Army to replace men in Maguindanao ‘war zones’

CAMP SIONGCO, Shariff Kabunsuan — The Army’s 6th Infantry Division will start replacing tomorrow with soldiers trained in community relations all of its combatants in hostile areas in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao to prevent an escalation of hostilities with forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the 6th ID, said men of the 64th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Kuloy, Shariff Aguak will be replaced by elements of the 6th Infantry Battalion from Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said a 100-man peacekeeping force will be deployed in Shariff Aguak.

"This is an innovation. We will now have a peacekeeping company," he said.

Members of the 64th IB and MILF guerrillas have engaged in sporadic encounters for more than a week now in Barangay Kuloy, which is supposedly covered by the ceasefire.

The MILF earlier asked the government’s ceasefire committee to relieve the 64th IB commander from his post for the recent encounters in Barangay Kuloy.

The MILF said the 64th IB men provoked the encounters by intruding into known guerrilla positions without prior coordination.

"The new unit to be deployed in the area has extensive exposure on civil-military operations," Ando said, referring to the 6th IB.

He said the hostilities in Barangay Kuloy were precipitated by the MILF’s repeated attempts to surround a 64th IB command post there.

Ando said soldiers recovered three days ago several assault rifles and a caliber .50 machinegun just meters away from the company base of the 64th IB after foiling an attack by MILF rebels.

In an emergency meeting in Cotabato City yesterday, members of the government-MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities agreed to continue exhausting all peaceful means to resolve the nagging security problems in Shariff Aguak.

Government forces and MILF rebels have been facing a standoff in Shariff Aguak since June. Both sides figured in bloody clashes from June 28 to July 6 sparked by the deadly bombing in the town center, which left seven people dead and nearly killed Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan.

So intense were the previous hostilities in the area that more than 10,000 villagers were forced to flee their homes. — With Jaime Laude