Thousands flee Basilan villages; MILF suspects elude AFP
The fighting forced about 3,000 civilians in the villages of Sungkayat – where the fighting occurred late Monday – and Bohe Suyak to evacuate, according to Ungkaya Pukan Mayor Joel Maturan.
“The situation appeared to remain critical and tense and the two villages looked like a ghost town as civilians abandoned their houses,” Maturan said.
The evacuees now number close to 10,000 in Basilan alone.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported Monday about 6,984 villagers have evacuated Albarka town since July 10.
This, even as Armed Forces chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said that some of those behind the Basilan incident could have already slipped out of the island to evade arrest.
Intelligence reports claimed that most of the 130 MILF suspects in the Albarka encounter have already left Basilan and are now at MILF camps in
A military source in Lanao bared an increase in activities in four major MILF camps in the two provinces.
“The camp is suddenly filled with armed men,” said the source, whose military outfit is one of the AFP units tasked to secure surroundings of these MILF camps to prevent escalation of hostilities in the event clashes break out in Basilan.
The MILF leadership has yet to issue a statement on the allegation that their forces were behind the latest attack.
About 100 Marines were conducting blocking operation when some 50 rebels attacked, according to Maturan.
However, the rebels retreated after heavy exchange of shelling, forcing thousands of villagers to evacuate.
“At the moment what we can do is to appeal for immediate relief support from our provincial and national government,” Maturan said.
Elements of the 8th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT) clashed with the group of Puruji Indama alias Sopek at about
Indama was tagged as among the four Abu Sayyaf suspects in the beheading and mutilation of 10 soldiers.
There were no reports of casualties on both sides as the group of Indama fled under the cover of darkness. This prompted the Marines to fire illumination rounds to spot the fleeing rebels.
“We now have leads that they are still in the area,” a Marine official disclosed.
Marine forces have been moved to seal the areas where the group fled and are believed to be hiding in Ungkaya Pukan.
A Marine official said there was no firing monitored as of press time but government troops continued to track the fleeing lawless armed groups.
The NDCC on Monday directed the provincial government of Basilan to prepare an action plan in case hostilities in the province would escalate.
The governors and local executives of the nearby provinces of Sulu, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay were also given directives to take a pro-active stand.
MILF wants AFP to coordinate
As the action heats up, the MILF said they wanted government troops pursuing the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Basilan to coordinate all their military movements with them.
A joint fact-finding investigation conducted by the GRP-MILF Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) has tagged the local terrorists as the group responsible for the July 10 incident.
The MILF’s terms, contained in a six-point CCCH recommendation, had suggested that the Abu Sayyaf who beheaded the Marines should be interdicted pursuant to the already established ceasefire mechanism.
Under the agreed ceasefire, the MILF is allowed to conduct joint operations, but only on a support role with government forces.
The agreement also stipulated that the military must coordinate their movements with the MILF prior to launching any punitive military action in areas controlled by the secessionist group.
Following the July 10 Tipo-Tipo fighting, the MILF immediately owned up to the incident but maintained that Marines entered their controlled territory without prior coordination.
“There no such as thing as MILF-controlled area in Basilan. There are MILF communities in the province but it’s not covered by a ceasefire agreement,” said a senior military official recently.
Aside from coordinating military movements, the CCCH also carried recommendations from both panels that call on strengthening of the ceasefire agreement to avoid situations similar to the Tipo-Tipo ambush.
The CCCH also recommended the immediate reactivation of the AHJAG (Ad Hoc Joint Action Group) to maintain close coordination between the two opposing forces.
On the other hand, the joint GRP-MILF CCCH panel recommended that the MILF return the firearms and other valuables seized from the fallen Marines.
The CCCH also recommended that the criminal information filed by the police against 130 MILF fighters be reviewed.
Acting Defense Secretary and National Security Adviser (NSA) Norberto Gonzales said the government is accepting in principle the recommendations endorsed by the CCCH.
With the CCCH recommendations, he also said that the military would be expanding its operations against the Abu Sayyaf bandits.
“Especially now that it has been established that the Abu Sayyaf is involved. There is ongoing operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and we are expanding these to Basilan,” he said.
He added that the CCCH report on the incident is very good because it has a lot of details.
The report will be submitted to President Arroyo who has the authority to release it to the public.
Both sides erred
However, Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, head of the government CCCH, divulged that the fact-finding body pointed out “some violations” on the part of the Marines in coordinating with the MILF in the area as reason for the July 10 encounter.
The report also found that there was a shortcoming on the side of the MILF forces for failing to coordinate before staging their operation.
“Item number two indicated that there was shortfall from the MILF in coordinating through verification on the activity of the government forces using the normal channel of the ceasefire,” Gurrea said.
The investigation also indicated that the Marines should supposedly understand that MILF combatants or supporters inhabit the area.
Gurrea said as a result of the Basilan incident the fact-finding committee has recommended the revision of the guidelines of the 1997 peace accord, specifically the security aspects of the ceasefire truce.
“It has been years and there had been no changes on the ceasefire accord but some of the provisions are already irrelevant,” Gurrea said. – Jaime Laude, John Unson, Roel Pareño, James Mananghaya
Gurrea said there is a need for both negotiating panels of the government and the MILF to sit and review the peace accord.
Sources disclosed that both negotiating panels are expected to sit down this month to discuss the ceasefire provision to avert similar incidents in the future.
However, Gurrea said the fact-finding body is also recommending a motion for reinvestigation of the warrants of arrest issued against 130 respondents.
He said based on the result of the investigation it appeared that only 14 persons were behind the beheading and mutilation of the 10 Marines.
Abu Sayaff lairs pinpointed
Meanwhile, Esperon said the AFP has pinpointed the possible hideouts of Abu Sayyaf members behind the July 10 incident.
Esperon said in an interview during the conclusion of the two-day joint military and police First Semester Internal Security Operations Assessmnent at
“We have determined some targets, specifically those areas that are suspected to be harboring elements of the Abu Sayyaf group and this will be our preoccupation for now, in other words we will be hitting at these targets,” he said without disclosing the specific areas.
“They are highly mobile and the engagement will be mobile forces against mobile forces but we have strong back- up,” he said, adding that they have also deployed soldiers to other areas to protect vital public installations such as power transmission lines and other facilities that might be considered by the perpetrators as soft non-military targets.
He added that the military has also prepared in case the pursuit operations against the perpetrators spillover to areas outside of Basilan.
“We are prepared for such kind of scenario, but we would like to think that by pre-deploying to areas that might be attacked, we could prevent spillovers. For example our transmission lines are better secured now, as well as government centers. We simply have to have with us the available reaction force aside from what are already deployed so that we could immediately prevent spillovers,” he said.
He also expressed confidence that with the mechanisms that have been put in place, the peace process can proceed even as the government goes after the perpetrators of the ambush and the beheading.
He also said that the military is prepared in case the estimated 20 suspected ASG members are supported by lawless elements in the area.
“We are prepared for any kind of response but we are determined to serve justice,” he said.
But he maintained that the military would only provide back-up for the Philippine National Police, which is taking the lead in serving the warrants of arrests against the suspects. – Jaime Laude, John Unson, Roel Pareño, James Mananghaya
- Latest
- Trending
