Gunshots Heard at Seized Manila Airport Tower

[VolcanoJen]

According to CNN live now, the siege is over. Below is the latest article, which does not report that the siege has ended, but describes security raiding the tower:

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-07-113046.asp?reg=PACRIM

Philippine security forces opened fire on a former aviation chief and his men who seized the control tower at Manila's airport over complaints about corruption, with gunshots heard over live radio.

[Minstrel Boy]

1. I have the sense that, in Philippines, there is

so much dirty business close to the surface that remains well-buried elsewhere. The chain of lies which supports the "war on terra" can be more easily exposed there than elsewhere.

I haven't heard much recently about the trial of the junior officers who mutinied in Manila last summer, claiming the government was staging terrorist acts. Any news?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. Why is it this bastion of Bush-described Democracy has so much

violence. Just yesterday he said that a free Democracy brings peace.

[saigon68]

3. Its government is ROTTEN to the CORE

200 families run the country. Ex president Ramos is BUSH #1's running partner at Carlyle.

Marcos was just the tip of the iceberg.

[dArKeR]

4. How can we know this but the world and American Media Whores

with all their resources and combined salaries of about US$50,000,000 have no idea what's going on in the PI? At least they don't report it. And if they know it and don't report it doesn't that make what they're doing some kind of conspiracy of the media with governments?

The 200 families are also American citizens or have American Green Cards through legitamate trading company branch offices, usually in CA, or dummy branch offices (just so that they can obtain Green Cards.) We should ask Warren Beatty about this because he's part of the Marcos Crime Family.

Then we've got child prostitution absolutely in every corner of the country. And 300 feet from Arroyo's palace. I wonder how the FBI/CIA gave Bush the clearance to say, 'The Philippines is the model for all Asia to follow.'? Either the FBI/CIA/Bush are child prostitute customers when they go to the PI, the FBI/CIA is completely incompetent, the FBI/CIA set Bush up to look stupid, and/or the Media are having sexual relations with the PI children too and don't want to expose all the FUN they are having.

Nothing has changed for the PI people since the American installed Marcos Regime. (Who probably killed more peole than Saddam's government had.) But then why was Marcos accepted into Hawaii?

Then entire country is a cesspool of corrution. All government positions are positions to extort money and wealth. Children begging and dying in the streets.

The PI economy/wealth has actually contracted under Aquino, Ramos, and Arroyo. The only reason the PI is alive is because of overseas PI workers sending money home and bringing their earning home at the end of contract. The rate of overseas PI workers on contract has gone up a GodZillion % since Aquino which is the true reason of capital influx into the PI. The Corporate American/PI Whores have done nothing for the PI citizens. It seems the person who tried to do something for the PI, Estrada, was, well you know that story. Ramos/Arroyo's Junta.

But hey, all the above is in the name of terrorism so I'm sure a Moral American Christian doesn't have to worry about God questioning them about this on their Judgement Day.

I really can't find stats about PI overseas workers on the net?
http://www.apmforum.com/columns/orientseas12.htm

ps. really nice people that are being economically/politically raped
pss. i almost got killed in the Manilla main post office when a bomb went off. 1989? I was there during a coup too. 1990?

---

Airport control tower seized; 2 dead - MSGOP
http://msnbc.com/news/990704.asp?0cv=CB10

[Minstrel Boy]

6. The plotters of Aquino's murder

have never been brought to justice.

From Aug 20, 2003:

Ninoy’s death a triumph for the ‘invisible group’

http://www.manilatimes.net/others/special/2003/aug/20/20030820spe1.html

[dArKeR]

5. The weapons were not shown to reporters.

The Swat (special weapons and tactics) team used explosives to blast open the door the two men had barricaded, Superintendent Andres Caro said.

Panfilo Villaruel, a former head of the air transport office, and police officer Richard Gatchalian were armed with handguns, a grenade and explosives, he said.

The weapons were not shown to reporters.

'We are being killed here'
"We are being killed here," Villaruel shouted on live radio with shots and groans in the background. "We surrender."

The bodies of Villaruel, also an ex-pilot and air force officer, and Gatchalian were covered in blankets. Blood dripped onto the floor of a van and the street.

Arroyo has waged a high-profile but only partly successful war on graft. She herself has been drawn into corruption allegations against her husband Mike by an opposition senator with presidential ambitions.

The Philippines, which has seen nine army uprisings in 17 years, is ranked by watchdogs such as Transparency International as one of Asia's most corrupt countries, on a par with Pakistan.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=ct200311090927202190500281&set_id=1

[reorg]

7. a good source on goings-on in the Philippines

is the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Their website is a bit slow sometimes, but they have substantive information and often good comments on current affairs:

http://www.inq7.net

On why the former Air Transportation Office (ATO) chief seized the control tower:

http://www.inq7.net/brk/2003/nov/08/brkpol_14-1.htm

... Villaruel said the government had "killed my program" to develop the Defiant 300, a small plane with wooden components, as well as the Hummingbird, a small helicopter.

"When I left the government they disassembled it," Villaruel said. "Had we persevered, we would not be groveling before the Americans for obsolete Hueys (Bell UH-1H helicopters)."

... Villaruel's ex-boss, Ramos' transportation secretary Josephine Lichauco, said the former government official was "very patriotic" but was "in despair" because of what he perceived as lack of government support for his initiatives.

"I can't imagine how he can be killed like that."

Villaruel said the control tower was built in 1994 during his term. "It was named after me and it would be fitting if I died here."
----------------------------------------------

and on the apparently reckless police action:

http://www.inq7.net/nat/2003/nov/10/nat_2-1.htm

... Villaruel's family cried "overkill" when they heard of the move of the Airport Security Group's Special Weapons and Tactics team to storm the tower although the former ATO chief had reportedly sent surrender feelers.

...

A vital question the CIDG would have to address was why the ASG special operations unit killed Villaruel although he had already said he and his aide were surrendering the moment they saw police barging into the control room. His desperate plea was heard on radio because he was then being interviewed through a cellular phone when police went for the kill.

Another unresolved issue is whether the ASG used too much force in subduing Villaruel and Catchillar. Armed with pistols, Villaruel earlier claimed that he had with him several armed military men. The former aviation chief, it turned out, was accompanied only by his aide.

Upon arrival from Hong Kong Sunday, former President Fidel V. Ramos called for an independent investigation.

Calling the death of Villaruel an unnecessary tragedy, Ramos downplayed Villaruel's capability to pose any threat to the government. "He is a well meaning and idealistic person."

He said Villaruel's death was a personal loss. "I knew him as an inventor, a pilot and president of the group of sons and daughters of World War II veterans," Ramos said.