Military sending in more troops from Luzon, Visayas to fight MILF

DAVAO CITY – The military has begun moving its firepower to Mindanao by deploying more troops and equipment from Luzon and the Visayas to fight the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Sen. Rodolfo Biazon disclosed here yesterday.

Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on security and national defense, told reporters of the massive movement of troops to Mindanao following a meeting with top officials of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command and the Southern Mindanao regional police to assess the security situation in the region.

“Right at this moment, there are movements of troops from the Visayas and Luzon toward North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani,” Biazon said.

Sources added at least six more Army battalions would be sent to the front lines next week.

Fighting between rebels and government troops intensified yesterday, dimming hopes of renewed peace talks with the MILF.

More than 100 rebels have been killed in four days of clashes, regional Army spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando said.

About 90,000 people have been displaced by the upsurge in fighting, according to local and foreign relief agencies operating in Central Mindanao.

“Fighting intensified overnight with battles raging near the towns of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Piang, all in Maguindanao province,” Ando said.

Ando said the rebels are to blame for the deteriorating situation in the region.

“We have done our best to embrace peace, but the MILF started the hostilities by pillaging villages and murdering innocent civilians in Mindanao,” Ando said.

“Now we are implementing the full force of the law and we will arrest those responsible for the traitorous attacks against civilians,” he said.

The government has put up a P10-million bounty for the capture of MILF commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, for respectively leading the attacks in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte that triggered the fighting for two consecutive weeks.

Malacañang called on the MILF to turn over the two rebel commanders who led the rampage in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte that left scores of people shot or hacked to death, looting and burning homes and sending over 200,000 people fleeing.

The military has launched ground and air attacks on rebel positions in the hunt for Kato and Macapaar.

Biazon said the escalating violence should prompt the government to restore law and order.

He called on Malacañang to convene the National Security Council (NSC), pointing out the worsening situation in Mindanao is becoming a national security concern.

Biazon also urged the mobilization of militiamen and reservists to areas that would be left by the regular troops from Luzon and the Visayas.

“It is very important that the government can assure the people that it is able and willing to protect and defend its citizenry,” Biazon said.

Biazon said the Senate would look into the budgetary requirements of the military in its operations against the rebels.

The hunt intensifies

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) operations chief Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia said troops are now starting to move closer to the supposed hideouts of Kato and Macapaar.

Segovia said the initial reports indicate the rebels are putting up heavy resistance.

“We have expected them to resist because we are already in our objectives. We can probably say we are successfully engaging them, therefore there is no failure of intelligence. We are heavily engaged in almost all pursuits. If there are no engagements, it means we are hitting air,” he said.

Segovia confirmed reports that troops from the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade are in “the thick of the fray” with MILF rebels near Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao, where Kato and his men reportedly retreated.

“Every now and then there are clashes,” Segovia said.

The AFP also reported encounters between government forces and MILF rebels under Kato in Barangay Pananag in Maasim, Sarangani.

This developed as Army Scout Rangers have overrun a suspected training camp of the MILF in Barangay Pusao in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Col. Marlu Salazar, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said elite Scout Ranger troops have cleared and overran the satellite camp of Kato after an intense 16-hour firefight that started at midnight Sunday.

“MILF guerrillas (have) put up a fierce resistance from the government troops that were moving inch by inch forward to the camp,” he said.

There were no reported casualties on the government side during the operation.

Salazar said residents tipped off the military on the one–hectare rebel camp in their area.

AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said Kato and his men have engaged government troops in a fierce firefight in Sarangani.

“Since (Saturday) morning, heavy firefight ensued between government troops and lawless MILF groups supportive to the group of Kato’s 105th base command. Sporadic firefight still ongoing as of this time,” Torres said.

According to Torres, there are intelligence reports indicating Kato and his men were helped by other MILF units, pointing to the rebel group’s 104th and 107th Base Command in attacking Sarangani last week.

As the offensive against the rebels is underway, Torres said the AFP is closely monitoring the developments and pronouncements related to the peace process.

MILF chief peace negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal, on the other hand, warned of a return to full-scale hostilities.

“This is a grim scenario and I don’t even want to think about it, but if the peace talks collapse then there will be war again in Mindanao,” he said.

Iqbal blamed hawkish sectors and local politicians opposing the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that would have allowed the creation of a Bangsamoro homeland in the south.

“The voice of reason is dwarfed by the voice of hatred and prejudice,” Iqbal said. “The peace talks are slowly breaking apart and if this continues, may God help us all.”

The peace accord would have granted Muslims their own separate state across more than 700 villages in Mindanao, but the Supreme Court on Aug. 4 halted the MOA-AD.

The agreement had sparked a series of protests from local officials and residents opposed to the inclusion of their areas into the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.

MILF commanders Kato and Macapaar, who became dismayed by the developments, apparently forced the issue and ignored repeated calls by their leaders to stand down and launched attacks on civilians in towns and villages in Central Mindanao.

Some politicians have urged villagers to arm and defend themselves from rebel attacks. Armed militias have also been deployed to guard their communities against further atrocities.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno urged local officials and residents to allow the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to carry out their mission to defend the communities against MILF attacks.

Local officials have set a meeting with Puno to assess the security situation and coordinate relief and evacuation efforts.

Puno said he would also conduct dialogues with ulamas and Catholic bishops and discuss how to restore normalcy in the areas that were attacked by the MILF.

‘Spare civilians’

The Catholic bishops, for their part, urged the government and the MILF to spare civilians in the conflict.

Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Peña urged the military and the MILF to guarantee the security of civilians in areas where fighting is intense.

“We are really concerned about the situation of civilians here (in Mindanao),” De la Peña said.

De la Peña called on the military to stop indiscriminate air attacks in villages that often result in collateral damage.

The MILF had called on the government to stop the military offensive which it said may lead to the collapse of a years-long peace process and an escalation of violence in Mindanao.

MILF chairman Al-Haj Murad said the government should continue to pursue the peace negotiations with the rebel group, warning of the possible collapse of talks if it insists on a review of the MOA-AD.

Murad, however, rejected the government demand to turn over Kato and Macapaar to face criminal prosecution, saying both are subject to their own laws, not of the government.

Murad called on Malaysia to help resume the peace talks to end weeks of brutal fighting in Mindanao that has displaced more than 200,000 people.

Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said the government would continue to pursue peace negotiations with the MILF even if the government enjoys a military advantage over them.

Golez reiterated the government’s demand for the MILF to turn over the two erring rebel commanders responsible for the attacks. – With James Mananghaya, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Lino de la Cruz, Sandy Araneta, Katherine Adraneda