Chapter III

CHAPTER 3

The Holy City of Marawi

Mindanao, The Philippines
1989

Two very well-dressed prospectors came to Mindanao around the period between year 1989 and 1990. Their intention: to find good material for a new breed of Muslim leader and a new band of raiders.

The cause for their Mindanao trip: a very high ranking official ordered them to make an offer of a huge sum to be paid each month to a retired professor from the biggest academic institution in Marawi City, the Mindanao State University (MSU). Prof. Mahour Badir Al-Julabi was approached at the lobby of the MSU.

“Sir, we were sent by Cimarron. He said we will find you here in Marawi City.”

The Professor looked up at the two large young men and nodded. “I see. How is the boss?”

“He is fine Prof.” Then the two visitors remembered they still have to introduce themselves. “Sir, I am Aguilar and my companion here, Richard would like to have a word with you.”

“Atty. Gloria, Sir. You can call me Ricky.”

“So what brings you here to the Holy City of Marawi?” The Professor took the extended hand of the second prospector.

The man, who called himself Atty. Gloria, nervously licked his lips and plucked a small tickler pad from his pocket, making motions of browsing through its pages. He was about to speak when the Professor said, “I will be candid with you Richard. Ricky, isn’t it?”

Atty. Richard Gloria said, “Yes, Sir. Correct, Sir.”

“You don’t look like an attorney to me? Please go straight to the point. I don’t care what your name is. Do you have something for me from Cimarron?”

The first man fished for something inside the pouch bag that was strapped on his shoulder and gave it to the Professor. The man who said he was Atty. Gloria gaped at the old man. He seemed to realize from the old man's words that Cimarron would not have entrusted such a delicate message verbally. So this must be a very trusted old fart, he thought to himself.

Prof. Al Julabi opened the sealed envelope and read:


November 29, 1989

Dear Juls,

I hope you’re fine when there when you get this note. I have a little proposal that I wish you would like. For P2-M a month budget, I want you organize and lead a new Islamic movement in Mindanao to help government bring down the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF and MILF). They will be given exposure in Pakistan, Afghanistan and later everywhere that you have contacts in. You will report only to me and no one else. This will be entered as a strategic project. In any case please relay the answer to my men. Please destroy this note.

Cimarron


Prof. Al Julabi placed the letter in the envelope and gently closed it. For a few seconds, he closed his eyes as if in prayer. The he placed the envelope inside his leather bag and turned his gaze to the two men who were animatedly having a conversation about the lovely girls in Zamboanga as soon as their business in Marawi is over.

The good professor thought about the scheme. He predicted the project the Cimarron was proposing would be the cause of another bloody escapade by the government’s gamut of security forces. He knew of course, it was also a way of making money for some of them. In his heart, he already knew that he would decline. He took out his 3-ringed diary and tore a page and wrote his answer.

Picking out a used envelope from his leather file case, he smudged the typescript on the address space and the upper left portion bearing the name of the sender with his sign pen. The two prospectors came to him, sensing that he had something for them.

The Attorney person looked at the professor who seemed to be glaring at him. Attorney person simply lowered his gaze pretending to look at his partner's hands which were now ready to receive the old man's note for Cimarron.

As soon as they left with the response to Cimarron, they proceeded to the military camp at the outskirts of the Holy City and boarded a chopper that took them to Zamboanga City.

When the two arrived at a hotel in Zamboanga, a lady officer was around to receive their package, now a manila envelope with security markings FOR THE ADDRESSEE’S EYES ONLY and SAFEHAND. It was instantly shipped to the Philippine capital by way of a departing C-130 that had only recently completed fueling at the Zamboanga military base.

Back at the capital, Prof. Al-Julabi’s, letter was opened and read first by an aide. He reported the contents of the note to the huge consternation of the high government official Cimarron. At the time, the prospectors were having a good time. They were called directly by Cimarron and ordered to go back to the capital. They received a fierce scolding from Cimarron and his most trusted man, Col. Esconde.

Cimarron told the two, “I did not send you over there to give me this note. I do not want a “no” for an answer.”

“We are very sorry Sir! Our fault! We did not try to convince him.”

Cimarron was more furious, “Juls does not need convincing if he had already made up his mind. I gave you a long lecture in preparation for your trip. I told you specifically, not to give him my letter until you talked about the current situation and the need for funds in the movement!!!”

He berated and lambasted the prospectors for days on end.

After more than a week, when the two appeared in front of him again, Cimarron’s anger had simmered down. “I called you because I want you to go back there.”

“But, Sir...???” The two were visibly dismayed. “The good Professor, as you said, has made up his mind already and we could no longer convince him!”

“Neither could I.” Cimarron said.

The two looked at each other and merely nodded.

“But you can look for another candidate.”

Cimarron’s men appeared relieved and thrilled at the prospect of going back from where they left off in Zamboanga City. Those girls were really lovely and now we’re going back! Damn!!! One of them thought.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ramon and a combined team of local and foreign investigators from the Australian International Deployment Team (IDT) were looking at the photographs detailing the gunshot wounds of the victims. Examination of the punctures can determine the firearm and its caliber and along with it the type of bullet used.

Police Major Ellie Lovejoy, one of the IDT members from Australia, was studying a variety of evidence on five long makeshift crime laboratory tables that were assembled by his group.

Ramon addressed Ellie about the idea of the combined team’s plan to mount test shots of sample weapons that were recently brought by chopper from where, Ramon could not tell.

Ellie replied, “Agreed, Ramon. My team and yours are already preparing to make initial shot pattern examinations to find out the approximate distance at which the guns were fired. They will try to determine that by testing specific firearms and ammunition combinations at known distances.”

“Okay that is good, buddy.”

Major Lovejoy’s assistant Helen Wise came up from the path behind where Ramon stood and brandished two different firearms. One an AK – 47 and the other, an M-14. Both were high powered rifles and good for assault. “We are digging for whatever fired bullets we can find and the doctors are extracting slugs from the bodies as fast as they can. Everything else will have to be recovered at the scene. These will also be examined” she said.

“Thanks dear. I can’t do these all without you,” Ellie told his second in command.

Ellie explained to Ramon, “You see, the fired bullets will help eliminate possibilities by providing more general characteristics like the caliber and physical features of the rifling impressions and the places where the bullets came from.”

Then Helen filled in again for Ramon’s benefit, “As you will notice, Sir, Patrick and Graham there are already working some of the evidence we have at hand.”

Ramon observed that an initial small pile of slugs, evidence cartridges and shotshell casings were already being subjected by the Australian team members to microscopic study.

“Patrick is especially good at determining characteristics on these pieces of evidence bullets that can be compared to test-fired bullets from replicas of the suspect firearms to further zero in on the actual type of firearms of the perpetrators of the Saluag Island carnage,” Helen said.

Patiently, other members of the forensic team were gathering any and all available cartridge cases or shotshell casings. Again, Ramon was told, the examinations can determine the caliber or gauge, the maker and whether there are marks of value for comparison. The images of the cartridge cases and shotshell casings in question can be scanned into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s worldwide database called DRUGFIRE.

Australia is able to access the FBI technology on a science and technology sharing program that began a few years back.

Through the DRUGFIRE, one is able to compare shotshell casings with evidence from other shooting incidents. The characteristics of these evidence cartridge cases and shotshell casings that can be seen on a microscope and can help to determine whether they were fired in a specific firearm.

Examining slugs also found and marked as evidence on the other hand, can determine the size of the shot, the gauge of the slug, and the maker. This also goes with the examinations of wadding components.

Gunshot residues deposited on the other evidence such as clothing will differ with the distance from the muzzle of the firearm to the target. The patterns of gunshot residues can be duplicated, but in this case not with a questioned firearm and ammunition combination but with replica firearms and bullets fired into test materials at known distances.

These patterns serve as a basis for estimating muzzle-to-body or muzzle-to-garment distances.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ultimately, the prospectors came back and travelled they did in many parts of Mindanao. After days and days of wandering over Davao City, Iligan City, Jolo, Sulu – sometimes hating the job that was given to them – in Zamboanga City where they took their rest and recreation, they chanced upon the movement called People of the Chosen Tribe. Their leader was giving a speech in a Muslim-dominant state university.

The prospectors listened with awe. Afterwards, with an interpreter in tow, they came to the small group where he was animatedly explaining something about jihad (war), kaadilan (justice), and the oppression from the kafir and the satrubs (the enemy and the infidels). At once, the prospectors called their highly placed superior. The superior, at the time, along with his trusted people, who were listening in to the call that was placed on speaker phone, decided finally they have their man. The superior called Cimarron said the man fits description of the one who shall stand in for Al-Julabi. Al-Julabi himself must go away.

Ecstatic while communicating with Cimarron, their superior officer and benefactor, the prospectors forgot where they were. They were giving each other high fives, already in the mood for celebrating. However, when they noticed everyone was looking at them, they realized the time was not right and they were definitely in a very wrong place.

On the same day of their monumental discovery and immediately getting the green light to approach the People of the Chosen Tribe leader, they thought about their assured promotions in the armed forces. That was where they belonged. The leader was intrigued by the strangers’ presence and volunteered to help them with anything they might probably want. The prospectors said they wanted nothing; they wanted no one except that they badly needed him, also to be their own leader in another, much bigger, much more successful movement.

That instantly got the leader’s attention. It didn’t take long; the leader was receptive to their scripted pitch. So the prospectors successfully negotiated with the leader and they inked an agreement with him on midnight of that day.

The leader considered the signing of the agreement a momentous decision. He went home, not saying anything. But all his kin around him noticed. He acted very strangely. He was certainly not himself. It was as if the jinns and the angels of Al’lah (S.W.H.) conspired to make something out of him that he was both afraid of and yet had been dearly aspiring for. A part of him said that he could, and that, he should take the challenge and become equal to it. The other part of him told him to run away from it. To give vent to his fears.... not to let himself be an instrument of anything other than the peaceable faith of Islam, but that did not happen.

He went to where the prospectors would take him. The part of him that dreamt of big things and a celebrated vindication for his people, had won.

For more than a year, he was gone. He had only the clothes at his back and nothing else. They forbid him from even bringing a bag, neither even just a small sachet of toothpaste in his pockets. They said he would not need anything. Everything will be provided for. Back home meanwhile, his friends and relatives were told stories by witnesses from the school about his having been recruited. Recruited for what and by whom, some had asked.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” His relatives exclaimed in defense. “It must only be for something truly important!”

“And those people who got him, must only be for Al’lah (S.W.H.) since nothing could be more significant.” Another said.

At times, they fought and quarreled over his journey. And on and on the stories went in their small enclave of scarcely educated men.

The leader of the People of the Chosen Tribe eventually went home, healthy muscle sinews now visible in his hands and in many parts of his body. In heavy sweat he walked the path toward the small house his relatives shared with him and his brothers. His hands greatly burdened by three huge bags that he was told to open only at home and in utmost secrecy, he arrived to eagerly awaiting relatives and neighbors. Although he was sternly instructed that were it possible, even those people whom he trust should never be able to even have a glimpse inside the bag.

Nevertheless, this did not happen. He returned home to consult with his competent and learned parents, in reality just foster parents. Only he and his brothers were alive. His parents earlier died of hunger and starvation.

He and his foster kin gathered around the bag. They were shocked and filled with glee when they saw more than two million Philippine pesos inside the bag in denominations of one thousand, five hundred and one hundred. Below the money, there were at least one hundred magazine clips of .45-cal ammunition. The two smaller bags contained twenty .45-cal pistols, holsters and leather belts with ammunition clip holders. Volumes of documents also packed side by side with the short firearms. One of his foster uncles said laughing, if they really want you to start a little war, they really, really thought of everything!

Suddenly, the leader of the Yakan People of the Chosen Tribe leader lifted his arms looked up to the heavens, his lips trembling. He was intently praying. He thanked Al’lah for his very good fortune. His Tausug foster relatives looked at him and then smiled broadly at each other. Their ward just struck a gold mine – not a bad one for a Yakan.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter IV

CHAPTER 4

National Defense College

2002

It was more than a week after the delightful vacation with Maria. Eugene had gone back to his unit knowing that he and Maria would one day soon go back to their old relationship. The past weeks showed him that. Somehow, he thought, Maria could be good for him. Suddenly, orders came for him to report back to the Special Mission Batallion Landing Team only to be given another set of orders to report to the National Defense College of the Philippines compound for the Joint Command and General Staff (JCGS) Course.

Opening day of the Command and General Staff (CGS) Course at the Joint CGS College inside the NDCP complex went through without fanfare. Eugene scouted the complex and visitedsome of his friends at the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) at the adjacent compound. A lot of them treated him out to lunch, dinner and snacks on seeing him again after a very long time.

At the College, some of his new classmates he got to like; they were loud and some a way bit vulgar in manners and speech. But he respected them because like him, they were part of the Special Ops community. A few of them like him, were also members of the elite International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI) belonging to the multi-national Region VII group composed of representatives from various countries outside of the United States.

Today, Eugene felt awful after four nights of successive discreet and very quiet drinking sessions with four of his cantankerous new classmates. Eugene reminded himself that it was Monday but a holiday. Although his course administrators did not mind that it was a holiday; for them it was a pleasure to continue teaching, they told the class. The clock told Eugene it was 0500H – not too early for him in the morning. He made himself strong coffee and lit a panatela slim -- coughing on the fourth hit from the cigar, but he relished the ritual nonetheless, not knowing why he was into it up to now that he was feeling some constriction in his chest.

He trod lazily towards the bathroom thinking about the first classes that begin at 0900H today, but he kept recalling that this stint at the Joint Services General Staff Command Course was the least of what he had wanted for himself. Not at this time of his life, he thought as he ran an early bath, hot. After changing into his uniform, he recalled how sad it made him when they booted him out of his command. The Sixth (Special Missions) Battalion Landing Team, Marines, was most accomplished among other battalions in the elite Special Op community of the Philippine Navy that included the Navy's Special Warfare Action Group (SWAG).

He was told that his relief came for a good number of reasons — prominent among them his desire to see reform that was very wanting in his own Service in general which reasons were not good, they said. They said, they thought of him as naïve and a nuisance and very immature. Ungentlemanly and unofficerlike. Brig. Gen. Gil Gerveron especially thought so about him in particular. Those were the same words that spewed from his mouth when he and the General had shouting matches. The fact that many of the officers in the Philippine Marines shared the phraseology, showed his considerable influence.

He took this course seriously though. He might just come in line for General one day and he needed it. He made a small survey of former graduates and was told the most important part of the tasks was the writing the Commander’s Paper.

Nearly everyone that he polled agreed on this. They all said however, that he had to make good in the tests and to be extra careful in revealing his innermost thoughts. Why? He asked at least one of the alumni that he had interviewed. "Because in our time, we suspected that one of the faculty and the chief of records-human resources division of NDCP were infiltrators of the local communists. And they have unlimited access to the Joint Command and General Staff records."

Eugene thought, now that was real bull shit.

Poring over the early research he made on the subject for today and the theme of his future Commander’s Paper with his free hand, Lt. Col. David drank his coffee while hot with his left hand.

His notes focused on dealing with non-conventional threats to the security of the state --- terrorists' threats. The data in his hands simply overwhelmed him. How large the number of these non-traditional threat groups could be! And how variable threat levels can become! Many or nearly almost all of them could not even be seen.

He segregated his data, labeled and filed one stack of documents that he would prefer to work on in a stand up document case.

TERRORISM

He walked through the data he scribbled on a pad, noting the vital points. Then he stood up and headed for his class.

At the classroom, he and his classmates found lettering on the white board:

Form yourselves into four groups. Hold a workshop on the monograph Counterterrorism Around the Globe Today. The Workshop Problem is: What solutions must be adopted to stop terrorism in the Philippines. Print the answers you will decide on in the sheets of manila paper on the table. I will not be around. -- Prof. Ted Parado

Everybody shouted at the same time, So he is on holiday after all! Someone catcalled and said, Liar!

To form four groups, Eugene and all his classmates made a headcount of fours. All number ones formed Group I, number twos, threes and fours in II, III and IV respectively. Eugene and a few of the Special Ops boys got into Group IV, the last group that would report if the reporting will be in the normal order.

The class was so noisy but soon they were getting into the compliance mode. The groups were formed. Eugene and his fellow workshop group members agreed to use another room in the building. They filed out into the corridor and looked for a spare room or space where they can hold their own discussions without being disturbed nor causing distraction. After finding out that one five rooms away from theirs was empty, they took seats in a circular fashion. Lt. Col. Marlon Carga and Eugene led the discussions.

As rapporteur, Eugene wrote at white in front of his groupmates the terrorist activities that they shared knowedge about from the monograph given by Prof. Parado.

• 23rd October 1983 bombing US Contingent Multinational Forces, Beirut, Lebanon • US Embassy, Beirut bombing • October 1993 World Trade Center bombing • Encounter U.S. forces with terrorists Mogadishu, Somalia • Harassment of a US peacekeeping contingent Northern Iraq • US Military housing complex car bombing, Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia • Murder of Pakistani President, Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, US Ambassador Arnold Raphel, 20 others on board air plane at Bahawalpur, Pakistan • 1992 Abu Sayyaf bombing of wharf Zamboanga City targeting MV Doulous, international evangelist's ship • November 14, 1993 terrorists kidnapping U.S. missionary Charles M. Watson, Pangutaran Island, Sulu Batu • December 11, 1994 explosion on Philippine Airlines air craft • April 1995 Massacre at Christian town Ipil, Zamboanga province • September 9, 1997 kidnapping of German business executive, Zamboanga City • August 7, 1998, Twin Bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar a-Salaam, Tanzania • January 31, 1999 grenade lobbing into crowd in Mindanao to avenge death of terrorist leader Gandalani

Lt. Col. Carga explained, "Okay classmates, as you know and from your own copy of the monograph, the 23rd October 1983 bombing involves the US Contingent of the Multinational Forces compound in Beirut, Lebanon. Killed were 241 US servicemen. M.O., car bomb. On the same year, Sirs, the US Embassy in Beirut was also bombed. Same M.O., car bomb. Both bombings and many others that would happen much later, were done with the use of a vehicle as the means of delivery. Around this time, among the more gruesome incidents we will be discussing, are the bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar a-Salaam, Tanzania. A total of 244 were killed including 12 Americans and 38 Foreign Service Nationals, and some 4,585 were reportedly injured."

Someone was raising his hand saying, "Excuse me, Col. Carga, why are we spending time on foreign terrorist attacks? After this, we are supposed to do what?"

Col. Carga answered, "Well, Col. Simonela, we will find the solutions. Whether these are foreign or local terrorist incidents, we will merely be using these as examples. As our professor had mentioned yesterday and since the beginning of classes."

"Okay, please proceed, Sir." the officer beside Col. Simonela replied.

Col. Carga continued: "On the October 1993 incident, the M.O. used was car bomb. On the US Embassy in Beirut same M.O., car bomb again. Now in 1992, here it is, in our own Philippines, local Abu el-Seif militants hurl a bomb at the pier of Zamboanga City, where at the time, the MV Doulous an international floating bookstore manned by Christian preachers, is docked. Several people are injured. Imagine that, kasi mga kaibigan naman, isang tropa ng mga evangelists distributing Bibles among the Muslims. Eh, kabubuo lang ng Abu el-Seif, so what would you expect? We all know that Zamboanga is full of our brother Muslims, di ba classmates?"

Eugene's and Lt. Col. Carga's groupmates shook their heads in disbelief. Some uttered mild profanities.

The group chair continued once more, "Now, in the U.S. of A., on October 3-4, 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by Ramzey Yusuf, who owned up to the bombing and was arrested in Manila, Philippines. Then back to Mindanao, on Nov. 14, 1993 Abu el-Seif terrorists kidnap U.S. missionary Charles M. Watson in Pangutaran Island, Sulu Batu."

"Then, again, there was this encounter between U.S. - U.N. forces with alleged terrorists in Mogadishu, Somalia, that left 18 US servicemen dead. An Islamic militant organization later figured in the investigations as to who engaged the US forces in a firefight.

"On November 14, 1993 terrorists kidnapping U.S. missionary Charles M. Watson, Pangutaran Island, Sulu Batu. The missionary, who works for the Summer Institute of Linguistics, is released unharmed in Manila on December 7, same year, that is 1993.

"And here in the Philippines still, on December 11, 1994 Abu el-Seif claimed that they were responsible for the an explosion aboard a Philippine Air Lines jet. One Japanese citizen is killed; there were at least 10 others seriously injured. Then by April 1995 the Abu el-Seif carries out the Ipil, Zamboanga Massacre. Ipil is a small Christian town in Zamboanga Province in Mindanao. The Abu el-Seif brigands razed the town center to the ground. Total soldiers and civilians killed 53. At this time, the Armed Forces is saying that the group has more or less grown apart from our handlers and instead established a link with international terrorist cells.

This includes Wadn Hassan's global Al Qaeda.

Eugene joined in, "Also in the same year of 1995, a US peacekeeping contingent was harassed in Northern Iraq with unconventional tactics. As a result of the heavy exchange of fire that followed, two of the US Army UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters were shot down, killing all of the servicemen on board." (The same incident was made into a movie by Hollywood later with the title, “Black Hawk Down”.)

Eugene further added, "In Riyadh, on November 13 also in 1995, there was another incident where the Office of the Program Manager of the Saudi Arabian National Guard was – again – car bombed. The attack killed two Indians and five American Servicemen. As we all know, 1995 was also the year when the World Trade Center bomber Ramzey Yusuf, who claimed responsibility for the bombing was arrested in Manila, Philippines."

Passing his palm over the initial incidents listed by Eugene, Lt. Col. Carga took special note of the militant Mohaqir Qaumi Movement.

He said that, "As far as my own knowledge of this movement is concerned, the Mohaqir Qaumi represents the Islamic migrants of Pakistan. Their leader, Farooq Dada died, only 25 years old. The Mohaqir Qaumi Movement lost their topmost leaders in the Massacre in 1995. Around 600 ethnic minorities in Karachi from April to July 1995 alone. This was followed by reprisals by the Movement --- very violent counterattacks that led to the death of hundreds of Pakistani soldiers, police officers and innocent civilians."

While Col. Carga was speaking, Eugene went to the side of the room where a desktop computer was installed and sat down. He booted the desktop and typed the initial topics he and Lt. Col. Carga selected and that he wrote on the white board. Keying the list on the computer owned by the Joint Services Staff Command Course, he took out his own copy of the monograph and his notes -- copying some items while skipping certain points from the monograph and his notes like the data on Agha Hasan Abedi who was already neutralized. In layman's terms, dead. (Agha Hasan Abedi who died at 72 years, was charged with and convicted of, fraud and indicted for theft and other charges in the United States. Abedi was said to have perpetrated the largest financial fraud in history by founding and diverting the funds acquired by his Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Eugene's cross references on Abedi pointed to him as being at the forefront of the fund-raising efforts for global terrorism.)

Eugene moved on to the next item that happened to be what Lt. Col. Carga was briefly backgrounding on:

"In this period, suspected terrorist perpetrators were said to be behind the murder of Pakistani President, Mohammad Zia ul-Haq along with US Ambassador Arnold Raphel and some twenty odd other persons on board a Hercules C-130 transport plane at Bahawalpur, Pakistan."

Col. Carga explained further, that, "The Pakistani President, was a wholehearted supporter of the Afghan mujahideens in their determination to liberate their land from the Soviet’s puppet or client regime in Kabul. President Zia was later on acclaimed by the United States Secretary of State George Shultz in the presence of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the largest mujahideen faction staging expeditions into their territory from Pakistan, as a 'martyr.'"

Eugene noted that Lt. Col. Carga skipped the portion that Secretary Shultz, after his eulogy to the late Pakistani leader Pres. Zia, gave Hekmatyar more firearms, food rations, supplies and funds to be used in their struggle in Islamabad.

Eugene chilled over the thought that the people of Gulbuddin, later went in league with one Wadn Hasan, formed a loose but huge network of international terrorists that emerged from their mujahideen group called the Makhatab at Khidamat or MAK – that later became the Al Qaeda (literally The Hand) that had been connected with earlier targeting of US forces.

Further, that he had a boss, whose name was Fayidi ibn Mohammad bin Akhtari whose whose main contact to Wadn was a certain Bashiir. Bashiir was killed by British Intelligence and was a frequent visitor at the Philippine capital, Manila and at Zamboanga and General Santos Cities in Mindanao. Akhtari was also said to have a runner, Al Hajj Mudmar Khalimpas whose sister’s hand was taken in marriage by bin Laden in simple Islamic rites in Saudi Arabia. Mudmar is said to have become the contact man of Ramzey Yusuf in Manila.

"September 9, 1997, some suspected Abu el-Seif elements kidnap a German in Zamboanga City. After three months in captivity, the German, who is a business executive, is released on Dec. 26. "Then one year later, on December 1998 the Abu el-Seif leader Abdullah Razuk Gandalani is killed in a firefight with elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the Lamitan village, Basilan Province.

"Jan. 31, 1999 Abu el-Seif members are suspected of lobbing a grenade into a crowd that had gathered to watch firefighters put out a blaze in a neighborhood supermarket. Ten people are killed, and at least 74 injured. The attack is thought to have been carried out as a form of revenge over the death of their leader, Abdullah Razuk Gandalani.

Eugene finished writing more incidents in the past and Col. Carga again made a small footnote to each incident:

• March 20, 2000 kidnapping of 53 children, teachers -- 2 Christian schools Basilan 2 hostages beheaded • April 23, 2000 abduction 21 people - 10 Westerners, 9 Malaysians, 2 Filipinos - from Sipadan resort, Malaysia • May 18, 2000 3 grenades exploded in Jolo market • June 3, 2000 kidnap of 10 journalists, mostly Germans -- ransom for $25,000 • July 1-9, 2000 kidnap of German reporter, French TV crew and Philippine evangelists • Aug. 29, 2000 kidnapping of Jeffrey Craig Schilling, American Muslim convert • Sept. 10, 2000 kidnapping of 3 people from Pandanan Island diving resort • October 12, 2000 bombing of USS Cole, port of Aden, Yemen • May 21, 2001 raid on a Pearl Farm Island resort • May 27, 2001 Abu el-Seif kidnapping at Dos Palmas Resort, Palawan • Wadn Hassan bombing of World Trade Center, New York, September 11, 2001 • Aug. 5, 2001 10 hostages of terrorist group found beheaded

Lt. Col. Carga and Eugene take turns in backgrounding the incidents:

"Then came March 20, 2000 where a total of 53 hostages - including 22 school children, five teachers and a priest - are seized from two Christian schools in Basilan after Abu el-Seif failed in an attempt to take an army outpost. The rebels subsequently release 20 hostages in exchange for food and medicine. Later, 2 of the male hostages were beheaded by Abu el-Seif members while negotiations were going on and 4 other hostages when our troops attempted a rescue attempt.

"On April 23, 2000 Abu el-Seif rebels abduct 21 people - 10 Westerners, nine Malaysians and 2 Filipinos - from the Sipadan Resort in Malaysia were kidnapped and taken to Jolo, Sulu. 2 of the American hostages were able to escape while there was commotion at the resort.

"By May 18, 2000, the Abu el-Seif again lobbed grenades, three of these exploded in the town of Jolo's Public Market. Instantly 4 died and dozens are injured. Police identified the Abu el-Seif as the perps. But please take note, different means of delivery. It's not by car bomb, as in our foreign examples. At least not yet."

Eugene's and Col. Carga's classmates shook their heads in disbelief one more time in reaction to the comment.

Col. Carga continued: "On June 3, 2000 Abu rebels kidnap 10 journalists, mostly Germans, and released them in a matter of only 10 hours following a ransom payment of $25,000 from abroad or from their Embassy, we don't know.

"Then on July 1-9, 2000, over a 9-day period, Abu el-Seif terrorists will again conduct a series of kidnappings of media persons and Filipino subjects - a German national -- a journalist; a French TV crew; and, a Willy Almeda's evangelists who visited the Jolo camp to pray for the hostages.

"On August 29, 2000 Abu el-Seif militants abduct Jefferson Sealing, an American Muslim convert who came to visit their camp at Jolo, Sulu. Abu Sibanya, the spokesman for one of the groups of the Abu el-Seif that kidnapped Schilling says his group is demanding the release of Ramsey Yussuf, Sheikh Adul Osama Rahman and Abu Hajdal from captivity in American prisons.

"On September 10, 2000, the Abu el-Seif kidnaps 3 from Pandanan Island diving resort. The hostages are taken to Sulu Province.

Lt. Col. Carga said, "On October 12, 2000 the USS Cole, in the port of Aden, Yemen, was bombed. 17 American servicemen died.

"In many of the terrorist attacks," Col. Carga said further, "the name of Wadn Hassan, a Saudi-born multi-millionaire, kept cropping up. Gene’s eyes slowly became sleepy. Suddenly he perked up. The same ibn Wadn Hassan, according to his notes, was sighted in The Philippines! He purportedly died from American strafing and ground-penetrating bombing in Afghanistan."

"May 21, 2001 suspected Abu el-Seif elements again undertake a raid on a Pearl Farm Island resort. Nobody is kidnapped but 2 resort workers died and 3 others got sustained injuries in a brief gunfight between the security personnel of the Island Resort and the Abu el-Seif terrorists.

"On May 27, 2001 Abu el-Seif kidnaps 20 tourists at Dos Palmas Resort, Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan Province. The victims include a Filipina nurse and a missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas and another American, Guillermo Sobero of Corona, California, who was beheaded by terrorists. Sobero's remains were left behind by the terrorists.

"In August 5, 2001 our troops rescue 13 hostages, including eight children, from Abu el-Seif. The hostages are among a group of 36 people seized three days earlier in a raid by the extremist group on a village on the southern island of Basilan. On the same day our forces who staged the rescue found at least 10 hostages of the terrorist group that had already been beheaded.

"On September 11, 2001 Wadn Hassan masterminded the bombing of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in New York. We all know now of its devastating effect on the American people.

"By November, the 15th, in 2001 back in Mindanao, the Abu el-Seif were starting to feel the pressure from our troops and our American counterparts. The el-Seif bandits release 7 of only 10 remaining hostages. Left with them were Deborah -- the Filipina nurse and Martin and Gracia Burham.

"Finally, on November - December 2001, the capture of Abu el-Seif terrorists with the aid of Satellite generated Photos from the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), became imminent. Our friends in the U.S. sends several dozen satellite photo analysts as advisers. Together with them were Green Berets who will train our soldiers in finally neutralizing the Abu el-Seif. The U.S. Army also gives hundreds of weapons, including sniper rifles, mortars and grenade launchers, to the Philippine military for use against the Muslim extremist group linked to the Al Qaeda.

"Much later, as we all are aware, the Filipina nurse and Martin Burnham were killed during the final rescue operation and only Gracia survived."

Now, my dear classmates, let's have coffee at our room.

The workshop Group IV of Eugene and Lt. Col. Carga went on a short recess and each of them took coffee or tea from their home room.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

CREDIBILITY, INTEGRITY, were things to both the old Lt. Gen. Gilberto Gerveron and himself. These they could almost touch and hold. These, they considered real. Not intangibles, no. Not just. These were live objects. Like what Russians say about misery: It was not only almost like a real possession; they could caress misery with their own hands. A constant. A friend.

To him and his erstwhile buddy, being poor was a constant too, as they cling to their values from the old realm.

Yet times change and time does things even to the best of men, Gil told him in not so many words, but on several occasions. Gil told him to "step out into the real world of men." Then he would smile that crocodile smile of his that made Eugene laugh everytime.

At the center of these pep talks - deliberately composed and even rehearsed to David's mind - was a deal. Not dissimilar to the nefarious business over the purchase of the Italian S-211 trainer jets nearly eight years ago that had since caused the death of many pilots. The deal was downright scandalous. Talk about advances made to a Maj. Candallero, several generals lining up behind him and members of the staff of the lady president in Malacañang, including the presidential family was persistently doing the rounds in the military officers' circles.

And when top level officers involved in a deal start talking about these delicate matters, staff and technical sergeants chauffering them, as their security details, overhear. They turn into cotton, absorbing things wet and sometimes downright dirty. Then the matter is suddenly no longer delicate business anymore.

The deal that Gen. Gerveron entered into began a low point in their relationship. Ultimately, old and forgotten grudges started getting exhumed like long buried dead bodies. Some petty objects of past bickerings between best friends instantly grew into differences of international crisis proportions.

Soon they would only speak to each other through diplomatic emissaries as their mutual loathing and aversion deepened.As much as the general officer took pride in his insignia and wanted his mistakes passed on to the lower ranking officer in the Service, the subordinate animal whose qualification made him the mere equal of an aide-de-camp of his adversary, none of the two made any distinction of who was in the more superior order. The elder officer stooped down to the level of junior officer and his ribands and stars were altogether forgotten. It would not have been honorable for the star-ranked general officer to ignore the differences of the decorations in their epaulettes. But he loved the conflict and savored it and could not help being part of the fight.

The rift finally came to the breaking point. Each rejected recognition of the other's existence any further. That, for David was the last straw.

Even the armed forces Chief of Staff could not reconcile them. The defense secretary also tried. Almost a year since the Great Divide came between them, merely a few kept faith that perhaps if it were the Commander-in-Chief, they might act like adults once more.

None, however, hit the other at the back or slew mud at his enemy. Their quarrel, their small war, drew to a peak very silently, like the Cold War. Both were masters of quiet sabotage, of high strategy. The harm they inflicted upon each other could have ruined the lives of less formidable men or women, as it were. In their frames of mind, though, nobody could have cared any less. Life went on for both of them, perchance with plodding difficulty and bitterness in their hearts. Every one else seemed to understand them perfectly enough and although they returned past favors they were left to their own resources well enough alone. One would have paid a dear price to have to intervene.

The General wore many hats. He was Chief of the Defense Operations Center, Department of National Defense (DOC, DND) that used to be called the Defense Management Operations Center (DOMC). The DOC was now extensively expanded and had several offices and a huge transparent electronic logistics-manning charts and geographic monitoring boards to its credit. At the same time, he was the Vice-Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines, the second most important man in the country’s entire military structure.

In the old days, the DOMC office was merely a small one-desk affair in the fourth floor of Don Teofilo Sison Bldg., the small-sized edifice that housed the entire executive staff complement of the national defense organization. DOMC was manned by an officer whom the DND officialdom looked down upon as someone who had nothing better to do therefore was suited for the job of DOMC chief. A DOMC head had at least one or two runners under him, one would predictably be his chauffeur and the other enlisted man would be his man Friday.

By far the most important chore of the DOMC chiefs in the past was to arrange the schedule of helicopter transport for the Secretary of National Defense when his travels would require one. He was also provided information about the disposition of all the air transport assets of the Philippine Air Force so that when necessary, he could arrange for the use of any one or several of these assets for the purpose of the Secretary of National Defense.

Any one of the functional choppers from the Philippine Air Force that were at the disposition of the PAF command, were also considered available for the DOMC chief each time the Secretary of National Defense (SND) needed one. The greatest power of the DOMC chief then was that he could bump off anyone who was scheduled to use a C-130 or any other air asset of the Air Force like a chopper, if and when that airplane or helicopter would be the only one that could be made available for the SND.

However, things had changed radically when the general assumed the office of chief of the now renamed Defense Operations Center. The rank and file at the Department were surprised when a huge section of the second floor of the defense building was torn apart and rebuilt into a one-room affair. Then a large volume of computers were brought into that room, including what looked like a newer, much more sophisticated version of the server being used at the Intelligence Records Center at the next compound occupied by the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines – otherwise known as the ISAFP or its sister main frame at the Otis Compound of the presidential palace, where the National Security Council computers and its sensitive database were being maintained and secured.

Following the computers and the state-of-the-art main frame, were giant maps and projectors, working tables and chairs, an extraordinarily long conference table and five portable toilets and bath that bore trade marks of an import and export company in the People’s Republic of China.

As soon as the DOC was fully established, a big sign was installed at the only known entrance to it that spelled out the word “RESTRICTED” in clear white letters against a blue background. A smaller subtitle was placed below this Restricted lettering that read: Strictly Authorized Personnel Only.

Suddenly, the department had a new configuration. It now had a more active operations component that was not merely scheduling the helicopter and C-130 trips that were required by the defense secretary. Technically, the new defense operations center (DOC), had become a nerve center for tactical operations for the benefit of the Secretary of National Defense. The Secretary not only the Chief of Staff of the armed forces, now had access to the troops down the line. Through him, the President also had the same access.

This capability of the office of the defense secretary was bolstered by the implementation of an unsolicited idea of Eugene when he and the general still had good vibes between them, to establish the Defense Intelligence Office (DIO). It was patterned after after the U.S. model, except that it was determined to be under the control of the defense establishment instead of under that of the Chief of Staff, who already had control of the military's Intelligence Service.

The proposal did not initially catch fire. When Gen. Gerveron came to the defense department, he immediately pushed from where a colleague of Eugene had left off in trying to convince the defense secretary. With his power and influence, he was able to persuade the defense secretary to provide funds for the DIO.

While it was true that the Defense Operations Management Center and the Intelligence Office were meant for the Secretary of National Defense, the general was largely, the one in control.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After finishing up their coffee, Eugene and the rest of his class went back to their original circle sitting formation inside the empty classroom and Eugene wrote down at the white board the Workshop Problem of Professor Parado:

WORKSHOP PROBLEM

"What solutions must be adopted to stop terrorism in the Philippines?"

The group started discussing the terrorist attacks and what manner of solutions could be applied to each of them and to all of them as a whole. And almost an hour, Eugene was printing down the hypothetical answers to Professor Parado's workshop question that he and his classmates had come up with. Someone with a better than usual handwriting printed the answers on the sheets of manila paper provided by their professor. Finally, back at their home room, they placed the several sheets of Manila Paper on the drawer of the Professor's table at the front of the classroom and headed for the students' dorm quarters at the back of the building for their late lunch.

Eugene passed by the ground floor information desk of the dorm to make a call to Maria. At the back of his mind, he wished hard that the better times will come back soon.

A few hundreds of meters from where Eugene was making his call, someone was shouting amidst the roar of buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles and other sorts of automobiles plying the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue - also known as EDSA - and the drowned out sounds of the people in the area: "This has been written and spoken for by FATWAH!!! ... FATWAH!!! ... FI SABILLILAH JIHAAAAAAAD!!! AL'LAHU AKBAR!!! AL'LAHU AKBAR!!! AL'LAHU AKBAR!!!"

Then suddenly a huge twin explosion ripped through the Our Lady of EDSA Shrine and the People's Power Monument tearing them apart into shreds and flaying people into mid-air and with many of them, their torsos were severely were seared and mutilated by the blast beyond recognition. A siren sounded throughout Camp Aguinaldo and as if by perfected silent drill, everyone walked or run to the direction where the incident took place.

Chapter V

CHAPTER 5

London

2002

AL FAYIDI MOHD. AKHATARI, known to many as Sir Fayid, for he was a Knight of the Realm, enjoyed the prime of his life. In two different ways, he mused.

At one of these, he lived an ascetic existence together with several wives in a network of caves somewhere in the Mediterranean.

On the other occasion, he lived the life befitting royalty in an 80-room villa in the suburbs of London. As well, a part of this was vacationing in his 200-room castle in Austria and in his other properties around the world.

As the son of a former factory mechanic, but the ascendant head warmonger among his peers in the secret fraternal society called the Order of the Scions of Horus, Fayidi rose above his circumstances by wisely investing the funds from Switzerland held in trust by the secret society through its numerous subalterns in the banking sector.

Fayidi flicked the mouthpiece of the houkkah, the water pipe used by opium users. His eyes scanned the sky and the effect of the drug lent a sensation of mirth to his face.

He had every reason to be happy. From his family’s humble beginnings, his father made a killing in becoming the King Saud’s master mechanic. From then he amassed a fortune from contracts awarded by his employer, the King. Fayidi’s father was then recruited by the Order and him as well when he was thirteen years old. Fayidi’s uncle, Wadn Hassan was the elder who took the elder Akhtari into the Order.

As of the moment, his own personal assets amounted to 980 million pounds sterling – which made him a billionaire in terms of dollars. While the Trust Fund of the Order had grown steadily under his watch from UK£12 Billion to nearly 100 billion. On the other hand, a huge number of his fellow rich Arabs succumbed, one after the other, to his ruthless machinations and had effectively made the society much richer by almost 200 percent.

He seduced them in lavish and garish parties in the Excalibur Estate, in his villas, castles and mansions in France, Austria, Switzerland and the monumental palace he built in Karachi, Pakistan.

Last night, for instance, was a night of nights for a lot of the old and noveau rich, the blue bloods, social climbers of various types, business middlemen, bankers, moneymarket and commodities traders and so many others who would pay a high price to be in his parties.

Each time he organized a party, a lot of them made killings in the stock market. His simple and highly subtle get-togethers had always been a hit. It was always mentioned in the Fortune Magazine’s pages, in the London dailies’ and magazines columns.

He gifted editors and network owners abundantly for them to never mention his name, but merely cite the occasion, the venue, the significance and the theme of each party so that people will know it was his own.

Not a few gained money from his mysterious mergers, passive takeovers, partnerships in single or clusters of transactions --- mostly involving transnational commerce. There were buy and sell deals involving oil, gold, silver and all other commodities except diamonds which Fayidi loathed because it was nearly one hundred percent controlled or influenced by Israeli and European Jews. These were the only people in the world aside from the Americans that Fayidi secretly hated deep down to his very bones. However, he kept these feelings extremely close to his chest.

Not a few had wished they would lay give their life away just to be in his social gatherings, even his perceived mortal enemies, the Americans and the Jews.

There were also the very royal villa that he built in Papua New Guinea, a hillside residential palace in Malaysia, near Brunei and a number of hotels that dotted the globe. His parties never discriminated among his residences and hotels. He held them in each of every one of them at one occasion and then another and another.

The revelries did not seem to stop. And the business kept flowing. In the process, Fayidi kept accummulating wealth, like his own partygoers did. In some of the occasions, he made better killings than his guests; on many of them, he deliberately just took a little for himself. Like the bank in a casino, he kept his subjects addicted to the winnings, the profits and the hunger for money. Easy money in most of them. No mind that he dished out illegal trading, gave unauthorized insider information as tips during his parties. Just as long as he kept it all within control and his guests pursued him like gambling junkies --- which they all were anyway.

His Royal Highness, Prince Heffere -- wayward brother to a Sultan in Southeast Asia, nearly caused the collapse of his brother’s empire when he allowed Fayidi to extract billions of dollars worth of loans, securities and bonds from the Sultan’s investment agency called the BIA. His Majesty, The Sultan’s brother after all, was one of the new recruits of the Order.

All Fayidi had to do was write off the debts and leave the Sultan’s financial wizards with a long string of collaterals scattered around the globe to sort out and foreclose. This was easier said than done since some of the alleged collaterals were either bought, or were actual original real estates or else expensive items such as yachts, jet aeroplanes, luxury cars among others, registered in the name of women – wives of the Sultan’s brother.

There were a large number of them since the Sultan’s brother never appeared to have a waning taste and love for women from as many parts of the world as possible. Aside from naming the properties after women, Fayidi also ingeniously placed some of the larger properties in the names of his seventeen brothers.

This, notwithstanding that other people who were ‘distant relatives’ of the Sultan were also designated as owners of some of the properties. Such people had real blood ties to the Sultan and were mere commoners, just like the Sultan himself before the British made him King.

They were selected long before and their friendship had been cultivated by Fayidi and his lieutenants that they would do everything to please the Chairman. After 30 years of loyalty and dedication to the society, he had also finally arrived at the turning point of his and the Order’s existence. He was about to become its leader, provided that he proves his worth. And he will. “I will!” he said in his native Arabic tongue over and over.

He had just finished his morning prayers, downed some sweet Turkish coffee and sipped some of the life-enhancing opium that became his habit for the last thirty years since his father initiated him into it.

This home of his here in the London suburbs was well-guarded by his loyal man, Commander Mallaghey, a son of another friend – a Rajah, Gen. Guillaume Mallaghey. It was also equipped with the British SHIELD – a super powerful detection and surveillance system used by the British Army and Secret Services.

He ordered SHIELD to be to protect him from any attack, physical or electronic or any other non-conventional assault. Even laser deflectors were continuously rotating among his plants and trees in his beautiful, well-trimmed gardens.

From his fence outward, a jangle of electronic wizardry provided every imaginable form of detection, counter- or counter-countermeasure, as well as giving the one at their controls the opportunity to offensively strike at intruders.

This was established by Luzivro Technologies – a firm he partly owns and even profitably promoted to make it attain its present ranking in the Top 500 of Fortune Magazine. He sold at a fat profit to the Sultan in South Asia, the Saudi King and his relatives, the leaders of other Arab countries that had enjoyed his fat bribes and their skims from the locals whom Fayidi had appointed as local counterparts.

This property was the one known in many quarters of consequence as The Excalibur Estate and was purchased from a wealthy Greek don.

The estate had been in Fayidi’s name for the past ten years now. There was nothing within it that appealed to him except that everything within the huge house served a utilitarian purpose.

His bodyguards under Commander Mallaghey were all of Arabic stock but many or almost all were also of mixed Indian stock. The Commander’s father, General Mallaghey was a British SAS officer. The guards were mostly former SAS but were part of a distinct unit called the Rajput Regiment.

Their old unit was that of the fightingest soldiers in the entire world. It was a fortunate incident that trader Arabs wandered as far as India and begot sons and daughters in the Rajasthan region of that country. Now Fayidi Akhatri could rely on the best of the best for his personal safety. For this simple reason, among many other considerations, he thanked Al’lah each time that he can sleep like a baby.

Even in his cavern hideaway, none could keep him from his regimen of good, fitful rest.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Fayidi Akhatari slipped into Western garments after removing his keffiyeh. He often would prefer to be in his native Arab’s robes. But he had studied in England’s universities and took up courses in the U.S. He knew how important it was to blend with the Westerners -- British, the French, Greek and the Americans.

The air-conditioning system was in full power. Unlike in other parts of the house however, the cold was the only thing he had to endure here.

He lifted a remote control device as big as a one-dollar coin and the wall came to life with a multiple screen display. A good number of events showed on the screens. He switched from one screen to another, looking intently. Then he turned his attention to the map on the farthest right of the wall monitor.

Akhtari traced his finger along a red pencilled section of the map running form a point in Asia to the United States. Then he traced another pencilled part form the Mediterranean running along to the portion supposed to be at the opposite side of the globe.

He took two small magnetic pins from a stubby table beside where he was, and placed them on three points on the electronic map. The first pin was planted on the screen over Japan. The second pin over California. The third pin went to the tiny drawing of a diminutive country in the map - The Philippines. His face beamed and he said, "Sorry Philipinese."

Then he walked to the left side of the room laughing aloud imitating the sound of a hyena and pushed a nearly invisible button that he memorized the location of. The left wall opened into a massive curtain parted by a small opening near the middle. As soon as he parted the heavy drapery, the wall near the door from where he entered into his high technology war room illuminated automatically revealing a completely digital display of controls almost as common the modern stereo or stereophonic video components.

This side adjacent to his highly computer driven command, control, communications and intelligence system was 17th century England. Thus the music coming from his secret work room was not circa 21st century.

Inside the spacious ‘period room,’ signs of being lived-in were visible everywhere. Pieces of tablet paper here, a book there, a crochette kit on the sofa and other bric-a-bracs wherever one turned his eyes.

The expansive perfectly designed living room led to a bedroom ahead and to the right, the huge terrazzo – again laid out with selected flowering plants and bonzai trees.

She was there, wearing only a flimsy g-string bikini bottom and nothing on her top. Fayidi Akhtari felt his irritation over what happened to the Collander wing of his massive organization. The invalid Collander’s inadequacy somehow rolled back to the inner recess of his brain. A different effusive mood filled him.

Princess Laine, like the goddesses of his dreams, continued to sleep like a baby. He pulled over a sunbathing chair and lay down beside her. He could stare at his Princess for hours and hours on end, but he never got tired of her. Soon he found himself kissing strands of her hair gently, careful not to awaken her. Then he was breathing in, the musky scent of her perspiring back.

They had just had the most pleasant sex ever, the night before, since they arrived from Greece.

“Do you think anyone saw you? Did you take care in coming here?”

“No one, I believe,” said Princess Laine. She had been careful in being seen with him in public.

“I tried hard to keep anyone from seeing you with me in Athens, my love.”

Princess Laine giggled like a little girl. “And all the other places where we went, don’t you... won’t you think that all those people I met wouldn’t somehow imagine that I was with someone? Those who know me believe I am never without company.”

“That you crave for balance, for harmony and that includes always having someone you must partner with.” Akhtari said with a smile. “That you feel inadequate, that there is something missing when you are all alone. Is that it?”

“You’re right!” Princess Laine had always been surprised at how well Yody, – as she affectionately called him – he could read her.

Akhtari shook his head to assure her that they were neither been seen nor that their presence would be associated with each other. He knew that he had always been completely incognito and had not allowed himself to be seen except by the people themselves with whom he was having meetings. Being beholden to the Order, they would never betray his presence in any particular place at any given time.

He and Laine lived on and off together. And he relished the sobriquet she had for him.

“You’re my Casper, my forever friendly ghost.” He reminded himself of those endearing words that she used to say. She still remembered to say them to him.

That memory made him chuckle and every time he would remember her saying it, sometimes it tickled him somewhat.

Princess Laine was born of the Wynstons, also royal clan domiciled in Canada. She was merely 32 now and had two sons, Wayne and Richard, of her now-estranged husband Prince and former heir-apparent to the throne of the Danish Royalty. They now lived separately, she in both England and France while the Prince sought to remain in Denmark after the sister of the late King took over from the Prince’s mother due to scandals over the Prince’s marital break-up with Princess Laine.

Princess Laine settled in England through the graciousness of the British Royalty and was entitled to a £200,000 allowance per annum.

Her trysts with Fayidi were all very hush-hush since even after her divorce with the Prince, she still had to abide by the rules governing subjects and kin of Her Majesty, particularly those of the Royal Family. She even had to be conscious more so of the monarchy in England under whose favors she was allowed to take up residence in London. There was no telling however if the security apparatus of their governments and the Royal Palaces of the monarchies were not yet onto them. They seemed to be everywhere.

Fayidi knew. He also could not tell Laine since she would be upset. Fayidi’s Rajputs had access to nearly everywhere in Copenhagen and London.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter VI

CHAPTER 6

THEY GATHER AGAIN, Sabirah (the Patient One), wife of Bobby Jupatan, cried alone in her room. She had pretended to her husband that she was indisposed.

Wiping away her tears, she pulled out an old box from the bed she shared with her husband and their unfortunate child, Jammil who was suffering from palsy.

She took out pictures of the time when they were young. When she looked at Bobby like he was all there was in the world. Minutes later, she fell asleep holding the photographs close to her chest.

Beyond where she lay, courtesy of the elder Jupatans, was the receiving area. The patriarch, Lamundin Pagdagdangan, an uncle-in-law was entertaining guests. The soon-to-be Honorable Congressman Edgar K. Valloso; the forthcoming Prime Minister Jorge Novicia’s political analyst and drug user Claudio San Gabriel — sometime referred to more often by his colleagues as Mr. Cloudy when he would be high on drugs; the patriarch’s fellow Muslims, Gakon Horo; retired Admiral Rogelio Gaspaldon; second-in-command Rommil Khan; Mayor Jaffar Saalih; former Ambassador Badli Agando and their subalterns.

While everybody settled into their places in the huge sala, former ex-convict, now general factotum of aspirant Prime Minister Novicia, Reynaldo L. Baclang, kept dipping his hands inside a huge bag full of 1,000 Philippine Peso-denominated cash – at least P20,000,000 of it inside the leather bags.

Baclang was accompanied by a Dr. Marcelo Roque, a tall man with a lot of muscle. The doctor regularly lifted weights. But while Dr. Roque prescribed drugs for his patients, Rey Baclang who suffered from an illness that he attributed to “bad liver,” did not ever ask for prescriptions from him.

Baclang did not look good. Some guests in the sala noted his awful appearance as if asking why in heavens he still had to come. But they did not comment. They knew how bad he and aspirant Prime Minister Novicia were relating after a very long spat and were now only renewing their working connection, albeit Novicia who had a terrible grudge against him was always open to using him.

Everyone looked at Baclang once in a while, the willing advocate of the devil. They noticed how terrible he looked, his body sagging everywhere, the lost weight tremendously altered his appearance. Baclang got the services of Dr. Roque’s colleague, Dra. Elizabeth Rimano, who intimated to him that she did not really care an iota if Baclang died. Baclang insisted when she refused to be his doctor, pleaded and begged. Fortunately, Dr. Rimano’s oath in the end did not allow her to turn her back from him.

Baclang settled himself into a sofa away from all the guests — it irritated him that they minded him so much. He felt very tired and spent.

He set down two medium-sized suitcases while Dr. Roque had four. They both worked on transferring the contents into large duffel bags. One bag already stacked changed hands from Baclang to a group of young mujahideens eager to get their hands on the package. The large sum of money for the mujahideen was for a certain Operation Condemn.

The money was for the group to undertake “terrorism” in Ranao and Maguindanao. Deals were being made so they would be tolerated by politicians, high police and immigration officials in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei if and when they need to escape there. They would thus not be harmed and may even be contracted to undertake similar nasty jobs in those places.

The young turks were first to be allowed to an elders’ meeting. This was unprecedented and was never done in the past. It must not be easy for young Turks to identify the elders. It was taboo for anyone to determine the elders’ true identity. No one was supposed to know who they were and be able to threaten, kidnap or kill them if they opposed the more recent, high-profile acts of the emerging young breed who were more mercenaries of the worst order rather than disciplined guerillas, the same ones who would gravitate towards the People of the Chosen Tribe – now calling themselves Jama’a Abu Sayyap or Jama’a l'harakatul.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Baclang got comfortable in the plane ride back to Manila, he smiled. He thought that those young Muslims would be doing what he and his companions in the Light The Fire Brigade and the April Seventeen Movement used to do. He shuddered to think that back then, he was always the one ordered to carry the pail or plastic shopping bag containing the explosives and it was he who had to plant the bomb at the Manila Garden Hotel as well as at the Shell Gasoline Station and oftentimes, he was also the one who did the planting in many of their other targeted places.

At that time, he used to be the mere errand boy, man Friday, general factotum of the Light The Fire members, led by famous Ateneo de Manila University alumnus and big time Social Democrat, Rafael Mallavos himself. Under Mallavos were Dino Corazon, a certain Joseph whose last name he could not recall, Miguel Rebondio, Eduardo Buenoferro, brothers Jose and Miguelito Ramiro (who even claimed blood relations with Pres. Porteza), Manolito and Juan Piñia – who believed they were half Israelites and half Spanish, Lucefo Largamayo and Arthur Baltazar, who says he is a nephew of former Pres. Eggy Porteza.

From being a mere runner of the Christian terrorist brigade, going to prison for it and losing his wife to a jail guard, he had come a long way. A mighty long, long way. He began feeling exhaustion again. The trip did not exhaust him so much. What made him feel so bad was avoiding being noticed by the others in the traveling party from Manila that he was going out at nights to meet at least fifteen big time drug traders.

Aside from the suitcases of cash that the delegation had brought along, he also inserted about fifty seven and one half (57½) kilograms of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride, that was also known in the streets by its Japanese name shabu.

There were at least eleven contacts that he had to meet to fully dispose of the 57½ kilos of shabu he brought over from his brother's contacts. He himself had tried out the drugs and found out that they had a high degree of purity. Each time he sniffed on the smoking paraphernalia bought by his brother, he was kept awake for two days.

He got the drugs from his brother. Ereneo Maclang was the expert in these things. He was the socialist (he was communist when he started), he was the revolutionary, or at times reformist, at times terrorist, but his brother was the criminal and he was also the killer of the family. They belonged to a clan of insurrectionists and cattle rustlers, both regarded lowly during the early days of the Republic.

Apparently, he inherited traits from the rebel side of his clan while his brother, the characteristics of his villainous forebears. They rarely got along well but blood is thicker than water. When he broached the idea of entering into his brother's business, showing two attache cases of money to him, his sibling's eyes and mouth had watered and hugged him very sincerely to say that "You are the best brother in the world."

Baclang always thought that he was, after all. Recently, through the power and influence of the Novicia camp, he had gotten his younger brother out of jail not more than once. Now that certain people in the Novicia camp were into drugs themselves -- thanks to him, they had to be highly circumspect and had to appear spanking clean.

Therefore, his brother with a long list of offenses against the law was highly visible and very obvious. He had to be told to keep low and not become involved in the operations of some of the people of Novicia.

The politician did not know what his men, nor Baclang, one of his most trusted political advisers, were doing. Little did he know that it would affect him and his life deeply.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There were now two mass casualty incident sites. The Saluag Island massacre site and the ground zero of the huge explosion at EDSA.

Dr. Coscolluella and Maj. Ramon Signes, after more than one month of painstaking work, had just about wrapped up what they were doing at the island and on invitation of the Australians, had gone with their group to Canberra and then to Sidney for futher work on evidence study, classficiation and analysis. The Aussies let Ramon and Janey take at least four other Filipino staff to Australia. However, when the EDSA event happened, the Australians asked them to accompany their International Deployment Team to the spot at EDSA.

It was a quick call. There was no time to pack, so Ramon and Janey brought only their important personal items and left all their clothes in their quarters at the dorm inside the compound of the Australian Federal Police national headquarters in Canberra. They initially flew by the Australian Air Force chopper to the airport and then they took an air force plane to Manila.

It was a Sunday and Non-Commissioned Officers and enlisted personnel who served as drivers were few and far between which was the reason for taking the chopper instead over the short run to the air field. Police Major Ellie Lovejoy and Captain Helen Wise however, had enormous clout with the Australian Protective Service (APS) that in turn had very good relations with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

The Royal Australian defense forces have been integrating their efforts with the federal police of Australia to reach out into an international clientele in disaster assistance. At the forefront of these efforts is the RAAF.

They took off at about 11 a.m. from the small but highly secured landing strip that was exclusively reserved for the use of the Australian Defence Minister. A light lunch was served for them by a RAAF lady 2nd Lieutenant. Ellie and Helen, along with five other Australians were also with them.

Upon hitting Manila, they checked in at the Intercontinental Hotel at Makati City, abruptly leaving for the incident site at EDSA. All the time, Ramon kept the communication open with Eugene who was helping in the rescue and relief operations. Upon reaching the site, Eugene was there to meet them.

Ramon and Janey, introduced their companions, Ellie and Helen and the five other members of the Australian IDT delegation.

Beside Eugene, there were several officers and staff of the National Disaster and Emergency Assistance Coordinating Council (NDEAC) of the Philippine Government who were also there to receive them. They courteously introduced themselves to the foreign visitors. They were instantly brought to a tent that served as the command post of the OSC, on-scene Incident Commander, BGen. Carlos Maglaya, who was the Commanding General of the National Capital Regional Defense Command (NCRDC).

Eugene showed Ramon and Janey and the Australians a brief footage of the post explosion scene. They saw an officer covering the dead bodies of civilians with a plastic sheet after the bomb planted inside the EDSA Shrine exploded, instantly killing nearly two hundred and fifty people and wounding more than one thousand others.

Eugene told them that the footage from tape was taken by a young fellow who was at the scene. He said that he and his classmates in CGSC watched the guy take footages and after he ran out of tape, persuaded the youngster to part with his digital camera since this was a terrorist attack and it was a matter of national security. The boy reluctantly agreed and received Eugene's and the other officers' calling cards. Ramon, Janey and Major Lovejoy laughed at the story.

Eugene explained parts of the tape: "As you can see, there, a large part of the Robinson's Galeria Mall and Hotel collapsed when the ground upon which the bomb was detonated caved in, bringing down with it a huge component of the facade and a portion of the Mall's 5-storey structure like a pack of cards."

"The EDSA Shrine explosion, where did the bomb actually explode?" Janey asked Eugene.

"The bomb, exploded in the southern part of the chapel and therefore nearer to the Mall. At first, the concrete broke open and caused a major portion of National Bookstore, the adjacent restaurant as well as driveway to the basement parking area to join the lower levels of the basement, thereby damaging hundreds of vehicles parked at that spot," Eugene said and Ramon butted in "Must have been powerful, that bomb."

"It was," BGen. Maglaya reported. The General was in civilian attire. He was wearing a dark Ralph Lauren shirt and freshly pressed navy blue denims and rust colored loafers. "Our bomb investigators have hauled a lot of the soil and debris for the past twenty hours in the two explosion sites. They have so far pieced together a big part of the two explosives used. The basic, common factor in the two bombs and in many of the other bombs used here in Manila, like the one in the LRT bombings in December 30 2000, is the silicon something. Eugene, you're the bomb expert, what do you call that silicon thing again?"

"That's a part of the circuit Sir that arms and ignites the bomb. The silicon controlled rectifier, or SCR, Sir" and the General said thanks and signaled with his palm that he had to join the party of the Secretary of National Defense (SND) that had just arrived at the scene.

Eugene continuted: The initial count was at least one hundred sixty civilians killed and and at least 500 others injured security forces estimated.

Due to the low preparedness of the Philippines to these types of incidents, Ramon, Janey and the Australian team were told by Eugene and the NDEAC officials that they have so far been doing things by trial-and-error.

There were some personality conflicts and unit rivalries that were making the job difficult. But so far, the work was proceeding without much delay.

After the informal orientation, the Australians, Ramon and Janey coordinated with the top honchos of NDEAC who were helping provide a semblance of command and control over the incident scene together with the on-scene Incident Commander and started to work right away.

BGen. Maglaya approached Ramon, Ellie and Helen who were huddled in a corner of the Command Post and politely interrupted them: "I'd like you to please meet our Secretary Antonio Sobrinos. Secretary of Defense." As soon as Ellie and Helen acknowledged the top man of defense in the Philippines, the General said, "Mr. Secretary, may I please introduce Police Captain Helen Wise, Police Major Elwood Lovejoy from the International Deployment Team of the Australian Federal Police. They will be assisting us with the investigations."

As he was walking through the incident site, the defense secretary noticed Eugene and said, "Col. David, I think they have very little to teach you at the Command and General Staff Course, ha?"

Behind him, BGen. Maglaya whispered for everyone's benefit in a not-so-soft voice, "He is our unofficial bomb analyst here, Sir, Mr. Secretary" and the SND said, "Is that so now? Well, well!"

Eugene blushed but replied, "We won't be having classes until next week, Sir, Mr. Secretary." to which the official said, "Very good! Very good! Carry on with what you are doing then." And he looked towards the direction where his aides were watching beside the Department of Defense convoy of cars and utility vehicles that ferried the SND to wherever he had to go.

At one of the vehicles, Eugene observed that a familiar pair of eyes were staring at him. His former friend and now bitter foe, newly-promoted to Lieutenant General, Gil Gerveron. The real power behind the throne at the defense department.