The Moment I Wake Up!

Don't Bomb Civilian Communities -- CSO

I am a resident of Jolo, Sulu. All my life, I had never been interested in politics. Being a Muslim, I am slightly fatalistic by nature. “What the hell,” I say, “as long as I can satisfy my hungry stomach three times a day and have a simple normal life, then to hell with all the sufferings around the world!”

But my recent involvement in a Civil Society Organization makes me furious about what the military is doing to my native place. The CSO assigned me to visit some areas of conflict in Sulu like (a) Ipil, Maimbung; (b) Marang, Indanan; and (c) Sitio Tandu Pukut, Indanan.

Sentiments of the Civilians

Mrs. Hanina Abdusali, a six-month evacuee to the area, is still shocked and traumatized with the incident that gives her sleepless night. She said that she would immediately run for cover whenever she heard a strange sound. Ms. Abdusali was a native place of Batu, Itum, Barangay Alu, Parang, Sulu. She went to Tandu Pukut, Siyunugan because she believed in the relative safety of the place.

“We fled from danger to a more dangerous place,” she said in Tausug.

The Story of Sitio Tandu Pukut

June 15, 2008, three in the morning, the civilians of Sitio Tandu Pukut and Sitio Subah Timahu, Barangay Siyunugan, Indanan, Sulu were peacefully sleeping in their homes when intermittent loud sounds disturbed and woke them up. Realizing that the sources of the cacophony were not from mere ordinary sources but howitzer-cannon blast, the people, women and children, scurried here and there for cover. One of the explosives destroyed the electricity wiring of the SULECO that blacked-out the area which resulted to further confusion.

The Graduate (Short Story)

The Graduate

Elsewhere in the world, December was a cold month. But here in Sulu, as the usual case in most of the tropical regions, the weather was just erratic—now sunny, next rainy—and it was hot today, scorching even.

The acacia and mango trees dotting the MSU campus were no match to the angry sun; their shades were no protection against the roasting tropical weather, only against the skin cancer that direct sunlight could give. Students and professors alike—unless one had fever—had sweats running all over their faces. The damp blotches on their clothes betrayed the sweats all over their bodies—especially in the armpits, more so, of those who forgot to use deodorant or “tawas.”

The Letters (Short Story)

The Letters

It was a cold dark night. The moon was hiding behind the clouds as if afraid to see what was about to happen on the ground below.

Behind the manicured foliage, there was a man clad in black outfits that camouflaged the color of the night. 

He was observing an elegant house, waiting for the light to be turned off in its living room. Passing through the panes of the closed window, the other light from one of the bedrooms was also ablaze. The rumor had it that it was never put out every night.

Bulatlat Honors my First Post

AFP Attacks Civilian Community in Sulu

A Call to Stop Bombing Civilian Communities in 2008.

BY NTA
DEMOCRATIC SPACE
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 20, June 22-28, 2008

I am NTA, a resident of Jolo, Sulu. All my life, I had never been
interested in politics. Being a Muslim, I am slightly fatalistic by
nature. “What the hell,” I say, “as long as I can satisfy my hungry
stomach three times a day and have a simple normal life, then to hell with all
the sufferings around the world!”

Ces Drilon, et al

Ces Drilon. www.pep.ph

Thanks god, it's over. But civilians sufferings are just beginning!

The AFP by order of their chief GMA will conduct an intensified attack against the ASG.

Let the people be vigilant that whimsical strike against civilian community won't happen again.

Sulu people should know about their basic human rights.

The Unrequitted Love II

The Poem

The whirl of events that happened on September 06, 2006 always fascinated me. The pressure was intense, yet I was happy with everything that happened. It was like a dream, and would always be part of my reverie forever.

About 5pm of that fateful day, Khalid and I were inside the Khiss Snack House at Port Area. He was still uncommunicative all that time, silently consuming all the sauce in his small plate without even touching the one Pastil swimming in it. Whenever his plate ran dry of hot sauce, he would pour it again to overflowing.

The Unrequitted Love

Best Friend (The Unrequited Love)

A gregarious and rambunctious woman, I had never been left alone in any place at any time. Wherever I went, there’s always flock of friends that stayed in my wake, joking and laughing out loud as if there was no tomorrow.

People were attracted to me like a bee to the honey because of my well-rounded personality. I had an easy laugh; I could read people’s minds, or at least their feelings; I could give them advices that work; and I was a good conversationalist. I could converse with anyone, young or old alike with great ease.

Oh, yes! I was a human being, too, with my own sets of strengths and weaknesses. But so successful I was in hiding my problems and insecurities that my friends and relatives considered me the strongest woman they ever knew.

The Story Behind Indiscriminate Shelling of 06/15/08

It was three am, june 15, 2008, people in sitio tanduh pukut, indanan, sulu, were peacefully sleeping in their homes. They were roused from sleep when continuous shelling bombarded their nearby areas.
By the second blast, the electric lights went out because the SULECO wiring was severed by the blast.
People ran for cover. Some were shocked and remain where they were standing or sitting.
To be continued. . . .

Was the 4/30/08 Kagay, Indanan, Sulu Bombing Operation Legitimate

All right, the military has already forwarded its press releases to the major publications in the country so the news of the bombing incident in Sitio Marang, Indanan, Sulu appears to be just another operation designed to crack down the Abu Sayaaf Group (ASG) and Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) bandits. Upon visiting the bombing site, however, many questions and doubts crept into these writers’ mind, at the top of which was the worst discrepancies of the military’s report to that of the civilian’s point of view. Are the readers not feed up with the one-sided reports that the military bombards at them?

AFP Shells Sleeping Civilians

CSO calls for ceasation of Hostilities in 2008.

I am a resident of Jolo, Sulu. All my life, I had never been interested in politics. Being a Muslim, I am slightly fatalistic by nature. “What the hell,” I say, “as long as I can satisfy my hungry stomach three times a day and have a simple normal life, then to hell with all the sufferings around the world!”

But my recent involvement in a Civil Society Organization makes me furious about what the military is doing to my native place. The CSO assigned me to visit some areas of conflict in Sulu like (a) Ipil, Maimbung; (b) Marang, Indanan; and (c) Sitio Tandu Pukut, Indanan.