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Communist Rebellion
Duterte Should Step Back from Martial Law Nationwide Whether This Is Already De Facto or To Be Formalized in January 2019    
Consequent to the exposure of the Duterte plot to proclaim martial law nationwide in January 2019, Duterte and his mouthpiece Panelo are making assurances that there is no such plot and that Duterte intends to step down at the end of his term in 2022.
NDFP

Condemn Duterte’s Kill! orders
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and all revolutionary forces condemn GRP President Duterte for issuing outright orders for armed state agents to shoot peasants engaging in bungkalan or land cultivation activities, as well homeless people who seek to have idle housing projects awarded to them.
PRWC

Relative of Sagay shooting victim blames recruiter, NFSW for massacre
A grieving relative of one of the victims of the Sagay City shooting incident in Negros Occidental on Monday said victims were promised that they would have a parcel of land in Hacienda Nene if they will join the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW).
GMA News, The Daily Guardian

Tell it to SunStar: Tit-for-tat
THERE are people who know how to sing and some are really and obviously singing destruction. At least 600 former members of militant urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) recently gave their ex-colleagues a dose of their own medicine, parading red-letter streamers and condemning Kadamay’s alleged ties with communist rebels.
Sunstar Cebu

ANG BAYAN: The countryside is fertile ground for intensifying people’s war
Every field and mountain in the vast Philippine countryside is marked by poverty and hunger. The poor peasants, farm workers and toiling masses suffer relentless exploitation and oppression. Theirs is an intense aspiration to end more than one century of semifeudalism which are virtual fetters of the past and barriers to social liberation.
PRWC

Red October/ White Christmas/ Koda Supermarket/ Oplan Bungkalan

Peace Talks

Incidents/ Operations  

Cop wounded in suspected NPA attack in Negros Oriental — police report
A police officer was wounded on Tuesday after suspected New People's Army rebels attacked two police detachments in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. An initial police report said an undetermined number of NPA rebels simultaneously attacked the state security force's patrol bases in Barangay Hinakpan and Barangay  Bulado around 11 a.m.
GMA News

NPA claims responsibility in killing Magsie’s civil security
The New People’s Army (NPA) Panaligan Command in Central Negros has claimed responsibility for the killing of Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno “Magsie” Peña’s chief of civil security in Sitio Mamballo, Barangay Quintin Remo around 1:40 p.m. Sunday.
Panay News, The Daily Guardian

Lumad nga CAFGU member, gipusil-patay atubangan sa iyang asawa sa Agusan del Norte
Wala na’y kinabuhing napalgan ang usa ka Hiagunon nga CAFGU member human kini nahanaw kagahapon dihang midagan human gipusil atubangan mismo sa iyang kagahapon sa ala-una sa hapon Brgy. Guinabsan, lungsod sa Buenavista, Agusan del Norte.
Bombo Radyo Philippines

 
Extremism

Wrong, unverified information trigger mass evacuation in Koronadal
Misinformation and fake news trigger mass evacuation in at least three villages here on Monday night. At least 200 residents from two puroks of Barangay Carpenter Hill, Koronadal City have fled at 8 p.m. after words spread about the presence of alleged Maute gunmen or New Peoples Army in the mountain part of the village.
NDBC News, The Manila Times

Teen member of ISIS-inspired Maute group yields in Lanao
A member of the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-inspired Maute group, who was recruited at the age of 14, has surrendered to military authorities in Lanao del Sur, military officials said Tuesday. Lt. Col. Edgar Allan Villanueva, Army’s 49th Infantry Battalion commander, identified him only as a certain Asnor, now 18 years old.
Philippine News Agency, GMA News, Mindanao Examiner

AFP, PNP sign joint action plan vs. terrorism
The Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID) and the Police Regional Office for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM) on Monday forged a collaboration to ensure their areas of jurisdiction are safe from terrorism.
Philippine News AgencyNDBC News

MARAWI

Marawi rehab project breaks ground without Duterte; Palace explains absence
After months of delays, the Marawi rehabilitation project broke ground on Tuesday as government planners aim to rebuild the city’s former battle zone before the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in June 2022.
GMA News, ABS-CBN News, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rappler

Gov’t aims to complete Marawi rehabilitation in three years
THE GROUNDBREAKING ceremony for the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City finally pushed through on Oct. 30, with the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) head promising completion by 2021.
Business World Online

SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE WORLD      

We must fight harder against homegrown terrorism. But it won’t happen under Trump.
Right now, the threat to ordinary Americans from homegrown terrorists, radicalized by racist and nativist conspiracies they read on the Internet, is significantly higher than the threat from Islamist terrorists, radicalized by jihadist conspiracies they read on the Internet.
Washington Post


When Terrorism Isn't Intended to Kill
On Oct. 26, law enforcement officers arrested a 56-year-old Florida resident in connection with a series of mail bombs that were sent to prominent Democratic politicians and liberal figures, including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 
Stratfor

UAE approves anti-money laundering law to combat terrorism financing
he UAE has approved an anti-money laundering law that will combat terrorism financing and a foreign investment law that will treat foreign companies as it does local companies.
The National UAE

Xinjiang's vocational education, training program constructive for anti-terrorism: expert
The vocational education and training program in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region should be viewed as a constructive effort to help eliminate the soil that breeds terrorism and extremism, said Zhang Nan, a researcher at the Anti-Terrorism Law School of the Northwest University of Political Science and Law.
Xinhua

Synagogue Massacre Spurs Calls for New DHS Anti-Terrorism Grants
Lawmakers from both parties are calling for more funding for grants to help synagogues, churches, and other non-profits at high risk for terrorism to bolster their security in the wake of Saturday’s fatal shootings at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
Bloomberg Government

Sleeper terrorist cells exist in over 60 countries, says official
Sleeper cells belonging to various terrorist organizations exist in more than 60 countries, even in Russia and other member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), CIS Anti-Terrorism Center Head Vladimir Grigoryev said at a TASS press conference on Tuesday.
Russian News Agency (TASS)

 

Bangsamoro

SCRAM: Stop Casual Racism Against Muslims
“WHAT?! Muslim ka pala? ‘Di obvious!” exclaimed by one of my friends back in college. Having experienced this type of reaction on various occasions, I smiled and replied, “Yes, I am a Muslim. Born and raised by an Iranun family from Maguindanao.”
Sunstar Davao

BANGSAMORO ORGANIC LAW

MILF statement on Sulu Governor’s Petition to block BOL
In reaction to a 48-page petition for certiorari and prohibition dated October 11, 2018, by Sulu Governor Abdusakur “Totoh” Tan II questioning the legality of the Republic Act No. 11054, also known as the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OLBARMM), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Central Committee on Information in an official statement said:
Luwaran

Bangsamoro Organic Law seen to hurdle SC challenge
THE Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) can withstand the constitutionality test amid the petition for certiorari filed against it at the Supreme Court, according to Deputy Speaker and Sulu Rep. Munir M. Arbison.
Business Mirror

MAGUINDANAO AND COTABATO CITY

LANAO PROVINCES

Sandiganbayan convicts ex-Lanao del Sur mayor
The Sandiganbayan Special Seventh Division has convicted former Binidayan Mayor Aman Misbac Datumulok of Lanao del Sur of graft due to the reportedly anomalous purchase of heavy equipment back in 2008.
Manila Bulletin

BASILAN

SULU 

2 Abu Sayyaf men killed in Sulu encounter
Two Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members were killed and another two were wounded during an encounter against government troops in Sulu on Tuesday. Lt. Col. Gerry M. Besana, Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WestMinCom) spokesman, said the encounter happened in Barangay Lihbog Kabaw, Panglima Estino, Sulu at about 5:08 a.m.
Manila Bulletin, GMA News, ABS-CBN News

TAWI-TAWI 

Shadow Economies

DRUGS

Is Philippines the first country to win war against illicit drugs?
While human rights groups are questioning the drastic reforms of the Philippine government to eliminate drugs, the Philippine government claims it has taken huge step to eradicate drugs in the Philippines and it could be the first state to win a war against illegal drugs.
Al-Arabiya

Lapeña no-show at resumption of Senate P11-B shabu probe
Following his relief from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and transfer to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), outgoing Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña was a no-show at the resumption of the Senate’s investigation Tuesday on the missing P11-billion shabu that slipped through the agency under his watch.
Manila Bulletin

Senate turns over Customs intel officer Guban to DOJ
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee turned over to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday a key witness to the series of multi-billion-peso illegal drugs smuggling cases at Manila’s waterfront.
Manila Bulletin

DOJ confirms Guban placed under witness protection
Former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer Jimmy Guban has been placed under the custody of the Witness Protection Program (WPP), the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Manila Bulletin

6 cops tagged in ‘shabu’ smuggling assured of due process – PNP Chief
Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has assured that due process of law will be afforded the five policemen implicated in the smuggling of tons of “shabu” through magnetic lifters that got past Customs authorities last August.
Manila Bulletin

Operations/ Incidents

31 cops positive for drug use; 10 arrested in Region 9
Thirty-one policemen tested positive for illegal drug use while 10 others were arrested in anti-drug operations since January this year here in the region, a top police official said Tuesday. Chief Supt. Emmanuel Luis Licup, Police Regional Office-9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) director, said the random drug testing for its personnel is part of their internal cleansing.
Philippine News Agency

Recovery and Rehabilitation  

ILLICIT FIREARMS, EXPLOSIVES AND AMMUNITION


CROSS-BORDER TRADING/ SMUGGLING  

HUMAN TRAFFICKING 

BI on ‘heightened alert’ against human traffickers
Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other airports were placed on heightened alert before the Halloween break, following reports that human trafficking syndicates were planning to take advantage of the holidays to spirit victims in and out of the country.
Manila Bulletin

SCAM 

Land Issues
Anakpawis solon says Duterte order a ‘death warrant’ for farmers
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao criticized on Tuesday President Duterte’s order to the police and military to shoot communist rebels and their allied groups who illegally occupy lands, describing it as a “death warrant” for farmers.
Manila Bulletin, Davao Today

 
Indigenous Peoples
IPs entitled to culturally-rooted basic education – DepEd
As the observance of the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Month culminates, the Department of Education (DepEd) underscored the importance of providing basic education that is “culturally rooted and responsive” to IP communities.
Manila Bulletin
Human Rights

Killings 

Martial Law  


 
Governance

Duterte eyes Karlo Nograles as Cabinet secretary – Palace
President Duterte is eyeing Davao City 1st district Rep. Karlo Nograles as the next possible Cabinet Secretary. “He is one of those being considered,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said during a Palace press briefing when asked about the imminent appointment of Nograles to the Cabinet.
Manila Bulletin

Duterte’s Halloween mask
In the moment of the Halloween celebration, at the rate President Rodrigo Duterte recycles his appointees after removing them from their previous posts, make them look like the fictional Frankenstein creature. This is based on a novel written by English author Mary Shelley that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a hideous, sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. 
Philippine Star

Palace optimistic BoC reorganization will cleanse agency of corruption
Malacañang is optimistic that the Bureau of Customs (BoC) will finally be cleansed of corruption and drug smuggling activities amid the latest reorganization ordered by President Duterte.
Manila Bulletin

Palace: Military overseeing Customs is constitutional
MALACAÑANG ON Tuesday maintained that President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s order for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to take over the Bureau of Customs (BoC) is constitutional, saying that soldiers will only be “assigned” to the bureau to “oversee” the operations there and “will not be appointed nor designated to civilian positions.”
Business World Online

Duterte’s clean-up of Customs will be epoch-making
The Bureau of Customs ever since Corazon Aquino captured power in 1986 has become the country’s Augean stables of the Hercules legend, so filled with the feces of corruption of decades that it looked impossible to clean up.
The Manila Times

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Robredo’s trust rating remains ‘good’ in third quarter — SWS
Despite a decline in her trust rating in the third quarter, Vice President Leni Robredo’s rating remained “good,” based on the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results released on Tuesday.
Manila Bulletin

DISASTER

5 years after Yolanda: How do you weather-proof the Philippines?
The country should be using dynamic maps capable of hazard-specific, area-focused, and time-bound warnings to help shield itself from storm surges and massive devastation from violent typhoons like Yolanda (international name Haiyan) that brought this city to its knees five years ago. 
ABS-CBN News

‘Rosita’ leaves over 2,000 stranded passengers in Luzon, Visayas ports
Typhoon Rosita left over 2,000 stranded passengers in some ports in Luzon and Visayas Tuesday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. A total of 2,267 passengers were monitored stranded in ports in Batangas, Romblon, Southern Quezon, Northern Quezon, Aklan, Capiz, Camarines Sur, and Cagayan as of Tuesday noon.
Manila Bulletin

Close to 3,000 people from 4 regions in N. Luzon evacuated due typhoon Rosita
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Tuesday said close to 3,000 people from four regions in Northern Luzon were evacuated due to typhoon “Rosita” (international name Yutu).
Manila Bulletin

MINDANAO

ELECTION RELATED

460 candidates face perpetual disqualification cases – Comelec
The number of candidates facing perpetual disqualification cases for failing to submit their Statement of Contribution and Expenditures twice has now reached 460, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
Manila Bulletin

Comelec spokesperson urges poll bets to refrain from putting up posters in cemeteries
Tarpaulins of candidates, who will be running in the May 2019 elections, will likely abound anew at cemeteries, greeting those who will be visiting their dearly departed on All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days.
Manila Bulletin

Chel Diokno on running for senator: 'Fight the fear'
It was around this time two years ago, when over dinner with fellow human rights lawyers, Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno said that people must “fight the fear” as the Duterte administration muzzled critics and its war against illegal drugs began to claim thousands of lives.
Rappler

Election-related Violence

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

JUDICIARY

Peralta to serve as acting CJ as Carpio takes a leave
Associate Justice Diosdado M. Peralta is acting Chief Justice starting Wednesday (October 31) until November 4 with the leave of absence of Senior Associate Justice and Acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio.
Manila Bulletin, GMA News

LEGISLATIVE

Robredo urges Congress to act against political turncoatism
Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo has called on the need to pass the electoral reform law in Congress that will ban political turncoatism, which she claimed, “makes a mockery of the political parties.”
Manila Bulletin

The Senate PDAF scammers
IN the unfolding months of 2013, during PNoy’s watch, a scandal broke out on the misuse by members of both houses of Congress of their “pork barrel” funds. This was the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam. 
The Manila Times

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS (LGUs)

DEFENSE AND SECURITY

ECONOMY AND INVESTMENTS

PH has 32,354 dollar millionaires
Would you believe that there are only 24 Filipinos with wealth of $500 million or more, the so-called Ultra High Net Worth individuals? And that the Philippines has 32,354 US dollar millionaires (or high net worth individuals) whose combined wealth is $518 billion, an amount 1.67 times the country’s Gross Domestic Product of $310 billion? The Philippines is a country of 24-million families and a population of 106-million people, of which 62,043,000 (62.043 million) are adults.  
Manila Standard

Philippines, China establish yuan trading community
Thirteen Philippine banks, together with Bank of China, launched on Tuesday a trading community to make transacting using the Chinese currency cheaper and easier. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the Philippine Renminbi Trading Community would help lessen frictions for direct trade, investment and tourism.
ABS-CBN News, Rappler, Philippine Star

BUILD, BUILD, BUILD

OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

GRAFT AND CORRUPTION

Former Eastern Samar mayor indicted over purchase of P3.8-M fire truck
Former Oras Mayor Neil Maiso Alvarez of Eastern Samar has been slapped with a graft charge before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division due to the reportedly anomalous purchase of a fire truck back in 2006.
Manila Bulletin

FOREIGN RELATIONS  

Navigating a new chapter in the US-Philippines’ ‘Long Friendship’
n the Philippines, nearly a year after President Trump first sketched his Free and Open Indo-Pacific policy at the 2017 APEC CEO Summit, uncertainty about how the United States will operationalize its vision lingers. 
Business World Online

West Philippine Sea

US firm on free and open seas policy in Indo-Pacific Region
United States Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John M. Richardson, said Monday that the US will continue to advocate for a free and open Indo-Pacific Region.
Manila Bulletin

Philippines hopeful Xi Jinping's visit will bring South China Sea energy deal
Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is optimistic that a deal to jointly explore disputed areas of the South China Sea for oil and gas will finally move forward when President Xi Jinping visits next month.
The Straits Times

LABOR

Saudi firm vows to address concerns of 111 OFWs
Representatives from a big Saudi Arabian contracting firm have assured the Philippine government that they are currently working to address the plight of the 111 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Dammam who were caught in the middle of a protest action following delays in their salaries.
Manila Bulletin

TRANSPORTATION

LTFRB junks commuters group’s petition to stop implementation of fare increases
Fare increases of public utility jeepneys and buses will push through in November as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) junked the petition of a commuters group to stop its implementation.
Manila Bulletin

HEALTH 

Bill for cancer care pushed in Senate
The fight against cancer will receive a big boost when the Senate approves a bill seeking to institutionalize a national integrated cancer control program in the country.
Manila Bulletin

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

‘Use your coconut’
I’d like to thank Cielito F. Habito for featuring a very interesting topic in “In search of a coconut roadmap” (10/23/18), which was about the status of our coconut industry. Being a Cocofed scholar and having inherited a parcel of land from my parents have allowed me the opportunity to further familiarize myself with the problems confronting our coconut farmers today.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

EDUCATION

470 education planning officers meet
Planning officers and research specialists of the Department of Education (DepEd) gathered to strategize for better education outcomes and deliver quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education to all Filipino learners.
Manila Bulletin

ENERGY

POVERTY

HOUSING

TOURISM

More Chinese tourists expected in Davao City
Expect more Chinese tourists to flock Davao City, declared Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Manila Bulletin

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY

DICT, Kaspersky Lab ink cybersecurity deal
THE Philippines is partnering with Russia-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to boost government efforts in ensuring information security in the country. In a statement on Tuesday, Kaspersky said it recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) “to address the information security challenges among local public sector agencies in support of the national cybersecurity framework of the Philippines.”
Business World Online

DEVELOPMENT SECTOR 

International Alert Philippines is an independent peacebuilding organization that focuses on eradicating vertical and horizontal conflicts through research and analysis, advocacy, and capacity-building. We pool relevant news articles, blog posts, social media materials, and press releases through this daily digest to update ourselves and our partners on important events and ideas that may affect our programmes. Know more about us by following our social media accounts:

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