Tuesday, August 19, 2008 4ID ready for 'spillover' By Annabelle L. Ricalde and Cocong Corrales
THE Army's 4th Infantry Division (4ID) said it has enough troops to contain violence within its area of responsibility (AOR) in the event of a spillover in the Lanao del Norte clashes.
Major Michelle Anayron, spokesperson of the Cagayan de Oro-based 4th ID, said they have sizable troops that are now securing the Bukidnon-Lanao boundaries and other areas close to the conflict. 4th ID's AOR includes the whole of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and all of Caraga Region.
Contingencies, Anayron said, are already in place in case the fighting spill over to 4th ID's AOR. He did not elaborate further.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Northern Mindanao said it has deployed 50 personnel to Iligan City to augment police presence in the area and as initial security response to the twin bombings that rocked the city Sunday evening.
PO1 Jomaira Estrada, information officer of PNP-Northern Mindanao, said all provincial police command in the region were instructed to go on high alert, while a number of police forces were re-routed to Lanao del Norte where suspected Moro rebels attacked and occupied at least two towns.
Mobile patrols were also ordered to man checkpoints in Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental, PO1 Estrada said.
Field reports reaching Camp Alagar said that renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) reportedly attacked and occupied Kolambogan town in Lanao del Norte at dawn Monday.
Armed encounters, house burning and looting of establishments also reportedly erupted in the municipalities of Linamon, Maigo and Bacolod simultaneous with the Kolambogan and Kauswagan siege, Estrada said.
She said no PNP personnel were hurt during the clashes, and that "all police forces in all provincial stations were all accounted for."
Anayron said they are awaiting orders to send in troops to Lanao del Norte, which is under the Pagadian City-based Army's 104th Brigade.
The Lanao del Norte clashes also disrupted transportation as fleeing rebels burned vehicles to delay responding government soldiers.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, an air-conditioned bus of the Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. (RTMI) was caught in the crossfire while approaching Barangay Kulasihan, between Maigo and Kolambogan towns. Police said they recovered two bodies inside the RTMI bus in Kolambogan.
The RTMI bus, bearing body number 1567, was bound to Cagayan de Oro from Zamboanga City and had 38 passengers, according to Purvil Daing, operation manager of RTMI in Cagayan de Oro.
"Pag-abot sa barangay Kulasihan gipara sa PNP ang bus kay dili na palahuson kay nag-encounter na diay ug mao to nga nalukong ang bus ug naapil pag-straffing," Daing told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
He said three other RTMI buses got stranded in Kolambogan and Maigo towns -- all hit by bullets after being caught in crossfire.
Daing assured that RTMI's Iligan-Cagayan de Oro route and vice versa will not be suspended, except the routes entering Lanao areas.
Authorities identified five of the nine civilian fatalities as Miguel Daitia, Aldrin Tan, Galicano Tausa, Javes Ganzan and certain Tata Labid. All were residents of Kauswagan town, said Michael Enad, manager of the funeral parlor in Iligan City where the bodies were brought.
