Government troops, MILF pursue MSU coeds’ kidnappers

COTABATO CITY — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas have joined government troops in the manhunt for the kidnappers of a group of schoolgirls in Lanao del Sur last Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Ramon Santos, the newly installed chairman of the government’s coordinating committee on cessation of hostilities (CCCH), said their counterparts in the MILF are now working with local military and police commanders in tracking down the kidnappers.

Lanao del Sur policeman PO1 Edris Sultan was killed Thursday as authorities managed to rescue the schoolgirls and two men who were abducted by suspected members of the Magaloyan kidnap-for-ransom gang.

"There was an immediate coordination between the military and the MILF in the province and, as a result, government forces were able to immediately rescue the captives," Santos said.

Santos said his MILF counterpart in the ceasefire committee, Von Al-Haq, has ordered all MILF commanders in all the towns of Lanao del Sur to help locate the kidnappers for filing of criminal charges.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino, 2nd Marines Brigade commander and Task Force Ranao chief, said the MILF guerrillas played a role in the successful rescue of the hostages by blocking possible escape routes.

Dolorfino said the MILF blocking team forced the kidnappers to abandon their hostages and fight their way out against government rescuers.

Initial reports said government forces are pursuing the kidnappers who were headed for a mountainous area in Piagapo, Lanao del Sur.

The MILF, on the other hand, is helping out by blocking all possible exits in the area.

The 12,000-member MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao since 1978 but opened preliminary peace talks with the government in 2003.

The Muslim rebel group is currently in peace negotiations with the Philippine government in Malaysia, which is hosting the peace talks.

The government forged a truce agreement with the MILF in 2003 with the understanding that the Muslim rebel group would help the government track down criminal elements and suspected terrorists in areas under their control.

Santos said the government and the MILF ceasefire committee, along with members of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) were conducting inspection tours in rebel strongholds in the province last Thursday when they received reports about the kidnapping.

After learning of the kidnap incident in Saguiaran, MILF forces immediately took the initiative to form a blocking force to prevent the suspects from straying into their lair in Piagapo.

The victims, on the other hand, escaped while their abductors were engaged in a firefight with pursuing government forces.

It was learned that the captives left ballpoint pens and pieces of paper in their trail to provide clues to their rescuers.

The kidnappers withdrew after losing control of the fleeing teenage schoolgirls, who later told the rescuers their abductors were armed with handguns and assault rifles.

The gunmen boarded a passenger jeepney full of schoolgirls and ordered the driver to drive to Saguiaran.

They were later joined by six other suspects who helped drag away the hostages who had been on their way to take college entrance exams at the Mindanao State University when they were abducted at 7 a.m.

The hostages were marched at gunpoint toward a mountainous area north of Lanao Lake, with the gunmen freeing six of the girls along the way.

Some of the six suffered blisters on their feet from their long march, but were otherwise unharmed.

By the time police and military forces caught up with the gang in Piagapo, about eight hours after the abduction, the group was still holding 14 schoolgirls and two men in Barangay Gacap.

The gunmen tried to fight their way out and abandoned their captives in haste, enabling the police to retrieve the hostages who took the opportunity to escape.

Agustin Butad, one of the first who managed to escape the kidnapping, claimed he jumped off the passenger jeepney and immediately reported the incident to the authorities.

A joint police-Marine rescue force was immediately formed and caught up with the kidnappers in the hinterlands of Piagapo. — With Lino de la Cruz