Salamat won’t be allowed to bring escorts into Abubakar

Rebel leader Hashim Salamat will not be allowed to enter his former command base at Camp Abubakar with armed bodyguards.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) started observing a unilateral ceasefire yesterday after a series of last-minute skirmishes left one rebel dead.

Renato Corona, President Arroyo’s chief of staff, told reporters yesterday the matter of Salamat’s armed bodyguards would have to be settled on the negotiating table.

"As far as we’re aware Hashim Salamat is going there as just one of the former residents there (Abubakar)," he said. "He is not going there as head of an army called MILF. He will be free to visit there and leave as one of the former inhabitants."

Corona said that except for government troops, armed groups are banned from entering Camp Abubakar and other former MILF redoubts that were captured during last year’s all-out military offensive against the separatist rebels.

"(Abubakar) is a community, an ordinary barangay now," he said.

Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan, Armed forces spokesman, told The STAR yesterday President Arroyo has strict instructions that MILF rebels entering Abubakar and other former camps must not carry firearms.

"We don’t want a resumption of their military capabilities," he said.

But Makati City Rep. Agapito "Butz" Aquino of Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) said in an official statement yesterday Mrs. Arroyo had unconditionally allowed the MILF rebels to retake their former strongholds "under the guise of returning communities" to the rebels.

"What we see is a pattern of half-sincere peace initiatives which main agenda is to score brownie points for the Arroyo administration," he said.

Aquino said thousands of soldiers died in the bloody campaign to capture Abubakar and the other former rebel redoubts and that their sacrifices have come to nothing following the Arroyo administration’s action.

But Jesus Crispin Remulla, spokesman for the LDP-Puwersa ng Masa coalition, said what’s worse is that the Arroyo administration has agreed to finance the rehabilitation of the former rebel areas.

"Despite the deliberately vague wordings of the March 23, 2001 agreement with the MILF, it is clear that a return of the MILF camps had been reached by the two sides," he said.

On the other hand, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told reporters yesterday news of Salamat’s return to Abubakar with 200 heavily-armed men could be part of a disinformation campaign to derail the planned peace talks between the government and the MILF.

"Obviously, someone would like to throw a monkey wrench into the peace process," he said.

Golez said the disinformation could have been disseminated by "sectors within the MILF" or "political groups" identified with the Estrada administration.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes told reporters yesterday about 2,000 troops, equivalent to a brigade, are stationed in Camp Abubakar.

In Cotabato City, Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, warned yesterday that the MILF could provoke another shooting war if they try to enter Abubakar with guns.

"They can return to the area and till their lands again and start life anew, but they will never be allowed to bring in their firearms," he said.

Troops from 6th Infantry Division occupy Camp Abubakar, including a brigade-size contingent and a battalion of Scout Rangers deployed at strategic points.

Ando said MILF rebels fired rockets and shot at two Army detachments along the road in Barangay Tugaig in Berira town in Maguindanao, which is the gateway to Abubakar.

"Their forces cannot even adhere to their own ceasefire which their central committee declared," he said. "How can we allow them to roam in the camp with firearms? That would put to great dangers the lives of the farmers there."

Ando said displaced residents were streaming back into Abubakar through the entrance bordering Berira, and that troops have defused three landmines planted on a dirt road leading to a military post.

In Davao City, Jesus Dureza, presidential assistant on Mindanao, told The STAR yesterday Salamat has no plan to go back to Camp Abubakar with 200 heavily-armed bodyguards

"I made verifications from sources close to Salamat," he said. "And I was informed that there was no such plan by the chairman."

Dureza said the government has maintained its firm stand that armed rebels will not be allowed to return to Abubakar and their other former strongholds.

"Our military will see to it that the directive of the President that there shall be no armed elements inside Camp Abubakar be strictly observed," he said. – Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, John Unson, Edith Regalado, Allen Estabillo