Retired general recalls numerous AFP combat operations vs Umbra Kato

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 14): Retired general recalls numerous AFP combat operations vs Umbra Kato

A retired general recalled the numerous military operations launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Maguindanao to capture, dead or alive, Ameril Umbra Kato, the extremist separatist leader of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), who succumbed to cardiac arrest at dawn Tuesday.

Umbra Kato’s death was confirmed by no less than Mohaqher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and Mayor Samsodin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

“Umbra Kato was notorious and uncompromising in his stand for a separate state in southern Philippines,” said Brig. Gen. Resty Aguilar, former deputy commander of the 601st and 604th Brigade of the Philippine Army, who was in the front line during his active military service at the turn of the new millennium until 2007 when he was posted to another assignment. Aguilar retired in 2011.

Aguilar said Umbra Kato aligned himself with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) when the latter broke away from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) after the MNLF, the original Muslim rebel group, signed a peace accord with the government on Sept. 2, 1996 designed to pave the way for a lasting peace in Mindanao.

However, when the MILF abandoned its stand for a separate and independent state, Umbra Kato and several MILF fighters formed their own armed faction – the BIFF to continue the fight for a separate state.

Aguilar said troops from the 601st and 604th Army Brigades launched many combat operations against Umbra Kato in the swampy areas of Sariff Aguak, Tagatin and Maysalvo, the so-called “Maguindanao Triangle” where the 105th Command of the MILF is located to date.

It was in that area that the military concentrated its combat operations but Umbra Kato was elusive as an eel, Aguilar said.

He described the BIFF leader as ruthless because “Umbra Kato mutilated soldiers who are already dead after they overran our units following a fire fight."

When Umbra Kato was still with the MILF he used to command the 118th Base also in Maguindanao, Aguilar said.

Umbra Kato vehemently protested when peace talks between the government and MILF resumed in 2010 following an all-out war in 2008 when the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Umbra Kato formed a rogue group to continue his struggle for a separate state in Mindanao.

As rogue fighters, Umbra Kato despite his old age continued to conduct many violent actions against the military in Central Mindanao, particularly in Maguindanao province but the counter action launched by the Armed Forces prevented the radical BIFF commander from sowing farther terror in southern Philippines.

This was further complicated when Umbra Kato was reported to have been suffering from heart ailment. He could not move as he used to be.

Twice he was reported to have died but it turned he was alive but at dawn today (April 14, 2015) Umbra Kato finally died and this was confirmed by Mohaqer Iqbal, the MILF chief peace negotiator talking with the government peace panel.

Umbra Kato was a through-and-through practitioner of the Islam religion and was a teacher before becoming a rebel. In fact he was one of the Marcos scholars during the ‘60s who studied in Medina University in Saudi Arabia.

When he came back to the Philippines he taught in one of the Arabic schools in Davao Oriental as lecturer on Shariah Law.

Would the death of Umbra Kato deal a big blow to the BIFF? Time will tell.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=752933