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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 23, 2022 4:58:54 GMT
CHAPTER FIVE: MOB WARS AND ANOTHER REGIME COLLAPSE
COMMUNIST PARTY OF PHILIPPINES LEADER ASSASSINATED BY RIGHT-WING DEATH SQUADS WITH TIES TO MILITARY
Vancouver Sun
April 2, 1986
(Manila, PHILIPPINES) - The Philippine political crisis has worsened today, with the brazen assassination of the mastermind of the decades long communist rebellion in Jose Maria Sison, along with Benigno and Wilma Tiamzon. The killings of several communist leaders after President Corazon Aquino's announcement of granting a general amnesty to all former political prisoners incarcerated during the Marcos dictatorship, has shocked the nation, when it became apparent that far-right paramilitary forces in league with renegade officer Artemio Tadiar, had carried out the attack, with Tadiar's full approval. The assassination had occured after Sison finished giving out his speech in front of radicalized university students. While he was being accompanied to the vehicle, several gunmen had opened fire, hitting the communist leader with a bullet to the lung, before finishing him off with a string of grenade attacks. In another area within Manila, the Tiamzon couple's vehicle came under heavy gunfire by other paramilitary forces, before Marine Corps soldiers loyal to Tadiar finished off the wounded communist couple.
"This brutal murder of activists who were opposed to Ferdinand Marcos is something that we find unacceptable," says President Corazon Aquino, during a rally in EDSA, the site of the revolution that ultimately deposed Ferdinand Marcos, at the cost of 66 murdered civilians killed by Tadiar's Marines. "Artemio Tadiar has done his best to sabotage any hopes of alliance that our government has with him, and as a result, we cannot in good conscience work with a military officer who refuses to compromise with his political enemies."
Gregorio Rosal, who took over both the Communist Party of the Philippines, and its militant arm, the New People's Army, had used the deaths of Sison and the Tiamzon couple to launch a recruitment drive, enlisting radicalized university students who were enraged by the brazen killing of the anti-Marcos activists. However, a faction of the university student population had responded by producing crude petrol bombs, and started to attack their fellow classmates who were recruited into the NPA, on the grounds of 'national security'. As a result of the growing political crisis, various post-secondary institutions across the Philippines has witnessed the drastic rise in politically motivated physical attacks, with both sides claiming responsibility. Those same anti-communist students within Philippine universities and colleges had promptly dropped out of post-secondary education and promptly marched into the recruitment offices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
At the same time, the patriotic anti-communist students' initiative had garnered praise from both the Reform the Armed Forces Movement and Colonel Tadiar's faction, which was in need of increased number of soldiers, as much of the active soldiers already in service are deployed to fight the communists in Mindanao. In addition, recruitment drive for the Philippine Constabulary has also seen a slight increase in the number of anti-communist students who may not be comfortable with military lift, that preferred to learn how to become police officers in the future. A planned creation of a Philippine National Guard that would succeed the Philippine Constabulary was rejected by President Aquino, due to her growing rift with Colonel Tadiar.
"We understand President Aquino's decision to distance herself from Artemio Tadiar. What he has done will only benefit former President Marcos, ironically speaking," says Gregorio Honasan, a Reform the Armed Forces activist who remained loyal to the elected President, as much of its junior officers had started to shift their allegiance to Tadiar. "However, Tadiar's atrocities will only strengthen the communists, who now have a motivation to fight for their revolution because of his brutality."
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ETHNIC RIOTS CONTINUE THROUGHOUT NORTH SUMATRA PROVINCE, FORCED ASSIMILATION POLICY BEING THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE AS RUMORS OF EXPULSIONS ARISE
The Jakarta Post
August 24, 1986
(Medan, NORTH SUMATRA) - Building up on the ongoing ethnic based riots in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, another violent riot has broken out in North Sumatra Province. The city of Medan has witnessed growing scenes of racially based violence, with native Indonesians targeting businesses and properties owned by Indonesia's Chinese minority. The riots had began when a few weeks ago, an Indonesian employer had refused to hire a Chinese job seeker over his unchanged name, citing the Legislation on Chinese Indonesians, as justification for what was essentially legalized discrimination based on race. Just a few days before the Riau riots, a Chinese merchant was murdered by two Indonesians over a minor deal gone wrong, prompting a retaliatory targeted murder that killed the two assailants, leading to the ongoing riots. However, Medan's riots gradually became worse, as the pribumis (native Indonesians) and the Chinese minority had began to form vigilante groups which were tasked with defending properties owned by their co-ethnics. Clashes between them were frequent to the point where Medan's mayor was forced to ask the Indonesian federal government to send troops and national police forces to quell the riots. While President Suharto was willing to send troops to North Sumatra, some of Suharto's subordinates criticized the riots and how they were handled.
"I fear that the Legislation that we had on the Chinese minority in Indonesia may backfire on us, because it only gave them an incentive to retain their Chinese ethnicity," says Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, during one of the sessions in the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly. "Still, the riots are not an excuse to commit general chaos and mayhem. I trust the President to clamp down on the hooligans that have caused the riots to begin in the first place."
As a result of the riots, over 5,000 Chinese Indonesians have begun to arrive in the Singaporean Embassy in Jakarta to apply for political asylum, citing ethnic persecution as their main reason. However, the British colonial government in Hong Kong and the Portuguese colonial government in Macau were also offering to issue asylum visas to any Chinese Indonesians who wish to move to Hong Kong and Macau respectively. Likewise, the Taiwanese government has also done the same, although Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui had called the invitation to the Chinese Indonesians a form of 'repatriation'.
"Our kinsmen who are suffering from horrific persecution should be taken care of, and given that they originated from southern China, primarily Fujian and Guangzhou, they would have a much easier time assimilating to Taiwanese society," says President Lee, during an interview with local media reporters while commenting on the situation in Indonesia. "Moreover, while our fellow kinsmen had done well in areas of business, their success had often attracted jealousy and hostility from their fellow citizens of the countries they reside in. Additionally, we also have a duty to take care of our kinsmen who live overseas, and to prevent them from falling into the influence of the communists based in the mainland."
Just recently, the Taiwanese government had passed a proposal that would allow the repatriation of almost over 200,000 Overseas Chinese from various parts of SE Asia that have come under Sinophobic regimes, as well as attracting Chinese defectors seeking to flee from the communist regime in Beijing. If successful, Taiwan's population could potentially grow by 4% within the next few years, should the proposal go through. However, the Taiwanese government is facing competition from their Singaporean counterparts, which also passed down a similar proposal to the one that President Lee had proposed. The only difference is that Singapore might also become a popular destination for the Chinese minority in various parts of SE Asia.
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PRO-MARCOS FORCES REACH AMBURAYAN RIVER AS AQUINO-BACKED FORCES DIG DEFENSES AROUND BORDER TOWN OF SUDIPEN
Manila Times
April 12, 1986
(Sudipen, LA UNION) - Approximately 2,600 troops loyal to former President Ferdinand Marcos have arrived at the inter-provincial border between La Union and Ilocos Sur, as confirmed by Colonel Gregorio Honasan. The pro-Marcos forces were preparing for a long siege of the border town as pro-Aquino forces are preparing the border town's defenses, backed by several arriving regiments coming from the rest of Central Luzon. Defending Sudipen is an army force of 2,200 troops, mostly active soldiers coming from Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija that chose not to remain under Brigadier General Marcelo Blando's command, as a result of Blando's switching of his allegiance to renegade Colonel Artemio Tadiar. Much of the defending forces facing off against the pro-Marcos troops have garrisoned several houses vacated by fleeing civilians, who opted to head towards Manila, most possibly towards the foreign embassies that are still open.
"Much of the heavy weaponry that we have are not present, but for confidential reasons, we cannot disclose their location, for fear of being destroyed by helicopters flown by pilots fighting for the pro-Marcos side," says General Jose T. Almonte, who now commanded the Sudipen garrison troops. "However, we can confirm that the pro-Marcos side has enough artillery to reduce Sudipen to rubble, if they so choose. We can say with confidence however, that the amount of shells that they have would not be plentiful enough to reduce Sudipen to rubble."
Although foreign governments had insisted on not getting involved in the growing political turmoil in the Philippines, the issue of sending military aid to the pro-Aquino forces remains a hot topic among the UN Security Council. The United States under the Reagan administration has not yet made an official stance on the civil war that is emerging, but nations like the United Kingdom, China, and Portugal, have offered to send military aid to the pro-Aquino faction. While the pro-Marcos forces remain isolated, the military forces led by Artemio Tadiar have only concentrated their forces in the VisMin region, preferring to fight the New People's Army and the Moro National Liberation Front. However, the reinvigorated New People's Army under Gregorio Rosal have launched a massive recruitment drive throughout various colleges and universities within the National Capital Region, searching for potential recruits to join the communist militant arm. At the same time however, the presence of many left-wing activists seeking to recruit supporters have triggered a backlash when far-right vigilante groups formed in those very same universities have launched bombing campaigns, killing both the activists and their classmates who have joined them. Many of the far-right vigilantes would later form their own Alsa Masa paramilitary cells, providing both the pro-Marcos and Tadiar-aligned forces with much needed support.
"We don't have enough weapons at the moment to arm the emerging paramilitary cells that have aligned with us, but that doesn't mean we won't reject their support. Far from it, we appreciate the much needed intelligence gathering from these volunteers who have allied with us," says Lt. Col. Franco Calida, who heads all of the Alsa Masa groups. "Though with luck, we could acquire the weapons that the communists wouldn't need anymore, and give it to our compatriots who are doing the intel gathering."
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"The brutal murder of Sudono Salim and his son Albert Salim by vigilantes in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta would provide the spark needed for a revolution that saw the fall of the Suharto regime. Though the incident looked genuine, many questions were raised when anti-vigilante counter demonstrators found sophisticated bombs that the assailants would certainly not have been able to build without the help of Indonesian government agents. When one of these agents had been captured by anti-Suharto activists while planning another false flag events that would have pinned the blame on would-be Chinese mobs seeking to retaliate for the killing of the Salim family, the entire nation had erupted into outright violence not seen since the 1965 coup that brought Suharto to power. From September 2nd to October 10, Indonesia would now have a revolution, dubbed the Salim Revolution, in honor of the Salim family. Salim Group was seen to have been bankrolling the revolution that ultimately overthrew Suharto, and Anthoni Salim emerged as the lone surviving symbol of the anti-Suharto movement. Yet, in one of the main signs of the collapse of the Suharto regime, a group of Indonesian officers had pledged to impeach Suharto on charges of corruption and treason against the nation, with both Bacharuddin Habibie and Prabowo Subianto leading the charge. The corruption charges levied against Suharto's sons Tommy Suharto and Bambang Trihatmodjo was enormous, of which the Pertamina Scandal would become the main focus of the Suharto Trials launched in 1988. Though the United States and the Netherlands offered to assist in the trial of Suharto, ultimately Suharto's successor in Prabowo Subianto had declined the offer, insisting that the trial of his predecessor will be carried out in a classic, by-the-book procedure, as befitting a military officer being court martialed. Though Anthoni Salim would not enter politics, he would become the main financial brains behind the Subianto government, though Salim Group would eventually file for bankruptcy in 1991, due to the loss of funds needed to sustain the business because of the majority of the money that Anthoni Salim invested was towards the overthrow of Suharto. In 1993, the Turkish firm Borusan Holding A.S. would purchase Salim Group, completing the first foreign direct investment into the Indonesian economy by the Turkish state." From 'The Legacy of the Salim Revolution', released by ABC Documentaries, October 12, 2014.
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ieph
Seaman
Posts: 13 
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Post by ieph on Jun 27, 2022 16:29:14 GMT
Just managed to read the original TL, (getting into reading the reboot), and I gotta say I'm actually impressed by the work you're doing, especially for a TL that cuts personally to me (my mother was actually in EDSA with the protesters at the time of the revolution).
All I'm going to say is that hopefully, Armenia and Artsakh gets a fairer shake in the reboot (as well as the Afrikaners). (Also, hopefully that ABS-CBN gets revived (perhaps in the post-Tadiar era)
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 28, 2022 4:08:47 GMT
Just managed to read the original TL, (getting into reading the reboot), and I gotta say I'm actually impressed by the work you're doing, especially for a TL that cuts personally to me (my mother was actually in EDSA with the protesters at the time of the revolution). All I'm going to say is that hopefully, Armenia and Artsakh gets a fairer shake in the reboot (as well as the Afrikaners). (Also, hopefully that ABS-CBN gets revived (perhaps in the post-Tadiar era) Thanks very much. Hopefully there will be some significant changes for the Caucasus, and most likely the former Soviet Union in general. As I have stated in previous post, the ongoing war in Ukraine was the main reason why I had to reboot the TL, especially in areas related to Russia, despite this TL being a Philippines-centric TL. Another thing that I wanted to tackle ITTL is how the effects of a military dictatorship would have an effect on OTL Post-EDSA Filipino pop culture. Hopefully most of them would be butterflied away (especially in the original TL version regarding the hypebeasts). |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 30, 2022 4:24:56 GMT
CHAPTER SIX: THE FILIPINO CIVIL WAR PART ONE
FIGHTING RAGES ON IN SUDIPEN AS PRO-MARCOS AND PRO-AQUINO FORCES CLASH IN FIRST MAJOR BATTLE OF CIVIL WAR
Vancouver Sun
April 16, 1986
  Aquino government forces arrive at the provincial border town of Sudipen on an APC. Such vehicles are rare among pro-Aquino forces, as both Marcos regime loyalists and Tadiar-aligned soldiers possess more heavy equipment than their pro-Aquino rivals.(Sudipen, PHILIPPINES) - It has become official: the Filipino Civil War has actually started with the artillery bombardment on the provincial border town of Sudipen, carried out by troops loyal to former President Ferdinand Marcos. Around 0600 hrs, just when the sun has risen over the Philippines, several artillery pieces opened fire on the pro-Aquino positions around the town, resulting in over 40 troops and 24 civilians killed within the first hour alone. As the artillery bombardment continued, pro-Aquino forces stationed elsewhere attempted to stage a river crossing towards Mount Tabur, but suffered additional casualties when reconaissance forces led by Col. Jose Zumel had spotted the opposition forces attempting the river crossing, leading to another artillery barrage, resulting in failure for the pro-Aquino forces. Additionally, pro-Marcos forces in possession of M41 Walker Bulldog tanks have started to cross the Amburaya River, towards Sudipen, while trailing behind infantry troops tasked with hunting down any enemy anti-tank units that might carry out ambushes towards the tanks.
"The battle for Sudipen is the start of what we now call the Special Anti-Terrorist Operation, which we have launched against those who have risen up against my authority," says former President Ferdinand Marcos, during a pro-loyalist rally in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, where his family currently resides. "In addition, there are more troops that have seen through the lies of the False President-Elect, and has now pledged their allegiance once more to my authority."
Marcos's claims of former rebel soldiers defecting back to him rang hollow, when in fact the 7th Infantry Division under Brigadier General Marcelo Blando had not pledged allegiance to the former President, but rather to the renegade officer in Colonel Artemio Tadiar. Tadiar, who was recently given a promotion by the majority of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement officers that aligned with him, had taken much of the military forces stationed in Central and Southern Luzon that swore to fight under his command, to Visayas, where the fighting against the communist rebels are ongoing. However, a few Reform the Armed Forces officers, such as Gregorio Honasan, have pledged their allegiance to President Corazon Aquino.
"This war was brought upon us by the tyrant who refuses to give up his power. In addition, we are facing another crisis brought upon our nation by a renegade military officer who masterminded the mass murder of civilians along Ortigas Avenue," says Col. Honasan, during an interview with local reporters. "Both Ferdinand Marcos and Artemio Tadiar have declared themselves as enemies of the Republic, by virtue of their own actions."
--- Portions from the Interview with Former Philippine Air Force Colonel Antonio Sotelo
CTV Interview, April 4, 1991
Discussing the First Phase of the Filipino Civil War
Interviewer: You've repeatedly stated throughout our interview that the First Battle of Sudipen was an unmitigated disaster for the pro-democratic forces battling troops loyal to former President Marcos. Moreover, the Philippine Air Force was divided by conflicting loyalties. What did you mean by conflicting loyalties, sir?
Sotelo: Well, the defense of Sudipen was terrible in terms of casualties. The artillery pieces that we saw from Mount Tabur had lobbed enough shells to cause panic among our own forces. It didn't help that the majority of the Philippine Air Force helicopters had sided with Artemio Tadiar in exchange for being allowed to deploy in the war against the communists in the south of the country. However, the 208th Tactical Helicopter Squadron was able to slip by Tadiar's forces, only to join the pro-Marcos side. We now had to rely on the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron, which was using F-5 fighter jets. At that time, I was attached to the Bulldogs Squadron.
Interviewer: The air theater of the Filipino Civil War was something that not everyone talked about, and in fact, the ones that grabbed the world's attention were the Philippine Army and Marine Corps. In fact, over 90% of the Filipino Marines had sided with the Tadiar junta, as you've called it. Why was the lack of Marines a major problem for the pro-democratic forces?
Sotelo: Because the Marines were the only ones capable of engaging in amphibious warfare, and the fact that both our troops and that of former President Marcos had not yet learned how to fight like the Marines, because the regular Army troops were not capable at that time. In addition, the Marines who fought under Tadiar's banner were most experienced in carrying out ambushes against the communists. Recall that at the same time as the First Battle of Sudipen, a large column of New People's Army troops based near Dumaguete had been ambushed by Marines in amphibious boats. A huge amount of LARC-V patrol boats were employed during the Tadiar Offensives against the communists.
Interviewer: So why the disaster at Sudipen, other than casualties?
Sotelo: Because Sudipen was just a distraction. We didn't realize that while we fought to prevent Marcos's soldiers from crossing the Amburaya River, General Fabian Ver had ordered other units under his command to swing around our position, but when I meant by swinging around our position, I meant that the pro-Marcos forces had taken control of the Cordillera Region, Cagayan Province, and was pushing towards Nueva Vizcaya. We didn't realize it until May 29th, when the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road was seized by General Ver's troops that we began to see additional enemy troops coming from behind our position. At that point, we had no choice, but to withdraw from Sudipen.
Interviewer: The fall of Sudipen had a disastrous effect on the Aquino administration, but you've insisted that it was just a beginning.
Sotelo: Correct. I did not give up on the idea that we would eventually emerge victorious.
Interviewer: But as the Aquino-aligned forces started to withdraw towards Pangasinan and Tarlac Provinces, it also took control of several airbases within La Union, giving the pro-Marcos forces an advantage in the air. Did the influx of foreign military aid helped a bit?
Sotelo: Yes, and no. We've mostly received weapons dating back to WWII, but they were better than nothing. We did employ the M3 Grease Gun as our main submachine gun, mostly because there weren't enough weapons going to our forces. The Garands were also helpful, but they were only used as sniper rifles. I was surprised to hear that the Vietnamese government had sent military aid to us, mostly because we were on opposite sides during the Vietnam War, but the Vietnamese were glad to get rid of their WWII era weapons that were kept in their storage. Imagine my shock when we got our hands on a German MG 42 machine gun. However, as we kept sustaining casualties, those weapons were eventually captured by pro-Marcos forces.
Interviewer: Would that disaster also include the foreign volunteers who were fighting for the pro-Aquino government?
Sotelo: Yes, and while we were grateful for the assistance, all it did was to cause an outrage in the American public. The so-called International Legion of National Liberation for the Philippines generated more controversy than we could handle, because it consisted of American volunteers who came here originally as humanitarian workers, before switching to front line combat. Even Martin Kove, the man who was in the Philippines when the movie Platoon was being filmed, confirmed of what happened to those volunteers who were taken prisoner during the subsequent Pangasinan Offensive.
Interviewer: Yes, I believe that was the primary reason why we now have Michael Dukakis in power instead of Bob Dole. The fact that some minor actor from somewhere in the US was among the POWs held by the Marcos-aligned forces and died under their custody was the reason for the Republicans' unexpected poor performance in the Mid Terms. However, I must also ask you another question about the civil war: were there any volunteers fighting for the opposite sides? I say opposite sides, mostly because I'm sure that this civil war would have attracted people with rather unsavory political viewpoints.
Sotelo: Aside from the local university students that joined either the communists, or the regular military and repeatedly asked to be sent to Visayas or Mindanao? There was a rumor of a Chinese Special Forces unit that surveilled the battlefields of northern Luzon, before they were kicked out by Marcos loyalist troops, but that remained unconfirmed. I could say this though: there were Contra mercenaries and Chilean 'advisors' who were sent to the Philippines to help with the Civil War, but they advised the Tadiar-aligned troops.
Interviewer: It isn't surprising that Tadiar's side would eventually win the struggle, although he took advantage of the weakened position of the pro-democracy forces and signed a temporary alliance with them, thereby taking the fight to the pro-Marcos troops. Of course, both the Aquino government and the later Tadiar junta took advantage of the fact that they seized the properties and wealth that belonged to the Marcos family, and auctioned it off to interested buyers, in exchange for profits made from the sales of those confiscated items. However, the Aquino government was outraged that Tadiar had hogged all the money to himself. How was he able to act greedy with the money?
Sotelo: Tadiar used the profits made from the sales of the confiscated Marcos goods and properties to pay off the debts that were incurred by the Marcos regime, while simultaneously using what's left of the funds to purchase a few FN FALs from Belgium, Galils from Chile and Israel, and SA80s from the UK, although the SA80s were actually sent from Hong Kong. We initially received the SA80s and countless amounts of ammunition for those rifles, but as our numbers dwindled through surrenders, the pro-Marcos forces eventually grabbed those rifles from us. Sometimes, the pro-Marcos forces would simply shoot prisoners of war because they didn't want to share their food with what they called 'slow carabaos'.
Interviewer: That's awful, and what's worse about it is that the same kind of massacre happened when Tadiar-aligned troops surrendered to pro-Marcos forces during the May 14, 1987 Battle of Bulan, in which the outnumbered Tadiar-aligned Marines were forced to surrender, only for those hapless prisoners to end up dead.
Sotelo: Yeah, and I think the Tadiar-aligned troops that became POWs under pro-Marcos forces' custody had the worst treatment of them all, because they were loyal to an officer who was basically a traitor to the Marcos government. However, we weren't innocent either.
Interviewer: Excuse me?
Sotelo: We also massacred pro-Marcos troops that surrendered to us, and the Tadiar-aligned troops did the same. I admit it that we were not the best troops that displayed decent behavior. This civil war that we were forced to fight, had brought out the worst in us. Unfortunately, this war also twisted some of the officers who were also aligned with Tadiar to the point where they were not hesitant to exterminate the political opponents of the Tadiar regime.
--- "While we can use the Philippines as our perpetual dagger aimed at the hearts of our geopolitical adversaries, ultimately the Tadiar regime has gone far too dangerous to be controlled. Far from it, we also made a mistake in trying to reconcile China and the Philippines while the former was mercilessly bombing the crap out of the latter, and Vietnam as well, leading to the Tadiar regime openly embracing what is essentially another rogue CIA faction's pet project in Japan. Toshio Tamogami was the pet project of the CIA Corsairs like Jon Bennett Ramsey, and he played a key role in making sure that Artemio Tadiar would become a puppet of Tokyo instead. This in turn, has fed the Japanese government the delusions that they can shake off the war guilt that we imposed on them after V-J Day, in that various Japanese nationalist movements wanted to Make Japan Great Again, and the Philippines is the first step in the path towards a 'Second Japanese Empire', as our Korean friends called it alarmingly. Tadiar and his pack of henchmen were radicalized by both the civil war within the Philippines that was caused by the old tyrant in Ferdinand Marcos, and were now radicalized further with the Chinese occupation of the Spratly Islands. At this point, we can no longer ignore the fact that there are far too many rivals that are aspiring to dethrone America as the global leader, in favor of these multipolar regional hegemons. If we are to create a state of perpetual unipolar world, we must not hesitate to exterminate our geopolitical rivals. Even if that must include mass murder." Max Boot, during a speech in the Council of Foreign Relations, April 26, 2010.
--- PRO-AQUINO FORCES WITHDRAW TO MANAOAG AS PRO-MARCOS FORCES CONTINUE TO CONSOLIDATE THE REST OF NORTHERN LUZON
Manila Times
May 30, 1986
 Marcos regime loyalist forces march through the streets of Sudipen, which finally came under their control as Aquino government forces were forced to evacuate from the border town.(Manaoag, PANGASINAN) - Following up on the recent capture of Sudipen in La Union Province, Aquino government forces have withdrawn their forces to Pangasinan Province as Marcos regime loyalists continue to push throughout La Union, including the birthplace of Artemio Tadiar. Several towns between the La Union and Pangasinan had also fallen to Marcos regime loyalist forces, while Aquino government forces now held the provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga, Zambales, and Bulacan, with Nueva Ecija being hotly contested between the two combatants. However, the Fort Magsaysay base in Nueva Ecija has also been contested between Marcos regime loyalist forces and troops under the command of Marcelo Blando, who has pledged his allegiance to renegade Colonel Artemio Tadiar, making the main rice producing province of the Philippines a virtual warzone. As of today, much of the territories in Nueva Ecija around Fort Magsaysay are still held by Blando's troops, while Marcos loyalist forces held the territories in Nueva Ecija up to the Pampanga River. However, Aquino government forces have also managed to push their offensive towards the border with Nueva Ecija, liberating the border towns of Zaragoza, Jaen, and San Antonio from Blando's forces.
"I do not regret for a moment that I chose my own side. I do not trust Corazon Aquino, because she won the election out of pity and grief for her murdered husband, and I will never serve Ferdinand Marcos ever again," says BGen. Blando, while addressing his own troops inside Fort Magsaysay. "While I do not know Artemio Tadiar well, the Philippines is in a pitiful condition that we will need more time to rebuild the democratic institutions that were thrashed by the previous dictator."
The 7th Infantry Division, or the Kaugnay Division, has seen much of its troops fighting to defend much of Nueva Ecija from not only the pro-Marcos and pro-Aquino elements, but also any New People's Army troops that might have decided to build their base in Nueva Ecija. However, the control of Cabanatuan City under Blando's control had resulted in him declaring a temporary government that has so far acted independently of both the Aquino government and the former Marcos government, thereby resulting in the semi-formation of a 'Free State of Nueva Ecija', but that they would be willing to rejoin the Philippines at the end of the civil war. Blando's main reason for declaring the de facto independence of Nueva Ecija was to protect the civilians and internally displaced persons who were forced to leave their homes in neighboring provinces.
"We're thankful to Marcelo Blando for protecting us when the Marcos loyalists were trying to kill those who participated in EDSA Uno," says Patricia de Veira, who fled to Nueva Ecija with her young son from neighboring Nueva Vizcaya. "I'm not a communist, but I opposed Ferdinand Marcos for only one reason only: my late husband was killed while fighting to prevent the Marcos regime from confiscating his farm land."
--- Excerpts from "A Nation in Mourning: My Life Through Two Dictatorships
By: Arturo Tolentino
Atlas Publishing, published 2002
Chapter Right: RelocationI felt a bit guilty after being forced to accompany Colonel Tadiar to Kabankalan, but after Fabian Ver's decision to evacuate much of the Marcos cabinet to his home province of Ilocos Norte, I felt that as a former Vice President-elect, I was a liability to every faction out there. Artemio Tadiar was the only man who actually requested my services to prop up whatever the hell he's trying to build. To be honest, I could have sided with Marcelo Blando, who has carved out a fiefdom of his own in Nueva Ecija, but Blando was caught between the Aquino government and Marcos regime loyalists. I could not take a chance at siding with him, and Blando didn't strike me as a man who wanted to rule the Philippines. Far from it, he saw himself as the man who could have saved the Philippines from three major players. Too bad we knew the end of the story and how Artemio Tadiar became the real champion of this civil war. Yet, Blando had also sided with Tadiar himself, making his own group a de facto ally of the Tadiar junta that is based in Kabankalan. Right now, I was busy being a figurehead for Tadiar's little group, which consisted of almost 85% of the members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement. The last 15% had sided with President Aquino and Vice President Salvador Laurel. I don't blame those 15% for wanting to side with Doy and Cory.
Kabankalan at the time that I'm writing this chapter, was a relatively small city. It wasn't as large as Manila, but it certainly saw an increase in the population, which mainly consisted of relocated Marine Corps troops and other military personnel that agreed with Tadiar's decision to fight the communists in the south. Overnight, Kabankalan became a military town, with new airfields, barracks, and from what I heard, Bacolod's municipal government has offered the use of its commercial ports for the Philippine Navy. This was genuinely a shocking turn of events, because much of the Philippine Navy's fleet were on the sidelines, but Tadiar has managed to convince a few navy officers that they're needed in aiding the Marines with the amphibious invasions of any area of the Philippines under Aquino government control, or under Marcos regime loyalist control.
"I know it's not Manila, or even Cebu City," a voice spoke out as I looked up while working on something on my desk. Standing in front of me, was Tadiar himself. "It's a bit of a shock that Macoy would ditch members of his own party because they dared to say that he's in terminal decline. I'm not surprised if the Marcos clan would make plans in case the old man dies."
I snorted. "Normally, I would say good riddance to such garbage, but I was his former running mate. I saw the direction the wind was blowing, and risked expulsion from KBL."
"And now you're the de facto leader of Kilusang Pambansang Soberanya. I'm also surprised that the likes of Larry Gadon and even Elly Pamatong have joined this new party." Tadiar paused as the phone on my desk rang. He grabbed it, and answered. "Kabankalan HQ."
"Colonel Tadiar? Or, should I saw, Brigadier General Tadiar," another unknown voice called from the other line. "I gotta thank you for the big screw job with killing off the communist leaders. We now have NPA ambushes taking place in Gapan, San Isidro, and even San Leonardo. My troops are stretched thin, while dealing with General Ver's henchmen."
Tadiar gritted his teeth. "Taking out those communists was meant to send a message to that housewife who now sits in Malacanang!"
"Thanks to you, Gregorio Rosal is now recruiting more radicalized students in those universities, and even Colonel Honasan had to send his troops to stop the mini civil war that is taking place in UP Diliman!" Marcelo Blando snapped, but soon calmed down. "That's all in the past, Artemio. Now that I have a clusterfuck on my hands, I will have to make a withdrawal, or at the very least, lure those Macoy regime idiots into Cabanatuan, and make a last stand. No doubt that the Aquino government forces are going to hunt the tanks down."
"Just bleed them out. We got the war with the communists over here." Tadiar hung up the phone and looked at me. "Arturo, I will have to establish a temporary government here in Kabankalan. I know that I'm not well suited for politics just yet, but I will need you to lead the temporary government in my place, as a civilian figure."
I gasped. "Brigadier General, that is a bit too much. No one will take me seriously, especially Cory and Doy."
Tadiar waved his hand. "Doy at the very least, is a competent man with his brain full of knowledge about the legal system. However, he's far more dangerous to us than the housewife."
I agreed with that Tadiar said about Salvador Laurel: although they're on opposite sides of the battlefield, he was one of the very few people that respected Salvador Laurel, if only because of his thirst for knowledge. Moreover, even I must admit that it took a huge amount of guts for Doy to give up his presidential ambitions and give way to Cory Aquino. That was a winning move that Macoy did not anticipate. Still, we have a war to win, or at the very least, a government that we should preserve.
--- Portions from the Interview with Dr. John Kelly, Principal of Oxford's St. Edmund Hall
BBC Interview, June 29, 1993
Discussing the Recent News of Tadiar's Role in the Late Bongbong Marcos's Dubious Oxford Achievement
Interviewer: The world was stunned back in 1989 when it was revealed that the man who has now seized power in the Philippines and has essentially declared himself the new dictator was the same man who was at the time of Martial Law, the military attache at the Philippine Embassy in London. Moreover, Artemio Tadiar himself had revealed his role in the late Bongbong Marcos's 'special mitigating circumstances' when they requested that he obtain the diploma, despite failing several courses. Were you frightened by the prospect that a future dictator was talking to you about the previous dictator's son, who was essentially an extremely awful student?
Kelly: Well, you've got to remember that the Marcos family had a penchant for lying about anything, and if they can lie about Marcos Sr.'s son passing his courses, he can lie about the amount of money that he stole from the state. Artemio Tadiar on the other hand, is not one to lie about his own accomplishments. However, he has several flaws that are far more dangerous than his predecessor as dictator of the Philippines.
Interviewer: Such as?
Kelly: The fate of Bongbong himself. Brigadier General Tadiar had disclosed that the entire Marcos family were interned at a special camp in Samar Province, but no one could support such a claim. It was when the world had learned of Bongbong's failed attempted escape from Matarawis Island, that we were stunned that the same boy who struggled with his politics courses back at Oxford, had now been shot while trying to escape. I don't feel comfortable using the same Nazi-esque reasoning regarding Bongbong.
Interviewer: Before the sanctions were being imposed on the Philippines, in addition to the arms embargo that was also slapped on the Philippine military, Tadiar had approached the British government and tried but failed to persuade them to revise the 1984 Sino-British Agreement, regarding Hong Kong. His main reasoning is that at some point, China will violate certain provisions of that agreement, and undermine Hong Kong's democracy. Moreover, Tadiar had also supported the idea of handing over Macau and Hong Kong to Taiwan, on the basis that Taiwan's government is practically the legal government of the Republic of China, and that the Republic of China also has authority over any territories that were lost by their Qing predecessors, but the communist government in Beijing rejected such a thing. Why would Tadiar go with that approach?
Kelly: That area, I'm not sure. However, it wouldn't surprise me if Tadiar would send attaches to their embassy in London to keep an eye on the emerging Filipino exile groups there. A quarter of them were in fact Overseas Filipino Workers that had to flee from the Middle East because of the fall of Saddam Hussein's government there, and also because of the Iran-Iraq War. It's funny that while Western Europe was hesitant to admit large numbers of Filipinos into its borders, and the same thing was occurring with the other Anglophone countries, except perhaps the United States, it was the communist government in Yugoslavia that opened its doors.
Interviewer: All right. Did Tadiar's agents in London try to talk to you about any other issues related to Bongbong Marcos?
Kelly: Well, they did obtain medical records that confirmed of Bongbong's bouts of flu and other illnesses while he stayed in Oxford. However, they got that information at the same time as Bongbong's incarceration in Matarawis Island. They found out his medical weaknesses and used that to kill him, though to be fair, Bongbong was a bit of an idiot to try and escape from a concentration camp situated in the middle of nowhere. Even if he was successful, there were many Coast Guard ships that were tasked by the Tadiar regime to hunt down any escapees that fled from the concentration camps. I think the Bongbong case was primarily why the Tadiar regime was able to snoop and steal information about Filipinos living abroad. They knew that the Filipino exiles would be subjected to racial abuse from the locals, and they would manipulate them to return to the Philippines. Curiously, they did not arrest the exiles coming back, although they placed them in so-called Redemption Brigades, where they were required to do heavy manual labor, but they were at least paid and were taken care of. It's like re-educating the last Emperor of China in a communist gulag all over again.
--- "China's role in the Filipino Civil War was rather limited, but crucial in the victory for the fragile alliance between the Aquino government and the Tadiar faction, but the former's reputation had taken a massive hit when Operation: Miranda was launched by General Fabian Ver's forces that struck Aquino government positions throughout southern and eastern Luzon in August of 1987, one year and a few months after the opening stages of the Filipino Civil War had started with the Defense of Sudipen. While Ye Fei was only able to act in his unofficial diplomatic position as an envoy to the Aquino government, he was able to witness the crumbling popularity of the Aquino government when it became apparent that she was forced to make concessions to the Communist Party of the Philippines. At the same time though, Ye Fei was able to establish connections with certain key players within the CPP, including Gregorio Rosal, who took over the New People's Army from Jose Maria Sison. Rosal would become an even more charismatic leader of the Filipino communist rebellion, often inciting students to riot against the Aquino government, while at the same time pressuring President Aquino herself to include leftists into her own government. However, she feared the loss of support from the US if she caved in to Rosal's demands, and at the same time, both former President Marcos and Brigadier General Tadiar would exploit the damaged reputation of the Aquino government for their own ends. One of the things that President Aquino had done that actually pleased Gregorio Rosal was the appointment of Filemon Legman as the new Minister of Labor and Employment. While Lagman's background as a Labor leader came in handy when it came to solving disputes between employees and employers in the work place, the only thing that she was successful in was that Augusto Sanchez, the original candidate for the position that Lagman now filled in instead, defected to Artemio Tadiar's camp, resulting in him joining the Kilusang Pambansang Soberanya and its leader, Arturo Tolentino. Furthermore, crime had risen slightly during the early years of the Filipino Civil War, when a break down in law and order had resulted in increased rates of theft, robberies, and even multiple counts of murder were reported. In areas of the Philippines under the control of Marcos regime loyalists, bribery was everywhere, with police officers having no choice but to take bribes because their salaries often came late. However, it's the territories of the Philippines that came under control of Artemio Tadiar and his gang of military underlings that was the most noticeable, because it functioned well enough to look like he's the only one willing to restore order, but when one explores the deeper areas of the jungle, one could smell the stench of corpses and the mixture of mud and blood being left on a soldier's boots, giving away the presence of mass graves. That such a feature would be a defining feature of the Tadiar military dictatorship, and as one Filipino exile had said, 'Marcos stole millions, but Tadiar killed millions'. It is not an exaggeration that many exiled activists who were prominent during the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos were killed by the Tadiar dictatorship, with a few survivors lucky enough to escape the country." Donald Rumsfeld, from "Lost Decades: Marcos, Tadiar, and the Butchery of Philippine Democracy", published by University of British Columbia printing press, 2009.
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simeon
Petty Officer 1st Class
Posts: 62
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Post by simeon on Jun 30, 2022 12:08:32 GMT
If we are to create a state of perpetual unipolar world, we must not hesitate to exterminate our geopolitical rivals. Even if that must include mass murder." Max Boot, during a speech in the Council of Foreign Relations, April 26, 2010.
oh god, OH FUCK!It's the OFN again, but cringe! |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 30, 2022 13:57:03 GMT
If we are to create a state of perpetual unipolar world, we must not hesitate to exterminate our geopolitical rivals. Even if that must include mass murder." Max Boot, during a speech in the Council of Foreign Relations, April 26, 2010.
oh god, OH FUCK!It's the OFN again, but cringe! What is the OFN? |
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simeon
Petty Officer 1st Class
Posts: 62
Likes: 57
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Post by simeon on Jul 1, 2022 11:02:42 GMT
the more based counterpart of OTL NATO in HoI4 TNOmod |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jul 1, 2022 15:33:52 GMT
I mean, this timeline would maintain the theme of not trusting any superpower.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jul 8, 2022 5:11:40 GMT
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE FILIPINO CIVIL WAR PART TWO
CABANATUAN CITY BECOMES NEW HOTSPOT IN CIVIL WAR AS SEMI-RENEGADE TROOPS LED BY MARCELO BLANDO BATTLES PRO-MARCOS FORCES
Manila Times
June 16, 1986
(Cabanatuan City, DE-FACTO FREE STATE OF NUEVA ECIJA, DE-JURE PROVINCE OF NUEVA ECIJA) - Cabanatuan City's residents are preparing for the inevitable battle as pro-Marcos forces approach the city from within the banks of the Pampanga River. A strong garrison of 9,000 troops under the command of Brigadier General Marcelo Blando has dug up positions as his subordinates are busy training civilian volunteers for both combat and non-combat positions. The civilian volunteers who are being trained for combat duties were first sent to Fort Magsaysay, where they're being instructed on firearms safety, as well as basic military drills, before being sent back to Cabanatuan City to help Blando's troops repel the pro-Marcos force that is poised to seize the city. Prior to the planned battle in Cabanatuan City, other troops under the command of Brigadier General Blando have retained control of the town of Platero, where they could keep an eye on any incoming invasion force striking from other parts of Nueva Ecija that have come under the control of Marcos regime loyalists. In addition, the Governor of Nueva Ecija, Eduardo Joson, has started to collaborate with Brigadier General Blando on providing the refugees who were displaced from other parts of northern Luzon with medical care and temporary shelter. Many of these same refugees that were displaced had begged to join any volunteer unit that would help defend Cabanatuan City from the pro-Marcos forces.
"Our medical situation here in Cabanatuan City is stable, but our food supply is only enough for three months," warns Governor Joson, during an anti-Marcos regime rally in the center of Cabanatuan City. "This means we only have three months to prevent former regime loyalists from capturing our city."
Though the 7th Infantry Division was recently established, much of its troops had originally come from the 5th Infantry Division. Like most of the Philippine Army Divisions, the 5th Infantry Division was divided between the three competing factions, with much of the troops that would form the 7th Infantry Division joining the Tadiar-aligned forces. Meanwhile, the 6th Infantry Division would join the Marcos regime loyalist forces, leaving the 5th Infantry Division as the only Luzon-based infantry division loyal to the Aquino government. However, the Aquino government has also struggled to keep the lid on the growing communist rebellion that even the former Marcos regime has not solved during its dictatorship period, though the appointment of Filemon Lagman as the new Minister of Labor has mollified some of the moderates within the Communist Party of the Philippines. However, Gregorio Rosal is not impressed with the way the Aquino government has tried to win the left wing movement over to its side.
"The bourgeois dominated Aquino government is nothing but a tool of American imperialism, though a useful tool in which we will use to further our revolution," Rosal said during a meeting with his subordinates in a hidden jungle base, outside Leyte, while also addressing local reporters. "We also need to start building the foundation of our new socialist state, through the establishment of People's Republics on the territories that we've liberated from the fascists of the Tadiar clique and the diehard fanatics who still clung on to their declining dictator."
---
"The idea of Marcelo Blando becoming the new leader of the Philippines is almost impossible, but not improbable. His track record as the de facto head of the semi-independent 'Free State of Nueva Ecija' was impressive enough that much of the reforms that he and the late Governor Eduardo Joson had introduced, namely focused on social and political reforms, had later been adopted by the Tadiar dictatorship. Among those reforms were an overhaul to the welfare system that allowed families that were displaced by the Filipino Civil War to apply for social assistance, on condition that they gain employment in any field of work, including industries related to matters of national security. Blando had worked together with the late Governor Joson in directing the repairs in damaged infrastructure and reconstructing houses that were damaged by the fighting. Indeed, much of the urban reorganization through the redevelopment of Cabanatuan City and the town of Platero was adopted by the Tadiar regime for the development of Kabankalan as the new capital city of the Philippines, which he officially declared it in 2001. However, the Chinese military aggression against Vietnam and the Philippines during the Spratlys Conflict of 1995 nearly undid the building blocks of the reform that Blando did during the Filipino Civil War. Unfortunately, Brigadier General Blando would eventually die in the last stand at Cabanatuan City, when that city eventually fell to Marcos regime loyalist forces. So what if Blando became the new President of the Philippines?
For one thing, while Marcelo Blando is no Artemio Tadiar, or even his successor in Hector Tarrazona, he's far better than Ferdinand Marcos and Fabian Ver. The most important thing that Marcelo Blando would do, if he became President of the Philippines, would have been to expand the reforms that he initially carried out in Nueva Ecija to the entire country, though doing it one province at a time. He would have also carried out a successful counter-insurgency against the communists, but will not have resorted to mass murder, like what Tadiar did. Blando, at the very least, would never tolerate the Philippine military's flirtation with organized crime groups, and he would have been a much more favorable President when it came to diplomacy. Though the Philippines under Blando might be militarily weaker than the Philippines under Tadiar, Blando will definitely have tackled the problems that have erupted during the Marcos dictatorship. However, judging by what Blando has done during the Civil War, he could definitely strip more power from the Catholic Church and enforced secularism more vigorously. It is a sad thing that Marcelo Blando was killed by General Ver's troops, because he could have been a much more popular military officer among the Reform the Armed Forces Movement members, and he doesn't come with enough controversial baggage. Blando would never drag the Philippines recklessly into a war with China that resulted in its defeat, leading to the further radicalization of Filipino politics to the point where they would openly practice acts of terrorism against China. Finally, Marcelo Blando might have presided over a new constitution that weakens the power of the President, while giving more power to a new parliamentary body and carry out the tricameral experiment much more successfully than the ad hoc tricameralist experiment carried out by the Tadiar regime that created such a bureaucratic headache." From the popular alternate history website, Speculative Scenarios (dot) net, the thread titled: "What if Marcelo Blando Becomes the President of the Philippines?"
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Excerpts from "A House Built on Corroded Stone: From Gorbachev to Civil War"
by: Anatoly Lukyanov
Molodaya Gvardiya, published 2010
Chapter Three: Close Call
By the time I got out of my office just outside the Central Auditing Commission, several KGB agents were already awaiting for my arrival. I feared the worst whenever they showed up, but to my surprise (and relief), they didn't say a word to me, but gestured for me to enter one of their cars. The KGB driver then started the car and began to drive as we went through the streets of the Soviet capital, before arriving in the Kremlin. My relief didn't last long though, because when I entered the office where Comrade Gorbachev sat, he was on the phone with several people from a place called Chernobyl. I barely knew the place, other than its nuclear reactor. Little did I know, the topic of the nuclear reactor was the main issue that Comrade Gorbachev had been discussing.
"Are you sure that you've managed to implement one of your critical recommendations, Comrade Mashenko?" Gorbachev said over the phone.
I could hear the other man whom I must assume to be Comrade Mashenko reply. "Yes, Comrade General Secretary. I told my subordinates to shut the plant down, before it suffers a meltdown. I knew there was something wrong with how they design the damn plant."
"Do you think that the V.I. Lenin Plant should be decommissioned then?" Gorbachev asked again.
"Definitely, and we have to come up with new designs for the nuclear reactors. They're not up to standard lately. Look, I have to get back to work, Comrade General Secretary." The phone became silent as Comrade Gorbachev looked up to see me and the KGB escorts that I came with. "Ah, Comrade Lukyanov. I trust that your work has gone smoothly?"
I nodded, though I remained unhappy. "Comrade General Secretary, even though I run the auditing smoothly, I'm starting to notice a serious issue regarding much of the budgetary concerns." I opened my suitcase and handed him one of the reports that I wrote. "It pertains to the constant issue of food shortages and how that issue remains unsolved. Moreover, there are several collective farms that aren't performing rather well."
For a minute, it felt like forever when Comrade Gorbachev read my report. All I can see is the growing frown on his face as he continued to read it, fully understanding the nature of the food shortage that was written in my report. Before he could give his response, the door knocked once again. Comrade Gorbachev nodded to the guard as he opened the door, revealing both Viktor Ivanenko and Dmitry Yazov. They gave me a nod of recognition, while I did the same. We paused for a moment as Comrade General Yazov placed a folder on the General Secretary's desk. No one said anything after that, as Comrade Gorbachev continued to read my report, ignoring the other report that Comrade Yazov planted on his desk. Finally, once he finished reading my report, he simply retrieved Comrade Yazov's report and proceeded to read it. His frown returned, as some of the contents of Yazov's report began to sink into his head. It was only then that he gave his attention to us.
"First of all, I will have to address Comrade Mashenko's report on the nuclear reactor designs. I admit that things have not been as perfect as they should, but it will take time until I've set up a group that could address the sensitive issues of the reactor designs," Comrade Gorbachev explained after he out down the report that Yazov gave to him. "Then, there's Comrade Lukyanov's financial reports, and an additional inquiry regarding the food shortage issue. To think that your suggestion of shutting down the collective farms that are not performing as well as they should is beyond insanity. That goes against the whole point of collectivization of agriculture in the first place."
Ivanenko shook his head in disagreement. "Our Chinese colleagues had also came to the same conclusion regarding their collective farms that were underperforming. Gradual increased privatization of agricultural plots by at least 12% within the first year could alleviate some of the short term food issues we're facing. At the very least, we have to revisit the failed Virgin Lands campaign in Kazakhstan, and solve the issue of a lack of nutrients that were lost because of that idiotic campaign in the first place."
"I agree, which is why I'm suggesting that the Central Asian republics within the Union could focus their efforts on livestock production. At the same time, we also have to pay attention to the environment, and how it will affect our own agricultural lands as well," I added. "Hopefully we could exploit the rising temperatures and other forms of climate change to open up more of our Siberian lands to agriculture."
Comrade Gorbachev, however, frowned at my suggestion. "We're not sure what other surprises that the untapped riches of Siberia may have, Comrade Lukyanov." He then looked at Comrade General Yazov with an uneasy look. "And your military dossier sounds a bit alarming. Can you explain to me why our military is having a hard time in Afghanistan?"
Afghanistan. That quagmire that is fast becoming our own Vietnam, but at the moment, it's a festering sore that could become the nail in the coffin of our union. From the looks that Comrade Yazov gave to him, it did not look good at all.
"Our troops are suffering from more casualties. The tactics that worked in the past, are not working at all today. More of the military aid has arrived from the Americans, via Pakistan. Now the Mujahideen are fast becoming stronger, and our forces could not sustain any more casualties," Comrade Yazov explained. He suddenly gave a small grin. "However, there is a young officer who's attending the Frunze Military Academy that has spoken in favor of using smaller number of troops to engage the Mujahideen in battle. I'm sure you know whom I'm talking about."
None of us understood the officer Yazov was referring to, although I do recall seeing a solemn looking man who served as a pallbearer during the late Comrade Chernenko's funeral. I didn't know who the man was, but Comrade Gorbachev nodded, as he knew at once who it was.
"So it's Lieutenant General Lebed. Well, I'll have to hear what he has to say." Comrade Gorbachev looked at Ivanenko and scowled. "And I suppose you've got something to say as well, Comrade Ivanenko?"
"Not at all, although I kept getting complaints about Comrade Konayev," Ivanenko commented. I wanted to sigh in frustration when I heard that damned name again. From what I heard, more accusations of corruption kept piling up at his feet. "It seems to me that we have to replace him as the head of the Kazakh Communist Party."
"I was thinking along the same lines. I was thinking of appointing someone relatively new," Comrade Gorbachev replied back as we heard the phone ring. He picked it up, expecting to hear from Comrade Mashenko once again. "Hello?"
To our surprise, it wasn't Comrade Mashenko, but some other random mook that I had no idea about. "Comrade Gorbachev? It's me, Kolbin."
"Comrade Kolbin, have you decided to accept my offer to replace Comrade Konayev as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan?" he asked back.
Kolbin however, scowled. "I kept telling you that it's a bad idea to put someone like me as the leader of the CPK. The Kazakhs will think that you're practicing Great Russian Chauvinism once again, by bypassing a Kazakh in favor of a Russian."
"I'm not putting Nursultan Nazarbayev as the head of the CPK!" Gorbachev insisted.
"Then, my suggestion would be to put someone like Kenes Aukhadiyev or some other Kazakh as the head of the CPK." Kolbin promptly hung up the phone.
Comrade Gorbachev sighed in resignation and looked at us. "Well then, should we continue then, or do you all have something else to complain?"
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SOVIET PACIFIC FLEET ARRIVE IN CAM RANH BAY FOR SNAP NAVAL DRILLS WITH VIETNAMESE NAVY AS CIVIL WAR ESCALATES IN THE PHILIPPINES
Brisbane Times
June 5, 1986
(Cam Ranh Bay, VIETNAM) - As a sign that the civil war in the Philippines would result in a potential spillover into neighboring states, the Soviet Pacific Fleet has arrived in its base in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. The presence of Soviet warships was actually requested by the Vietnamese government, as their continued surveillance of the South China Sea has dramatically increased in the wake of the civil war that has broken out just across the sea. Vietnam's Chairman of the Council of State, Đặng Xuân Khu, has also announced a snap naval drill between the Soviet and Vietnamese Navies, as a response to the growing naval activity made by the Philippine Navy. In addition, while Vietnam has not yet recognized the Aquino administration as the newly legitimized government of the Philippines, it has started to send some significant amount of military aid, as well as humanitarian supplied to areas of the Philippines affected by the fighting. In addition, Vietnamese Coast Guard personnel were also deployed to help any Filipino refugee that wanted to escape from the fighting, although only 12 Filipino refugees fled from the Ilocos region, which has come under the control of the Marcos regime loyalist faction.
"We're deeply concerned about what has happened in the Philippines, and that the fight between the forces of reactionary fascism and forces of anti-fascism has escalated to the point where we might see the destruction of the progressive forces that are trying to rebuild their nation from decades of fascist rule," says Đặng Xuân Khu, during a session in Vietnam's national parliament. "Moreover, we are also aware that the United States Navy's 7th Fleet had been dispatched from its base in Yokosuka Naval Base, and has decided to plan a provocation in case they get some ideas."
Đặng Xuân Khu's claims of the 7th Fleet's presence has in fact, been confirmed by Admiral Feliks Gromov, who led the small Soviet fleet to Cam Ranh Bay for the snap naval drills with their Vietnamese counterparts. However, the presence of the Soviet, Vietnamese, and American fleets in the South and East China Seas has infuriated the Chinese government in Beijing, who saw the presence of those fleets as an unwarranted danger to China's maritime security.
"The presence of these naval intruders in our territorial waters is something that we consider unacceptable," says Hu Yaobang, who has also expressed his outrage at the Vietnamese Navy for inviting the Soviets into their territorial waters. "Our Vietnamese colleagues should reconsider their decision to invite the Soviets into their waters when they're still occupying Cambodian territory. In addition, while we also appreciate their assistance in helping the Philippine government put down a fascist uprising in the north, we cannot allow the Soviet and the Americans to turn the Philippines into another launching pad for a potential invasion of China."
---
"The Soviet Union's stance in the Filipino Civil War was rather muted, although they were most likely the last ones to have maintained support for the dying Marcos regime. Once it's becoming clear that Corazon Aquino was going to become the new President, the Soviets joined the British, Chinese, and later on, the Australians and Canadians in recognizing the legitimacy of the Aquino government as the sole representative of the Philippines. However, the rise of Artemio Tadiar as the new military dictator of the Philippines had resulted in massive exodus of political refugees who were lucky enough to escape from Tadiar's death squads, which hunted down the communists with ruthless efficiency that would make both the Kempeitai and the Gestapo blush. Much of the Filipino exiles who were forced to flee from the Philippines had later arrived in Indonesia, where they were given the option to either move to the US, Australia, New Zealand, or Canada. Most of them chose to move to the US, but the Filipino migrant workers who were employed overseas, especially in the Middle East, could not return to their homeland because of the new dictatorship established by Tadiar. Various Filipino ambassadors had written and contacted the governments of various Western European nations, pleading them to open their doors to the political exiles, but those governments were wary of letting the Filipinos stay within Western Europe. The most logical explanation being was that they were fearful of a violent backlash from the locals, who had to experience their neighborhoods being settled by guest workers from Turkey, North Africa, and even the Middle East itself, although the MidEast guest workers were from Syria and Iraq. In the end, the growing Filipino Refugee Crisis of 1988-91 was solved, not by Western Europe, but rather, the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was a combination of the rise of Tadiar, along with more brutal battles fought during the Iran-Iraq War, and a failed Iraqi incursion into Kuwait, that triggered the Filipino Refugee Crisis in the first place. It's also amazing that while Yugoslavia under President Stipe Suvar was dealing with the growing debt crisis, along with worsened ethnic tensions, it was able to take advantage of its non-aligned status to offer its territories as a temporary transit point for Filipinos that wanted to flee from the Middle East, but were unable to return to their homelands." From 'The Filipino Refugee Crisis of 1988-91 and Its Effects on Post-Cold War Politics', released by Deutsche Wells.
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SOUTHERN LUZON TOWN OF MAUBAN SEIZED BY NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY TERRORISTS AS RESIDENTS OF THE TOWN FORCED TO FLEE TO THE SAFETY OF PHILIPPINE CAPITAL
Vancouver Sun
July 26, 1986
(Mauban, PHILIPPINES) - The growing destabilization of the Philippines has continued to plague the Aquino administration, with news coming from the small town of Mauban, in Quezon Province, that the town had recently fallen to communist rebels that have long engaged in their decades old insurgency against the Philippine government. The 3,000 strong New People's Army under the charismatic leadership of Gregorio Rosal, had taken over the town after witnessing the exodus of local municipal police officers and regular Philippine military personnel. Seeing a golden opportunity to take control of a town anywhere in the Philippines, the New People's Army stormed into Mauban, and began to arrest anyone who they deemed to be a counterrevolutionary. The fall of Mauban to the communist rebels has casted doubt on the Aquino administration's ability to quell the uprisings, from the rebellion launched by soldiers loyal to former President Ferdinand Marcos, to the communist rebels themselves. However, the seizure of Mauban has occurred at the same time as the first major battle waged between them and troops aligned with recently promoted Brigadier General Artemio Tadiar, during the southern offensive for Dinagat Island. Rosal had noticed that the Tadiar-aligned troops had been stretched thin by the constant raids on their military posts by other NPA-aligned left wing rebels, incensed by Tadiar's orders to assassinate Rosal's predecessors in Jose Maria Sison, Benigno Tiamzon, and Wilma Tiamzon.
"As a result of our first victory against the perpetrators who murdered Comrade Sison in cold blood, along with Comrades Benigno and Wilma Tiamzon, we have decided to establish our own administration in the town of Mauban, under the banner of the Tayabas People's Republic," announces Rosal, during a CPP-NDF rally in NPA-occupied Mauban. "The Tayabas People's Republic may not be a fully fledged sovereign nation, but it will become the building pillar of a reunited Philippines under the banner of socialism."
In response to the formation of a quasi-breakaway state in southern Luzon, the Aquino administration has decided to send whatever is left of the Philippine Constabulary forces stationed in the capital to retake Quezon Province. However, it is unsure how well the Philippine Constabulary forces will fare against battle hardened communist rebels, when many of the new recruits have not yet completed their basic training. Yet, the political reliability and loyalty of the new recruits are suspect, as many of them came from the same institutions as their former classmates turned enemies, but secretly aligned with Artemio Tadiar. Consequently, many refugees began to flee from Quezon Province, and into Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, bringing with them tales of communist atrocities.
"We saw a priest being dragged by three left-wing terrorists into the town square as they proceeded to tie him to an electric pole, before slicing his skin with their knives," says a refugee who refuses to be named, for fear of communist reprisals. "My brother also witnessed a foreign nun who was attached to the loal church being stripped and sexually assaulted, before being shot in the head."
It is not yet known if the quasi-breakaway state controlled by the New People's Army will seek international recognition, but so far the international community has stood firm behind the Philippine government. Moreover, Soviet Ambassador to the United Nations Alexander Belogonov has proposed a UN-led international peacekeeping force to the Philippines that would put an end to the fighting, but his proposal was vetoed by the United States, which didn't want any additional Soviet military presence in SE Asia in addition to their ongoing war in Afghanistan.
"It is beyond idiotic that Soviet forces and American troops should conduct a peacekeeping mission together in a nation that has gotten over a dictatorship that we supported, while at the same time those very same Soviet troops are engaged in their attempted conquest of Afghanistan," says American National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, after the UN Security Council meeting had ended. "The international community should impose sanctions on the Soviet Union for their military aggression against Afghanistan, until they withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. Then we'll think about this bizarre peacekeeping proposal they've come up with."
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jul 13, 2022 5:13:48 GMT
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE FILIPINO CIVIL WAR PART THREE
Excerpts from the De-Classified US State Department Report on the Filipino Civil War
Sub-Topic: Communist Enclaves in Southern Luzon and Northern Mindanao
De-Classified on August 19, 2021
The loss of control of the former Quezon Province to communist bands led by Gregorio Rosal had been a factor in the creation of a breakaway state, the so-called Tayabas People's Republic, with Mauban as its provisional 'capital', along with the weakening morale within the Philippine military forces loyal to President Corazon Aquino. Elsewhere, areas of the Philippines that remained under the control of former Marcos regime loyalists had experienced several protests and rebellions against the disgraced former dictator, in light of the exposure of the Marcos regime's corruption and extravagant lifestyle that was shown to the public in Manila. However, it is in areas of the Philippines that are being managed by renegade soldiers and paramilitary units under the command of newly promoted Brigadier General Artemio Tadiar that has seen the most improved societal structures, in that certain portions of properties formerly owned by Marcos cronies were confiscated, but were retained by subordinate officers loyal to BGen. Tadiar, which does not bode well for the economic development of the Philippines as a whole. Communist rebellions are a constant source of danger in Philippine territories held by Tadiar-aligned troops, but their overreach in suppressing the communist uprising only fuels leftist anger at BGen. Tadiar. In addition, US military installations on Philippine soil remained in the state of military preparedness, as the Reagan administration has announced the military threat to DEFCON 2, in response to the escalation of hostilities.
The Aquino administration's appointment of noted communist Filemon Lagman as Minister of Labor has also aroused hostility from within her own government, as Mr. Lagman has not bothered to hide his leftist sympathies, and has in fact, incited more blue collar workers to revolt against their employers, paralyzing the economic activity needed to bring the country back from the brink of economic collapse. As a result of Mr. Lagman's appointment as Minister of Labor, a few government officials from within the Aquino administration, especially those with anti-communist leanings, would either defect back to the Marcos regime loyalist faction, or joined the Tadiar renegade faction, with Tadiar benefiting from the expertise of Aquino government defectors. In addition, the establishment of another quasi-breakaway state, the so-called Free State of Nueva Ecija, does not have any ambition to function as an independent state, but rather to serve as a buffer zone between the pro-Marcos and pro-Aquino factions. Yet, the quasi-breakaway state of Nueva Ecija has provided enough aid to displaced refugees that were affected by the fighting. It is our best hope that BGen. Marcelo Blando would be the best alternative for a future democratic Filipino state, should the Aquino administration fall apart and lose the civil war. However, this best alternative no longer existed, with the fall of Cabanatuan City, and with it, the entire quasi-breakaway state of Nueva Ecija on July 29, 1986, when pro-Marcos forces have managed to take the city, after a month and a bit of fighting. It is also worth noting however, that the pro-Marcos forces sustained heavy casualties in taking the city, and while BGen. Blando and his men chose to die rather than to surrender, the morale of the pro-Marcos soldier had also sunk to the same level as their pro-Aquino counterparts.
Therefore, it is necessary that the Reagan administration had appointed Jon Bennett Ramsey as its primary agent to deal with any further destabilization efforts by the communists, and to give Mr. Ramsey the help he needs to eliminate any more communist threats to the country. It is also worth noting that the Filipino Civil War has also attracted the unwanted attention of Soviet, Chinese, and Vietnamese governments, in that only the Soviets and Vietnamese have launched a snap military drill in the South China Sea, which we saw as a potential pretext for a military intervention in the Philippines, presumably to aid the communist rebels there. Luckily, our veto at the UN Security Council has prevented such a thing, but reports of Chinese diplomatic overtures to the Aquino government have also reached Mr. Ramsey to the point where he has developed a plan to counter Chinese ambitions in SE Asia. Unfortunately, the ongoing Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia has resulted in additional displacements of Cambodian refugees there, and as a result, we may be looking at a wider SE Asian Refugee Crisis, should the United States not intervene to stop the potential refugee crisis from breaking out.
--- TAYABAS FALLS TO COMMUNIST REBELS AS QUASI-BREAKAWAY STATE EXPANDS ITS TERRITORY, DISPLACING ADDITIONAL 4,000 REFUGEES TO OTHER PHILIPPINE PROVINCES
Sydney Herald
June 14, 1986
 New People's Army guerrillas pose for a picture, just outside the town of Mauban. These terrorists form the backbone of the military arm of the so-called Tayabas People's Republic.(Tayabas, PHILIPPINES) - Building up on the recent establishment of the so-called Tayabas People's Republic as a quasi-breakaway state, communist rebels had taken advantage of the Aquino government forces' retreat from Quezon Province to expand their control beyond the town of Mauban, and proceeded to capture the city of Tayabas. The fall of Tayabas to communist rebels had greatly increased the fears of a communist revolution in the Philippines, which is mired in the middle of a civil war. With Tayabas under the control of the New People's Army, the Aquino administration is in danger of losing their strategic hold on southern Luzon to the communists. Additionally, Lucena and Pagbilao are also in danger of falling to communist rebels, as increased NPA guerrilla activity have resulted in various foreign firms operating in Quezon Province to abandon their operations. As a result of this, the communists simply moved to take control of key economic centers within Quezon Province. Consequently, the neighboring provinces of Batangas and both Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur have also taken in refugees fleeing from Quezon province, bringing with them tales of communist atrocities. as well.
"Those thugs had destroyed the home of a coconut planatation owner, and had stolen much of the coconuts for their own consumption!" says a displaced farmer, who used to work at a coconut plantation along the highway that connects Tayabas and Mauban. "In addition, they used the new recruits to torture and kill the plantation owner that was unlucky enough to be caught by them."
An attempted NPA offensive into Camarines Norte was foiled by other Aquino administration forces around the same time as the fall of Tayabas, but this wasn't enough for President Aquino's government, as desertions and defections are rife within the Philippine military that remained loyal to her administration. Additionally, another attempt was made at capturing southern Quezon province, though it was the troops from the Philippine Marine Corps that were allied to BGen. Artemio Tadiar that made the effort, and likewise, had failed in their mission. Unfortunately, the Tadiar-aligned forces would also suffer a defeat when their hold on Camiguin Island was contested by communist rebels, and lost it to them. Citing a lack of supplies, the Tadiar-aligned troops had surrendered to the New People's Army, who simply forced their captives to dig a mass grave, before proceeding to execute them. In retaliation, paramilitary forces under the banner of the anti-communist paramilitary group, Alsa Masa, had ambushed an NPA platoon just outside the town of Tubod, in Surigao del Norte, and executed them.
"As the communists have demonstrated, they won't show mercy to our soldiers who were unfortunate enough to fall under their captivity. Thus, we will also show no mercy to captured communists that have come under our captivity as well," announces BGen. Artemio Tadiar, upon hearing of the successful ambush at Tubod. "At the same time, we're also facing several setbacks in our attempts to dislodge the communists from Quezon Province as well."
--- Portions from the Interview With Former Philippine Air Force Colonel Antonio Sotelo
CTV Interview, April 5, 1991
Discussing the Communist Quasi-Breakaway States' Existence
Interviewer: The sudden rise of the two communist quasi-breakaway states in the Philippines must have come as a shock to you, sir, considering that the New People's Army had never been this bold and brash before. Do you have any idea as to how they were able to do something like this?
Sotelo: The rise of Gregorio Rosal happened precisely because of one man, and that very same man now rules the Philippines with an iron fist: Artemio Tadiar. Tadiar's decision to launch the hit on Jose Maria Sison and the Tiamzon couple had given the communists their pseudo-holy martyrs, and given the fact that most of the universities in the Philippines had essentially become a breeding ground for political extremism, it didn't take long until Rosal had whipped them into a frenzy. Sadly, the anti-communist UP students who joined the Philippine Constabulary would end up turning against their superiors, whom they see as politically ineffective, and formed their own quasi-far-right death squads that were not affiliated with Alsa Masa, though they eventually did join Alsa Masa once Lt. Col. Franco Calida had accepted them into his ranks.
Interviewer: So how were the presence of the deserters benefited the communists?
Sotelo: Well, the communists were able to take advantage of the weakening authority of President Aquino to expand their quasi-breakaway state, but when Gregorio Rosal's communist terrorists attempted to enter the province of Batangas, that was when things became extremely brutal. I recall the incursion on August 27 of 1986, when the New People's Army attempted to capture the town of Tangob, in Batangas. What the communists didn't know was that Batangas had recently been a place of refuge for the Philippine Constabulary deserters who didn't want to fight for the Aquino government.
Interviewer: How was the incursion into Tangob considered a disaster?
Sotelo: Tangob was where the displaced refugees arrived and temporarily resettled, and when their stories were listened by the deserters, they proceeded to prepare for the incoming communists. However, one of the Philippine Constabulary soldiers there had suggested that they could ambush the communists at night. When another soldier asked how could they pull it off, the loudmouth suggested that they cover their faces. I wasn't at Batangas when they pulled off the Tangob Ambush, but I do remember listening to Antonio Parlade Jr. explaining that when he was recently deployed to Batangas as a young officer there, he heard that the Philippine Constabulary troops had used black paint to cover their faces, while putting on a small bayong to cover their heads, but made two holes to ensure that they can see.
Interviewer: Some say that the Tangob Ambush was the perfect template for the various other military offensives, such as the massacres committed by the Hutus and Tutsis during the Rwandan conflict, the South African Civil War where both the African National Congress's paramilitary arm in the uMkhonto we Sizwe and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, or the AWB, had massacred each other's civilian population. But what made the Tangob Ambush so infamous in Philippine history?
Sotelo: The bayong basket that the deserters wore when they ambushed and killed the NPA terrorists had a devastating psychological effect on them. It is because of them that the NPA terrorists were reluctant to carry out night attacks, fearing reprisals from the deserters. Eventually, even Alsa Masa was impressed by the Tangob Ambush, that they started adopting their tactics as well. Artemio Tadiar himself was impressed by what he called the Tangob Maneuver that he ordered the PC deserters to teach the tactics to the Philippine Marine Corps soldiers. The Tangob Maneuver was used effectively during Tadiar's offensives against the communists between the summer of 1987, until the fragile Aquino-Tadiar Alliance that ultimately destroyed the last hope of a Marcos Restoration.
Interviewer: In addition to the psychological effects of the Tangob Maneuver, the fact that the deserters wore basically baskets over their heads must have gone well with some segment of Filipino society.
Sotelo: Yes, and the way they simply pointed at any suspected communist sympathizer was eerily similar to how the Makapili would point out anyone who helped the guerrillas fighting the Japanese occupation. It was practically red tagging, combined with the psychologically devastating use of the bayong masks. To this day, concentration camp guards often wore bayong over their heads to dehumanize themselves to the point where they could simply torture and kill their inmates without any remorse. By the time that the quasi-breakaway so-called Tayabas People's Republic had fallen to the joint Aquino-Tadiar force, the Alsa Masa paramilitary troops and regular Philippine military forces had applied the full scale psychological terror campaign against the New People's Army that they were not given a chance to flee from Mauban, as they simply slaughtered them with machetes.
Interviewer: My God! All of the communists that were captured in Mauban?
Sotelo: Yeah, and by the time Tadiar had established his dictatorship, he has reorganized the Philippine Constabulary to the new Philippine Territorial Defense Guard, and the PTDG had accepted all of the former PC soldiers that pledged their allegiance to the new Tadiar regime that they became the dreaded enforcers of the Tadiar dictatorship.
--- Excerpts from the Chinese Cultural Defense Association Website
Title: "List of Anti-Chinese Symbols Used by Both Non-Chinese Asian Sinophobes and White Supremacists"
Published on September 23, 2015
1) Bayong Basket: The usage of bayong baskets by the current incarnation of the far-right KALIBAPI movement and the current Makapili paramilitary forces has its traces in WWII, when their first incarnations of those movements had used them to denote their status as pro-Japanese collaborators. The first usage of those baskets in the post-World War Two era came during the successful defense of Batangas province by Philippine Constabulary deserters who later joined another far-right paramilitary group, Alsa Masa. These days, when someone wears a bayong basket during a political rally, you can predict that it will be an anti-Chinese rally.
2) Happy Mandarin: The image of a happy mandarin is inspired by the notorious anti-Semitic picture of a happy merchant, which references the trope of the greedy Jew. However, the happy mandarin resembles the Qing dynasty version of a mandarin (bureaucrat), giving it an unusual stereotype of what a Chinese bureaucrat looks like. However, the Qing dynasty mandarin's clothing is purely based on the traditional Manchu clothing, which can be offensive to China's ethnic Manchu minority. Usages of this image is also rife within far-right blogs and forums, especially ones from Japan, where Japanese Sinophobia is tied to their denial of the Nanjing Massacre.
3) Logs: The simple picture of a log is in fact, a symbol for the Japanese term they used for Chinese prisoners that were utilized as test subjects by the infamous Japanese general Shiro Ishii, in the notorious Unit 731 camp. Unit 731 was the military base in northeastern China, where various biological and chemical experiments were conducted, often without the consent of the prisoners in question. The Japanese term for the logs, 'Maruta', is used as the code name for the prisoners that would be selected for various experiments.
4) Letter K: The letter K was first used as the symbol of the Filipino pro-Japanese collaborationist group, the KALIBAPI, during WWII. Its current second incarnation also uses the letter K for its current party flag, though the only difference is that a black background is used, with a white circle used as a border, and the KALIBAPI symbol being placed inside the white circle. The first appearance of the current KALIBAPI flag was during the first rally of the reincarnated KALIBAPI in 1996, a year after the Chinese victory over the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea conflict, and during the ongoing conflict in the Korean Peninsula, the letter K is also spotted on vehicles used by the Philippine military. These days, the current KALIBAPI flag is often flown in various protests aimed at the Chinese government.
5) Imperial Japanese Army and Navy Ensign: The Asian equivalent to the flying of the Nazi swastikas during various far-right, neo-Nazi rallies in the West, the usage of the wartime ensigns of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy can be seen in Japanese ultranationalist rallies around the entire country. The usage of those ensigns were also present during the first visit by retired Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda to Lubang Island, with KALIBAPI members holding a flag rally that used both the KALIBAPI party flags and the Imperial Japanese military ensigns. While it is rare to see the flags of the wartime Imperial Japanese military in any far-right rallies in the West, it can also be seen in other rallies, especially in SE Asia, where anti-Chinese sentiment is rife.
6) Burgundian Cross flag: Surprisingly, the Burgundian Cross flag is not an Asian symbol, but rather a European one. Originally used as the flag of the former Duchy of Burgundy, this flag was adopted as the symbol of the Spanish Empire. Its usage by the current KALIBAPI is a surprising tendency of a creeping sense of Anglophobia during the Tadiar regime, until it mended relations with the Kemp administration in 1997. Its usage glorifies Spanish colonialism, which was notorious for its anti-Chinese attitude.
7) Wolf Hand Gesture: Often used by pan-Turkic nationalists, the Wolf Hand Symbol was first used in Xinjiang, during the Uyghur rebellions against the Chinese government. The Uyghur minority often uses this gesture during protests against the Chinese government, but it also found usage in places like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Central Asia, where solidarity with the Uyghurs meant displaying anti-Chinese sentiment in public.
8) Tadiar-era Philippine estelada flag: The most noticeable symbol of the Tadiar dictatorship, the Tadiar-era estelada flag that was adopted in 1998 is often seen in various anti-Chinese rallies around the world, and usage of that flag in Europe occurs whenever there's a presence of Filipino political exiles. The first usage of the estelada flag in Europe was in 2000, during an anti-migrant rally in Greece, the Greek ultranationalists flew the Tadiar-era estelada flag to demonstrate their hatred towards the Filipino exile community. Since then, western Neo-Nazis have ironically adopted the flag of a non-white dictatorship as a symbol of their hatred towards the Filipino refugees.
--- DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ASSASSINATED DURING POLITICAL RALLY IN TAYABAS, ASSASSIN ELUDES CAPTURE WITH AID FROM EX-TADIAR LOYALISTS
Sydney Herald
April 26, 2015
(Tayabas, TAYABAS PREFECTURE) - A prominent Presidential Candidate and former Filipino exile named Walden Bello was assassinated in the town of Tayabas, where he was scheduled to hold a political rally there. The assassination happened in the afternoon, when Bello was giving a speech to the residents of Tayabas on discussing his campaign promises when a loud gunshot was heard. A few minutes later, someone in the audience spotted Bello lying on the ground, already dead from a gunshot aimed at the head. Soon after, reports of the assassin fleeing the scene of the crime was confirmed by local Philippine National Police personnel, but the assassin had somehow managed to elude capture so far. In addition, the Democratic Socialist Party of the Philippines had also condemned the brutal murder of Mr. Bello, calling it a step back to the early days of the Filipino Civil War. Furthermore, the assassin is rumored to have been a former official from the Tadiar dictatorship, which explains his ability to elude the police and military personnel.
"We condemn in such strong rhetoric, the brazen killing of a Presidential candidate. This violence is a vivid reminder of how Artemio Tadiar rose to power: by mass murder and political repression on the scale that not even Ferdinand Marcos was able to achieve," says incumbent President Grace Poe, who is also running for a second term as President, though her biggest challenger is Constitutional Democrat Party candidate Loren Legarda, who is currently leading the polls by a razor thin margin. "Mr. Walden Bello has never given up his struggle to defeat the Marcos dictatorship, and he definitely didn't give up fighting the Tadiar dictatorship. However, he will not be able to enjoy the fruits of his victory."
Walden Bello had briefly returned to the Philippines after the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos, but during the Filipino Civil War, Bello was appointed as an envoy to the communists on behalf of the Aquino government. His position allowed him to establish connections with Gregorio Rosal, and Filemon Lagman. In fact, after the civil war was over and the communists were being ruthlessly hunted down, Mr. Bello had initially planned to flee back to the United States, before the Reagan administration had decided to blacklist Mr. Bello, essentially banning him from entering American soil. Consequently, Mr. Bello would flee first to Vietnam, where the Vietnamese government had given him a temporary asylum, before moving to Sweden, and then Yugoslavia, where much of his political beliefs were shaped by his brief stay in both Stockholm and Belgrade respectively. After the death of Tadiar in 2007 and the installation of Hector Tarrazona, Mr. Bello would move to Canada, where he will later join the Philippine government-in-exile, which was headed by the late Corazon Aquino. His return to the Philippines was marked by a huge political rally where flags of the quasi-breakaway states of the Tayabas and Surigao People's Republics were being flown.
"The death of my dear friend Walden Bello is a tragedy that has affected us all dearly," says Rodrigo Duterte from his cell at the Hague, where he is placed on trial on charges of mass murder of over 600 Japanese immigrants in the notorious Nabanturan Massacre. "He served as an inspiration for all people who are fighting for social justice. It is a shame that I could not be there for him, because if I was free, I would continue to kill the bastards responsible for the fascist menace in the Philippines."
--- THAILAND SEVERS TIES WITH MARCOS REGIME, PLEDGES TO SIDE WITH ARMED FACTION CAPABLE OF BRINGING LAW AND ORDER
Sydney Herald
August 2, 1986
(Bangkok, THAILAND) - The Thai government under Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda has announced its withdrawal of recognition of the Marcos regime as the sole representative of the Philippine government, as confirmed by a spokesperson working on behalf of the Thai government. However, it has not recognized Corazon Aquino as the newly elected President of the Philippines, citing its official policy of neutrality in the ongoing civil war that has erupted inside the Philippines. Thailand's announcement comes at a time when various right-wing factions inside Thailand are in danger of complacency, which could lead to potential riots in the future. So far, the official response of the Thai government to the growing complacency and lack of activity on behalf of both the two paramilitary forces, the Red Gaurs and the Village Scouts has been that of silence, but certain officers within the Thai military, such as Kaset Rojananil and Sathiraphan Keyanon, have proposed to send a couple of volunteers from the ultranationalist paramilitary groups as a way of giving them something to do in the meanwhile.
"We are seeing the growth of this communist cancer take hold in the Philippines, and this can be detrimental to the ongoing communist insurgency that we are dealing with within our own borders," says Prime Minister Tinsulanonda, during a session in the Thai parliament. "Even though China has promised us to not support the ongoing communist insurgency, any weakness displayed on our part, and the Chinese intelligence services will backpedal on that promist."
The possibility of paramilitary units from the Red Gaurs and the Village Scouts being sent as foreign volunteers to the Philippines raises fears that the Filipino Civil War will be a golden opportunity for extremists from both political sides to volunteer in the ongoing internal conflict. In addition to the few Americans that have formed the International Legion of National Liberation for the Philippines, several foreign citizens have also volunteered to fight in the ongoing civil war, with most of the progressive volunteers from the West fighting for the Aquino government, while a few citizens of the Third World were mostly fighting on the side of former President Marcos. The potential deployment of Thai paramilitaries, often with far-right views, is something that has alarmed the Aquino government, but Prime Minister Tinsulanonda has insisted that the Thai government is going to help put an end to the communist quasi-breakaway states that have formed in southern Luzon and northern Mindanao.
"From what I heard about the paramilitaries coming from Thailand, should they be deployed to fight the communists, they're more likely to be fighting alongside the likes of Alsa Masa and the Marines under Brigadier General Tadiar," says Vice President Salvador Laurel, during an interview with NBC reporters that have arrived in the Philippines to cover the ongoing civil war. "Artemio Tadiar would feel at home with the Thai junta, since they're both contemptuous towards their political adversaries. Keep in mind that these paramilitaries had massacred their political opponents in 1976."
Salvador Laurel references the infamous October 6 event, in which far-right paramilitary forces, along with the Royal Thai Police and ordinary bystanders with right-wing leanings, had launched a violent pogrom against left-wing protesters that have occupied Thammasat University and nearby Sanam Luang, a public square popular with locals in Bangkok. His fears that the Thai paramilitaries that would be deployed to the Philippines might teach their Filipino colleagues (mostly the Philippine Constabulary deserters who pledged their allegiance to Artemio Tadiar, rather than Corazon Aquino) how to launch the same kind of pogroms that killed their left-wing adversaries. Moreover, the potential presence of these paramilitaries have been played as fear propaganda by Gregorio Rosal and the New People's Army.
"The reactionaries are coming out of the woodworks to stop our revolution, but what they fear the most is the anger of the oppressed, downtrodden peoples who wanted decent change in their lives," says Rosal, during a Communist Party of the Philippines rally in NPA-occupied Tayabas. "We will not hesitate to help Thailand's own oppressed, downtrodden peoples overthrow their feudalistic monarchy and help them create a socialist republic!"
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
Posts: 12,609
Likes: 11,326
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Post by gillan1220 on Jul 14, 2022 13:57:43 GMT
Crazy updates. The Filipino Civil War is about to reach the bloodiest part. It would be nice to see what the CIA would think of Project Chestnut (joint op with the CIA and the PLA to spy on the USSR) while China starts to sends support to Aquino. More reading: Sino-American SIGINT posts in China during the Cold War |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jul 14, 2022 17:17:00 GMT
Crazy updates. The Filipino Civil War is about to reach the bloodiest part. It would be nice to see what the CIA would think of Project Chestnut (joint op with the CIA and the PLA to spy on the USSR) while China starts to sends support to Aquino. More reading: Sino-American SIGINT posts in China during the Cold WarIt is, and I might have to cover Project Chestnut at some point as well. Next update might focus a bit on Australian politics and their reaction to the civil war. |
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ieph
Seaman
Posts: 13
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Post by ieph on Jul 16, 2022 2:58:21 GMT
Crazy updates. The Filipino Civil War is about to reach the bloodiest part. It would be nice to see what the CIA would think of Project Chestnut (joint op with the CIA and the PLA to spy on the USSR) while China starts to sends support to Aquino. More reading: Sino-American SIGINT posts in China during the Cold WarIt is, and I might have to cover Project Chestnut at some point as well. Next update might focus a bit on Australian politics and their reaction to the civil war. Can we also see something different in South Africa, one where another general pulls a Tadiar and proceeds to make apartheid even worse |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jul 16, 2022 3:45:19 GMT
Can we also see something different in South Africa, one where another general pulls a Tadiar and proceeds to make apartheid even worse In the original version of TL, I had the Afrikaners suffer the same fate as the OTL Serbs of the former Serbian Krajina. I would suspect that Tadiar might not care too much about South Africa, since he could have his hands full. However, Africa might actually become the same geopolitical playground between the US, EU, China, or Russia/USSR. |
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ieph
Seaman
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Post by ieph on Jul 16, 2022 12:36:03 GMT
Can we also see something different in South Africa, one where another general pulls a Tadiar and proceeds to make apartheid even worse In the original version of TL, I had the Afrikaners suffer the same fate as the OTL Serbs of the former Serbian Krajina. I would suspect that Tadiar might not care too much about South Africa, since he could have his hands full. However, Africa might actually become the same geopolitical playground between the US, EU, China, or Russia/USSR. Maybe this neo-Fascist South Africa might (maybe) turn to Chile and the other fascist states as a hedge against the communists/ANC/UwS (Just throwing some stuff out the window) Also, how about having Milošević still come to Kosovo like IOTL and having the Yugoslav Wars go from there. |
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