MILF calls ‘surrender’ of 600 men ‘propaganda’

COTABATO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front dismissed yesterday as "propaganda" the report that 600 of its members will surrender this month in Cagayan de Oro City.

"There are some local officials now collaborating with the military in projecting that there are legitimate surrenders of MILF members when in fact there are none," Al-Haj Murad, MILF’s military chief, told The STAR through a two-way radio.

Murad’s reaction came a day after the Army’s 4th Infantry Division claimed that 600 MILF fighters in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte would voluntarily surrender to President Estrada in Cagayan de Oro City this month.

Maj. Johnny Macanas, 4th ID’s spokesman, said negotiations are now underway for the date of the surrender rites, to be capped with the pledging of allegiance by the rebels to the government in the presence of the President.

"We have confirmed that these alleged MILF members are just being used to boost the image of some local officials who are projecting that they are instrumental for the surrender of these people," Murad said.

Eid Kabalu, the MILF’s spokesman, said on the contrary, two more battalion-size guerrilla groups have been organized by their commanders in Lanao del Sur last month.

"It’s very easy to gather jobless people in big cities and let them pretend they are rebels and participate in a surrender ceremony," Kabalu said.

Kabalu said most of the firearms turned over by the rebels who surrendered recently to the military in batches were old and defective, indicating that these events were simulated.

Since last July, more than a thousand MILF fighters have yielded to the government and received livelihood assistance from the government in exchange for the firearms they have turned in.

Relatedly, the MILF denied yesterday the reported involvement of its guerrillas in the ambush over the weekend of a convoy of vehicles in Carmen, North Cotabato which left a Christian farmer dead and two other innocent commuters wounded.

Kabalu said the ambush in Barangay Rancho in Carmen could have been perpetrated in retaliation for the killing earlier in the same spot of two Muslims by suspected militiamen.

"The police and military should first investigate deeper into that angle before accusing the MILF of perpetrating the ambush," Kabalu said.