Terror tag sought for Kato, Bravo

MANILA, Philippines – The government will ask the United Nations to declare as terrorists the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders who led the pillage of a dozen barangays in Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces last month.

This, even as the military and police prepare for possible intensified attacks by members of the MILF at the end of Ramadan.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said declaring Umbra Kato, Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, Aleem Pangalian and nine other MILF commanders as terrorists would not harm the peace talks since the MILF leadership wants to expel them from the movement anyway.

“First of all we want to prove a point that if they are terrorists, it might even help the MILF out of a fix (they’re in) right now,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after addressing a forum on the UN convention against torture in Manila, Ermita, who heads the Anti-Terrorism Council, said the terror tag was sought only for the individual commanders, not the MILF.

“We are already preparing a communication through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to see the mechanics of how we can call the attention of the UN committee on sanctions on anti terrorism under Committee 1267 so that we can start the process of proscribing this group that undertake terroristic activities,” he said.

Ermita condemned Kato’s men for burning 16 houses and a day care center and health facility in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on Sunday.

“They (attacks) only tell us that the national government’s position of running after them (MILF rebels) even during Ramadan is justified because we can never tolerate lawless violence.”

Ermita said at least 12 MILF commanders are being proposed for inclusion as terrorists, many of whom have links or have been secretly trained in bomb making and urban warfare and propaganda by al-Qaeda-linked JI.

“We are going to meet with the ATC, then we will look at the elements to justify our submission through the DFA of the list of this recalcitrant group of the MILF so they can be included in the sanction list of the UN,” he said.

Included in the UN’s roster of terror groups are the Abu Sayyaf and the Rajah Solaiman Movement.

The Abu Sayyaf and the New People’s Army are in the list of foreign terrorist organizations of the United States and the European Union.

Bracing for war

Meanwhile, Central Mindanao Police director Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio Jr. said intelligence units have monitored troop movements and consolidations that are probably preparatory acts for hostilities outside Pigkawayan, Aleosan, Libunga, Midsayap, Alamada and Pikit (PALMA-P) and Maguindanao after Eid’l Fitr.

Serapio said the movement has resulted in the increase in the number of displaced families in the area.

“Ramadan will end on the night of Sept. 30, 2008 and it is expected that renegade MILF commanders will resume harassment of civilian villages and guerrilla attacks on police and military detachments,” Serapio added.

Serapio said city and provincial directors and group directors of PNP mobile groups were directed to establish strong point detachments, establish monitoring points, enhance checkpoints and organize rapid deployment of troops.

Troop movement

The AFP also deployed close to 2,000 additional Army soldiers in Maitum town in Sarangani province to augment the standing ground forces of government.

The deployment came in the wake of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Alexander Yano’s announcement that the renegade rebels who attacked the communities in Cotabato and Lanao del Norte are now “constricted within a limited area” and their neutralization is near.

Some military officials in Central Mindanao anticipate more fighting between government forces and the groups of Kato and Bravo at the end of Ramadan.

Bounty hunters, reportedly led by the Ilaga Reform Movement (IRM), a revival faction of the original Ilaga group formed in the 1970s to fight communist insurgents and Moro rebels, have joined the search after the government raised the reward for the capture of Kato and Bravo from P10 million to P20 million.

Col. Ricardo Rainier Cruz, newly designated commanding officer of the 102nd Brigade based in Malungon, Sarangani, said the three Army battalions were coming from the 25th Infantry Battalion (IB) based in Compostela Valley.

“They will beef up the standing security forces deployed in the coastal towns of Sarangani, especially in Maitum. They will protect the territories of Maitum and other localities against the intrusion of Moro rebels,” Cruz told The STAR in a telephone interview.

But police and military officials in the area said additional 25th IB ground forces were deployed in Sarangani after Kato and his cohorts reportedly called on the Bangsamoro people to join them in waging a jihad (holy war) after Ramadan.

“If they’re going to declare jihad then we can’t do anything but do our jobs, which is to protect and defend the state against its enemies. I hope it won’t happen,” Cruz said.

Sporadic fighting

Sporadic fighting continues as government troops figured in separate clashes with MILF rebels in Barangay Muslin in Guindulungan town and Barangay Gawang in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

Maj. Peter Edwin Navarro, civil military operations officer of the Army’s 601 infantry brigade, said in an interview that their troops acted on intelligence information given by residents about the presence of rebels led by Kato’s lieutenant Wahid Tundok in the area.

Navarro said the first encounter took place in Muslin at around 10 a.m. yesterday, while the firefight in Gawang happened at around 1:30 p.m.

“The enemies were resisting heavily so we used artillery. Earlier, air force planes flew persuasion flights over the area,” he said.

Yano said the clashes during the past few days indicate that the troops are closing in on areas where the rebels are moving.

“The series of small encounters and skirmishes only show that they are in the vicinity and in a matter of time they will be hit,” Yano said.

Amid reports that other MILF personalities are reinforcing the base commands of Kato and his accomplices, Yano said security forces would also consider them targets of military operations.

Exonerated

The AFP chief also cleared the pilots who figured in the Sept. 8 clash in Datu Piang, Maguindanao of any liability for the death of six civilians.

He said their investigation showed that the encounter was legitimate and the pilots were firing back at the rebels who were together with the civilians on board motorized bancas.

“No need (to sanction), as I’ve said very clearly, if you are being subjected to hostile fire there is no other way but for you to fire back and that’s very clear, especially from the air and even on the ground, there is no way you can distinguish who are civilians and who are hostile,” he said.

He also reiterated the AFP’s earlier claim that the pilots of the two SF 260 trainer planes only used rockets and not powerful bombs as alleged by the MILF.

Yano said their investigating teams were not able to clearly determine if the planes hit the civilians or if indeed they were in the bancas during the firefight.

Earlier, air force chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said there was no lapse in judgment on the part of the pilots since part of the rules of engagement is to fire back at those who are shooting at the aircraft. – Ramil Bajo, Lino dela Cruz, James Mananghaya, John Unson, Cecille Suerte Felipe