MILF probing involvement of members in hostilities

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is now investigating on the reported involvement of certain MILF groups in hostilities in Central Mindanao following the Jan. 13 imposition of a nationwide gun ban by the Commission on Elections.

Von Al-Haq, speaking on the MILF’s behalf, told reporters that the gunmen that ambushed and killed Tuesday two security escorts of a barangay chairman in Banisilan town in North Cotabato could be guerillas that have long been dropped from their roster of members due to various offenses.

“Some of them have long allied with local politicians,” Al-Haq said.

The fatalities, Takanda Mamukao and Muslimin Ampuan, were on their way to Midsayap, North Cotabato along with Sonny Kadil, who is the chairman of Barangay Pantar in Banisilan, on board separate motorcycles when gunmen emerged from one side of the road and shot them with assault rifles.

Kadil survived the ambush unscathed but Mamukao and Ampuan both died on the spot from gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies.

The Banisilan municipal police said Kadil, in a statement, already implicated a certain Commander Bataga as among the gunmen that perpetrated the attack.

Bataga is a known henchman of Commander Faron, a former MILF commander whom the local police and the military have long tagged as “lawless element” owing to his involvement in criminal activities that drew flak from local villagers.

Al-Haq said they would also look into what could have caused the deep-seated animosity between Kadil and his adversaries, to determine possible solutions that can stave off recurring hostilities between them.

“The MILF leadership does not condone any misbehavior of any member. The MILF do not also allow any member to join partisan groups,” Al-Haq said.

Lt. Col. Roy Galido, commanding officer of the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion, said Faron also has an existing tactical alliance with the group of a certain Commander Tanda, a former leader of the Moro National Liberation Front in Banisilan, who was also booted out of the MNLF for his involvement in lawless activities.

“All of them are of the same feathers now. They are all lawless elements now,” Galido said.

Galido recommended the participation of the government and the MILF’s joint ceasefire committee in addressing the peace and security concerns hounding Banisilan town.

Al-Haq said they are also helping defuse the tension between two feuding groups in Datu Piang, Maguindanao that figured in a series of recent firefights, amidst Comelec’s nationwide ban on carrying of firearms, which started Jan. 13.

Sources from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said the hostilities in Datu Piang involved the combined groups of Commanders Benaw and Duma Anayatin, and their common enemy, Commander Quiapo, and his followers.

Benaw and Anayatin are both identified with the MILF while Quiapo is known for his links with the MNLF.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, newly-designated spokesman of 6th ID, said their commander, Major Gen. Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo, wants the conflict involving armed groups in Datu Piang settled peacefully by the town’s peace and order council and the joint government-MILF ceasefire committee.

Hermoso, however, said the 6th ID will uphold its constitutional mandate to prevent innocent villagers from getting trapped in the hostilities between the feuding groups.