ZAMBOANGA CITY – Government troops overran a major stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Poona Piagapo town, Lanao del Norte, officials announced yesterday.
Army’s Task Force Tabak commander Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido said troops occupied the satellite camp of renegade MILF commander Abdurahman Macapaar located at the Bilal complex in Barangay Nunungan late Wednesday.
Atendido said the camp served as the headquarters of Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, one of the recalcitrant MILF commanders being pursued by government forces for leading the rampage in Lanao del Norte and Sarangani provinces.
“The lair was one of the satellite camps used for training and where Commander Bravo used to stay,” Atendido said.
He said there was no immediate report if Macapaar was among the 300 rebels who fled the eight-hectare camp but intelligence reports said the MILF leader and several of his senior guerrillas drifted from the main force during the offensive.
Atendido said close to 30 rebels were killed before the troops succeeded in overrunning the camp in the bloody assault that began Sunday.
“At the moment, troops continued the clearing operation to check out possible explosives and booby traps which might have been laid in the area before the rebels withdrew,” Atendido said.
Troops recovered several mortar shells at the camp that is being used for making bombs.
The government put up a P5-million bounty reward for the capture of Macapaar who led the attacks in several towns of Lanao del Norte that left more than 30 civilians killed and displaced thousands of villagers.
Security forces are also hunting down MILF commander Ameril Umbra Kato for attacking villages in North Cotabato last Aug. 18, shooting and hacking to death dozens of civilians.
The government said at least 47 civilians were killed in the fighting and more than 360,000 have been displaced. At least 17 soldiers and militiamen and up to 100 guerrillas were also killed, according to the military. The MILF, however, said they lost only 10 fighters.
The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), on the other hand, urged a ceasefire and called on the Philippine government and the MILF to return to the negotiating table.
The secretary-general of the 57-member OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said “wayward elements” affiliated with the MILF committed “illegitimate acts” by causing a confrontation with the Philippine military.
In a statement from the OIC headquarters in Saudi Arabia, Ihsanoglu also expressed concern over a government move to scrap the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
“It is unfortunate to let undisciplined elements from (the MILF) determine the course of negotiations or halt the peace process,” Ihsanoglu said.
He warned that unless a swift settlement is found, the current crisis “threatens to thwart the peace process.”
The MILF blamed the violence on frustration over a delay in formalizing the MOA-AD that was supposed to allow them self-rule and govern over an expanded autonomous region in Central Mindanao.
But the MILF refused government demands to hand over the erring commanders, saying they would subject them to their own investigation.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Alexander Yano said the hunt for Macapaar and Kato must be pursued to its end.
“We have to show the MILF hierarchy that we are serious in punishing their members who refused to give peace a chance,” Yano said in a message to troops.
‘Considerably weakened’
AFP vice chief and Task Force Mindanao commander Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna confirmed the recapture of the rebel camp in Lanao del Norte.
He said the eight-hectare rebel camp is a major training facility of the MILF in the region.
Luna said the recapture of Camp Bilal is a tactical advantage since it would deny Macapaar and his forces any sanctuary that would force them to run.
Some 18 MILF camps had been captured in the 10 days of fighting, and guerrilla resistance was “considerably weakened” with only two small encounters Wednesday, Luna said.
“They either ran out of bullets or encountered heavy casualties. There has been a serious downgrade of their combat capabilities,” he said.
Luna said Camp Bilal was first overrun by government forces during the all-out war campaign in 2000, but was given back to the MILF as a shelter when a truce was forged in 2003 to resume the peace negotiations.
Following the treacherous MILF attacks, the Philippine government has appealed to member-countries of the OIC to use their influence with the rebels in order to resume talks.
Malaysia, which has been brokering the talks between the Philippine government and the MILF, has agreed to extend its peacekeeping mission in southern Philippines.
“Malaysia has acceded to the government of the Philippines request for an extension of the IMT (International Monitoring Team). A three-month period is a reasonable time to bring together the peace process,” Malaysia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Malaysia began withdrawing its 40 peacekeepers in stages in April from Mindanao because of frustrations over the slow pace of talks between the Philippine government and the MILF.
But the decision was reversed earlier this month and Malaysia said it would maintain at least 12 peacekeepers. Their mandate was to expire on Saturday, but with the latest extension, they are expected to remain until Nov. 30.
Malaysia’s decision follows the visit this week of Manila’s chief peace negotiator Rodolfo Garcia, and his MILF counterpart, Mohagher Iqbal.
Malaysia’s frustrations intensified after the Supreme Court blocked the signing of the MOA-AD earlier this month.
The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order to delay the signing of the agreement over constitutional issues.
The Malaysian Foreign Ministry said the government agreed to the three-month extension “in order to give space for both sides to resolve” their dispute in the Supreme Court.
But with the MILF recently attacking several towns in Central Mindanao and killing dozens of people, the government responded by saying it would no longer sign the MOA-AD.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno, on the other hand, said the high tribunal would give the “highest attention” to the resolution of the issues surrounding the MOA-AD.
Puno, however, admitted it might take a while if the issues involved concern questions over the legality of the agreement.
No letup
Fears of a full-scale war in Mindanao failed to materialize as the rest of the 11,000-strong rebel units of the MILF refrained from joining the clashes with government troops going after the renegade commanders.
MILF vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar urged both sides to “calm the situation” in observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts next week.
The government, however, said there would be no letup in military operations even during Ramadan.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said a ceasefire during Ramadan is unacceptable.
Teodoro said the offensives are not covered by the ceasefire agreement with the MILF since it is directed against the rebel commanders responsible for the mayhem in Central Mindanao.
He said the troops are implementing law enforcement in going after the rebel commanders. Law enforcement, Teodoro said, is supposed to be “religiously neutral.”
“But we are also very sensitive to the fact that Muslim communities are involved (during the Ramadan) so I guess the best balance is that operating commanders should, in their tactics, take into consideration community sensitivities,” he said.
While government forces would take this into consideration, Teodoro pointed out they would also have to assess how Kato and Macapaar could take advantage of the lull during the Ramadan.
“They could very well use Ramadan also as a cover for their actions, I mean, because what they have done are already un-Islamic,” he said.
Luna said they have yet to receive any order to stop the manhunt for the rebel leaders in observance of Ramadan.
“Nobody has told us to stop,” Luna said. “We do not stop preempting a criminal when there’s Christmas.”
Army regional spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando also said there is no directive from the higher command to change course in the offensive.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the rebel group would maintain a “defensive posture” during the Ramadan with the military maintaining its position to press on the offensive.
“We have no choice… we have to return fire if we are attacked,” he said.
Assistance
As the manhunt for the rebel commanders continues, foreign aid workers stepped up food assistance and relief to hundreds of thousands of evacuees.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) said it was scaling up food assistance to more than 220,000 people with the delivery of nearly 1,000 tons of rice – around one month’s ration.
“We have rice stocks at a warehouse in Cotabato City, close to the affected area, and we’ve acted quickly to move food out to where it is most needed,” said WFP country director Stephen Anderson.
The European Union also gave assurance it will not withdraw their assistance for the Mindanao Trust Fund and that they remain helpful to efforts to restore normalcy in Mindanao.
Gabriel Munuera Vinals, head of the EU political, economic, trade and public affairs section in the Philippines, said the EU is deeply concerned with the MILF attacks that displaced thousands of civilians.
Malacañang, for its part, ordered all government agencies to provide immediate assistance to civilians displaced by the fighting.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said President Arroyo has tasked Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to lead the distribution of relief assistance directly to the families affected since Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral is on leave abroad.
“More funds will be downloaded. The President had called on everyone, especially the national government to pitch in,” Dureza told reporters following the National Security Council (NSC) Cabinet Group meeting in Malacañang.
Dureza said the funds for the rehabilitation and other forms of assistance to the thousands of evacuees in Mindanao would be sourced out from the budget of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).
He said NDCC Executive Director Glenn Rabonza was ordered by the President “to hit the ground more intensively now because there is a growing number of residents who may need immediate assistance at this point in time.”
But when asked the exact amount of the funding, Dureza said there is no bulk figure but the amount necessary to address the situation would be released.
Congress will most likely provide more funds to the government agencies involved for the relief and rehabilitation operations in Mindanao, said Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, senior vice chairman of the House appropriations committee.
Lagman said congressmen would consider any request for additional funds from the defense-military establishment to sustain its offensive against the recalcitrant MILF rebels.
“I was told by Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. that the war in Mindanao is a recent development and has not been factored in the proposed P1.4-trillion 2009 budget. It will be up to us to consider providing more funds,” Lagman said.
“But the initiative on this will have to come from the agencies concerned,” he said. – With Pia Lee-Brago, James Mananghaya, Paolo Romero, John Unson, Jaime Laude, Katherine Adraneda, Mike Frialde, Ben Serrano, Ramil Bajo, Perseus Echeminada, Evelyn Macairan, AP