By JAMES MANANGHAYA
The Philippine Star

Armed Forces chief Gen. Alexander Yano said the deadly attacks on several towns in Mindanao by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels showed the secessionist group’s lack of control over its field commanders.

“It appears that several MILF sub-commanders are not controlled by the MILF leadership and are just using the peace process as a blanket to launch violent attacks against the people of Mindanao,” Yano said at a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo Monday.

“These developments are clear manifestations of the insincerity to the peace process of a significant portion of the MILF,” he added.

He said the separatist rebels’ rampage, starting with the ambush of government troops in Lanao del Sur, is a “virtual declaration of war against the duly constituted authority, which was confirmed by Commander Bravo’s declaration of jihad or Holy War.”

“The AFP shall not allow this to go on, we cannot allow ambuscades, arson, kidnapping, hostage taking, blocking of main highways and other atrocities to be perpetrated by the MILF against the Filipino people,” he said.
alla, Jaime Laude, and Edith Regalado

Yano said there are enough troops in Mindanao to deal with the MILF and that more soldiers are prepared for deployment to affected areas if the need arises.

“In fact, our troops are already on the ground as early as dawn Monday morning. They are heavily engaged in these areas and we are confident that we can restore normalcy and we can take drastic action against these groups,” he said.

The AFP chief also said that units in other areas have been ordered to take an “active defense stance” to prevent the fighting from spilling over to other nearby towns and provinces.

Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido, chief of the anti-terrorist Task Force Tabak, said in a phone interview that the MILF rebels left the occupied towns at around noon Monday but took with them male civilians as human shields.

The MILF leadership, said spokesman Eid Kabalu, did not sanction the attacks and the commanders involved vented their frustration over the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on ancestral domain in Malaysia last Aug. 5.

House Speaker Jose Nograles said the violence in Lanao del Norte showed the MILF leadership has lost its control over field commanders.

“Is the leadership of the MILF really in control over their field commanders?” he asked, pointing out that the MILF hierarchy needs to “clarify if their field commanders still obey their chain of command.”

“How can we proceed with the peace talks if the top officials of the MILF cannot control their field commanders (who) are apparently acting on their own?”

In a statement, Nograles said the “incursions” by the separatist rebels insurgents are a “very bad sign that the MILF chain-of-command is breaking apart.”

He noted that even Kabalu was surprised by the recent attacks.

“We really have to know first from the MILF leaders if they are still in control. Those who are out of line should be relieved from their posts and should be punished by the MILF leadership for breaking the chain-of-command,” Nograles suggested.

Reports said a certain Commander Bravo, head of the 102 MILF Base Command, led the attacks.

“These attacks should be condemned by everyone, including the leaders of the MILF. These acts of criminality and terrorism by rebel Muslim groups should be dealt with quickly and met frontally with the full force of the law,” he said.

“The government and our armed forces cannot afford now to deal with this kind of situation with kid gloves. We want peace, but when terrorism is the result of peace negotiations, the terrorists must be stopped and subdued at all cost,” Nograles added.

To show good faith, Nograles urged the MILF leadership to help the government neutralize the group of Bravo.

“Even the top leaders of the MILF should not let this incident pass. This is an insult to their leadership. Clearly, Commander Bravo is not inclined to respect the MILF chain-of-command and this is a very serious offense in any military organization,” Nograles said.

Tighter security for Davao

In Davao City, Southern Mindanao regional police director Andres Caro II said tighter security and monitoring of areas around three MILF camps in the province have been put in place.

“We have put our men on high alert and we have been constantly assessing and checking every detail of the security measures that we have so far implemented,” Caro said.

“We have been closely watching the developments in other areas in Mindanao as well as whatever movements there would be in these known MILF camps here. And we make sure that there would not be any spillover of these clashes in our region,” he said.

Caro said there are three MILF camps in the region – two in Davao Oriental and one in Davao del Sur.

Caro said the tighter security was also in preparation for the week-long Kadayawan harvest festival featuring various Lumad tribes.

Army Maj. Gen. Leo Jogy Fojas said the region was generally peaceful until last weekend when rebels attacked Maasim.

“Here in the region, it is relatively peaceful. The only problem I had was the one in Maasim,” Fojas said.

MILF-NPA tie-up?

The Communist New People’s Army in Davao and Bukidnon is reportedly linking up with the MILF for a possible joint operation against government troops, a military official said.

The official, who declined to be named, also said the MILF attacks in Lanao and Sarangani provinces were meant to force the military to divert troops from North Cotabato, which was reportedly the real target of the secessionist group.

“We know that these attacks in Lanao and Sarangani were just diversionary for them (MILF) to be able to launch a major offensive in North Cotabato,” he said.

He said it was the reason why the AFP and the PNP drew reinforcements from Western Visayas and Luzon. - With Delon Porc

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved