Alonto’s life story written in blood

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — The life story of Pentagon gang leader Tahir Alonto, said to be among those killed in last week’s military and ground offensives against kidnappers at the marshy border of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, is one written in blood.

Alonto was reportedly among those killed in Friday’s raids on the Liguasan Marsh bordering the two provinces, although the military is still gathering evidence to prove his death.

Alonto and the late Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Hashim Salamat have one thing in common — both were born in Barangay Cudal, Pagalungan, the gateway to the MILF’s supposedly last frontier, the 3,000-hectare Buliok complex in Maguindanao.

A prominent datu in Pikit, North Cotabato has said Alonto was in fact a scion of Pagalungan’s Salamat clan.

Alonto began as a mere "operating commander" of the Pentagon. The gang was founded by four notorious kidnappers — Raul Ingad, the late Faisal Marohombsar and two other men named Sarat and Udasan — during a clandestine meeting in a roadside hotel in Digos City in April 2001.

The Pentagon soon spread its wings of banditry, expanding to many parts of central Mindanao, and recruited followers of the slain kidnapper Abogado "Mubarak" Bago, who pioneered kidnappings in the region in the early 1990s.

Alonto succeeded to the leadership of the Pentagon after the top four commanders were arrested one after another in separate police and military operations.

Marohombsar, an ethnic Maranao, was killed in an alleged encounter with policemen two years ago in Cavite, following his daring escape from detention at Camp Crame.

Alonto was known among his relatives and followers as a "battle-tested warrior," having been wounded at least four times in fierce clashes with soldiers when he was still a secessionist guerrilla.

Alonto could easily be identified through his scars from bullet wounds, on his left ear, left foot and right arm.

"He has that tradition of sharing with the community where he hides whatever he earns from his kidnapping activities. That practice made him difficult to find in areas where he has supporters," said a mayor in the second district of Maguindanao.

Alonto, according to relatives, had three wives, all Christian mestizas.

Alonto was arrested in 1999 by elements of the Army’s 602nd Brigade in Sarangani for masterminding the abduction of physician Vicente Cavalida Jr., engineer Eduardo Cavalida and Cheryl Pagales in General Santos City that same year.

Alonto was sprung out of jail by his wife and about 20 followers in a daring attack at the provincial jail of Sarangani where he was detained while being prosecuted for his first ever kidnapping case. Several jail guards and inmates were killed in the incident.

Even if Alonto is indeed gone, he still has followers who can take over the Pentagon leadership. Among the likely successors are Commanders Mayangkang Saguile and Samad Pandita, who each carry a P1-million reward on their heads.

The newly installed commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Raul Relano, said he would focus attention on how to neutralize the remaining followers of Alonto.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, AFP spokesman, said the AFP leadership is moving for the exhumation of Alonto’s remains to "erase all doubts" on his reported death.

Lucero though admitted that Alonto’s body has yet to be found after his companions reportedly buried him along with several others in Barangay Midpandakan in accordance with Muslim tradition.

"The information we got, Tahir and his (18) followers were killed in the air operations in Maguindanao," Lucero said. "They were subsequently buried by companions and residents in the area."

Quoting reports from the field, Lucero said the AFP pilots zeroed in on the hut used as a hideout by Alonto and his men following a tip from an informant. The safehouse reportedly blew up after the attack.

Lucero said Alonto’s remains will be exhumed after the military pinpoints the exact burial site. This is reminiscent of steps taken by the military following Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya’s reported death in an encounter in 2002 in Mindanao as authorities failed to produce the body. — With Christina Mendez