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Note: The following text is a quote:
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http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=200511138.txt

NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
November 30, 2005
Release Number: 05-11-138

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOLDIERS FIND WEAPONS CACHES, TERRORISTS ON ISLAND

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Task Force Baghdad Soldiers found multiple weapons caches on an island in the Euphrates River Nov. 28.

Military officials had been monitoring suspicious activity near the Euphrates River southwest of Baghdad for a couple of weeks. When conditions were right, Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division were ready to spring into action.

Soldiers from 2/101st’s 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment secured the objective and discovered three significant weapons caches.

Soldiers also searched surrounding homes and facilities, detaining two suspected terrorists.

In total, the Soldiers uncovered 11 500-pound bomb shells, C4 explosives, welding equipment, mortar rounds, miscellaneous bomb-making material, 57 mm rockets, 40 bags of fertilizer, 12 directional charges, five 155 mm rounds, 100 feet of detonation cord, three rocket-propelled grenades, eight bags of 20 mm rounds and other munitions and explosives.

An explosive ordnance disposal team was called to the site to conduct a controlled detonation of the caches.

THIS STORY HAS ACCOMPANYING PHOTOGRAPHS. TO RECEIVE THE PHOTOS: CONTACT TASK FORCE BAGHDAD PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT DAVID.ABRAMS@ID3.ARMY.MIL.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Weapons and munitions are laid out on the ground after Soldiers from C Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment found the cache Nov. 28. (U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Paul Fisher, 2/101st Airborne Division PAO)

BAGHDAD – Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division provide security along a perimeter as other Soldiers from the unit search an island in the Euphrates River for weapons caches and terrorists. (U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Paul Fisher, 2/101st Airborne Division PAO)

BAGHDAD -- Soldiers of C Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment walk down a pathway during a cordon-and-search mission Nov. 28. The Soldiers cleared an area believed to be a storage facility for insurgent ordnance. (U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Paul Fisher, 2/101st Airborne Division PAO)

BAGHDAD -- Capt. Albert Vigilante, commander of C Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, walks with Pfc. Brock Price as the unit searches for weapons caches on a Euphrates River island Nov. 28. (U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Paul Fisher, 2/101st Airborne Division PAO)

BAGHDAD – A smoke cloud rises at dusk after an explosive ordnance disposal team destroys weapons and munitions found on an island in the Euphrates River Nov. 28. (U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Paul Fisher, 2/101st Airborne Division PAO)

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS RELEASE, CONTACT TASK FORCE BAGHDAD PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT DAVID.ABRAMS@ID3.ARMY.MIL.
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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05120001.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Thursday, December 1, 2005

A CHURCH-BASED SOCIAL ACTIVIST GUNNED DOWN IN THE PHILIPPINES

By Santosh Digal
Special to ASSIST News Service
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (ANS) -- A coordinator of a Church-based human rights organization in the Ilocos and Cordillera region, northern Philippines, was shot dead by a lone gunman on a November 28 night.

Jose Pepe Managdeg III, 37, coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), had just spoken at a seminar sponsored by the Ilocos Human Rights Advocacies and was waiting for a bus at about 10 p.m. (local time), when a man stopped in front of him, police said. A man alighted from a vehicle and shot Managdeg with a 45-caliber pistol.

Fearing for his life, a cyclist, an eye witness, sped off, returned to the resort, where the seminar was held, and informed Manegdeg's companions about the incident, according to the police.

Together with the police, they rushed to the scene and found his bag, cell phone and other belongings missing.

He was going to pick up his wife, Florence, who would be arriving from Hong Kong, police said. His body bore 22-gunshot wounds.

Beverly Longid, vice-chairman of Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), a regional affiliate of the Alliance for the Advocacy of Human Rights, called the attack "a clear manifestation of brutality."

Sister Genovera Dumay, coordinator of the RMP, in the Ilocos said Manegdeg had received death threats through several SMS (mobile phone text messages) after his predecessor Romeo Sunchez was killed in March this year.

"He (Manegdeg) would tell me that he would receive threats informing him that he would be next after (Sanchez). We believe that this is work-related attack," Sister Dumay said, "The RMP condemns the killing of Manegdeg. We ask for justice and we call on the government to stop [the] killing against progressive church workers, she added."

Dumay and Longid said Manegdeg was tasked with helping tobacco farmers and had taken part in campaigns against the contamination of the Abra River and military operation in the Ilocos region.

RMP was organized in 1969 of various orders of Roman Catholic Church across the country to uplift the condition of Philippines peasants and push for land reforms. It was expanded in the 1980s to include priests and at one time espoused liberation theology.

Pastor William Mairano, coordinator of the Regional Ecumenical Council in the Cordillera, said Managedeg was a former record coordinator who worked with Benguet farmers, and an editorial staffer of its publication, Writing on the wall.

Santosh Digal is a freelance journalist, based in Manila. He holds Batchelor's Degree in English and Master's degree in Sociology.
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