And In Other News from the Philippines...
My dad gave me some weird cautionary advice before I left for the Philippines. "Be careful in Nueva Ecija... there is some anti-American sentiment and guerilla activity around there..."
Parents inherently want their kids to be safe. I took his advice as parental paranoia, and reassured him that I'd be safe and keep an eye out. (Yes, I'm sure I rolled my eyes over the phone at some point...)
Apparently, there HAS been this resurgence of guerilla activity in Nueva Ecija. My cousin Sally works for the governor's public affairs office, and she told me that the New People's Army (NPA) have been very active in the rural areas of the province.
The NPA were known as an old-school communist guerilla group back in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1990s, they reached some kind of truce with the government and effectively disbanded... no longer a threat to the political stability of the country.
Apparently, they've made quite a comeback as more of a mafia. They've been extorting, kidnapping, terrorizing in the rural areas of the province. Sally reassured me that they stuck to specific areas (not Cabanatuan), targeted rich land-owners, and that the Philippine Army has been dispatched to the outlying areas to deal with the problem.
I don't feel particularly threatened (I remember I cynically told my dad that, "I refuse to live my life in fear..."). I just found it peculiar that the NPA were active again, especially since Communism was dead. Whenever I thought of terrorist guerillas in the Philippines, I would think of the Abu Sayyaf down in the southern Philippines... a place far far away.
The moral of the story: Father knows best. :-)
__________________________________________
Speaking of safety in the provinces... being a public official seems to be a very dangerous job around Nueva Ecija these days. Check it:
728th leftist leader slain in Nueva Ecija
Another day in the life in the provinces.....
Parents inherently want their kids to be safe. I took his advice as parental paranoia, and reassured him that I'd be safe and keep an eye out. (Yes, I'm sure I rolled my eyes over the phone at some point...)
Apparently, there HAS been this resurgence of guerilla activity in Nueva Ecija. My cousin Sally works for the governor's public affairs office, and she told me that the New People's Army (NPA) have been very active in the rural areas of the province.
The NPA were known as an old-school communist guerilla group back in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1990s, they reached some kind of truce with the government and effectively disbanded... no longer a threat to the political stability of the country.
Apparently, they've made quite a comeback as more of a mafia. They've been extorting, kidnapping, terrorizing in the rural areas of the province. Sally reassured me that they stuck to specific areas (not Cabanatuan), targeted rich land-owners, and that the Philippine Army has been dispatched to the outlying areas to deal with the problem.
I don't feel particularly threatened (I remember I cynically told my dad that, "I refuse to live my life in fear..."). I just found it peculiar that the NPA were active again, especially since Communism was dead. Whenever I thought of terrorist guerillas in the Philippines, I would think of the Abu Sayyaf down in the southern Philippines... a place far far away.
The moral of the story: Father knows best. :-)
__________________________________________
Speaking of safety in the provinces... being a public official seems to be a very dangerous job around Nueva Ecija these days. Check it:
728th leftist leader slain in Nueva Ecija
Another day in the life in the provinces.....
posted by YodaBeesh at
8:41 PM
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