NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Authorities vowed to prosecute the leaders of the bandits that attacked Midsayap town Monday and held dozens of civilian hostage and beheaded a farmer.
Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said their intelligence units are ready to help the Midsayap police office document the latest attack of the BIFF to build the case against the group's leaders.
“But the 6th ID can only help build criminal cases against them. It’s the police that will spearhead their prosecution based on evidence and testimonies of people that witnessed how they terrorized several farming communities in Midsayap and how they killed innocent civilians there,†Hermoso said.
Relatives of the farmer the bandits decapitated using a machete, Ricarte Dionio, 31, urged the police to file criminal charges against his killers, reportedly led by Abbas Kudanding, who is a known henchman of BIFF’s founder, the Saudi-trained Islamist Ameril Ombra Kato.
Kudanding’s men also shot dead another villager, 22-year-old Erwin Vinluan, for refusing to help carry their wounded companions.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, presiding chairperson of the inter-agency provincial peace and order council (PPOC), had called on the more than 2,000 families dislocated by Monday’s violent attacks by the BIFF to remain calm.
Mendoza said the affected villagers must refrain from retaliating and allow the police and military to secure their communities instead.
Mendoza said the local government of Midsayap and the PPOC are now imposing measures meant to prevent a repeat of the incident.
Mendoza said she has activated, along with Midsayap Mayor Romeo Araña, a crisis management committee to address the security issues in the municipality, home to mixed Muslim and Christian residents.
“We can best address all of these problems through solidarity and cooperation. The government is focusing utmost attention on these peace and security concerns,†Mendoza said.