Army on alert for more BIFF attacks

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao - The military is preparing for more attacks by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters following the deaths of its five members in the Army’s takeover of its camp in southeast of Maguindanao, on Monday.

The BIFF enclave at Gen. S.K. Pendatun town, which combatants of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion overran after offensives, is now guarded by soldiers.

BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama on Thursday said they will intensify their attacks on military positions to show that the restoration of government control over their stronghold in Barangay Midpantakan in Gen. S.K. Pendatun has not weakened their capability to initiate tactical guerrilla maneuvers.

“We will continue to attack military positions,” Mama told reporters.

Five BIFF members, Nasser Untuwa, Zailon Ulangkaya, Saddam Pasandalan, Muktar Narin, and Mohammad Abunawas, were killed while eight others, mostly adolescents, were wounded in the Army operation that forced bandits out of Barangay Midpantakan.

The calibrated “police action” that the 33rd IB initiated against the BIFF was prompted by the January 2 simultaneous attacks on peasant enclaves and Army detachments at the border of Gen. S.K.Pendatun and President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat.

The BIFF had used its fallen camp as a springboard for its ruthless taxation activities and as a seat of a Taliban-style justice system that challenged law enforcement efforts of barangay leaderships based on the Local Government Code.

The BIFF had launched from the same camp several attacks on multinational Cavendish banana plantations in nearby Tulunan town in North Cotabato for refusing to shell out “protection money” on a regular basis.

Local officials said the BIFF was virtually “hurt” with the military’s taking over of the camp from the bandits' control.

Soldiers, led by Lt. Col. Markton Abo, commander of the 33rd IB, on Tuesday hoisted the Philippine flag on the former BIFF stronghold abandoned by the bandits as advancing Army combatants came near.

Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said military units in Gen. S.K. Pendatun and nearby towns have tightened security in areas vulnerable to BIFF attacks.

“The 6th ID is not taking chances. This group is known for its treacherous attacks on communities within its reach,” Petinglay said.

The BIFF, which is fighting for an independent Moro state, does not recognize the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.