Soldiers disarm escorts of MILF exec

COTABATO CITY — Soldiers disarmed in a risky raid in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao the other day 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas securing a top MILF peace broker, in what local sectors fear could affect the cordiality of the peace talks.

The rebels, according to the MILF’s central committee, were merely detailed in the area to secure lawyer Lanang Ali, a member of the MILF panel who resides in Barangay Gang, Sultan Kudarat.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the raid in Barangay Gang was carried out on the behest of local residents, who have aired apprehensions about their safety due to the presence of MILF rebels in the area.

But before elements of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Battalion could disarm the rebels peacefully, both sides had a two-hour standoff that almost erupted into a firefight if not for the intervention of Sultan Kudarat Mayor Datu Tucao Mastura.

The MILF, in an official statement, called on President Arroyo to order an inquiry into the incident.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF’s vice chairman for political affairs, said the rebels disarmed by elements of the 3rd IB, were not far away from Ali’s house and were not roaming around the barangay.

"We are worried because the incident can erode the trust and confidence of our people in the government’s peace venture with the MILF," he said.

Jaafar said the raid in Barangay Gang violated four previous peace pacts between the government and the MILF, including the June 22 agreement of peace forged in Tripoli, Libya in the presence of representatives of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

These agreements, Jaafar said, prescribed both sides to peacefully resolve security concerns in areas where MILF forces are deployed, to ensure the cordiality of the peace talks.

Ando, however, said the raid could be described only as a "police action" to protect villagers in the area and motorists along the Cotabato-Davao Highway, less than a kilometer away from the site where the rebels were holding out.

Ando hinted that the 6th ID is looking into the possibility that the rebels, led by Nasser Ali, could be involved in last week’s bungled ambush of Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan in nearby Barangay Salimbao.

Ampatuan survived the attack, which left five people dead and 14 others wounded and triggered a fire that razed 30 houses when one of the rockets the ambushers fired hit a store selling liquefied petroleum gas. — With Roel Pareño