'Bayanihan' helps Lamitan repel MNLF fighters

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The strong  “bayanihan” spirit binding the Muslim and Christian folks for generations helped repel the followers of Nur Misuari in the latter's attempt to gain control of Lamitan City and hoist in its plaza the banner of the Moro National Liberation Front.

Classes in Lamitan City schools have resumed and commercial establishments have reopened after having been closed for four days following last week’s attempts by MNLF forces to take over the city hall, the plaza and the public market.

Local officials tell of stories how even the reclusive leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Basilan, which has a standing interim ceasefire pact with government, provided them with information on the location and strength of Misuari’s followers as they marched on September 12 to Barangay Colonia, en route to the city proper.

Defense plan

Misuari’s  followers failed to get through the defense lines, put up together the night before by armed Muslim and Christian residents, policemen and combatants of an Army Scout Ranger unit, that made Barangay Colonia difficult to overrun.

Brigido Bajala, chairman of Barangay Colonia, said they anticipated hostilities after having received information from friends outside of Lamitan City about the massing of guerrillas in the outskirts, preparing to attack.

Among those that reportedly sent barangay officials warnings through text messages were leaders of the MILF, who have relatives residing in Lamitan City, the capital of the island province of Basilan.

Bajala lost a constituent-village watchman, Roger Acaso, who was killed in the initial encounter that ensued.

Acaso was killed while trying to extricate a wounded companion from the frontline, according to Bajala.

Vice-Mayor Roderick Furigay, chairman of Lamitan City’s inter-agency peace and order council, said the rebels had penetrated to as close as Barangay Maganda, which is at the rear of the city hall.

“Thanks to the `bayanihan’ done by the local communities in defending their villages,” Furigay said, referring to villagers armed with World War II vintage guns,  shotguns and bolt-action hunting rifles that fought alongside soldiers and policemen.

Furigay said the rebels, already desperate, even sprayed with bullets a building of the social welfare department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as they fled, after sensing there was no way in.

Ready for retaliations

Asbie Alski and Habbi Abbas, chairmen of Barangays Bulanting and Kulay Bato, respectively, which the rebels also attacked following their retreat from the Colonia area, also  expressed gratitude  to their Muslim and Christian constituents for helping the police and the military defend their villages.

The two barangay chairmen said credit also has to go to combatants of the Army’s 18th Infantry Batallion under Lt. Col. Tiny Perez and the contingent of Army Scout Rangers assigned in Lamitan City, led by Lt. Col. Fernando Reyeg.

Local officials, among them members of the city council and health workers, said evacuees have confirmed seeing how some of the rebels carried no fewer than 20 wounded comrades as they fled.

Furigay said the police and the military remain on full alert, even as the situation in Lamitan City has started to return to normal.

“The rebels can perpetrate bombings and sabotage our communication facilities through clandestine attacks. We’re not taking chances,” Furigay said.