Ameril Umbra Kato. FILE PHOTO BY ROMY ELUSFA
(UPDATE 2 - 3:51 p.m.) Ameril Umbra Kato, founder of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement and its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, is dead, the chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said Tuesday.
“Yes, he died of cardiac arrest at around 2 a.m. today (Tuesday) in the mountain,” Mohagher Iqbal told Interaksyon.com in a phone interview.
Lt. Col. Harold M. Cabunoc, Chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office, said that, with the demise of Kato, "we are seeing the gradual demise of the BIFF, considering that Kato is both a tactical commander and at the same time the spiritual leader of the group."
As a spiritual leader, Cabunoc said, Kato played "a crucial role in recruiting new members of the organization using his mastery of the Quran and his wisdom as an experienced leader of the rebel group."
Three other leaders have already been neutralized in the "all-out offensive" operations conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police from February 27 to March 30, 2015.
[Video report]
The list of neutralized BIFF leaders include Mohammad Ali Tambako and Abdulgani Esmael Pagao who were both arrested; and, Usop Abeh Salih, also known as Kumander Bisaya, who was killed in a clash in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.
"We are calling on the remnants of the BIFF to consider the option of returning to the mainstream Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) organization and be one with us in supporting the ongoing peace process that would bring lasting peace in Mindanao and the whole country."
With Kato dead, Iqbal called on their former comrades in the BIFM-BIFF to return to the MILF and help forge a final peace agreement with the government.
However, he clarified though that “only those who have no criminal cases filed in courts” will be accepted.
The military official said the information they received indicated Kato “died of heart attack” in Barangay Katiman, Guindulungan, Maguindanao.
“We’re rushing to find this out before the 24-hour practice of Islam in burying their dead,” he said.
This was later confirmed by Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Brigadier General Arnold Quiapo.
“The wake is in Barangay Kateman,” he said.
Kato, who once headed the MILF's 105th Base Command, broke away and was subsequently expelled from the MILF in 2008 over disagreements in the direction peace negotiations with government were heading. However, soon after, he suffered successive strokes that left him bedridden.
The BIFM-BIFF continues to seek the establishment of an Islamic state in the south.
The military said some 300 from his former MILF 105th Base Command are loyal to Kato.
Even before his split from the MILF, Kato was carrying a P10-million bounty for leading his men in a series of attacks against government troops and civilian communities, and destroying private and government facilities after the Supreme Court declared the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain unconstitutional.
Second military source: news of Kato death ‘spreading like wildfire’
A second military source said the death of Kato “is spreading like wildfire” among its followers an supporters in Maguindanao.
“Our intelligence operatives are now following these leads so they will lead them to the whereabouts of Kato,” he said.
“It’s highly probable he is dead considering na talagang hirap na rin siya kasi (he has been really suffering). From time to time he has to be transferred by his men from one place to another to avoid getting captured by our pursuing troops. Deteriorating na ang health niya noon pa man (His health has been deteriorating for a while now),” he added.
The officer said the military is now challenging the BIFF to “show proof” their leader is still alive.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/108753/biffs-ameril-umbra-kato-is-dead-iqbal-calls-on-renegades-to-return-to-the-fold-work-for-peace
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