Rewards for Justice is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Based on an item on its website (http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/), it was set up in 1984 under Public Law 98-533 (Act to Combat International Terrorism). The program is directly administered by the Department of States Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Under this program, the Secretary of State may offer rewards of up to $5 million for information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property worldwide, the website item states. Rewards also may be paid for information leading to the arrest or conviction of terrorists attempting, committing, conspiring to commit, or aiding and abetting in the commission of such acts.
Rewards for Justice began to be implemented in Sulu in 2004 the same year that U.S. troops entered the province.
U.S. troops in Sulu
U.S. troops would have entered Sulu as early as February 2003. The AFP and the U.S. Armed Forces had both announced that the Balikatan military exercises for that year would be held in Sulu.
This provoked a wave of protest from the people of Sulu, who had not yet forgotten what has come to be known as the Bud Dajo Massacre.
The Bud Dajo Massacre, which took place in 1906, is described in some history texts as the First Battle of Bud Dajo. It was an operation against Moro fighters resisting the American occupation.
The description of the incident as a battle, however, is disputed considering the sheer mismatch in firepower between U.S. forces and the Moro resistance fighters. The 790 U.S. troops who assaulted Bud Dajo used naval cannons against the 800-1,000 Moro resistance fighters who were mostly armed only with mele weapons.
In the end, only six of the hundreds of Moro resistance fighters holding Bud Dajo as a stronghold survived, while there were 15-20 casualties among the U.S. troops.
The announcement in February 2003 that the years Balikatan military exercises would be held in Sulu summoned bitter memories of the Bud Dajo Massacre and led to protest actions where thousands of Sulu residents participated. The situation was very tense here at that time, said Temogin Cocoy Tulawie, convener of the Concerned Citizens of Sulu and an outgoing councilor of Jolo, in an earlier interview with Bulatlat.
The next year, however, U.S. troops came up with ingenious ways to find their way into Sulu.
They started coming in small groups, bringing relief goods, Tulawie said. They concentrated on winning the hearts and minds of the people of Sulu.
Their strategy was effective, Tulawie also admitted. They have to some extent been able to neutralize the Sulu peoples resistance to their presence here.
The U.S. troops in Sulu are part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P). Based on several news items from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the JSOTF-P are in Sulu to train the AFPs Southern Command (Southcom) and to conduct civic actions.
However, an article recently written by Command Sgt. Maj. William Eckert of the JSOTF-P, Defeating the Idea: Unconventional Warfare in Southern Philippines, hints that there is more to the task forces work than training AFP troops and embarking on humanitarian actions. Wrote Eckert:
Working in close coordination with the U.S. Embassy, JSOTF-P uses Special Forces, Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations forces to conduct deliberate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in very focused areas, and based on collection plans, to perform tasks to prepare the environment and obtain critical information requirements. The information is used to determine the capabilities, intentions and activities of threat groups that exist within the local population and to focus U.S. forces and the AFP on providing security to the local populace. It is truly a joint operation, in which Navy SEALs and SOF aviators work with their AFP counterparts to enhance the AFPs capacities.
There are U.S. troops stationed in all military camps in Sulu, Tulawie also told Bulatlat. If they are here only to give training, as they and the Philippine government claim, there should only be a single training camp where they are to be stationed. But what is happening is different.
Abdulla said it was last year that he first saw U.S. troops in Talipao. Bulatlat
Terrorism
