Army braces for new attacks by Muslim rebels

CARMEN, North Cotabato — The Army is bracing for renewed attacks by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels now regrouping in four barangays here, setting up fortifications, roaming villages as they forage for food and collect revolutionary taxes.

Major Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they have been receiving complaints from civilians in the affected barangays, calling on the 6th ID and the 602nd Brigade to drive the rebels away.

Ando, said the rebels, some of them led by notorious commanders who have standing warrants of arrests for kidnapping and extortion, have also intensified their extortion activities, preying on local small-scale livestock and grains traders.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, in his radio program aired yesterday on station dxND in Kidapawan City, said MILF rebels who had earlier been driven away by soldiers from their camps in the province were also seen regrouping in a marshland at the border of North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

"They pose a threat to far-flung villages in the towns of Tulunan, Mlang and Pikit (all in North Cotabato). We need the support of all sectors in preventing them from terrorizing these adjoining areas," Piñol said.

Piñol said another group of rebels had also been spotted setting up guerrilla enclaves in secluded areas at the border of Arakan and Roxas towns.

Col. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., commander of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said their intelligence units are now tracking down the MILF rebels with the help of traditional and religious leaders in war-torn villages here.