East of Here and West of There

On 25 January 2015, three platoons of the elite SAF police squad ventured into the guerrilla enclave of Tukanalipao, Mindanao, Philippines, with the goal of detaining high-ranking, Jemaah Islamiyah-affiliated, improvised-explosive-device experts Zulkifli Abdhir and Basit Usman. The SAF troops were then ambushed by a group of MILF militants, suffering heavy casualties. Running out of ammunition, a dozen of surviving policemen attempted to withdraw. At the same time, rebels belonging to BIFF gathered from nearby villages, immediately engaging the retreating law enforcement agents. The militants overpowered the remaining policemen, later killing the wounded and firing multiple bullets into the corpses of the slain. A total of 44 SAF officers were killed, while rebel casualties amounted to at least 5 killed and 10 wounded. Fiat justitia ruat caelum is a Latin legal phrase, meaning "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." The maxim signif...

His idea was a dream of a Malay confederacy. Not the Luzon or the Philippine Archipelago, but I mean of that blood. He is a dreamy man, but a very firm character and of very high accomplishments. " General Arthur MacArthur, Military Governor of the Philippines Apolinario Mabini. revolutionary leader, educator, lawyer, statesman and the first Prime Minister of the Philippines, serving first under the Revolutionary Government, and then under the First Philippine Republic. Digital illustration; 2015

An illustration for my niece who is doing a paper on Mabini. WIP mixed media illustration; 2015

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. The Corsair was designed as a carrier-based aircraft. However its difficult carrier landing performance rendered the Corsair unsuitable for Navy use until the carrier landing issues were overcome when used by the British Fleet Air Arm. The Corsair thus came to and retained prominence in its area of greatest deployment: land based use by the U.S. Marines. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter of World War II and the U.S. Navy counted an 11:1 kill ratio with the F4U Corsair. The exploits of Marine Corps squadron VMF-214, which flew the Corsair in the Pacific during the war, were depicted in the popular 1976 made-for-television movie Baa Baa Black Sheep and the follow-up television series Baa Baa Black Sheep, also called Black Sheep Squadron, which aired from 1976 to 1978. The television series featured six ...

Tears In Rain. Inspired by Roy Batty's monologue in Blade Runner. Available as a t-shirt at East of Here and West of There.

Who's To Doom? Inspired by Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick Or the white Whale. Available as a t-shirt at East of Here and West of There. "Who's to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?" Ahab's words are a blasphemous condemnation of God as an unjust creator and his war on the whale is a war against mortality and against God and for God.

  Morning doodle