BIFF members torch P30-M worth of farm equipment

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on Sunday burned some P30 million worth of farm equipment in a multi-national banana plantation in Barangay Dungos in Tulunan, North Cotabato.

Senior Inspector Jojit Nicolas, chief of the Tulunan municipal police, said BIFF bandits attacked the plantation of the Delinanas, a subsidiary of the multi-national Del Monte fruit firm, from different directions and engaged security men in a three-hour firefight.

As the guards and the bandits traded shots, another group managed to get close to the plantation's equipment depot, enabling them to set on fire, using kerosene and dried banana leaves, two backhoes, two hauler trucks and a mechanized boom sprayer.

A still unidentified bandit, armed with an AK 47 Kalashnikov, was killed in the ensuing encounter, Nicolas said.

The bandits scampered away after sensing that responding policemen and soldiers from nearby detachments were closing in.

Two hours later, another group of BIFF bandits shot with assault rifles a team of militiamen in a secluded district in President Qurino town in Sultan Kudarat, about 20 kilometers southwest of Tulunan.

Though virtually outnumbered, the members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit returned fire and succeeded in driving the bandits away after a 20-minute firefight.

No one was reported killed or wounded in the ambush, but the incident caused panic among villagers.

The spokesman of BIFF, Abu Misry Mama, confirmed to reporters that it was their group that perpetrated the attack at the Cavendish banana farm in Tulunan and the ambush in President Quirino.

“Those were retaliations for the arrest of a Moro farmer and his son, who are both BIFF supporters, by soldiers in the municipality of Datu Unsay (in Maguindanao) more than a week ago,” Mama said.

Mama said the two has been missing since. He said the military denied having arrested them despite testimonies by witnesses who allegedly saw them being forced by soldiers into a roadside detachment after they were flagged down along a stretch of a highway in Datu Unsay.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the 6th ID will investigate Mama’s allegation.