Rebel camp, arms factory fall

MANILA, Philippines – Government troops seized another rebel training camp and uncovered an arms factory in Maguindanao yesterday.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Armand Rico said troops captured a major training camp of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) located in the outskirts of Barangay Madia, Datu Sinsuat town.

“The area was believed to be one of the MILF’s satellite camps where they fabricate and manufacture their weapons,” Rico said.

Rico said troops discovered a machine shop at the camp, bolstering suspicions that the rebels are manufacturing their arms and weapons to prepare for attacks.

Troops also seized several improvised weapons including M203 grenade launchers, homemade shotguns, MILF uniforms, and communications equipment, at the heavily fortified camp surrounded by foxholes and running trenches.

Rico said the training camp was under renegade MILF commander Ameril Umbra Kato, who is now being hunted for pillaging villages in North Cotabato earlier this month.

Troops also overran Camp Darapanan, a training center used by the forces of MILF commander Abdurahman Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo, on the outskirts of Poona Piagapo town, military officials said.

Kato and Macapaar led hundreds of their men in occupying villages in North Cotabato and Lanao del Sur earlier this month, killing dozens of civilians and looting and burning houses.

The two camps fell under government control a day after troops captured Camp Bilal, a sprawling complex that included a house of Bravo, but all of the rebels had fled.

Brig. Gen. Antonio Supnet, commander of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade in Lanao del Norte, said they had overrun Camp Darapanan after an artillery barrage and the use of ground attack aircraft.

Supnet described the facility as “a big training camp that can accommodate at least 500 soldiers. It even has obstacle courses.”

He could not give any estimates on casualties in the fighting.

The military said the rebels have split up into smaller groups, with most of them hiding with their relatives or mixing in with the locals.

The government said the seizure of the rebel camps spells the dire end of the two recalcitrant guerrilla commanders, with their arrest expected in the next few days.

Troops from the Bicol region, Bohol and Western Visayas region arrived in Iligan City to sustain the offensives against the rebels.

The military said the battle to recapture Camp Bilal in Poona Piagapo last Thursday left five rebels killed and 10 wounded.

An Army officer and nine of his men were also wounded in the firefight with the rebels struggling to defend Camp Bilal, officials said.

Fears of a full-scale war with the MILF in Mindanao failed to materialize as the rest of the 11,000-strong rebel units refrained from joining the clashes with government troops going after the renegade commanders.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro warned the MILF leadership against giving Kato and Bravo sanctuary.

He said the military would not hesitate to attack any of the MILF camps giving sanctuary to the rebel leaders and their men.

Describing the MILF renegade commanders as a major stumbling block to the peace process in Mindanao, Teodoro maintained they must be brought to justice for their criminal acts.

The MILF had rejected the government demand to turn over the recalcitrant rebel leaders, claiming they would be subjected to their own laws.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the MILF remains non-committal on the issue.

“They (MILF leaders) have been evasive, we’ve been looking for more definitive reply from them… In this particular case, we have not even heard the MILF central committee condemn what these people are doing, like the massacre of innocent civilians,” Puno said.

Puno cited the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under the leadership of founder Nur Misuari, who makes the decision to punish his erring guerrillas and officials without waiting for the government to take action.

He said the MILF is apparently losing control of its men and “that they can no longer control these criminal elements, which is unfortunate because it caused the disruption of the peace process.”

Puno said the peace process has been “severely damaged” by the attacks staged by the recalcitrant MILF commanders.

“We are still hopeful we can work out a peaceful solution to all of these but it has to be predicated on justice and on bringing into the arms of the law (those who) murder civilians, burned houses and brought mayhem into the community,” he said.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said the police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) would continue the operation against the MILF rogue leaders.

Razon, however, admitted the manhunt for the rebels becomes difficult since they mix up with the locals.

“We don’t want to indiscriminately harm innocent civilians and cause collateral damage, the PNP and AFP are conducting a surgical operation to apprehend Kato and Bravo and bring them to justice,” Razon said.

Puno and Razon led local authorities and the police in distributing posters and leaflets on the huge bounty for the capture of the two rebel leaders.

The government has put a bounty of P10 million on the heads of Kato and Bravo.

The threat of the MILF attacking other towns and villages in the region also stirred other groups and sectors to start arming themselves.

Other groups, like the dreaded Ilaga vigilante group, wanted to take the offensive to the MILF.

Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo said the Ilagas could make matters worse.

“If we tolerate the Ilagas, it’s like pouring gasoline on the flame,” he said.

Dimaporo said the Ilagas should be charged for making inflammatory statements and threatening to take the law into their hands. “The Ilagas must be arrested and charged,” he said.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said it is worth finding out who could be behind the recent efforts to reactivate Ilaga.

Gonzales denied reports insinuating the government, particularly his office, initiated the reactivation of Ilaga, the movement that was known for its strong anti-communist stance and fighting Muslim rebels in Mindanao in the 1970s. – With Roel Pareño, Edith Regalado, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Paolo Romero, Lino de la Cruz, Perseus Echeminada