From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Oct 2): Known foe of Pentagon Gang now bet for governor
At the height of kidnappings here in the 1990s, a lone voice became familiar in
the airwaves—that of Tocao Mastura, mayor of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.
At times pleading and sometimes threatening, Mastura would call on the
kidnappers, mainly members of the Pentagon Gang, to free their captives. If his appeal was not heeded, the pistol-packing former leader of the Moro
National Liberation Front would lead followers in rescue operations. While refusing to comment on reports he had also ordered relatives of
kidnappers taken as a bargaining chip against kidnappers, Mastura said he takes
pride in helping in the war on kidnapping in Maguindanao. “A tooth for a tooth,” he would say of his policy....
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/281716/known-foe-of-pentagon-gang-now-bet-for-governor
The Pentagon Gang has ties to the MILF and the Philippine military believes thatit was/is a fund raising operation for the Moro insurgent group. Besides kidnap-for-ransom, the group also engaged in bus bombings as a way to intimidate owners into paying protection money to avoid being subjected to bomb attacks.
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