Wednesday, August 20, 2008 More troops hunt down MILF rebels
KOLAMBUGAN—The military bolstered its forces in Mindanao yesterday, anticipating fresh Muslim rebel attacks after a guerrilla rampage killed at least 37 people and displaced about 44,000.
A senior Army general said additional security forces were sent to prevent a repeat of Monday’s carnage, when about 200 to 500 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas cut off a main highway and raided five coastal towns in Lanao del Norte.
The local government and defense departments announced a total of P10 million as a reward for information that would lead to the arrest of MILF commanders Ameril Umbra Kato, alias Kumander Kato, and Abdullah Makapaar, alias Kumander Bravo.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. decided to give the reward, sourced from an existing “reward fund” of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of National Defense (DND).
National Police Chief Avelino Razon Jr. said 60 cases, including serious illegal detention and arson, were initially filed against Kato in North Cotabato.
The authorities continue to gather evidence for the other charges to be filed like murder, robbery and kidnapping.
Kolambugan Mayor Beltran Lumaque said that residents “were killed as they were sighted.”
Along a sidewalk in the town, the bodies of two-year-old Love-love and her father, Francisco Sosima Jr., 30, lay wrapped in a dirty bedsheet, surrounded by grieving relatives and onlookers.
Under siege
“When they heard the gunshots, they tried to go up the stairs but they were hit by gunfire,” said a relative, Lolita Amomonpol. “They were fired upon by the rebels.”
In Iligan, Lanao del Norte’s provincial capital and industrial center of 300,000 people, authorities imposed a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew and suspended classes due to bomb threats and the unstable security situation.
Tanks rolled into the city, and Air Force helicopters flew overhead.
Teodoro said criminal charges are being readied against Makapaar, which will be filed in Lanao del Norte. Cohorts of the two MILF commanders will also be charged with similar cases in addition to conspiracy.
The rebels burned houses and shot or hacked to death civilians and took others captive. In all, 33 civilians, at least three soldiers and a policeman were killed, said
Northern Mindanao Police Regional Office Chief Teodorico Capuyan.
The retreating rebels took 63 hostages as human shields but later released them in the next town, Tangcal, police spokesman Nicanor Bartolome said.
The national disaster agency said about 44,000 people were displaced, most of them taking refuge in 19 evacuation centers in nearby Iligan and Ozamiz cities.
Sleepless
Brig. Gen. Antonio Supnet, head of an army brigade that flushed out the rebels, said the attackers were being treated as “criminals and we will go after them anywhere.”
In Kauswagan, police chief Nestor Ortiz said the rebels had regrouped in nearby mountainous hinterland and security forces were keeping a close watch on them.
“We haven’t had any sleep. We deployed near the highway and the perimeter of the town…so they could not enter again,” he said.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said that Monday’s attack was carried out by a key commander, Abdullah Macapaar, also known as Bravo, without the knowledge of the group’s leadership.
He said yesterday that Bravo will “face the consequence of his action” but did not elaborate.
Kabalu said that the rebels were frustrated after the Supreme Court blocked a preliminary agreement with the rebels calling for an expanded Muslim autonomous region.
Kabalu, however, said in an interview over radio dySS last night that the MILF is condemning “any killings or atrocities addressed to the civilian population.”
Vulnerable
Police forces in Manila and in some parts of the country were placed on full alert. Special action troops were being deployed to the south.
“We are now looking at certain major cities and towns that are vulnerable and possible targets and we are right now in the process of securing these places,” said Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, head of the military’s command center.
Chief rebel negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal said if nothing comes out of the current peace process with the government, the guerrillas will return to war.
The 11,000-strong rebels have been fighting for Muslim self-rule for decades, and signed a 2003 ceasefire with the government. But a series of violent attacks in the south has raised doubts over peace prospects.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the government sympathized with rebel leaders who cannot control their “renegade elements.” But he warned it may reconsider the peace process if the attacks continue. (AP)
