MANILA - Quit or be crushed, President Arroyo warned Muslim leaders yesterday, after they raided several towns in Mindanao, burning houses and killing at least 24 civilians and eight soldiers.
Government blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for an ambush on soldiers in Lanao del Norte, which killed eight. Separatists also set off two bombs in hotels in Iligan City, hurting three civilians, and attacked a band of Marines in Basilan.
Brigadier Gen. Antonio Supnet, head of an army brigade that drove away the rebels, said that 20 civilians were slaughtered in Kauswagan and four others in neighboring Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte.
The rebels, estimated at 300, also set fire to 20 homes in Kauswagan. There were reports that the attackers took a number of civilian hostages as they retreated under fire.
President Arroyo convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to assess the situation in Lanao del Norte and to come up with “concrete, firm and decisive action to defend the peace-loving people of Mindanao.”
“Because of these sneaky and treacherous attacks, as your commander-in-chief, I have ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police to defend every inch of Philippine territory against MILF forces, and immediately restore peace in the affected areas in Lanao del Norte,” she said.
“We will crush any attempt to disturb peace and development in Mindanao,” she added.
Jihad
Armed Forces Chief Alexander Yano ordered another round of offensives against the MILF, and said in a press conference that the attacks were treated as the MILF’s declaration of war against the government.
“This was confirmed by Commander Bravo’s declaration of jihad,” said Yano.
“The AFP shall not allow this to go on. We cannot allow ambuscades, arson, kidnapping, hostage-taking, blocking of main highways and other atrocities to be perpetrated by the MILF against the Filipino people.”
He said the attacks revealed the “the insincerity to the peace process” of factions within the MILF.
“It appears that several MILF sub-commanders are not controlled by the MILF leadership and just using the peace process as a blanket to launch violent attacks against the people of Mindanao,” Yano said.
MILF leaders, however, blamed renegade guerrillas for the attacks.
Commander Bravo
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed the attack, but said it was carried out by a renegade commander, Abdullah Maca-paar, also known as Bravo, and without the knowledge of the group’s leadership.
General Yano said that the government launched an offensive in response to Monday morning’s attacks.
The escalation of fighting in Mindanao came amid uncertainty over a fragile peace process, after the Supreme Court blocked a preliminary agreement with Muslim rebels calling for an expanded autonomous region.
Michael Enat, manager of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Iligan City, said an army truck brought the bodies of nine civilians from Kauswagan who had been shot and hacked.
Television footage showed mayhem in one smoldering village as residents ran for cover, jumping over the fences of their roadside houses.
Burned-out vehicles littered the street. Up to 100 people escaped in dozens of boats to Iligan because the main highway was blocked.
Ceasefire
A military offensive earlier this month that dislodged the rebels from several villages displaced about 80,000 residents in a nearby province, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many people have fled in the latest fighting.
President Arroyo told the rebels in a statement televised nationwide to withdraw immediately or they will be crushed.
“This is not just a violation of the peace agreement, but also a challenge to the overall aspirations of the people for peace and progress in Mindanao,” she said.
Retired general Rodol-fo Garcia, head of the government’s negotiating team with the rebels, called the attack on the towns a violation of a 2003 ceasefire. Government officials were trying to get through to the rebels in an effort to get them to control their fighters, he said.
Blocked
Officials in the predominantly Christian cities in Mindanao, the traditional homeland of minority Muslims, have loudly opposed a preliminary accord forged between the government and the rebels.
The agreement, which was supposed to be signed this month but was blocked by the Supreme Court, calls for the expansion of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao to include more than 700 villages, subject to the approval of residents in a plebiscite next year.
The Supreme Court acted on a petition filed by Christian politicians wary of losing land and power to the Muslims. (Sunnex/AP)
