The Weena bus was traveling between the cities of Cotabato and Davao at around dawn when about 200 gunmen fired on the vehicle in the town of Pikit and forced the passengers into a nearby school, said Pikit Mayor Farida Malingco.
Various news reports gave conflicting figures on the number of passengers, estimated at around 30.
Officials at the scene said the gunmen introduced themselves as MILF rebels and robbed the passengers of cell phones, money and other belongings.
Some of the passengers told police that the gunmen were MILF rebels.
One passenger — a soldier who was in civilian clothes but had a military ID and a pistol in his luggage — was executed with a shot to the head. He was identified as M/Sgt. Juanito Digno.
Six of the guerrillas and a militiaman were killed in an ensuing clash with troops who ran after the robbers.
"The soldier was shot after they discovered his ID," Maj. Julieto Ando, 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said. "They stole personal belongings — jewelry, cash, everything."
Digno was found dead on the roadside where the bus was stopped, said Col. Carduzo Luna, head of military forces in the area.
Witnesses said the gunmen took Digno’s wristwatch and wallet, ordered him to kneel and then shot him in front of the other passengers.
"The scene was something I thought I could only see in the movies. The MILF rebels were so ruthless and so savage in their ways," one passenger, who asked not be to identified, told The STAR.
Some of the rebels attempted to molest some of the female passengers but stopped when soldiers began arriving, the passengers said.
"The highway robbery was a sign of desperation on the part of the MILF. It’s very obvious now that they are bent on doing anything just to raise money to sustain themselves," Ando said.
The robbery was the latest attacks against civilians allegedly involving the MILF. Last week, 21 people were killed and more than 150 others were wounded in a bomb blast at Davao city’s international airport, the nation’s worst terrorist attack in three years.
Among those killed were 59-year-old American missionary William Hyde, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and the suspected bomber.
Because of the spate of attacks, the Arroyo administration is considering branding the MILF as a terrorist group but is hesitant because it might jeopardize the peace talks.
"I am calling on the MILF leadership to stop such attacks and harassment against civilians. Such actions, including sabotage of power transmission lines only bolsters the argument made by more and more people that the MILF is not a political organization but a terrorist group," President Arroyo told a press briefing at Malacañang.
Capt. Onting Alon, deputy spokesman for the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division in the area, said troops were in the Pikit area but could not take action because the hostages were being used as human shields.
The gunmen fled into the forest as troops approached at 8:30 a.m., about two hours after the seizure, Malingco said. The other passengers were unharmed, along with other civilians in three vehicles — a pickup truck and two cars — also seized by the gunmen.
"The civilians don’t know the motive but they were just held there," Malingco said, adding that there were no negotiations and the gunmen made no demands.
"The rebels abandoned the civilians they used as human shields after sensing the arrival of the responding soldiers from the 40th Infantry Battalion," Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya, regional military chief, said.
Soldiers were stopping buses from proceeding for safety reasons, he added. Jesus Dureza, the presidential adviser for Mindanao, said troops reopened the road after securing the area.
A militiaman was killed and five villagers were wounded as troops, backed by armored vehicles and two helicopter gunships, pursued the gunmen in Takepan village, about two kilometers from the attack site, officials said. Six of the rebels were killed and five others wounded.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied involvement, but acknowledged the guerrillas were active in the area.
Pikit has been the center of tension between the MILF and government forces since the military overran the nearby MILF enclave of Buliok complex last month, killing at least 160 rebels.
Since the fall of the complex, the MILF have stepped up their retaliatory offensives, raiding town halls and military detachments and blasting power transmission towers, causing widespread power outages in Mindanao.
The 12,000-strong MILF has been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the predominantly Roman Catholic Mindanao for 25 years.
Authorities blamed the rebels for bombing three power pylons in North Cotabato over the weekend, cutting power supply to most of the Pikit area and neighboring Maguindanao.
"The problem with the group is that whenever they conduct terrorist activities they are not MILF, but when we are in pursuit they go to the area of the MILF and claim they are MILF," Abaya said.
Maguindanao and Cotabato residents were without electricity since the early hours of Monday. An official at the city’s utility company said the National Power Corp. had declared a "permanent fault" in the area.
Authorities have filed murder charges against elusive MILF chairman Hashim Salamat and 150 other MILF leaders for the Davao airport bomb blast.
The MILF had denied any role in the terrorist attack. "We will not allow ourselves to be just picked up, especially in connection with these baseless charges," Kabalu told Reuters by telephone on Sunday from an undisclosed location.
The violence coincided with public debate in the Philippines over the role of US troops training Filipino soldiers in counterterrorism.
Washington wanted about 1,000 American soldiers allowed into combat against the Abu Sayyaf Islamic kidnap gang in Sulu later this year, but Mrs. Arroyo ruled out a combat role. — With Roel Pareño, John Unson, John Paul Jubelag, AFP