‘Censure MILF for ambush’

PIKIT, North Cotabato — Muslim religious leaders here and in Pagalungan, Maguindanao want the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) censured for Friday’s ambush of four Army engineers involved in the construction of low-cost houses for Muslim villagers in the Buliok complex.

"No amount of denials by the MILF leadership can erase the fact, known to all of us, religious leaders, that MILF rebels perpetrated that ambush," a prominent ustadz (preacher) told The Star.

The four Army engineers, including a captain, were wounded in the attack, which spawned tension in the surroundings of the Buliok complex, a former MILF enclave at this town’s boundary with Pagalungan.

MILF guerrillas used to occupy the Buliok complex until the military drove them away during an offensive early this year.

The Army engineers, who belong to the 54th Engineering Brigade, were returning to their camp here, on board a civilian vehicle, from a project site near the Buliok complex when they were waylaid.

Muslim religious leaders in Pagalungan said the government’s peace panel should reprimand the MILF for the ambush, apparently certain that secessionist forces were behind the attack.

"We were hurt because the soldiers they ambushed were non-combatants and were risking their lives to build houses for poor Muslim residents affected by the recent conflicts in Pikit and Pagalungan," a 50-year-old imam, who hails from Barangay Cudal, Pagalungan, said.

Last month, Brig. Gen. Eduardo Lena, commander of the 54th EB, turned over more than a hundred newly built low-cost houses to residents of villages around the Buliok complex, an event witnessed by Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Parouk Hussin.

Benefiting from the 54th EB’s projects are residents of Pagalungan’s Barangay Cudal, the birthplace of the late MILF founder Hashim Salamat.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they would embark on calibrated "police actions" against lawless elements to ensure the safety of Army engineers and Marine units involved in various rehabilitation projects here and in Pagalungan.

Senga said Marine intelligence units are helping document Friday’s ambush for a comprehensive report to be submitted to the chairman of the government’s coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, Lt. Gen. Rudolfo Garcia, vice chief of staff of the Armed Forces.

Senga, however, declined to comment on the claims of Muslim and Christian leaders here that local MILF guerrillas were behind the ambush of the Army engineers.

"Our main concern now is to ensure the safety of our men involved in rehabilitation projects in former camps of the MILF," Senga said.

Since March, Army engineers and members of the 2nd Marine Brigade and the 6th ID’s Sallam (Peace) Unit, composed of Muslim soldiers, some of them preachers, have been helping various rehabilitation projects for MILF communities here and in Pagalungan.