The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has pre-positioned troops in various areas in Mindanao to hold back any attempt by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to expand the theater of conflict outside of Basilan in the event the rebels come under military attack in the island province.
Around 5,000 Marines and militiamen started intelligence-driven military operations the other day against 20 or more MILF fighters who beheaded 10 of the 14 Marines killed in an ambush last July 10 in Tipo-Tipo.
The MILF threatened to launch a counter-attack in the Lanao provinces once the Marines attack their men in Basilan.
“Well, they (MILF) can probably do that (launch an attack in Mindanao), but that must not threaten the basic right of government to defend its citizens,” Esperon said.
Saying that he does not want any spillover of the conflict, Esperon said troops have already been pre-positioned in key areas in Zamboanga Peninsula and other parts of Mindanao ready to address this concern.
Army and police troops are now on a high state of alert in Zamboanga del Norte as well as in the two Lanao provinces due to the presence of MILF camps.
The MILF maintains two camps in Zamboanga del Norte, one in Zamboanga Sibugay, and four bigger camps in the two Lanao provinces.
Esperon said the people as well as the soldiers based in Mindanao know of the dividends of peace in the region and as much as they do not want the peace process to be scuttled, it should not be used by the MILF to shield its erring men.
Esperon admitted that taking punitive action against the MILF would not be an easy or simple task for the Marines.
He said that the MILF fighters who are the target of this military action have an array of high-powered firearms, some of them seized from the fallen Marines.
“Remember that some firearms are missing. We know that. I know at least one of them who is now holding on to that firearm that was taken from the Marines,” Esperon said.
As of yesterday, despite the go-signal to launch the attack, the Marines have yet to make open “contact” with the enemy.
Tight watch
Meanwhile, the military has placed Central Mindanao under tight watch following the massing of MILF rebels around military detachments in strategic areas in Shariff Kabunsuan and Maguindanao.
Key military sources said soldiers noticed hundreds of MILF fighters converging the other day near the riverside detachments of the 6th Infantry Battalion in Kabuntalan, Shariff Kabunsuan, as if bracing for an attack.
Officials of the 6th IB, which has jurisdiction over the adjoining Kabuntalan, Odin Sinsuat, Blah Sinsuat and North Upi towns, said the rebels spotted near their detachment belong to the MILF’s 105th Command Base, which is led by foreign-trained radical Islamic jihadists, among them Ustadz Amiril Ombra and Ustadz Wahid Tundok.
“As long as they don’t open fire at the soldiers inside the detachments there will be no conflict,” one of the sources said.
The sources, however, said the rebels must avoid coming close to farming communities in Kabuntalan to prevent any civilian dislocation.
The regional police offices in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Region 12 also fielded more plainclothes operatives in public terminals and markets in Central Mindanao to forestall possible diversionary attacks by supporters of the MILF if the government launches punitive strikes against the rebels.
The MILF in Lanao del Norte has threatened to strike at government forces if the Marines attack its positions in the towns of Albarka and Tipo-Tipo, both in Basilan.
The Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. (NDBC) here quoted MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu on Monday as saying that guerrilla forces in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, under Abdullah Macapaar, have also started gearing up for confrontation.
Kabalu told NDBC that Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo, is ready to launch a “counter-offensive” if the Marines attack MILF positions in Albarka and Tipo-Tipo.
New ad hoc ceasefire committee formed
The chairmen of the joint ceasefire committees will convene today the newly organized nine-member fact-finding team that will investigate the July 10 encounter in Basilan between the MILF and the Marines.
Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, chairman of the GRP’s (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), said the fact-finding team is composed of three representatives from the government, three from the MILF, and three from Bantay Ceasefire, various non-government organizations and peace advocacy groups involved in peace-building activities in the South.
Gurrea said he and his MILF counterpart, Von Al-Haq, would oversee the extensive inquiry the fact-finding team will initiate to determine the circumstances surrounding the ambush in Albakra.
“We are hoping the Marines and the MILF in Basilan will give the fact-finding team enough time to complete the investigation to really determine what transpired in Albarka,” Gurrea said.
Gurrea said the team will discuss in their initial meeting ground rules its members should follow in investigating the incident and in comparing the “convergences and divergences” of the information they can gather from the local officials and the Marines.
“The findings of the team can be used as reference in prosecuting whoever perpetrated the beheadings of the Marines,” Gurrea said.
Key sources from the Philippine Marine Corps said Marine units in Basilan are still waiting for the warrants of arrest on the ambushers.
Col. Ramiro Alivio, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade in Basilan, said it is the police that will spearhead what he called “legal offensives” against the ambushers.
Alivio said the criminal cases against the leaders of the MILF rebels that ambushed his men have been filed in a Zamboanga City court.
City State Prosecutor Fiscal Ricardo Cabaron said they are now investigating the charges of 14 counts of multiple murder, 14 frustrated murder, and more than 100 counts of attempted murder against a list of personalities.
“There has been a long list of personalities charged by the military and we are still investigating the merits of the case before issuing the warrants,” Cabaron said.
Chief inspector Christopher Panapan, deputy director of Basilan police provincial command, said in their initial list are at least seven known primary “personalities” and more than 40 John Does implicated in the ambush.
Sources from the military said the list has been forwarded to the DOJ while the military continues to solidify their case, including torture.
The source disclosed that based on the account, one of the slain Marines was initially wounded, and appeared to have been captured and tortured before being executed, as indicated by signs on the head of the remains.
Gurrea said he is pleased with the position of Alivio to wait for the court’s order before making any arrest.
“This could even be a blessing in disguise because, in a way, the fact-finding team can still have much needed time to go on with its investigation on the ground,” Gurrea said.
Meanwhile, Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar said he is keen on filing a House resolution calling for a congressional inquiry into the encounter between Moro rebels and the Marines in Basilan.
Akbar admitted he had been alluded to by some sectors as “the politician” partly responsible for the carnage.
“If they are referring to me, I would gladly submit myself to an inquiry by Congress. I will inhibit myself from the investigation,” Akbar said. – John Unson, Lino dela Cruz, Paolo Romero, Edith Regalado, Pia Lee-Brago, Roel Pareño