SPRAWLED on the boarded-up balcony of a two-storey house, the barrel of his rifle poked into a hole cut in the wood, a Philippine army sniper calls for quiet before taking his shot.

“Firing,” he says evenly, before the .50 calibre shot rings out, sending tremors through the house.

He was firing at a home less than a kilometer (a half mile) away, believed to be a stronghold of Islamist militants who have been holed up in Marawi City for over five weeks.

A spotter sat next to him, with his scope set into another hole. The two spoke quietly to each other as the sniper took three more shots across the Agus river into the militant-held commercial district of Marawi, now a battleground strewn with debris from ruined buildings.

Scores of bodies are rotting in the area, and the stench mixes with the smell of gunpowder.

Thousands of soldiers are battling to retake the southern Philippine city, where militants loyal to Islamic State launched a lightning strike on May 23.

The southern Philippines has been marred for decades by insurgency and banditry. But the intensity of the battle in Marawi and the presence of foreign fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen and Chechnya fighting alongside local militants has raised concerns that the region may be becoming a Southeast Asian hub for Islamic State as it loses ground in Iraq and Syria.

As troops poured in to contain the siege, few were expecting a slow, difficult and unfamiliar urban war.

“We are used to insurgencies…but a deployment of this magnitude, this kind of conflict is a challenge for our troops,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Tampus, one of the officers commanding ground operations in Marawi.

He said progress in clearing the city has been hindered by militant fire and booby traps like gas tanks rigged with grenades.

AS YOUNG AS 16
After weeks of military air strikes and shelling, Marawi, a lakeside city of around 200,000, is now a ghost town, its center reduced to charred rubble and hollow structures.

Buildings in the military-controlled areas of the city are still standing but deserted after residents have fled.

Authorities estimate around 100 to 120 fighters, some of them as young as 16 years, remain holed up in the commercial district of the city, down from around 500 at the beginning of the siege.

The fighters are holding around 100 hostages, according to the military, who have been forced to act as human shields, take up arms, or become sex slaves.

Military aircraft drop bombs on the militant zone almost every day. From the outskirts of the city, mortar teams take aim at what they call “ground zero,” the heart of the conflict.

“Mortars are designed to target people and smaller areas than the air strikes.” said mortar specialist Sgt. Jeffery Baybayan, as he jotted down coordinates that come crackling over a radio from an observer closer to the conflict area.

“Hitting targets accurately can be difficult and we’re expending rounds without hitting targets. We are concerned about our own troops that are very close to the enemy area,” he added, as the mortars exploded in the city, sending up plumes of thick black smoke.

‘ATROCITIES’
During the day’s battle, Mr. Tampus received reports that three civilians, trapped for weeks near the fighting, were trying to escape. Several soldiers responded to help rescue them — moving to the area in two lines along the sides of streets to avoid sniper fire.

Three civilians — two men and a woman using a walking stick — came out and sat by the side of the street once they were in the military zone.

“The bombs were so frequent coming from both sides,” said Jose Locanas, a 53-year-old Christian man trapped with his wife and friend in his house. “We were caught in the middle.”

Troops said they received word from their relatives that the three were trapped and managed to escort them out.

More than 400 people, including over 300 militants, 82 security forces and 44 civilians are known to have died in Marawi.

Some of the bodies of civilians were found decapitated and the military has warned the number of residents killed by rebel “atrocities” could rise sharply as troops retake more ground.

Every day, troops make announcements through loudspeakers for the militants to “surrender now or die.” To the trapped civilians, they offer help to get out of the conflict area.

Authorities say they believe the militants are running out of supplies and ammunition, but they say there is no deadline to retake the city.

Mr. Tampus said when troops reinforcements come into Marawi, they are initially apprehensive because of the high death toll. “But once they are here, the discipline kicks in and they are focused,” he said. — Reuters

THE PHILIPPINES and Indonesia will jointly patrol the Celebes Sea this week to stop Islamist militants reaching the Philippines’ restive southern island of Mindanao, where rebels have seized a city, an army spokesman said on Sunday.

The joint patrol is aimed at strengthening border security and improving interoperability, military spokesman Major Ezra Balagtey said in a statement. The two countries’ warships will sail from the Philippines’ Davao City on Thursday.

“The coordinated patrol … is intended to strengthen the security of the Davao Gulf and the common boundary of the two countries in the southern archipelago, particularly along the Celebes Sea,” said Balagtey.

Regional governments fear fighters sympathetic to the Islamic State group will cross maritime borders from Malaysia and Indonesia to join rebels who seized Marawi City five weeks ago.

About 300 militants, 82 members of the Philippines’ security force and 44 civilians have been killed in fighting.

The coordinated patrol is the third in the region in a month as pirates and militants step up attacks on commercial shipping.

The Philippines was joined by the United States on Saturday to patrol southern Philippine waters. Two weeks ago, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines jointly patrolled their common maritime borders in the Celebes Sea and Sulu Sea.

The latest patrol will end next week in the Indonesian city of Manado on Sulawesi island. — Reuters

By Kristine Joy V. Patag, Reporter
THE COURT of Tax Appeals (CTA) has upheld its earlier decision to withdraw the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) P18-million tax case against actor Derek Arthur P. Ramsay.
Acting on a Petition for Review filed by the BIR, the CTA sitting as a full court has affirmed its Third Division’s decision dated Sept. 17, 2015 ordering the cancelation of the P18,230,498.46 tax case against Mr. Ramsay covering the years 2006-2009.
The BIR argued that the CTA’s Third Division “did not acquire jurisdiction over the case since the [Formal Letter of Demand (FLD)] with assessment notices became final, executory and demandable when respondent failed to file a timely protest.”
But the court held that the Petition for Review “must fail,” adding the BIR’s argument “deserves scant consideration.”
The CTA rejected BIR’s argument that it had no jurisdiction, saying the Court is authorized to review the bureau’s decisions in cases involving disputed assessment.
It also upheld Mr. Ramsay’s timely protest, noting that he received the FLD dated Feb. 27, 2012, on March 14 that year, and filed his appeal on Apr. 11.
The tax court noted further that the FLD failed to specify a demand for payment for the supposed deficiency tax within a prescribed period.
“In this case, it is evident that petitioner (BIR), having failed to demand payment within a specified period of time and to serve upon respondent the subject assessment notices, unjustifiably denied respondent of (his) right to due process,” the Court held.
“[I]n light of the foregoing considerations, the instant Petition for Review is denied for lack of merit. Accordingly, the Decision dated Sept. 17, 2015, and the Resolution dated Dec. 16, 2015, both rendered by the Court in Division, are affirmed,” the decision further reads.
The decision was penned by Associate Justice Erlinda P. Uy.

AN ASSOCIATION of residents from Dasmarinas Village has hit Globe Telecom, Inc. over the suit it filed against one resident for allegedly “spreading rumors” about health hazards brought by radiation emitted by telecommunication antennas, which supposedly prevented the company from putting up cell sites within the private subdivision.

“Globe filed a P5-million lawsuit against Betty Aw for allegedly obstructing its plan to erect Globe cell sites or towers known as ODAs (Outdoor Distribution Antennae System). But the cell towers have already long been erected,” Dasma Coalition Advocating Radiation Emission Safety (DASMA CARES) and Dasma for Accountability, Transparency and Service (DASMA ACTS) said in a statement over the weekend.

The group cited that on Oct. 8, 2008, Ma. Victoria Celdran, representing the Dasmariñas Village Association, Inc. (DVAI), entered into a 10-year lease with Globe for “cellsite construction and broadband facilities” for P2 million annually and a one-time right-of-way fee of P600,000. This is renewable for another 10 years and the areas under lease are the mini park, clubhouse and pumping stations 1 and 2.

On May 15, 2012, Atty. Carlos “Charlie” P. Gatmaitan for DVAI also entered into a five-year lease with Globe for P100,000 per month, covering the sidewalks where Globe could erect ODAS. The lease, they said, which ends on May 14, 2017 but is extendible at the option of Globe, “absolutely bars other telcos” from erecting similar facilities in Dasmariñas Village.

“On May 2, 2013, Ma. Victoria P. Celdran entered into an addendum to the 2012 Contract of Lease. For an additional P100,000 per month, DVAI allowed the installation on its sidewalks of additional 31 poles, BTS antenna, equipment and cables, etc. These Contracts of Lease resulted in the present 55 Globe cell sites or towers known as ODAS spread all over Dasmariñas Village,” the group said.

DASMA CARES and DASMA ACTS also noted that Globe’s suit comes after Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima threatened to penalize residents and associations that “obstruct” the erection of cell towers in villages. They added that the pronouncement of Mr. Salalima, a former chief legal counsel and senior advisor of Globe as indicated in DICT’s Web site, is “in clear conflict of interest.”

NO CONSENT
The groups went on to say that the DVAI-Globe lease contracts violate section 10 of Republic Act No. 9904 or the Magna Carta For Homeowners and Homeowners Associations which, they said, bars the lease of sidewalks.

The “HLURB Locational Guidelines for Base Stations of Cellular Mobile Telephone Services and Other Wireless Communications Services” require the written consent of the homeowners whose properties are adjoining the proposed site of the base station.

“Despite repeated demands from homeowners, DVAI and Globe cannot and/or refuses to produce the required consent of the homeowner whose property adjoins the Globe ODAs within a 200 meter radius… Betty Aw is not at all intimidated by the complaint filed by a corporate bully and designed to intimidate not only the residents of Dasmariñas Village but all the people in this country who only seek to protect themselves and their families from the installation of cell sites inside residential areas that emit potentially life-threatening radiation 24/7,” the statement read.

Sought for comment, Globe Senior Vice-President for Corporate Communications Ma. Yolanda C. Crisanto said: “There is a pending case already.”

Globe Telecom filed a civil case last June 13 at the Regional Trial Court of Makati Branch 59 against Betty Aw, which also included a P500,000 claim for exemplary damages plus attorneys’ fee, for preventing construction of cell sites that kept the operator from improving mobile services within the exclusive subdivision. The P5 million covers moral damages.

The telco said it piloted the use of the ODAS technology in Dasmarinas as part of efforts to improve the mobile experience of its customers residing in the upscale subdivision.

The ODAS technology is a network of small cell sites, instead of typical macro cell sites, with shared equipment connected through fiber optic links. The solution makes use of a specialized lamp posts with radio signal transmission capability deployed along sidewalks.

The Ayala-led firm has earlier cited research from the World Health Organization and International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection debunking claims that cell sites have adverse effects on human health. It added that the Department of Health has also ensured the Philippine Standard of thermal heat emissions from local cell sites “are at least four times lower than what has been approved globally.”

The DICT has submitted a draft executive order (EO) to President Rodrigo R. Duterte that aims to expedite the processing of permits and licenses for putting up telecom and broadcast facilities. If approved, the EO would speed up the process to seven days from the current average of eight months. — Imee Charlee C. Delavin