I was in Bayang twice last year, doing a photo essay on "rido" (clan wars) for a Manila magazine. Looks like there was no rebuilding there. What I did see were an entire village abandoned coz all the houses were set on fire. The warring factions were on opposite sides of the village, and the government has put a platoon-sized contingent of Philippine Marines to prevent further bloodshed. Before the Marines, this abandoned village became their battleground. Now, they only do sniping coz one village is on lower ground facing the lake, another is atop the hills directly across. A few weeks before my visit, a newly married woman was hit in the chest by .50 caliber machine gun fire. On my 2nd visit, just hours before, enemy from higher ground also fired their guns toward the underdogs in lower ground.

I swore I won't go back to that place again as I experienced the scariest moments of my life there. :(

Hope we're still on topic here ... :) But I oblige, coz if there's someone to be warned by the mods, it should be Mabagani being the senior member. Hehehe ...

Top photo is the view of the lake from MSU's golf course. 2nd pix downtown Marawi taken from the same angle. 3rd is the famous "Sleeping Lady," the mountain across Lake Lanao, which can also be viewed from MSU on a cloudless day.

Bob

Way to go Marco!! :D :D

Nice historical backdrop..lol, tnx, I lived on campus during my stay, still as pristine as ever yet just beyond the lake...

A NEW MEMBER IS ALWAYS WELCOME. THE FORUM IS MADE UP OF SCHOLARS,COLLECTORS,DEALERS, ADVENTURERS AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN. WE CAN ALL LEARN AND OFTEN CONTRIBUTE BY ASKING A QUESTION,SHOWING OUR COLLECTION OR MAKING A COMMENT. THE SCHOLAR WITH MANY DEGREES IS A IMPORTANT SOURCE OF INFORMATION BUT HE GOT MUCH OF HIS INFORMATION FROM REFRENCES OR THE GUY WHO LIVED IN THE VILLAGE AND KNEW THE TRIBAL HISTORYS AND BELIEFS OR MADE THE ARTEFACTS. WE ALL SHARE A INTEREST IN ETHINOGRAPHIC HISTORY AND ARTEFACTS AND THE IMPUT FROM EVERYONE IS VALUABLE ESPECIALLY FROM SOMEONE WHO IS IN A AREA WHERE HE CAN DO ACTUAL FIELDWORK TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW. WE ALSO HAVE A LOT OF FUN HERE :D WELCOME!

Museums in Mindanao
 

Bob and Mabagani, Thanks for the corrections, seems like every map I read has a different spelling for the town names and trying to keep up with baranguays was a full time task that I never mastered.
I had known of the museum at Marawi through this forum and it was the one stop I really wanted to make, unfortunately due to time constraints and political sensitivities I was not allowed access to the town of Marawi itself, maybe someday when I'm a civilian.
Magabani, you make good points about previous US involvement in Mindanao, I just gave a short class to my guys that are scheduled to rotate down there about the proud history of the Mindanao peoples and the complicated interactions of all the stakeholders down there. I can only hope that it prepares them to be sensitive to all sides of the issues that they will have to deal with. The trepidation of US involvement, due to past history, was evident in most conversations I had with local officials. My dearest hope and the goal of our involvement there is to help create stable economic development and convince everyone (local and AFP) that a government responsive to the needs of its people is a must regardless of who's in charge.
Of course I always threw in references to the incomparable craftmanship found no where else in the world, in the hopes that the old traditions and weapons will not die out.
I found in all my conversations that the history I learned through this forum and simply knowing the correct terms for things immediately elevated my credibility both with the locals and the AFP. Thank you all for that.

Dan

Dan, next time you come around here, we should get in touch. As a journalist, I also get to talk to a lot of Moro officials and ordinary folks. Way back, I did some series of articles for my former paper (Phil. Daily Inquirer) on the peace efforts and the attempt of international donors, like your USAID, to improve the lot of the Moros. Last year, an Italian development agency asked me to do their sort of end project report here in Lanao del Norte. They showed me sample publications, complete with graphs and tables, but we found them boring. So I suggested we do it the jouralistic way, like a magazine. I did both photos and text. This was my output, PDF file compressed in Zip ...

http://www.timonera.com/pix/movimondo.zip

BobT

dan,
i hope you enjoyed your stay in the philippines. like i said before, it's too bad that i didn't get to meet you in person, maybe next time...do you have any idea when you're gonna be visiting again???


on the lighter note, are you converted krisman now? :D :D :D :D :D

When I was there the university held a tour of US historical sites within and around the city, the main resort there had planned to use the route to attract Americans if the political climate ever stablized. I remember a base from almost a hundred years ago still standing and used as offices. An interesting fact as the US neared the end of its occupation and readied the Philippines for independence was that there were Moro leaders whom protested to the US Congress and wanted the Morolands to remain part of the US rather than controlled by Filipinos. Its true as we go back into history we begin to gain a deeper understanding of current circumstances and how to resolve issues. Thanks for listening.

Krisman
 

Spunger, Well I did come back with two kris and two gunong and the one kris IS the best piece in my collection (till my other Dha arrive from Mark). Not converted but definately an enthusiast. Sorry I missed you also however where you were was much more interesting than were I was.

Bob, with your permission I'd like to pass on your article to our guys who are going to leave in a few weeks as well as our Civil Affairs coordinator down there. We are continually looking for for Non Government Organizations who have the experience we lack and whose efforts we can support. The more we can convince the the Philippine forces to support these efforts the better the stability of the region, we have found that a concerted effort, executed in coordination, has a much better sustainability factor than individual efforts.
Surprising that it was an Italian company. One who became a great friend of mine down there was one Armando DeRossi who has lived and worked in the area for 30 years and besides his construction company runs a NGO called Peace and Prosperity for the Philippines, he also was named a Sultan for his humanitarian efforts throughout the region, in fact it was at his invitation that I was allowed to participate in the events at Tamparan and Malabang.

Will I get back down there, hard to say but possible, my boss has just extended me another 18 months here in Japan, partially because of my experience in the area and the fact that my unit has the mission for the near term. i hope so and the next time I'll fight harder to get out of the office and amongst the people. You'll be one of the first to know - guaranteed!

Dan

Sure, no problem. I did give a hard copy of that to one of your embassy boys who's Pinoy (Filipino) when we met in Marawi a month ago. I just hope he showed it to his boss. The embassy's public affairs office also used a lot of my photos for their Muslim Life in the Philippines magazine.[/QUOTE]

If you saw that picture of the Italian who was also "enthroned" a sultan in that Movimondo publication ... shortly after that magazine was printed, he was kidnapped. :( Although released within 24 hours coz the MILF and the Marines joined forces against the abductors. That Italian was pulled out from the country immediately. He was such a great friend; we worked closely together for that project.

Hope to see you then, and show you around Marawi's padian where you can buy all the blades you want. :)

BobT

Muslim Life in the Philippines
 

I thought that story of Ismael sounded extremely familiar. "Muslim Life in the Philippines" was actually one of the projects we initiated and produced while I was there. My Information Officer was working on the second edition when I left. This small world keeps getting smaller. I'll shoot you an email as we're definately getting out of forum territory here.

Regards,

Dan

Bob

Just wanted to add my welcome.

Federico

Welcome!!
 

Sorry I'm late....

But welcome! I am no scholar either, just a lifetime student (as most of us are).

Best Regards!