Ben Hammersley in the Philippines http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/ Ben Hammersley will be reporting from the Philippines from the end of August 2007. Reports, pictures and videos will be posted here on this blog. en-US Copyright 2011 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:54:35 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Tension It feels like the least fun Christmas Eve ever here in Islamabad tonight. Voting in the Pakistani general election is due to start in ten hours, and every TV channel is running election coverage. They seem to have run out of new things to talk about, as such programmes do, but the tickers along the bottom of the screen are setting the mood: Armed Forces on High Alert...One Shot Dead in Lahore...42 Dead in Peshawar...Explosion in Quetta...30 More Suicide Bomb attacks Planned Reveals Suspect... By around 10pm local time tomorrow we should have a result, and if the polls go against the way they are expected, and Musharraf's party doesn't come last, every one expects there to be trouble. At the same time, everyone is expecting the vote to be rigged to do just that. The next 24 hours, then, are going to need a lot of people to do the right thing for this country to escape further bloodshed. http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2008/02/tension.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2008/02/tension.html General Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:54:35 +0000 Cockfight here's the full edit of my cockfighting story. Hammersley 20070826Zx6D9686]]> http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/cockfight.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/cockfight.html General Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:35:39 +0000 Photos from Basilan photos from Basilan A philippine marine with a bandolier of machine gun rounds For hi-res downloads, low-res comps and so on, go to my photoshelter page.]]> http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/photos-from-basilan.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/photos-from-basilan.html General Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:18:17 +0000 Lack of events, dear boy, lack of events Thomas Crampton wrote in the IHT a few years ago, this isn't the safest of cities. (Tom's blog is here too.)
Imagine choosing to move into a place so far beyond normal travel warnings that the country's own government warns foreigners to stay out...Zamboanga is far beyond the scale of U.S. State Department travel bans. The government of the Philippines itself warns tourists against going to western Mindinao and recently even prohibited foreign diplomats from visiting the area.
Nevertheless, and despite the bomb in the main square that went off last week injuring 14, I figured a day out at the cockfights would make a good photostory. So it proved. I'm in the middle of the edit now, but you can see some first picks here, here, and here, on my personal blog.]]> http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/lack-of-events-dear-boy-lack-of-events.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/lack-of-events-dear-boy-lack-of-events.html General Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:41:42 +0000 Or, for course, not An eventful day, yesterday. With nothing to see, no access to any refugees, and very little possibility of any travel closer to the frontline, by an hour after I'd written the last post, I was ready to get off Basilan and return to Zamboanga. Zamboanga is only a 40 minute boat ride away, and with the airfield and the main army command there should any attack start, I'd probably be in a better place for real coverage anyway. Besides, I needed a shower. The military intelligence officer let me ride in one of their Hueys on a reconnaissance mission - pictures from that to come - but by the time I was back, the atmosphere in the camp had changed. A crew from Aj-Jazeera English had arrived, along with some officers. One, a Captain Estrella, introduced himself as the media ops guy from High Command. Could he help at all? Sure, I said: I've been trying to get an interview with the General. Not a problem. After lunch? Lunch came, went, and the Captain came back to me. The General had had to leave the base for a meeting. He'd be back before sundown, and could we have the interview then? Sure. Why don't I do like everyone else and get some rest? Sure. The evening comes round, and I go over to the officers' mess - a bamboo hut, but still the officers' mess - to find only four places set at the table, instead of the usual twenty or so. Everyone has left. The General has gone, Captain Estrella has disappeared, the attack is imminent, the commanders have moved closer to the frontline, and no, no one is going to tell me anything. Shit. It's Saturday morning now, and I'm back in Zamboanga. Sometimes you have to back up a bit to be able to see anything. http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/or-for-course-not.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/or-for-course-not.html General Sat, 25 Aug 2007 03:31:46 +0000 Choices, choices Written on 24 August, 07:49 local Choices choices. With a new Colonel in command, and the need to not get as many soldiers killed as they did last time, the planning for the next Big Operation Against Abu Sayyaf is taking a long time. The common story, no matter who I ask, is that there is an operation in the works, but they can't say when it'll be. It might be tomorrow. It might be in a week. This puts me in a difficult position. I need to be in Manila in a week's time, but up until then I can stay as long as they'll have me. The issue is that on trips like this, I need to maximise the number of stories I can get. I'm here for the radio, and for photographs, and while I can get another radio story out of interviewing the commanders, which I'll do today, and perhaps a photostory from around the camp, I'm going to run out things to cover. A staff reporter with a forgiving editor might be able to justify the time spent here idle, but I can't. This is made worse by the main story I'm here to cover - the refugees from the fighting - are going to be impossible to get to. According to Philippine military intelligence, there are no refugee camps or areas per se, rather everyone goes and stays with their relatives, and more to the point, they stay in places that are out of bounds to the Philippine Army. Apart from Abu Sayyaf, the government are facing an insurgency from the Mindanao Islamic Liberation Front, and it's their areas that the refugees are fleeing to. There is a ceasefire between the MILF and the army, but it's mostly reinforced by standing orders not to interfere, or enter, MILF territory. Without an armed escort, I can't get there, and the only armed escort available is forbidden to go. Meanwhile, there are stories to cover on the mainland. It's not war, but Sunday in Zamboanga is the special day for the biggest local sport: cockfighting. That would make a great photostory, in a way that hanging around the base for a few more days would not. I could, I suppose, leave and then come back if things are going to kick off. Ponder...]]> http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/choices-choices.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/choices-choices.html General Sat, 25 Aug 2007 03:09:20 +0000 Waiting for the President Technorati Profile]]> http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/waiting-for-the-president.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/waiting-for-the-president.html General Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:19:37 +0000 Background posting Simon Roughneen at the Asia Times, on the story I've just arrived to cover. More to come.]]> http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/background-posting.html http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/ben/2007/08/background-posting.html General Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:56:03 +0000