Word: alsa
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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...
...residents on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao watched, the marchers carried 105 white wooden coffins containing the remains of civilians said to have been murdered by the Communist-led New People's Army. Headed by Army Lieut. Colonel Franco Calida, the procession included 3,000 members of the Alsa Masa, one of more than a score of private paramilitary groups that are waging war against the N.P.A. Every so often, pallbearers opened a coffin and showed the remains to onlookers, who craned their necks for a glimpse and then quickly looked away. As relatives wept and church bells rang...