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Monday, November 14, 2005
Int'l peace group orders Moro rebel camp dismantled
By Aquiles Zonio
TUPI, South Cotabato -- The International Monitoring Team (IMT) had prevented a looming armed confrontation between government forces and Moro fighters when it ordered the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to dismantle its newly established camp in sitio Bunawan, Polunoling Village in Tupi town, South Cotabato.
The IMT is monitoring the implementation of the general ceasefire agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF.
The monitoring team, led by Malaysian Major General Dato Palawan Soheimi Bin Abbas, went to the area recently to conduct an investigation over reports that the MILF had established a camp in the area.
Setting up a new camp is a violation of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the rebel group.
Soheimi told reporters that under the ceasefire agreement signed between the government and MILF, there should be no recruitment of new MILF members or setting up of new MILF camps.
The IMT head further said the new camp here is not included in the list of established MILF camps recognized by the Philippine government.
The monitoring team ordered the dismantling of MILF camp after residents and local officials of the town and the province signified their strong protest against it.
Meanwhile, South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes earlier asked for Malacañang intervention on the dismantling of MILF camp in the area.
Colonel Alfredo Cayton, 601st Brigade commander, also sent a letter of protest to the RP-MILF panels opposing the setting up of a new MILF camp in Tupi.
The letter was coursed through the Army's 6th infantry Division headed by Major General Agustin Dema-ala.
Dema-ala told Sun.Star that he sent a strongly worded letter to the MILF leadership demanding its troops be pulled out from the area and the structures be dismantled within five day's time.
However, Dema-ala said the MILF hierarchy asked for another three days to act on the letter.
"We told them that we will use the full force of the law to drive them out of the area if they will not peacefully pull out their troops within the given period. They (MILF leaders) asked for another three days to act on my letter and we are glad it was no less than the IMT which ordered them to leave the area," Dema-ala said.
Meantime, the MILF has also agreed to pull out its forces from the mountains of Koronadal City and Tupi town in South Cotabato in a bid to ease the growing tension in the area.
MILF Spokesman Eid Kabalu said the MILF leadership has already resolved the matter and is now only waiting for a formal decision from the joint ceasefire committees of the MILF and the government, which is now investigating the matter.
"There's nothing to be alarmed there. The MILF is amenable to pursue some steps that would bring stability to the area," Kabalu said in an interview over the Radio Mindanao Network this morning.
According to Kabalu the joint ceasefire committees or the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) is set to visit barangays Polonuling and Tubeng in Tupi and Sitio Takilay, Barangay Saravia in Koronadal City, where around 60 MILF rebels were earlier spotted by the Army's 27 th Infantry Battalion (IB).
The rebels, under Commander Aguilar Saligan, reportedly set up a satellite camp and several detachments in the area, which is part of the Roxas Mountain Range.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines has filed a former complaint about the matter to the CCCH.
(November 7, 2005 issue)
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