Maguindanao folk want Army protection from rebs

COTABATO CITY — Residents of Mamasapano, Maguindanao have urged the military to deploy a battalion-size Army contingent in their municipality to prevent marauding Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas from harassing them and collecting "revolutionary taxes."

Five MILF guerrillas were killed and three militiamen were wounded when more than a hundred rebels swooped down on Barangay Nabundas in Mamasapano last Wednesday, firing at a military detachment and a number of houses.

The hostilities spread to nearby barangays when other groups of rebels engaged responding soldiers and policemen in a firefight.

Mamasapano Mayor Datu Tato Ampatuan said only the presence of more soldiers in secluded areas in his town can prevent MILF rebels from harassing villagers and interfering in barangay affairs.

Ampatuan said the MILF rebels also looted the houses of residents who were forced to evacuate for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.

Eid Kabalu, the MILF spokesman, however, denied that their guerrillas had plundered the abandoned villages.

The provincial peace and order council has appealed to the Malaysian-led international ceasefire monitoring team to document and report to the Organization of Islamic Conference the "wanton violations" of the secessionist forces.

In a statement, Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan said 90 percent of the villagers often affected by what he described as "abuses" of MILF rebels in the towns of Mamasapano, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak and Datu Piang are marginalized Muslims relying mainly on subsistence farming for their livelihood.

He said the MILF raid last Wednesday forced more than 2,000 residents to flee their homes.

Since January, Gov. Ampatuan said MILF rebels in the second district of Maguindanao have staged more than a dozen attacks in farming communities, even burning several houses.

"The rebel attack last Wednesday was perpetrated despite the presence of the international monitoring team in Cotabato City," he said.

Col. Jerry Jalandoni, commander of the Army’s 604th Infantry Brigade, said the hostilities in Mamasapano would not have worsened if MILF forces from nearby areas did not reinforce their companions who raided the military detachment in Barangay Nabundas.

Jalandoni said MILF rebels in Mamasapano and surrounding towns have "traditionally" been harassing farming communities during the harvest season.