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Thursday, December 18, 2003
MILF to release 4 captured soldiers
By Manuel Quirino
COTABATO CITY -- Four government troopers captured by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) during the last four-day pocket war in Maguindanao will be released anytime to members of the government-MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH).
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Army Pfcs. Alex Humag, Neil Lagad, Arnel Guibaodin and Wilfredo Castillano Jr. were seized at the height of military-MILF clashes in Datu Piang, Maguindanao on Monday.
Four captured soldiers would be released next week in the presence of the media to prove they were not mistreated, Kabalu said.
He had warned on Tuesday "if fighting continues, it would threaten the peace talks."
President Arroyo, however, insisted that government forces had been conducting law-enforcement operations and have not been targeting the MILF. In the past, the military accused the rebel group of harboring terrorists and other criminals.
"Our troops have been in hot pursuit of members of the Pentagon kidnap gang," the President said, referring to a group that abducted a local businessman in the southern city of Cotabato last week.
"The ceasefire committees of both sides are also actively engaged in dialogue, so that potential hostilities will not escalate," she added.
"It proves that the strict enforcement of law and order can be done side by side with the peace process," Arroyo said.
At least six government soldiers and 15 MILF rebels were earlier reported killed in the sporadic clashes.
Fierce fighting between the two forces erupted in the borders of Datu Piang, Talayan and Datu Saudi Ampatuan towns, following relentless military operations against Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom group (KFRG) members who snatched Norman Sia, 24, a trader from this city.
While in the middle of a car deal, Sia was abducted Dec. 8 by Pentagon KFRG members in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. He is monitored to have been hidden in the jungles of Datu Piang town.
As a result of the sporadic clashes, social welfare officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) and the military confirmed mass evacuations in at least four towns in Maguindanao Province.
Bainon Karon, Armm social welfare secretary, however, refused to give official count of the evacuees, pending a meeting with social welfare officials of the affected towns, although she admitted receiving reports that more than 1,000 families have already fled their villages.
The Cotabato City-based Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) official said the displaced families came from Datu Piang town and the newly created municipalities of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Gindulungan and Datu Unsay.
These towns are all under Maguindanao, a province within Armm where the Moro rebels have been reported to maintain a strong foothold since waging war with the government in 1970s.
Karon said military information disclosed mass evacuations started Tuesday, three days after government troops and the MILF clashed in the boundary of Datu Piang, Talayan and Talitay towns. The evacuees, Karon said, have sought refuge in a public school in Barangay Salbo in Datu Piang town.
Karon said the tension on the ground is still high, and called for the military and the MILF to immediately resolve the problem to avert further escalation of hostilities.
She said local government units have initially extended food assistance, while relief goods from the Armm government are being prepared.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said clashes erupt anew between the military and Moro rebels after MILF fighters declined to step aside in the government's operation to rescue Sia.
"The government troops were not after the MILF rebels but the kidnappers of Sia. Unfortunately, the Moro rebels blocked our rescue efforts by firing at our soldiers starting last Saturday. Our troops have no other recourse but to fire back," Ando said.
In the four-day armed confrontation with MILF fighters, Ando admitted that only six soldiers were killed and two more were missing.
As of Wednesday, Ando said government troops were still deployed in the tri-boundary of Talayan, Datu Piang and Kabuntalan towns, stressing that the soldiers will not be pulled out in the area unless they rescue the victim.
"But three hundred MILF fighters attacked our troops blocking the escape path of Sia's kidnappers in Datu Saudi Ampatuan early this week. This only means to show that the MILF leadership has no control over its field commanders," claimed Ando.
But Kabalu claimed it was the soldiers who initiated the armed confrontation when they fired first at the Moro rebels. He also stressed that Moro rebels are not giving protection to kidnappers.
"They [military] have an agenda. The military operation is part of [the] efforts to derail the peace process," said Kabalu, adding that that if the military is indeed sincere about peace in the area, military officials should have coordinated operations with the MILF to avoid unnecessary confrontations on the ground.
Military Vice-chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia said both sides had agreed to disengage after a series of clashes near the town of Datu Piang.
President Arroyo said the government's scheduled peace talks with Muslim separatists next month remained on track despite a spate of deadly clashes in the south.
Manila had signed a ceasefire with the 11,900-member MILF in July and expects to hold peace talks with the rebel group in Malaysia early next month.
However, he conceded that "the situation is still tenuous," and he is to meet MILF counterparts in the joint ceasefire committee to discuss the renewed fighting.
(December 18, 2003 issue)
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