Unarmed MILF men return to camps

PAGALUNGAN, Maguindanao — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have started returning to two of their enclaves, not with their guns but with tools to replant their farms.

Dozens of rebels and their families flocked back to their homes in Camps Limbalod and Rajah Muda here to rebuild their war-ravaged communities with the help of government troopers.

"Now I know that they (government soldiers) are the ones who can help us without asking for anything in return," said an MILF rebel who asked to be identified only as Kalim.

Kalim was referring to the soldiers of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, the same unit which liberated 16 MILF camps here and in North Cotabato during the military offensive last year.

MILF members from Camp Rajah Muda, a 5,000-hectare area at the border of this town and Pikit, North Cotabato, have also laid down their arms to plant palay and corn.

Rajah Muda residents lauded the cessation of hostilities between the government and the MILF and forsook their former lives under the gun.

Many of them even threatened to leave the area again if the government allows MILF rebels to roam with their guns.

"We have been living like that for a long time but no progress came to us," said Omar Kadil, 30, a father of four grade-schoolers and an ethnic Maguindanao.

"We want to try farming now that soldiers are helping us for free. Maybe something good will come out of this," Kadil added.

Col. Hermogenes Esperon, Army 602nd Brigade commander, said many MILF rebels started returning to the two camps as early as January last year.

The 602nd Brigade later brought some rebel-farmers on 16 educational trips to agricultural sites in North Cotabato, including the University of Southern Mindanao, to teach modern farming.

More rebels started streaming back to Camp Rajah Muda after Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza launched a "peace caravan" that distributed farm inputs to the rebels.

Dureza said he will conduct further dialogues with rebel-farmers next week to determine their other needs.

Independent senatorial candidate Noli de Castro, for his part, batted yesterday for a "permanent extension" of the ceasefires separately declared by the government and the MILF.

"This is a very encouraging sign that everybody wants to end the war which has been blocking efforts toward national stability and progress," De Castro said.

He also cited the "apparent success" of confidence-building efforts by both sides to ensure that the negotiations move faster and in the right direction.

"In fact, our Muslim brothers should be encouraged to return to these areas for purposes of making their lands agriculturally productive again," De Castro said.

Military units all over Central Mindanao are also gearing to launch civic assistance projects to bolster the government’s peace initiative but were being delayed by isolated rebel attacks.

"We are hoping they will continue to adhere to their ceasefire so all military units in critical areas can now focus on helping carry out rehabilitation projects," said Major Julieto Ando, spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division.

But evacuees who have returned to their homes are urging the military not to allow MILF rebels to roam around with their guns.

"We are the ones who will suffer if fighting breaks out again so the military should not allow rebels to bring arms," said Ustadz Ali Samsudin, 50, whose family is now back in the main MILF Camp Abubakar. - With Olive Sudaria