Lawless elements fleeing ‘Piston’ site

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Kidnappers and extortionists have again started fleeing Carmen, North Cotabato, threatened by stories that they would be targeted for "test missions" by participants in joint Philippine-US anti-terrorism military exercise there next week.

Dubbed "Balance Piston," the month-long exercise, focused on anti-terrorism operations, professional soldiery and community initiatives, will involve the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion and a 35-member contingent from the US military.

The first-ever Balance Piston in Carmen town, where an Army brigade is stationed, was held from July to August 2004.

Col. Franklin del Prado, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the highest military officer in Carmen, Col. Ruperto Pabustan, has confirmed that all is set for the Jan. 17 opening program of the joint war exercise there.

Del Prado said Pabustan, commander of the 602nd Infantry Brigade, will help oversee the conduct of the war exercise, which will also expose the participants to actual medical and humanitarian missions in impoverished villages in Carmen.

Pabustan is himself known in North Cotabato for his various humanitarian projects in hostile areas, which in effect paved the way for the surrender of more than 500 secessionist rebels in the past year.

Del Prado said training in tactical maneuvers will be held only inside the fenced compound of the 602nd IB in Carmen in keeping with the government’s ceasefire agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Del Prado said there have been persistent intelligence reports that even criminals facing arrest warrants have moved out of North Cotabato itself, fearing that the participants in the war exercise might go after them.

One of those who have reportedly fled from the boundary of North Cotabato and Bukidnon is Commander Pakil Ayunan, who was implicated in the killings of more than 50 people from the late 1980s to 2000. Ayunan carries a P500,000 prize on his head.