Martial Law on Mindanao Philippines June 2017

[Steadman Uhlich]

News report tells of martial law declared in some parts of Mindanao, due to fighting between the Duterte Government forces and local Islamist group.

Report has statements by local leader says many bodies in the streets.

"He described a scene of devastation in the town centre and said the streets were strewn with rotting corpses and debris.

“I almost puked as we were walking”, he said, estimating that there were more than 1,000 dead.

Official government estimates put the death toll at 120 militants, 38 government forces and 20 civilians. "

Complete story here:

Filipino Muslim saves 64 Christians from execution by Islamist militants | The Independent
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My view?
I am posting this link to share the news.
I spent five months on Mindanao in early 2016.
I met many nice Filipinos. And was warned to not travel to other parts of Mindanao outside of Davao.

I wrote about this (risk of visiting Mindanao) before in a post here on CF. Here is a link to my earlier report from Davao, Mindanao (Samal Island) that also includes comments from CF members who have cruised the PI area.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ao-165742.html

I would visit other islands in the Philippines today, but would avoid the large southern island of Mindanao.

[StuM]

Duterte declared Martial Law there over two weeks ago, back in late May.

[Larry Florida]

Just returned from 3 months in Cebu and Bantayan. Was planning to visit Bohol and Palawan but decided against it for security reasons. No issues in Cebu at the moment.

[Tetepare]

Wikipedia has a good compilation of attacks on Sabah (Malaysia) by Mindanao-based pirates and Islamists. I'd consider most of Mindanao and all of the Sulu area to be dangerous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_...tacks_in_Sabah

[Steadman Uhlich]

TO:
STUM
LARRY FLORIDA
TETEPARE

Thanks for adding to the discussion.

I hope to visit the Philippines again in the future. So I like to be aware of what is happening, though I may not follow it as closely as you do.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Yes, I too commented on Martial Law being imposed a while back. There's another thread about the PI here on CF. Think it's by someone who's either there or was quite recently. Anyway, he has another perspective on things. But I'd seriously avoid anyplace under martial law unless I was heavily paid, heavily armed, & either had my own PSD or was part of one.

The official State Department comments on travel there has been that the idea's Bad Juju for quite a while. Perhaps not so bad as going to say, Burma (yeah, I know, name's changed) or some places in A-stan, but...

[JPA Cate]

Ya know, Mindanao has had a bad reputation since the late 1940's. Just sayin' Lots of problems there.

Ann

[Diesel Bill]

My wife is from Mindanao. She said that we are not to go and visit at this time. That's enough for me. Been to some pretty dangerous places in my life time, But as you get older, you tend to appreciate life more. I don't want to be denogginized.

[Zven]

Mindanao is a big place, with more than 100.000 square kilometers and 20 million inhabitants. Fully 125 countries are smaller than this island.
The Muslim region, where most problems seem to occur, are at the western end.
I would not cruise around the western end of Mindanao.
However, some 70% of the island's population are Christian, and they are some of the nicest souls anywhere.
Expats living on the island say they are fine with the additional roadblocks right now, and levels of crime are down.
A more interesting question is perhaps where president Duterte intends to take this next. Time will show.

[daletournier]

The true tradegy here is the innocent filopinos. I so thouroughly enjoyed the filopino people, that includes the people of Davao and Samal island Mindanao. If they could somehow solve this issue it would be a wonderful place, I'm just not sure they can.

[sailcrazy]

We lived and sailed in the PI for over 12 years (1995-2007), then moved to HKG until 2010. It was common knowledge amoungst all the sailors that I knew (Filipino and others) that going to the southern 1/3, especially to Mindano, was NOT a good plan. We sailed to Palawan several times, and never had an issue.....but we stayed on the western side of the island. The muslum community felt the government in Manila had no time for them, paid them no attention, and they wanted to be free; there was trouble there the whole time we were in Asia, and I'm betting nothing has changed! With over 7000 islands in the PI, there's lots of really gorgeous places to go.....without going south! Why take the chance.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by daletournier

The true tradegy here is the innocent filopinos. I so thouroughly enjoyed the filopino people, that includes the people of Davao and Samal island Mindanao. If they could somehow solve this issue it would be a wonderful place, I'm just not sure they can.

I agree.

I was disappointed to not take a tour of the mountains of southern Mindanao, but all of my Filipino friends strongly advised against it while I was there (Winter-Spring 2016) (as I described in my other thread I linked above). I thought this was sad, as I wanted to go into the hills and mountains to visit some of the famous tribal areas, but everyone told me it was far too risky for an American or Westerner ("white guy") to do.

[Gone2long]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

TO:
STUM
LARRY FLORIDA
TETEPARE

Thanks for adding to the discussion.

I hope to visit the Philippines again in the future. So I like to be aware of what is happening, though I may not follow it as closely as you do.

Just got back after spending May and June cruising N. Mindanao, around Siargao island and vicinity. There was virtually no indication on Siargao of martial law or of any lawlessness. Same was true in N. Mindanao, except for some precautions taken by police around local Catholic churches.

That may be changing however, with the extension of martial law coming into effect and Duterte warning that the IS threat may now extend to N. Mindanao.

Marawi is still a mess with snipers in some of the most high priced real estate in the city and army using attack helos to strafe them with rockets. Gonna be a pricy insurance bill to pay when this is all over. Interesting that Dirty D is pledging to pay for losses w. govt. funds.

G2L

[Gone2long]

Originally Posted by Diesel Bill

My wife is from Mindanao. She said that we are not to go and visit at this time. That's enough for me. Been to some pretty dangerous places in my life time, But as you get older, you tend to appreciate life more. I don't want to be denogginized.

Just got back. See my post up the thread. When we were there, met a women whose Mom had been imprisoned during the last Martial Law in Mindanao, under the late pres. Marcos. At that time, anyone disagreeing with the current administration, like her mother, who was an influential teacher, was imprisoned. According to the woman we met (also now a high school teacher), "this is very different". in that civil rights are largely being respected, with warrants still needed for arrests, and most civilians not being harassed by govt., goon squads, or military.

Of course, the situation could change and Marawi, including the west coast near by, is still dangerous. On the positive side, the military is not about to let you go searching for tourist souvenirs there at the moment. So, not to worry : )

G2L

[Gone2long]

Originally Posted by Zven

Mindanao is a big place, with more than 100.000 square kilometers and 20 million inhabitants. Fully 125 countries are smaller than this island.
The Muslim region, where most problems seem to occur, are at the western end.
I would not cruise around the western end of Mindanao.
However, some 70% of the island's population are Christian, and they are some of the nicest souls anywhere.
Expats living on the island say they are fine with the additional roadblocks right now, and levels of crime are down.
A more interesting question is perhaps where president Duterte intends to take this next. Time will show.

Good points Zven. See my posts above.

G2L