LANAO DEL NORTE – Police have started distributing posters and leaflets on the huge bounty for the capture of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar.
The government has put a bounty of P10 million on the heads of Kato and Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo, for recent attacks in the villages of North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte that left over 40 people killed and thousands homeless.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. personally distributed the posters and leaflets in a series of dialogues here with local officials and residents.
Puno and Razon assured the locals of protection and welfare assistance from the national government following the attacks.
Razon distributed the posters with the photographs of the two renegade MILF commanders, the details of the charges of murder and arson lodged against them and contact numbers of the authorities.
“We are really hoping this will help speed up their arrest,” Razon said.
Puno, for his part, urged local officials and the public to use their cellphones and text in any information that could lead to the arrest of the two MILF rebel leaders.
Puno also said the government would not be pressured by MILF threats of a full-blown war against the military amid the intensified manhunt for the two rebel leaders.
The military has launched ground and air attacks on known rebel positions in Central Mindanao in the hunt for Kato and Bravo.
Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah “Bobby” Dimaporo said Kato and Bravo, as well as those who participated in the attacks, should be executed.
“I am in favor of the execution of Commander Bravo and those who attacked Lanao del Norte as the MILF is supposed to be an effective negotiator to attain peace in Mindanao,” Dimaporo said.
He said the MILF could show good faith by surrendering the two renegade commanders or executing them “to cleanse the image of the MILF, so the leaders may negotiate effectively to achieve their lifetime mission by applying the Quran.”
He said the Quran should be applied in Muslim communities, “not in Christian areas.”
“The MILF would be more effective in the political arena. Their use of criminals and terrorists in the battlefield weakens their cause and erodes their strength in their negotiation with the Filipino nation,” Dimaporo said.
Puno said the renegade MILF commanders are now on the run from pursuing police and military troops, and are under pressure from both the MILF and the government to give up.
“I think the criminal elements of the MILF are the ones being pressured. They are running all over the place like scared rats,” he said.
“I think it’s clear that it’s time for the central committee of the MILF to take action against their lawless members, otherwise it would be very clear to us that they are party to these (criminal acts). They approved the massacre of innocent civilians.”
The government challenged the MILF to turn over the two commanders as a sign of good faith in the peace process.
Wounded
The military, on the other hand, revealed that Bravo was among the rebels wounded in clashes with government troops.
Western Mindanao Command spokesman Maj. Eugene Batara said intelligence reports indicate Bravo was among those wounded in the air strikes and artillery attacks launched against their positions, and that he was brought to Marawi City for treatment.
At least five rebels under Bravo were killed Monday while 10 others were wounded in encounters with government troops in Poona Piagapo town.
Batara said five soldiers were also wounded during the five-hour firefight at Barangay Lungsod of the town.
Armed Forces operations chief Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia said government troops have been engaged in a firefight with the MILF’s 104th Base Command in Poona Piagapo since Monday.
Security forces, on the other hand, captured an MILF commander at a checkpoint along a highway in General Santos City.
Central Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio identified the arrested rebel commander as Ismael Saafar alias Commander Tigre Jakiri.
Saafar has a P700,000 bounty on his head and is facing charges of serious illegal detention and kidnapping. – With Delon Porcalla, Roel Pareño, Ramil Bajo,James Mananghaya, Helen Flores, Jaime Laude