MILF rebels terrorize Cotabato farming villages

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Moro rebels terrorized farming communities in three North Cotabato towns yesterday, carting away farm animals and other valuables.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the guerrillas first shelled a hinterland area in Barangay Dado, Alamada town, forcing several Muslim and Christian villagers to evacuate.

Members of the Army’s 68th Infantry Battalion launched a counter-attack, but the rebels managed to flee, bringing with them their mortars and more than a dozen water buffaloes they took from farmers along their escape route.

“The evacuees are now in school campuses. They are in a very miserable condition,” Alamada Mayor Ernesto Concepcion said.

Local leaders said the rebels who attacked Barangay Dado belong to the so-called National Guards Division of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“Apparently they are doing this to gather food and farm animals that they can sell to raise money to sustain their secessionist activities,” Ponce said.

Several hours later, another group of MILF renegades pounded with 60-mm mortars and B-40 anti-tank rockets the positions of soldiers and militiamen in barangays at the boundary of Midsayap and Aleosan towns.

Col. Medardo Geslani, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said forces identified with wanted MILF leader Ameril Ombra Kato have moved out of their enclaves in the Maguindanao towns of Datu Piang, Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano and Datu Saudi and relocated near North Cotabato due to the continuing manhunt for them.