The entrance to the camp of the MILF's 103rd Base Command in Iligan City
ILIGAN CITY, Philippines -- (UPDATE - 1:45 p.m.) The military has formally recommended to the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities that a training camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s 103rd Base Command in Iligan City be dismantled.
The recommendation to the CCCH, a joint government-MILF body that oversees a long-running ceasefire, said the camp, located near the boundary of Sitio Limonsodan, Barangay Waterfalls in Rogongon, Iligan poses a potential threat to the local Higaonon community in case armed conflict breaks out in the area.
Photos of the camp were provided to InterAksyon.com by the Army’s 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, which is based in Lanao del Norte.
Gate and guardhouse
In an interview, Colonel Gilbert Gapay, commanding officer of Army's 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, told InterAksyon.com their recommendation stemmed from a complaint lodged before the Iligan City council by Datu Lantung Ko Limunsudan, or Higaonon chieftain, Deodato S. Abugan Sr. that MILF fighters under Abdul Sango Amoran of the 305th Guerilla Unit allegedly recruited 85 Higaonon tribesmen and Maranaws from Bukidnon and brought to the camp from May 16 to 31 last year.
"Based on testimonies, each applicant was required to pay P800 to P1,000 and was considered a graduate even without training," Gapay said.
He added that "one of the training committee members identified as Datu Saripada is a member of the (joint government-MILF) local monitoring team."
Obstacle course
Gapay, who visited Sitio Limunsudan on March 12, said another training was conducted at the camp on January while yet another session is planned by the MILF within the month.
He said the training that began January 7 involved 90 Higaonon and Maranaw farmers working at a palm oil plantation in Barangay Ulamon, Tagoloan III, Lanao del Sur who were supposedly promised five hectares of land each if they signed up with the MILF.
"Armed MILF were sighted in the area on several occasions and they are under the 105th Base Command of the Northwestern Mindanao Front,” Gapay added.
The 105th Base Command is the same unit whose fighters engaged commandos of the police Special Action Force in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the course of the January 25 government operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan.”
Marwan is said to have been killed but the ensuing clash also left 44 police commandos, 18 MILF fighters and at least five civilians dead, and the Mindanao peace process hanging in the balance.
Obstacle course
"As an assessment, the action initiated by the MILF may be considered provocative acts under the implementing operational guidelines of the GRP-MILF agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities as it endangered the safety and security of the people and disturbed the tranquility of the community particularly the Higanonon tribe" Gapay said.
Gapay and Lieutenant Colonel Anton Abrina of 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion gave a security briefing for members of the Iligan Bay Chambers of Industry Tuesday afternoon.
They urged the businessmen to be vigilant and intensify their monitoring to prevent any possible sabotage of their facilities and establishments.
Gapay said Iligan City remains at a Level 2 alert status, meaning the situation remains “normal.”
He also gave assurances that the military continues to be engaged in peacekeeping even as it continues to undertake preventive measures against any possible outbreaks of violence in Iligan City and Lanao del Norte.
A hoop trainees are supposed to jump through
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/107180/photos--military-wants-milf-training-camp-in-iligan-dismantled
There appears to be a disconnect between the statements attributed to MILF political chief Ghadzali Jafaar and the photographs published in this article. The photos seem to indicate that more than just "orientation" of stakeholders was taking place at this camp. Either Jafaar is being less than truthful about the role of the camp or someone has gone to great lengths to perpetrate a deception in order to discredit the MILF.
ReplyDeleteThe following are reported to be excerpts from an interview with Ghadzali Jaafar published in a news item entitled "MILF conducting orientation, not training in Iligan" posted to ABS-CBN on Mar 22:
According to Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, the group was only conducting orientations to educate stakeholders about the Bangsamoro Basic law (BBL).
“We are not training. The training that they may be saying could be the orientations we are conducting. We are giving orientation, education to them (stakeholders),” said Jaafar.
Jaafar explained that the MILF orientations are in keeping with the ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the government.
“There’s nothing wrong there,” said Jaafar, adding that the military should not oppose such orientations because these strengthen the ceasefire mechanisms.
Jaafar added that the orientations target MILF members, supporters, supporters and civilians.
“The orientation is general in nature, we discuss the status of the BBL, what kind of government is democracy, ministerial form of government, what will be the relations between Muslims and Christians under the Bangsamoro government, among others,” he said.
Told that Iligan City is not among the areas covered by the BBL, Jaafar said: “Yes, but we have Muslims there, there are MILF there. The more we need orientation for them because once the Bangsamoro government is already there, they are not going to be covered. They might be angered, that’s why we need to talk to them.”
Jaafar said the MILF camp where the orientations were conducted was established “a long time ago” but could not categorically say when.
“In a struggle, you establish a camp in one area if needed. That’s common and ordinary for a revolutionary organization,” he said.
On Gapay’s pronouncements that the military saw wooden rifles at the camp, indicating training was indeed being held in the area, Jaafar said: “That I do not know. But when conduct training, we do not use wooden rifles, we use real firearms.”
Jaafar also denied allegations by AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc last Friday that the MILF is offering five hectares of land, in case the BBL is passed, to potential recruits.
“We do not make a promise that they will be given such. Those entering the MILF, those who enlist, they do it voluntarily to fight for a sacred cause for the Bangsamoro,” he said.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03/22/15/milf-conducting-orientation-not-training-iligan