MILF raids on Cotabato highway still a threat

COTABATO CITY — Secluded stretches of the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway have remained potential targets for clandestine attacks by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) even as battle-hardened Marines and Army engineers now secure it.

Starting next month, the 6th Infantry Division and the 3rd Marine Brigade will carry out various humanitarian projects for poor communities along the highway to encourage villagers to help monitor the movements of MILF guerrillas.

There have been 15 ambushes on the highway, the gateway to Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s biggest enclave which the military overran last July 9, since government troops totally cleared the road of separatist rebels last May 16.

"We will embark on various civil-military projects in the town of Matanog and other areas traversed by the highway to convince local residents that the government is really sincere in fostering lasting and sustainable development in these former MILF territories," said Brig. Gen. Roy Kyamko, 6th ID commander.

Although MILF rebels have continued to clandestinely attack groups of soldiers cruising the highway as well as Marine and Army detachments, drivers and operators of passenger vans and jeepneys now ply the thoroughfare without the usual "excessive taxation" by local MILF forces.

Driver Aron Dimakutao recalled that they used to pay the MILF P80 daily as "protection money" before they were allowed to pass through the 145-kilometer highway which connects the cities of Cotabato and Marawi.

"There were more than 200 of us paying the MILF that amount everyday," Dimakutao said.

However, he said MILF forces still roam some portions of the highway occasionally, apparently to show that they are still in the area and can still disrupt the flow of vehicles along the vital thoroughfare.

Kyamko said recent ambushes by MILF rebels on Army engineering units have disrupted rehabilitation projects along the highway.

"But generally, the situation remains under control, and the morale of our Army engineers there remains high and they are willing to finish all rehabilitation projects as soon as they can," he said.