Pirate Profile: The pirates who prowl the islands and waters of Mindanao are extortionists, leaning on fishing boat/barter trade vessel operators to pay protection money. Some have become kidnappers since ransom money is more lucrative than protection money. Many of them are rebels who hijack boats as a means of raising funds. Rebel-initiated piracy attacks comprised 23% of the total number of incidents in 1998, 12% in 1997 and 18% in 1996. Other pirates operating in Mindanao are plain bandits. In Davao, they are called "Ambak Pare" literally "Jump Buddy" because that is what they tell their victims to do. Manila Bay pirates, on the other hand, come from criminal communities based close to the area of attack. They disguise themselves as stevedores, PNP or PCG personnel when infiltrating the anchorage areas. They either enjoy the protection of law enforcers or have active members of the Police Force for their leaders. In Oriental Mindora, the pirates were new people's army regulars on board five unmarked pumpboats.
Pirate attacks have general features: Firstly, they are premeditated; secondly, they consider any vessel fair game; thirdly, they are carried out by groups operating sporadically; fourthly, their weapons range from primitive (like bolos and knives) to sophisticated material like hand guns and rocket launchers; and fifthly, they are waterborne units. Their slim pumpboats which are equipped with up to three motor engines (usually stolen from their victims), can snake steadily through narrow and shallow waterways and hit speed that range up to 30 knots in the open sea. Surprise speed and irregular coastlines are the main factors behind pirates successful depredations. The majority of the piracy attacks may be categorized under the "low-level armed robbery" (LLAR) type, carried out only in the vicinity of land from small high-speed craft by groups of petty thieves. The isolated cases of piracy in the northern Philippines on the high seas near the Hong Kong/Luzon/Hainan (HLH) triangle is of the medium-level armed assault. The HLH area is of much bigger magnitude because of the larger expanse of water and because of political factors.
The national infrastructure for dealing with the piracy problem is already in place. Different agencies of the Government are concerned with the maintenance of law and order in the maritime areas including cases involving pirates criss-crossing boundaries. However, these agencies lack the capability to tackle the piracy problem. It is known that the expanded jurisdiction of the country requires an enormous task of guarding from malefactors not only the vast expanse of sea space within Philippines maritime borders but also the waters beyond the 12-mile limit of the contiguous zone. Added to this is the long (approximately 12,171 nautical miles) and irregular coastline, fringed with gulfs, lagoons and bays, which provides an incentive to piracy. Furthermore, the agencies mentioned above have many concerns, with piracy being just one of them. The Philippine Coast Guard deploys patrol ships and small craft along the piracy prone areas to deter pirate bands from perpetrating their heinous crimes.
The exercise of port State control on ships entering major ports facilitates the identification and recovery of pirate ships and apprehension of pirates. The ships in different areas can call the Coast Guard stations and districts through the marine band and the international distress frequency 500 MHz. At the south harbour anchorage area, where shipboard robbery incidents on foreign vessels are common, the PCG's port State control office has issued guidelines aimed at protecting vessels throughout the duration of their stay at the harbour and its approaches. The guidelines can only be useful with the full co-operation of ships, crews, owners and shipping agents concerned.
