AFP, PNP told to exercise caution in Bossi search

COTABATO CITY – Local officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) urged the military and police forces to exercise caution in the search for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.

Local officials of the ARMM regional peace and order council (RPOC) maintained Bossi was never brought by his kidnappers to Basilan, which is enough reason to halt all military operations in the province to search for the missing priest.

The officials led by ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan said Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar and the mayors confirmed Bossi and his captors have “never stepped on any area in Basilan.”

“I talked to them after they have conducted extensive consultations with their constituents. They told me that Fr. Bossi has never been seen anywhere in Basilan since his abduction last June,” Ampatuan said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has ordered further deployment of troops in Basilan to augment government forces massing up in the province in preparation for the manhunt against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels behind the July 10 ambush.

The troops were also tasked to sustain the search for Bossi, who the military believed was brought by his kidnappers to Basilan.

Fourteen Marines were killed during an ambush on July 10 in Tipo-Tipo. Ten of them were beheaded by the rebels during the attack.

The soldiers were part of a contingent searching for Bossi, following a tip that the priest was held in an area in Tipo-Tipo.

The MILF admitted staging the attack but denied beheading the Marines.

Rebels claimed they were forced to counter-attack after the Marines entered their territory without any permit.

The military, however, clarified the deployment of additional troops does not mean all-out-war against the MILF.

The military said troop deployments will be focused against the gunmen behind the attack on the Marines, and is not a declaration of war against the MILF.

The MILF has been given a week since Monday to surrender the gunmen responsible for the ambush.

Troops will start “punitive actions” against the guerrillas involved in the attack if the MILF does not surrender them within a week, AFP Public Information Office chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.

The military said yesterday that it relieved two Marine commanders in Basilan after the incident.

Navy spokesman Cmdr. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said they will face an investigation into whether there were lapses in their leadership. – With Roel Pareño, AP