Kato slams door on MILF return

GUINDULUNGAN, Maguindanao, Philippines – Renegade Moro rebel commander Ameril Ombra Kato has closed the door on possible reunification with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which gave him until today to decide on whether to rejoin the group or become its adversary.

Abu Misra Mama, spokesman of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) that Kato formed after bolting the MILF last year, said there is no more possibility of their leader rejoining the MILF on the behest of its chieftain, Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim.

“The MILF, as an organization, no longer abides by the principles of Islam in pushing for Moro rule in Mindanao. It is now our group that has to carry on that kind of struggle,” Mama said.

Mama said Kato is unfazed by the MILF central leadership’s deadline today for him to deactivate the BIFM.

Kato, former chief of the MILF’s 105th Command Base, is wanted for a string of criminal cases for leading bloody attacks on farming communities in Maguindanao and North Cotabato following the aborted signing on Aug. 5, 2008 of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain.

The agreement, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional, was the supposed basis for the setting up of a Muslim homeland that would cover Moro-dominated areas in the South.

Mama said Kato, who studied Islamic theology in Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s, is firm on his decision not to rejoin the MILF.

“How can Ustadz Kato return to an organization that no longer abides by the teachings of the Qur’an? It’s the BIFM now that is carrying the banner of Islam as far as the revolution for Moro independence is concerned,” Mama said.

The BIFM boasts of about 200 men, mostly former MILF members booted out for their extreme religious beliefs and their radical interpretation of Qur’anic teachings on jihad and Sharia justice.

Brig. Gen. Ariel Bernardo, who chairs the government ceasefire committee, said they are still hoping that Kato would reconsider his position on the MILF’s offer of reconciliation.

“We are hoping this problem can still be ironed out by the MILF leadership and by Kato amicably,” he said.

Bernardo said once the MILF declares Kato out of its control and totally on his own, he would no longer be protected by the ceasefire.