vis-à-vis each other. Whatever the situation
2nd of 10 parts Let us begin by posing an uncomfortable question: does there still exist a deep-seated enmity, perhaps below the level of consciousness, visceral, instinctive, but real nevertheless between Christians and Muslims, which colors relationships and makes it
1st of 10 parts Starting today, Saturday, 20 May 2017, MindaNews begins a 10-part series on the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to stimulate discussion on how this over two-decade threat could be effectively addressed. The author, Vic M. Taylor, originally
