Word: alsa
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...many in Mindanao were sick of the government and sided with the NPA?even when it sent hit squads, called "Sparrow Units," to assassinate policemen and soldiers in Davao. But the Sparrows got cocky and started bumping off suspected informants and civilians. As a counter, a vigilante group called Alsa Masa emerged in the mid-'80s, armed in part by the military and set on wiping out local communists. The vigilantes were popular until they too ran amok. A mini civil war erupted. One notably violent area called Agdao was rechristened "Nicar-agdao...
...mayor has created an atmosphere in which the death squads feel free to operate with impunity. Last October, Duterte went on television and read out a list of suspects wanted for drug offenses, including policemen. Two of those named were killed within a week. Jun Pala, a former Alsa Masa spokesman and now one of Duterte's fiercest critics, was ambushed last July and shot four times. Pala has suspicions?but no evidence?about who ordered the attack. (Duterte denies involvement.) Pala argues that Duterte deserves no credit for Davao's rebirth. "How can he say Davao is safer when...
...firmly in the control of the insurgents that Manila officials called the city a Communist "urban laboratory." But in the past eight months the N.P.A. has fled into the hills, and the city has been transformed into a government stronghold. The main agent of change: the vigilante group Alsa Masa, or Uprising of the Masses...
...late as last summer, when Lieut. Colonel Franco Calida took over as military commander and police superintendent in Davao City, Alsa Masa had only seven members. "I told this group to go forth and multiply," recalls the colorful Calida, whose office is a veritable arsenal of guns and grenades. "In a week there were 22, then 40, then 70, then 100 . . ." Alsa Masa, now several thousand strong, imposed a system of checkpoints, armed patrols, covert neighborhood surveillance, "tax donations" and more than a little intimidation. N.P.A. members who have failed to present identification quickly at Alsa Masa checkpoints have been...
...gradual phaseout of the vigilantes in favor of a citizens' army based on the Israeli model. Says she: "The challenge is to mobilize people in the defense of their communities but with all the safeguards that will prevent the abuse of this great power." The problem is that Alsa Masa and its counterparts have been effective in the battle against the Communists. Vigilante supporters say Aquino cannot afford to ignore their successes, whatever the long-term risks...