FILIPINO peacekeepers had just been in Dili, East Timor, for one month when they discovered a lucrative business.

In July last year, they began the brisk trade of selling duty-free beer in the black market. Many times a week, more than 20 officers and men would shop in the commissary located in the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, or UNTAET headquarters, a compound in the city center, and buy more than their allowed limit. Ordinarily, each is entitled to purchase one case of beer a week.

Using either a UN or Philippine vehicle, these soldiers would then haul their goods and sell them to restaurants, disco joints, and pubs. Prices of food and drinks are artificially high in Dili, say those who have lived there, because the city is populated by foreigners, mostly from the UN. Imported beer sells at about 4 dollars each and lunch can go for at least 7 dollars. The demand for beer in this market has hardly ebbed since late 1999 when the UN set up offices in Dili -- after East Timor voted to be independent from Indonesia.

The illicit business went on for about four months -- until a furious Gen. Diomedio Villanueva learned of the misdemeanor. In November, he ordered the immediate repatriation of the erring soldiers, cutting their six-month stint short. "We were alarmed," says Brig. Gen. Efren Abu, deputy chief of staff for operations. "The swift action showed one thing: the Armed Forces does not condone this violation."

The black market scandal is the worst to have hit Philippine troops abroad. The last embarrassing incident with Filipino peacekeepers was in 1993 when a few police officers and men brought home Russian-made weapons from Cambodia -- which they kept as souvenirs. They were unaware of their violation until they were found out by Philippine customs officials. The men were reprimanded.

Snitching is usually frowned upon in organizations like the Armed Forces that put a premium on fraternal ties. Thus, news of the Dili racket reached the AFP chief of staff only when he received a letter from an Australian officer supposedly assigned there, reporting the anomalous behavior of some members of the Philippine contingent. While trying to check this out, the AFP found that the Australian had indeed served in East Timor but had already moved to a new assignment, the Congo. Army officers who were based in East Timor are convinced that a Filipino wrote the letter. "He had to use another name, to hide his identity," one source says.

The AFP then asked Col. Noel Coballes, commander of the Philippine Battalion based in Manatuto, a district outside Dili, to get to the bottom of the scandal. Coballes was able to get records from the UNTAET commissary showing excessive purchases of beer by 26 Filipino officers and men. The commissary, Coballes also found out, was lax.

The black market group was led by Army Colonel Allan Bontuyan and included three Air Force officers: Majors Jose Harry Barbers, Esteban Fajardo, and Basilio Rabaja. The rest were enlisted personnel, mostly from the Air Force. (At any one time, there are about 50 to 70 Filipino soldiers stationed in Dili.)

---tsk tsk tsk ang pinoy talaga :drunk:

When did this happened?

Where did you get this article uzi?

Okay Uzi.. its time to prove this.. otherwise this is just hearsay

Banahaw can shed light on this, he's been to East Timor.

you can find it here...

http://www.inq7.net/nwsbrk/2002/jan/17/nbk_2-1.htm

s@#t happens

some just really want to make the fast buck the easy way

the perps are now in freezer heaven :dancedevil:

very bad habit learned in the pma, the mistah mafia rears its ugly head and brings shame again to the majority of filipino soldiers who serve honorably

Far more serious atrocities were committed by other international peacekeepers than this beer-selling scam.

>>Two United Nations soldiers from Belgium will stand trial in their own country beginning next Monday on charges of roasting a live Somali child over an open fire during "peacekeeping" operations--A third Belgian soldier will stand trial for forcing another Somali child to drink salt water, vomit, and worms.

>>Canadian troops took pictures of each other tormenting and slaying a captured Somali (African) youth. They sent the photos back home to friends. One photo pictured elite paratroopers grinning as they stood beside the lifeless, blood-spattered torso of a teenager who had been beaten with a metal pipe, wooden baton, fists, and boots. The teen's feet were burned with cigarettes.

>>Suspects are rounded up and routinely tortured and abused. Young girls are often molested and raped.

>>One Italian battalion commander, who happened to be a pedophile, ordered his troops to strip and hold down a young Somali, 13-year old boy. After the youth was sexually abused and sodomized, the Italian UN officer strangled him to death.

>>One Italian paratrooper, justifying these vile acts, was quoted as saying:


Link: UN Hell

Selling beer is nothing new, our '"resourceful" Army officers in East Timor just copied the practice of US Army supply officers in Germany where they sel on-base beer to pubs and bars off base for a hefty profit ;)

alam nyo ba na ang mga ayer na opisyal na sangkot dito ay lenient lang ang parusa... :armywink:

"...We use words like "honor," "code," "loyalty." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line...I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!"

What do you know about honor. What do you know about PMA, you've never been there. For that matter, what do you know about soldiering to talk about honor. Because if you did, you would not make that kind of comment.

Kasali ka dun sa Timor Leste scandal Pendejo ano :demon:

Never did, never will, never would.

Urbano:

How did you come into conclusion that this was learned in the PMA?
Nanggaling ka ba doon?
What bad habit can be learned there?
Is there a mistah mafia? If there is, are mistahs involved here?

Your comment is very unfair for the other PMAers.

Mistah Mafia - bago to a :wow:
What shall we call them - THE TENORS? joke joke joke

:armyLol: ayos!

SO WE ARE MORE PROFESSIONAL AND DIGNIFIED THAN THOSE CRAZY EUROPEAN AND CANADIAN SOLDIERS .. WHO MURDERED THOSE KIDS.

:demon: HOW I WISH KARMA WILL HUNT THEM DOWN AS WELL! :demon:

THOSE WERE JUST KIDS. :armycry:

DAMN!


Do you remember the Bosnian conflict?

Are Europeans really that freak?

Given the gravity of the offense, we are angels compared to those European peacekeepers.

NO WONDER THEY GET EASILY BLASTED ......OR DECAPITATED BY MOSLEM JURAMENTADOS!


:whogives:

Buti sa tin ber beer lang :drunk:

Diggers in Timor 'sex' clash
Mark Dodd
March 21, 2005
AUSTRALIAN soldiers drew arms to protect themselves from Jordanian peacekeepers after a Digger blew the whistle on other Jordanian soldiers' sexual abuse of East Timorese boys.

Corporal Andrew Wratten had to be evacuated and Australian commandos sent to protect Diggers in Oecussi, an East Timorese province in Indonesian West Timor, after he told the UN of the pedophilia that occurred in May 2001.

The Australians drew their Steyr assault rifles after being confronted by Jordanians armed with M-16s, in an escalation of verbal threats triggered by the later betrayal of Corporal Wratten by a Jordanian officer in the Dili headquarters of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor.

Corporal Wratten, who was working at a fuel dump in the enclave, was told by a group of children that Jordanian soldiers had offered food and money in exchange for oral sex and intercourse.

The allegations involved East Timorese minors, all boys, the youngest of them just 12 years old.

"Wratten informed PKF (peacekeeping force) that he had been receiving complaints from local children about Jorbatt (Jordan Battalion) abuse," said a senior UN official who was based in Oecussi at the time.

"A Jordanian officer in HQ informed Jorbatt that he had ratted on them. Wratten and his guys manning the helo (helicopter) refuelling pad in Oecussi town started getting threatened.

"There was one occasion where Aussie Steyrs were pointed at Jorbatt and Jor-batt M-16s pointed at Aussies."

A secret report into the abuse, obtained by The Australian, led to the expulsion of two Jordanian peacekeepers after an investigation ordered by then UNTAET chief, the late Sergio Vieira de Mello, in July 2001.

East Timorese human rights workers have confirmed the story. However, retired Australian major-general Roger Powell, the deputy UN force commander at the time, did not return The Australian's calls.

"As far as I understand, De Mello was very sensitive at the time to the harm such reports would have on the reputation of UNTAET, PKF – and by default himself," said one Western security analyst, based in East Timor in 2001.

Jordan's key role in Middle East peace negotiations added extra sensitivity.

In July 2001, a UN police specialist child interview team flew to Oecussi and spoke to 10 witnesses, including seven minors and three adults.

"The unacceptable sexual conduct alleged was that a minor had sperm around his mouth," the resulting report says.

The board of inquiry found in its report that Jordanian troops regularly offered food and money in exchange for sexual favours from women and boys, including the procuring of prostitutes from across the border in West Timor.

It found it was highly probable that widespread sexual misconduct had occurred after the Jordanians took over from the highly regarded Australian paratroop battalion in early 2000.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12607859%255E2702,00.html