More soldiers to protect villagers from Kato's men

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – The military yesterday deployed more soldiers to cordon three neighboring villages in Datu Piang, Maguindanao to protect the residents from continuing attacks since Sunday by followers of renegade Moro rebel commander Ameril Ombra Kato.            

More than a hundred families were forced to flee their homes after forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) engaged the followers of Kato, led by Commander Abunawas, triggering a series of firefights that eventually spilled over to other areas.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said their commander, Brig. Gen. Rey Ardo, had asked the government’s ceasefire committee to work out, along with its MILF counterpart, possible solutions that could stave off more confrontations between Kato’s Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and local guerrillas residing in the affected areas.

Asto said Ardo “wants this conflict settled amicably first by local officials, and the joint government-MILF ceasefire committee.”

“If all peaceful means of addressing the problem have been exhausted and the conflict will still persist, the 6th ID will be forced to initiate action to protect innocent civilians in the conflict-stricken areas,” Asto said.

Local officials said representatives of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team, which helps oversee the government-MILF ceasefire, had visited the conflict-stricken areas.

The hostilities in Datu Piang started when BIFF members, led by Abunawas, entered a village controlled by MILF Commander Adzmi, whose men then engaged the intruders in a fierce gunbattle.

Kato had reportedly ordered Abunawas to drive away MILF rebels in the affected villages for them to establish their enclaves there.

Kato bolted the MILF last year and formed the BIFF composed of rouge guerrillas, some of them led by commanders long wanted for kidnapping and other heinous offenses.

Three of Kato’s men were reportedly wounded in the initial encounter last Sunday. The hostilities only waned when they ran out of ammunition and retreated to the border of Datu Piang and Midsayap, North Cotabato.

Abunawas and his followers returned the next day and, without warning, opened fire on MILF rebels guarding a village they attempted to take over the previous day.

The encounters have displaced more than a hundred families, now housed in makeshift evacuation sites in barangays near the Datu Piang town proper.

Local officials said the BIFF and MILF units in Datu Piang have lately been gearing for encounters due to mounting rivalry over control of agricultural lands in the town.