Gordon wants MILF bounty raised to P20 M

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Richard Gordon yesterday urged the government to once again increase the bounty on two leaders of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from P10 million to P20 million each.

“The government has to invent a better mouse trap. What the government is doing is burning the whole house to catch three rats. The proper thing they should do is to increase the rewards against these outlaws… it should be P20 million each,” Gordon told reporters at the Manila Hotel.

Gordon said increasing the bounty also doubles the chances that those who are around the lawless MILF leaders and members of the community where they move may be enticed to provide information leading to their capture.

The government earlier doubled the bounty on the heads of Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar, alias Bravo, from P5 million to P10 million each.

A reward of P5 million was also offered for the capture of Aleem Sulaiman Pangalian, head of the MILF 103rd base command.

Humanitarian crisis

Gordon said the Philippine National Red Cross had asked additional funding support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help residents displaced by the fighting.

“We already asked for additional budget from the ICRC to provide more funding for these people because they really need to be provided with assistance. It is very stressful to live in these areas because we know it’s not their home, they are living with strangers and there is no rest room facilities,” Gordon said. “This is getting to be a humanitarian crisis.”

ICRC is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral earlier belied reports that a humanitarian crisis was happening in Mindanao.

Cabral has assured officials in Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan and North Cotabato that the national government has enough aid for “internally displaced persons.”

Oxfam, a United Kingdom-based aid agency, earlier reported that the humanitarian crisis in Mindanao was real and that people were hungry and economically dislocated due to the armed conflict.

PNRC’s latest report showed that a total of 19,503 persons have been displaced by the ongoing clashes between MILF rebels and government troops.

The heavily affected areas included the municipalities of Datu Plang, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak, Talayan, Talitay, Guindulungan, Mamasapano, Datu Anggal and Kabuntalan in Cotabato province, PNRC said.

No terrorist label

Meanwhile, the European Union is not designating Kato and Macapaar as terrorists despite calls to include them in the terror list.

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, said the EU is not expanding its terror list to include the MILF.

“As far as I’m aware there has not been any consideration given on the EU side to expand our list of terrorists and institutions of terrorism,” MacDonald said.

He said the EU is not supporting military action against the MILF commanders who led the attacks.

Although it is concerned about the violence in Mindanao that has affected hundreds of civilians, MacDonald said the EU still believes that the problem will be resolved if both parties will resume peace negotiations.

“Again, I would go back to our September 15 statement that we are deeply concerned by the violence in Mindanao. We underline that the conflict can be resolved through dialogue and both parties should go back to the negotiating table and exercise restraint,” he added.

Last month, the Philippines announced that the government would ask the United Nations to tag as terrorists the MILF rebels who led the attacks on civilian communities in Central Mindanao last August.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said a favorable decision by the UN will pave the way for the inclusion of the so-called “lawless” MILF members in the Philippines’ terrorist listing under the Human Security Act of 2007.   – With Pia Lee-Brago