Gov't protests MILF involvement in Basilan clash

MANILA, Philippines - The government has protested the alleged involvement of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the clash between Army soldiers and the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan that left 10 soldiers dead and 17 others wounded.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin sad one MILF commander was involved in the encounter despite the group’s ongoing peace talks with the government. 

“We have filed a protest (before the ceasefire panels),” Gazmin said in a press briefing yesterday. 

Gazmin said MILF commander Dan Laksaw Asnawi and his men were told not to enter the area before the encounter and they agreed.

Asnawi was tagged in the clash in Al-Barka, which left 19 soldiers dead, and in the killing of 14 Marines also in Basilan in 2007.

“As these things are being coordinated, one MILF commander was already inside (the area of operations) and they got involved,” Gazmin said. 

Gazmin said three of the armed men who died during the clash were Asnawi’s relatives.

As this developed, the commander of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade was relieved from his post.

The relief of Col. Arthur Ang came barely two months after he assumed the top Army post in Basilan. 

Col. Carlito Galvez Jr., former Armed Forces of the Philippines operations division chief, replaced Ang in a command turnover presided by 1st Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Ricardo Ranier Cruz and Western Mindanao Command Lt. Gen Noel Coballes.  

Army spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc said Ang’s relief is not connected with the Basilan clash.

 “He is being moved to occupy higher responsibilities,” Cabunoc said.  – With Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño