Text messages threatening more attacks sowing tension in Maguindanao town

PARANG, Maguindanao — Tension still grips this town, no thanks to text messages saying that partisans would launch more attacks against Mayor Vivencio Bataga, who survived a bomb attack apparently aimed at him at a Catholic church last Sunday.

Bataga, whose security escort, Nonong Obas, was wounded in Sunday’s bombing in the premises of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, said he is certain that his political rivals were behind the three attempts on his life in the past four months.

Local Muslim religious leaders have called on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division to deploy more uniformed personnel in public places to thwart further attacks.

Bataga, an iron-fisted leader, is known for his extensive campaign against local drug traffickers, illegal loggers and extortion syndicates.

He was about to enter the church when the bomb, fashioned from an 81-mm. mortar round and planted along a path leading to the main door of the church, went off.

"My main concern now is how to prevent them from staging (more) attacks against me when I’m in busy spots such as terminals and worship sites," he said.

Bataga and four of his bodyguards were wounded in a powerful explosion last April 5 at the public transport terminal here while he was supervising the demolition of illegal vending stalls. Six innocent bystanders were also wounded in the blast.

Last Sept. 4, a B-40 anti-tank rocket nearly hit Bataga’s service vehicle while he was on his way home from the townhall. The rocket exploded on a sidewalk, wounding two women.

Chief Superintendent Acmad Omar, ARMM police director, said he is ready to relieve the entire Parang police force and replace it with a more competent contingent if Bataga would ask for it.

Camp S.K. Pendatun, the regional command base of the ARMM police, is less than two kilometers away from the town proper where the three attempts on Bataga’s life occurred.

Bataga, a bemedalled Army colonel before he was elected mayor in this predominantly Muslim town, believes his "political rivals" were behind the slay attempts.

"I have been receiving persistent feedback, some from people identified with them who are now secretly supporting my administration, that they would not stop in trying to eliminate me before the elections next year," he said.

In another development, 63 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in North Cotabato surrendered to the military yesterday.

The MILF guerrillas, led by Commanders Monib Maraguiar, Alimudin Tawal, Tony Sapalon and Pandi Adal, also yielded dozens of assault rifles, shoulder-fired rocket launchers, B-40 anti-tank rockets, live 60 and 80-mm mortar projectiles and bomb-making tools.

They surrendered through the intercession of Lt. Col. Romeo Ayson of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion and the civil-military relations units of the 602nd Infantry Brigade and the 6th Infantry Division.

The rebels pledged allegiance to the government in simple rites at the 38th IB headquarters in Midsayap, North Cotabato.