Sunday, August 24, 2008 When terror comes home By Annabelle L. Ricalde and Froilan Gallardo
TEN-year-old Raymundo Gil Jr. (Junjun to his friends and family) stared quietly at the two white coffins bearing the remains of his parents inside their house in Barangay Bonbon, Cagayan de Oro City.
Last weekend, they were a picture of a happy family as Junjun's parents Raymundo Sr., 37, and mother Dalila, 45, prepared for a vacation trip to Oroquieta City and Mahayag town in Zamboanga del Sur.
Raymundo Sr. hailed from Mahayag, while Dalila was from Oroquieta City. They have long planned to visit their parents back home in the said towns.
Junjun's father had just arrived from Saudi Arabia where he worked as welder last July and had been looking forward to this vacation.
Last Monday dawn, the Gils including a relative, Ladylou, departed from Barangay Bonbon aboard a white multicab for Oroquieta City.
Unknown to them, they will meet terror along the highway between Iligan City and Oroquieta City.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have already overrun the town of Kolambugan and have blocked the highway.
The multi-cab was cruising the highway near Barangay Kulasihan at the outskirts of Kulambagohan town when it ran into the rebels who have took over the small Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) detachment near the bridge.
The rebels fired at the multi-cab as it approaches the detachment killing Junjun's parents instantly.
Junjun and Ladylou were lucky. Both were able to duck behind the cab at the rear.
"Nitindog si Junjun pero akong gipabalik og higda aron dili maigo, pagkataud-taud giduolan dayon mi og upat ka MILF ug gipakanaug (Junjun tried to stand but I pulled him down. Later four rebels approached our vehicle," Ladylou said.
The MILF rebels took Ladylou and Junjun with them as they retreated to the hinterland town of Tangkal in Lanao del Norte. They joined 60 other hostages who were taken by the rebels to shield them from the responding soldiers.
As they walked to the dense undergrowth, Ladylou, who asked not to be identified, narrated how the rebels were disgusted about the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) to block the agreement the MILF reached with the Philippine government.
"They keep on repeating their disgust about the court decision. They also apologized for strafing our vehicle," she said.
By the time the hostages reached Tangkal town, the MILF Central Committee who said they were also surprised by the attack, ordered the rebels under Abdul Rahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo to release the hostages.
The released hostages were picked up by a vehicle sent by the local government of Kolambugan Monday evening.
The attack on Kolambugan town and outlying villages by the MILF rebels under Commander Bravo surprised everyone in Lanao del Norte because of its ferocity and wanton attacks against civilians -- acts forbidden by the revolutionary organization.
At least 33 civilians, including children and a three-year-old Love-Love Socejo, were killed. Her body was found along with her father in Kolambugan town Tuesday.
The government has deployed some 3,000 soldiers backed by OV-10 Bronco bomber aircraft and helicopter gunships to run after Commander Bravo whom they described as a "rogue MILF commander."
Just weeks ago, a peace deal to end the decades-long insurgency in Mindanao had seemed within reach after government and rebel negotiators initialed a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
But politicians led by North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol challenged the deal in the SC, which issued a temporary restraining order on the eve of the August 5 signing in Malaysia.
Abhoud Syed Lingga, Cotabato City-based executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, said the SC's intervention triggered a reaction among the more radical MILF fighters.
"When the Supreme Court interferes in an issue that is mainly political, it's a drawback," Lingga said. "It's a disincentive to insurgents to stop fighting and come back to the negotiating table."
Twenty-seven-year old Lani Banglos did not mind the drone of Air Force helicopters flying overhead as she inspected the ruins of her small sari-sari store in Barangay Lapayan, Kauswagan town.
Using a small stick, Lani poked under a burnt refrigerator and found a blackened coin underneath the ashes. She picked it up and showed her total find: seven coins in all.
Lani's savings, representing two years of hard work as domestic helper in Qatar, have been reduced into a small heap of ashes.
"Everything. All the hard work I did for two years," she said as the tears welled and her voice became hoarse. "Now everything's gone. Everything."
Lani was sleeping inside her store along with her father and brothers when the MILF rebels arrived in Barangay Lapayan, in Kauswagan town Monday dawn.
She said they were roused from sleep by the loud noise made by the rebels and the barking of the dogs.
Soon the rebels were banging on the door of her store. Sensing danger, Lani and her family decided to leave using a backdoor exit.
They joined other residents who fled to the beach.
The rebels took everything they could carry from Lani's store and set it on fire along with 19 other houses.
"I don't even know what they are fighting for. I don't even know what this BJE (Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity) is all about," she said. "All I know is that I am back to square one," she added.
Lani said she is thinking of going back to work in the Middle East and save money despite the hardships she will encounter there from abusive employers.
"I don't know... I don't know," Lani said as she continued looking for things to retrieve from the rubble.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said at least 40,000 residents have been displaced by last Monday's raid.
"The MILF had attacked our towns in the past but last Monday's raid was the worst ever. This time, they went to the houses, dragged the occupants and killed them," Dr. Gemma Deano, municipal health officer of Linamon town, said.
Deano said the rampage sent residents in Lanao del Norte's five towns of Linamon, Maigo, Kauswagan, Kolambugan and Bacolod, fleeing.
"Now we are facing a man-made disaster and I am running out of medicines to treat colds and coughs," she said.
Deano said many of the 3,900 evacuees at the Linamon Elementary School are suffering from colds, coughs and abdominal pains -- symptoms of stress from fleeing the fighting.
"Many of the evacuees are still scared because of the tense situation in Lanao del Norte," she said.
Underscoring her point was last Monday's incident when text messages sent to panicky residents of a bogus MILF attack in Iligan City triggered mass hysteria resulting to the death of two persons who suffered heart seizures at the height of the commotion.
But for 70-year-old Sabelina Dial of Barangay Buski, Linamon town, her friendship with her Muslim neighbors is deeper than last Monday's rampage.
"I remembered how our Maranao friends helped us when we first came to settle in Barangay Buski in 1952. They were so helpful," Dial said. "We would even go together to fish in the shores of Linamon. They even allowed us to ride the logging trucks to go down to the beach."
Her niece, Baby Cube, also did not begrudge their Maranao neighbors and said she still considers them her good friends.
"They are very good to us. My Muslim neighbors told me those who attacked Kolambugan were Maranaos from Lanao del Sur," she said.
Cube said she believed what her Muslim neighbors told her that the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) will not "hurt" the Christians.
She said they were even worried for her safety when she took her two children and fled to the town center in Linamon when she heard gunshots in Barangay Buski.
"I had only P80 with me but I was scared. I just left everything and took my children to Linamon," Cube narrated.
At a small corner in one of the classrooms in Linamon Elementary School, Adela Hinaya had opened a small sari-sari store selling coffee, cigarettes, junk food and candies.
"These items are the ones I took from my store in Bbarangay Buski. Since all of the people in the village are here, I decided to open the store here," Hinaya said as she fed her two-year-old child with rice she got from aid agencies.
Hinaya said her father opened a small farm with the help of their Maranao friends in Barangay Buski in the 1950s and later, one of her nieces got married to a Maranao.
"Our Maranao friends always attend our family gatherings like they were of our blood. So why begrudge them now?" Himaya said.
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