EDITORIAL - Just hunt them down

The government is demanding the surrender of two commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who led the raids on several villages in Lanao del Norte and Sarangani that left more than 40 people, most of them civilians, dead. Abduhrahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, and Ameril Umbra Kato supposedly acted on their own, without the blessings of the MILF leadership, in the deadly rampage that was precipitated by a Supreme Court order stopping the signing of an interim land deal between the government and the separatist group.

The government should not bother demanding anyone’s surrender. The MILF has been spoiled by an administration desperate for peace at any price. This is not the first time that the government has demanded the turnover of MILF members wanted for several atrocities in the past. Last year the group killed 14 Marines in an ambush and then decapitated 10 of them in Basilan.

Amid government demands for an explanation, the rebel leadership said the Marines, who were looking for an Italian priest kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, had strayed into MILF territory. Who knew the MILF had set up shop in Basilan? The group also disowned the decapitation of the Marines, saying those responsible must have been members of a “lost command” who therefore could not be turned over to the government.

This group has been jerking around the Arroyo administration for such a long time that it has become a bad habit. In the latest attacks, Kato and Bravo are claiming that they were not personally responsible since they were in their camps during the raids. But they said the raids were carried out by “holy warriors” or mujaheedin. Of course no one in the MILF seems to have any control over the holy warriors. MILF leaders, aware that their standard line about “lost commands” is wearing thin, said Kato and Bravo would be investigated.

This sounds like the usual empty promise from the MILF. If the military truly wants to get its hands on those two commanders, it should not sit around waiting for anyone to surrender. It’s not going to happen. Those murderers must be hunted down and made to answer for their heinous crimes.