FOOD DELIVERY UPDATES IN LIGHT OF NEW MILF-PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT HOSTILITIES

Erle Frayne Argonza

Good morning from Manila!

Below is a news item regarding UN efforts aimed at helping out in the provision of food for those fleeing residents affected by the latest rounds of conflicts between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). Close to 130,000 residents were already displaced by the hostilities that have not even geared up for full battles.

As already reported, the contentious issue centers on the ‘ancestral domain’ for Muslims. There were not much public debates about the matter, though in Mindanao various sectors were invited to participate in the deliberations prior to drafting. The disagreements regarding content and implementation led the MILF forces to withdraw from the peace talks, and proceeded with occupation of villages by their armed force.

Below is a news item regarding UN efforts to assist in the food supply chain for the fleeing residents.

[13 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to yahoo.com database news.]

UN begins airlifting food aid to Mindanao

The United Nations has begun airlifting food to Mindanao to avert a major humanitarian crisis as thousands flee fighting between Muslim rebels and troops, officials said yesterday.

Fighting continued as soldiers used artillery and helicopter gun ships to pound rebel positions around towns and villages in North Cotabato, a poor farming province in Mindanao.

The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) has begun airlifting 400 metric tons of rice worth $308,000 to assist 90,000 persons from conflict-affected communities in North Cotabato for at least one month.

The food support is WFP’s response to the request made by the provincial government of the province, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) still validating the number of the persons affected by the ongoing clashes.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said more than 129,819 people have been displaced from 42 villages in North Cotabato since fighting began last week.

The refugees are to be provided food support in at least 43 government evacuation centers in the province.

“WFP fully understands that the situation remains fluid, and we will continue to work closely with all concerned to further assess the total number of affected persons and adjust our response accordingly. WFP remains concerned over the growing number of persons displaced by the violence between the armed forces and the MILF,” said Stephen Anderson, WFP country director.

“Many of the affected population are women and children, and we are concerned for their well-being and stand ready to support humanitarian needs. We hope for peace, so that these families can return to their communities,” he said.

Anderson said WFP remains committed to providing support and technical expertise during emergencies and natural disasters.

The NDCC said 43 evacuation centers have been set up for the refugees but these are now overcrowded and fast becoming health hazards.

“This is turning into a humanitarian mess,” Rep. Risa Hontiveros said.

“The refugee crisis is an unacceptable cost of the government’s mismanagement of the peace process. A peace process should lead to the protection of life and property, and yet what’s happening is the opposite,” said Hontiveros, who has called for an immediate halt to the fighting.

Fighting began last week after the Supreme Court ordered the government to suspend plans to establish an extended Muslim homeland in Mindanao.

The decision saw around 1,500 heavily armed renegade Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels take control of mainly Christian villages and towns in North Cotabato.

Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Leila de Lima described the situation in North Cotabato as “serious” and called for an immediate ceasefire.

She told local television that evacuation centers needed urgent supplies of food and medicine for the refugees.

The government has said that the fighting will not disrupt the ongoing peace process and that the Supreme Court decision last week was a “temporary setback.”

Future uncertain

In Pikit, North Cotabato, nine-year-old Rakma Kasanuba sings lullabies to her baby sister as the infant tries to sleep in a makeshift hammock under a guava tree as mortars explode without end in the distance.

Her three other younger sisters sit on the muddy ground guarding their meager belongings while military attack helicopters thunder overhead searching for Muslim separatist rebels 400 meters away in a forested area.

At her tender age, Rakma is a veteran of evacuation camps.

“I don’t know why I am here,” she told AFP. “My family was told by the military to leave because they said Moros (Muslims) were advancing.

“We left at dawn, but my father had to stay behind to protect our house,” Rakma said. “My mother took us here, but she is away to look for food and relatives who were also told to evacuate.”

Rakma and her sisters are among 6,000 people forced to flee their homes in Tacepan, a mixed Christian-Muslim farming hamlet that is one of 22 villages being illegally occupied by a renegade group from the MILF.

In a town’s school, families are tightly packed in small classrooms, with no bedding.

Latrines are overflowing, while goats, cows and other farm animals taken by the refugees crowd the school lawn in a feeding frenzy on what little grass is left.

Though soldiers have been sent to protect them, they are not safe from indiscriminate mortar fire from the enemy side.

Social welfare officer Imelda Balios said urgent appeals for supplies have been sent to the government to avert a bigger humanitarian crisis. – Pia Lee-Brago (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

FERRY SUNK BY METEORITE OFF ROMBLON (A CLAIRVOYANT VISION)

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

The last dreams that happen while the body sleeps often prognosticate events that will take place on that day or will happen most immediately. As a mystic, I have tried and tested this thesis infinitely, and I authenticate this paranormal contention based on my own experiences of nocturnal dreaming as a yogi and mystic-guru.

Among the events in the past that I forecast, based on my dream and meditation visions, were the overthrow of president Erap Estrada (2 dream visions, 2 meditations) and the poll victory of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (dream vision October 2003, victory on poll mid-2004). Paranormal visions of calamities are so common for mystics that we hardly bother about them since there are more high-value visions (e.g. communications with Ascended Beings, masters, archangels) to take note of.

The 2^nd to the last dream I had just yesterday, 22 June 2008, took place right before 4 a.m. I was shown (by my Master Guides) a ship traversing a turbulent sea. There was dimness of the surround, like it was twilight or nighttime, but the picture of the moving ship was very graphical. It was moving towards me (as observer), around 300 meters away, and huge waves were smashing on both of its sides. It seems that no matter what turbulence the waves exhibited, the ship won’t capsize, far from it. However, suddenly to my right I saw a blazing meteorite with a trajectory so low that it seemed like it was a projectile fired from a horizontal space. It moved towards the ship, in almost slow-motion fashion, so I was able to observe bit by bit its impact on the ship. I began to grasp for breath as it moved nearer the ship, and by the time it was around 100 meters away it was beyond doubt that it will impact directly on the side of the ship and not overshoot it above. With cryptic horror, I felt goose bumps as the meteorite struck the hull of the ship. So powerful was the impact that the ship bunked leftwards, and then rotated (relative to me) clockwise like a huge capsizing canoe. The potent waves that hit the other side, as the ship was beginning to capsize, finished the action. The capsizing happened in so short a time. Then the vision of the ship became larger as my sight were positioned nearer it, enabling me to see its bottom above the waters (like I was flying above it).

Another dream took place after that, which detailed a senior relative (female) trying to appease me not to worry about something. It seemed like an unusual event was taking place, but that I need not worry at all. Provisions for needs will be available. This dream took place at past 4:30 a.m. and must have lasted over 30 minutes.

As I woke before 6 a.m., I was dumbstruck at the powerful storm winds and strong ceaseless rains that were clearly the marks of a typhoon. Dumbstruck because I might have slept so soundly I didn’t notice the ferocity of this mighty one happen so soon without forewarning. After meditating for an hour, the same relative of mine called up by phone, asking me if I’m okay because a powerful typhoon was in town. I knew right then that my relative would call up, as indicated by the last dream scene.

However, I was puzzled by the sinking ship vision. I didn’t bother about it for a while, till the evening news came on internet. The capsized ferry with probably 700 dead or so filtered through the internet so quickly. However, the exact cause of the sinking was still being investigated.

Then, at past 4 p.m., as I visit my father, I received the latest update that the Sulpicio Lines ship that just sank near Romblon island was found out to have been knocked out by a mysterious object. A huge gaping hole was very visible from afar on its hull, nay on both sides. My hair stood on all ends as I saw the hole, for now the event matched the dream scene I had about the sunken ship.

I am certain that this was the ship of my dream vision. Rescue operations are still going on as of this writing, but most likely the number of dead will reach the hundreds. But no one could ever explain rightly what caused that huge hole on the hull. I am certain it was the meteorite I saw, a nature projectile that may have been as large as a coconut.

While this witness story may not be rightly recognized in court, for whatever investigations will take place later, I am registering it just the same as a paranormal experience of a mystic. For us mystics, this event is nothing ‘paranormal’ but as normal as any other event that we normally observe.

[23 June 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. This writer is a social scientist, development consultant, author of 4 books, yogi, and mystic-guru. ]