Government forces are tightening up security in Mindanao with the deployment of additional troops and policemen in the region following successive attacks by suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.
The military tightened security in some areas in Central Mindanao due to persistent intelligence reports that MILF rebels would attack more Christian villages and worship sites on New Year’s Day.
The Philippine National Police (PNP), on the other hand, are putting more men and logistics in Iligan City to include the two Lanao provinces as well as other regions in Mindanao.
Officials said the troop and police deployment would sustain the manhunt for the MILF rebels behind the Christmas eve attacks in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato that left nine people dead and several others wounded.
PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Alexander Yano announced the plans during their visit to Iligan City last Friday to personally assure residents about the security in the city and nearby provinces.
Iligan City was the scene of the pre-Christmas twin bomb attacks that claimed the lives of three people and left 47 others injured.
Authorities suspected that MILF rebels, led by Commanders Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar alias Kumander Bravo, were behind the attack.
In bolstering their respective anti-terror capabilities, the AFP and the PNP also strengthened police and military presence in the Caraga, Northern and Southern Mindanao regions.
Since August, the military and police have been in hot pursuit of MILF forces led by Bravo in the two Lanao provinces. But Bravo and Kato continue to elude security forces hunting them down.
Authorities are suspecting the two MILF leaders of being behind the Iligan City bombing attacks.
The government launched a manhunt for the two rebel commanders after they led attacks on several villages in Central Mindanao last August that left several people dead and hundreds wounded and homeless.
The MILF, on the other hand, justified yesterday the Christmas eve attacks by claiming that long-time land disputes and forcible eviction of Muslim farmers from their ancestral lands prompted the rebel group to force the issue.
“There is a serious problem with regards to these issues. Some of these land conflicts are, in fact, under litigation. There should be deeper investigation into these problems,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said over radio station dxMS.
Kabalu said guerrillas whose lands were taken over by militiamen and civilian volunteers in Barangay Sangay, Kalamansig town were just trying to reclaim their lands.
Provincial officials led by Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu intervened in the land dispute some four months ago and succeeded in brokering a ceasefire between the two groups to allow the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bureau of Lands to investigate their conflicting claims.
Kabalu also alleged the hostilities in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato were triggered by the military’s continuing intrusion into MILF enclaves under the pretext of running after renegade guerrillas.
“Our forces in all of these areas were in defensive posture. They have no choice but to defend themselves if they are attacked,” he said.
Kabalu denied accusations that MILF rebels raided and plundered Manobo villages in Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat last Dec. 25.
He said the MILF leadership even initiated a dialogue with Christian religious leaders in Ninoy Aquino and agreed to reposition the guerrillas away from the areas.
Kabalu said the government could help resolve the security concerns besetting areas where Muslim and Christian settlers are locked in land conflicts by looking deeper into the political, socio-economic and religious intricacies of the decades-old Moro problem in the south.
“We cannot hide from the reality that there is a political angle in this problem,” Kabalu said, without elaborating.
He said the hostilities between MILF rebels and government forces on Christmas day were not meant to foment animosity between Christians and Muslims.
Kabalu said their combatants have been ordered to abide by Islamic principles on warfare by respecting worship sites, and protection of the safety and welfare of children, women and religious leaders. – With John Unson and Jose Rodel Clapano