Reward for Kato, Bravo doubled

MANILA, Philippines – The government has increased the reward for the capture of two notorious Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders from P5 million to P10 million each, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno announced yesterday.

Puno said the increase would further encourage the public to help the government arrest MILF commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar, alias Bravo.

“We are doubling the reward for Kato and Bravo to help expedite the process of bringing these suspects to justice,” Puno said during the Mindanao Peace Conference held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City attended by police and local government officials.

Both Bravo and Kato are facing multiple murder cases and other criminal charges for the series of MILF attacks in several municipalities in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani last month where more than 50 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

The rampage was supposedly carried out in retaliation for the suspension of the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that was supposed to give more territory to the Muslim rebels as part of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.

Puno also announced a reward of P5 million for information leading to the capture of another MILF leader, Aleem Sulayman Pangalian, who was also held responsible for the attacks in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte.

Besides a total bounty of P25 million for the three MILF commanders, Puno said the government is offering a reward of P1.7 million for the capture of the suspects in the bombing of a passenger bus in Digos City in Davao del Sur last Sept. 1 that killed six people and injured 27 others.

Puno said suspect Salahudin Hassan has a P500,000 bounty on his head. The government is also offering a reward of P400,000 each for the capture of the other Digos bus bombing suspects, identified as Addulmalik Sali, Tahir Abubakar, and Junaira Minbida.

Puno also ordered the deployment of 3,500 more police to the barangays in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and other areas prone to attacks by lawless MILF elements.

“Each town will have an additional 30 policemen to help increase police visibility and augment the existing PNP force in the areas concerned,” Puno said.

Local chief executives from the Zamboanga Region, Northern Mindanao, Davao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and top police officials led by Philippine National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. and PNP Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa attended the conference that was organized to prepare an action plan to secure population centers in Mindanao.

Puno said the organization of Police Auxiliary Units would now be given less priority and the police will instead tap the services of some 1,000 police recruits who are now undergoing the Field Training Program in the different Police Regional Offices in Mindanao.

He clarified that Civilian Volunteer Organizations will not be allowed to bear arms, but will only be mobilized for community building programs, particularly the rehabilitation of communities.

UN food truck robbed

Police and the United Nations downplayed reports that MILF rebels have seized food supplies from a convoy meant for tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the south.

Local police had said earlier that 20 rebels stopped a convoy of trucks sent by the UN World Food Program in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on Tuesday and took about 60 bags of rice.

Stephen Anderson, country director for the World Food Program (WFP), told Reuters after checking the report that they were unsure whether the MILF was behind the attack, saying only that two men had intercepted a truck carrying rice to be delivered to a shelter.

“There was no convoy and only 28 bags of rice were taken from the truck,” Anderson said, adding that the rest of the food had reached its intended beneficiaries.

Anderson said there was no WFP staff on the truck because the food supply had been turned over to local officials. He described the incident as “unfortunate” and “isolated.”

Director Joel Goltiao, police chief of ARMM, said he had ordered an investigation into the incident.

“It appeared that there was an inside job to steal some food supplies,” Goltiao said.

He said that local police had made a hasty report about a rebel attack on a UN food convoy without verifying details with people on the ground.

In a statement late on Thursday, UN agencies said they remained committed to providing humanitarian relief assistance to conflict-affected communities in the south after another convoy was turned back by soldiers in another area last week because it had failed to coordinate the food shipment.

Since Aug. 11, UN agencies have distributed more than 1,200 tons of rice to more than half a million people displaced by weeks of fighting in six southern provinces.

Anderson said the WFP had committed an additional 500 tons of rice and a small quantity of dates to help feed the growing number of displaced families in the south.

Fresh supplies for combat

The military is taking advantage of the lull in fighting, due to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, between government troops and MILF rebels in some parts of Mindanao to augment forces and replenish their supplies in preparation for the resumption of pursuit operations against the groups of Kato and Bravo.

Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the AFP operations center, said the “relatively peaceful” situation despite several incidents of harassment of soldiers, is favorable for re-supply missions, as well as to insert fresh troops to replace casualties.

“We don’t want to say that we are preparing for a resumption of the fighting, but we are preparing for any eventuality,” he said, adding that such operations are normal under military doctrines.

The latest movement of troops in Mindanao was the deployment of two additional battalions from Luzon and Visayas to help in the pursuit operations against Kato and Bravo.

Segovia expressed optimism that they would be able to gather vital intelligence that would help neutralize the two commanders and their followers after the government decided to double the reward for their capture.

AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said that rewards have been proven effective in the past and that increasing it now would double the chances that the public would be encouraged to provide information on the rebels’ whereabouts.

He said that the two MILF units have splintered into smaller groups due to heavy casualties and dwindling resources.

Torres said the AFP had also ordered an investigation into the reported looting conducted by soldiers on abandoned houses in Central Mindanao.

He assured the public that soldiers found guilty of looting would be severely punished.

Military and police officials said the MILF is now running out of medicine to treat wounded rebels.

Sources claimed that due to the lack of medicine, MILF commanders have allowed their wounded to take illegal drugs or smoke marijuana cigarettes to at least relieve the pain.

“Aside from the heavy death toll as a result of heavy air and ground bombardment last month, scores of rebels were wounded in the air and ground operation and still need medical care and treatment,” an Army official said.

Military and police units conducting mopping up operations in villages in North Cotabato and Maguindanao have allegedly recovered marijuana cigarettes and shabu paraphernalia in several makeshift clinics of the MILF.

Intelligence reports indicated that the MILF are now recruiting young male fighters for their next attack.

AFP chief Gen. Alexander Yano earlier directed military officers to limit the use of air strikes and artillery shelling in suspected rebel positions to allow for a peaceful observance of Ramadan, without necessarily letting up on their operations against the two rebel commanders and their followers. With James Mananghaya, Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude