MILF, fugitives gird for attacks

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — A notorious kidnapper, who along with 67 other inmates escaped from this city’s jail in a daring attack by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels last Nov. 7, has formally allied himself with the separatist guerrillas for stepped-up attacks on urban centers in the Socsargen area.

Maj. Sam Deles, spokesman of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, cited intelligence reports that at least 20 of the escapees have joined the fugitive kidnapper, Tahir Alonto, to form an MILF "urban force" for attacks in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos, which comprise the Socsargen area.

This developed as six people were wounded in grenade explosions near a public market in Carmen, North Cotabato, and in a piggery farm in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. The North Cotabato blast was believed to be the MILF’s handiwork.

Deles said Alonto is now under the command of Ustadz Kahar of the MILF’s 204th Brigade, and that his "urban force" initially plans to launch bomb attacks and burn vital establishments here, like the City Hall and the Hall of Justice complex.

The terrorist plan was corroborated by murder suspect Gilbert Bacasmo, who was turned in by his lawyer and relatives yesterday.

Bacasmo, the 34th escapee recaptured in the past two weeks, said the attacks in this city were hatched even before the jailbreak.

Deles said the 20 escapees who joined Alonto’s "urban force" were converted to the Islamic faith while inside the city jail.

Alonto and the MILF rebels, according to Bacasmo, also discussed their terrorist plans in a hideout somewhere in the mountains of Barangay Basag, T’boli, South Cotabato.

Bacasmo said the MILF rebels forced him to escape, and that he managed to slip away when Alonto’s group clashed with government troops in Barangay Basag early this week.

T’boli Mayor Dad Tuan said at least 17 MILF rebels, some of them believed to be escapees, were killed in the clashes.

Citing reports, Tuan said Alonto’s group has left T’boli and is now in Sultan Kudarat on their way to Maguindanao.

Deles confirmed that Alonto had executed former aide and fellow escapee Ismael Mutalib for alleged treacherous acts. Mutalib and Alonto were arrested last year for the kidnapping of the Cavalida brothers of Davao del Sur.

Grenade blasts

Three people were wounded in two separate grenade explosions that rocked Isulan, Sultan Kudarat Friday night, Senior Superintendent Agapito Salvador, provincial police director, said.

The first blast happened at about 10 p.m. on the premises of a piggery farm, about 600 meters from the public market. Wounded were Nora Malicudio, 30; Romulo Balquin, 17; and Jordan Nambong, 10.

A certain Rolando Tabligan was arrested and admitted having thrown the grenade after a fight with his wife. But an earlier investigation showed that residents, who have been complaining about the stench from the piggery, could have been behind the blast.

About 40 minutes later, Salvador said another grenade went off at the Isulan public cemetery.

At least four explosions, most of them blamed on the MILF, have rocked Isulan in the past three weeks.

Earlier, two children were killed and eight people were wounded when a fragmentation grenade exploded in a crowded Muslim neighborhood in Purok Masagana, Barangay Kalawag II.

Two rifle grenades were fired at the public market and another exploded near the town’s police station and the mayor’s office, killing one person and injuring four others.

In North Cotabato, three persons, including a 74-year-old man, were wounded when a timebomb, believed planted by MILF guerrillas, went off in front of a house beside the central public market in Carmen town.
Col. Hermogenes Esperon, chief of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, identified the victims as Federico Cabilando, 50, his wife Virginia, 46, and Antolio Francisco, 74.

The timebomb could have been aimed at the public market but was placed instead in a trash bin in front of the house of the Cabalindo family because of the heavy presence of soldiers and policemen in the market. — With Roel Pareño and John Unson