3 kidnappers captured in Sibugay raid

From the Philippine Star (Apr 20): 3 kidnappers captured in Sibugay raid

Police arrested an alleged sub-leader and two members of a syndicate tagged in the kidnapping of two foreign missionaries, in a recent raid in Zamboanga Sibugay, officials reported yesterday.

Abral Abdusalam, the alleged sub-leader, and his companions – Rating Hadjirul and Kismir Hadjirul, alias Mamoy – were arrested at their safehouse in Barangay Timbang-Timbang, Alicia town on Monday, said Senior Inspector Joseph Ortega, spokesman for the Region 9 police.

Abdusalam and his brother Waning were said to be responsible for the kidnapping of Fr. Giancarlo Bossi and Fr. Michael Sinnott in 2007 and 2009, respectively.

Bossi was snatched in Payao town, Zamboanga Sibugay while Sinnott in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.

Aside from the two priests, the suspects were said to be responsible for the kidnapping of three public school teachers in Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Authorities said Abdusalam has a standing arrest warrant for kidnapping with ransom and serious illegal detention.

The raiding team recovered an M16 rifle, a fragmentation grenade, military and police uniforms, and mobile phones from the suspects.

Ortega said the suspects have pending warrants for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/04/20/1313852/3-kidnappers-captured-sibugay-raid

Kidnapped engineer released in Sulu

From Rappler (Apr 19): Kidnapped engineer released in Sulu

Bonnie Salinas and his wife were abducted by 5 unidentified armed men in Jolo last February 16

An engineer who was kidnapped along with his wife in Jolo, Sulu in February was released on Sunday evening, April 19.

Bonifacio "Bonnie" Salinas, an engineer working for the Jolo Water District, is now with his family after he was freed by his captors at around 8 pm, according to police.

His wife, Claire, was released ahead of him – on March 21.

The couple were abducted by 5 unidentified armed men in Kasalamatan Village, Brgy San Raymundo in Jolo last February 16, the police said.

An Inquirer report at the time of the abduction quoted 2nd Marine Brigade spokersperson Capt Ryan Lacuesta as saying that members of the Abu Sayyaf Group were allegedly behind it.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/55856-kidnapped-engineer-released-sulu

Japan, US pledge to boost ASEAN's marine surveillance capabilities

Posted to InterAksyon (Apr 19): Japan, US pledge to boost ASEAN's marine surveillance capabilities

Japan and the United States will pledge to jointly help Southeast Asian nations boost their marine surveillance capabilities, a newspaper said Saturday, as tensions over territorial disputes in the region simmer.

US President Barak Obama will discuss the issue with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his visit to Japan next week. A deal is expected to be included in the joint statement signed by both leaders and issued after the summit meeting, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Under the planned accord, the two countries are expected to offer patrol vessels to members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), the mass-circulation daily said, citing unnamed sources.

They will also agree to train ASEAN coastguards and help the countries develop an information-sharing system against pirates and suspicious ships in the region, the newspaper said.

The Japan-US initiative is aimed at helping ASEAN members not only take effective measures against pirates and natural disasters but also boost their deterrence capacity against China's assertive claim to disputed territories, it added.

"Improving ASEAN's ocean surveillance capability will benefit Japan and the United States," a Japanese government official said, according to Yomiuri.

China and Japan are at loggerheads over the ownership of a string of islands in the East China Sea, while Beijing is also in dispute with several nations over territory in the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/85055/japan-us-pledge-to-boost-aseans-marine-surveillance-capabilities

Philippine chief peace negotiator urges MILF to help secure release of kidnap victims

From the Mindanao Examiner BlogSpot site (Apr 19): Philippine chief peace negotiator urges MILF to help secure release of kidnap victims

Philippine government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer on Saturday asked the assistance of all sectors including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to give kidnap victims their best Easter gift ever: freedom from captivity.

“This year alone, 23 kidnapping cases were recorded in Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga and Lanao provinces involving around 30 victims,” she said. “Let us join hands in redeeming them from a most terrible fate of being held hostage.”

“In the last three years, there were nearly 100 cases of abductions of children as young as a year old, students, businessmen, foreigners, journalists, senior citizens, barangay officials, and teachers. Many of these kidnap victims are still in captivity while some have been killed,” Ferrer said.

On April 11, military operations were undertaken in Barangay Silangkum and Baguindan in Tipo-Tipo town in Basilan against the Abu Sayyaf Group, believed responsible for the recent abduction of a 21-year old female from Zamboanga City. The same bandit group has been extorting money from the contractor building the circumferential road in the province.

MILF-ASG connections

According to AFP reports, nine ASG members were killed during the firefight. Among them was a certain Nur Espital, who had been identified as a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Three other alleged MILF members, including a certain Imamul Mande, were wounded.

Said MILF members are connected by affinity to Puruji Indama, the top leader of the ASG and one of the most wanted men in the country, said Ferrer, citing reports from the government’s ceasefire mechanisms. Puruji is charged with several cases of murder and kidnappings.

The four casualties affiliated with the MILF  closed ranks with their family members in the ASG during the firefight.

Stop impunity

“As an organization that signed the peace agreement, the MILF must not tolerate the criminal acts of any of their individual members” said Ferrer. “They must do their part in arresting the impunity long enjoyed by these unscrupulous individuals.”

She said the MILF leadership should ask their supporters who are intricately involved with the ASG to choose between war and peace.

“They should expel from their ranks those who reject peace and are directly or indirectly abetting the hostage-taking and preventing development to set in,” she said. “The peace process should not be used to shield criminals from their accountability for their crimes against innocent civilians.”

Renewed commitment

Tipo-Tipo has been the site of many horrendous encounters between government forces and armed groups. Many lives have been lost on all sides. Several infrastructure projects are ongoing in the area but these have been hampered by the volatile situation.

A meeting among the ceasefire bodies and the Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group tasked to coordinate criminal interdiction is reportedly scheduled to be held after the Lenten holidays.

“We expect both parties to renew their commitment and to come up with concrete operational guidelines that would allow them to effectively work together in securing the people’s safety and well-being in Basilan and elsewhere in Mindanao,” said Ferrer.

The MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, has recently signed a peace deal with Manila. 

http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/2014/04/philippine-chief-peace-negotiator-urges.html

2 army militias wounded in Zambo Norte clash

From the Mindanao Examiner BlogSpot site (Apr 19): 2 army militias wounded in Zambo Norte clash

Two pro-government militias were wounded in a clash with a group of armed men in Zamboanga del Norte’s Siayan town, police said Saturday.

Police said Marcial Seguyo and Jhunny Fabillar, were shot in the legs during the firefight in the village of Pange. The duo was returning to their detachment when gunmen attacked them and sparking a brief fire fight.

Both militias, who are assigned with the 20th Special Force CAA Detachment, were brought to their base and given first aid before being evacuated to hospital.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack.

http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/2014/04/2-army-militias-wounded-in-zambo-norte.html

37 leftist rebels yield to govt in S. Philippines

From the Gobal Times (Apr 18): 37 leftist rebels yield to govt in S. Philippines

Over 30 alleged members of the leftist rebel group of New People's Army (NPA) have surrendered to government troops in Southern Philippines on Friday, the military said.

At least 37 members of the NPA's Armed Propaganda Unit, People's Militia and the tribal Solid Mass Organization (MASSO) turned themselves in to the Philippine Army's 26th Infantry Battalion in Talacogon, a town in Mindanao's Agusan del Sur province around 8 a. m., Captain Christian Uy, the spokesperson for the army's 4th Infantry Division, said in a statement to Xinhua.

Uy said the surrenderors included an NPA squad leader who also handed over an Ingram sub-machine pistol. The other former rebels also surrendered 36 various firearms and improvised explosives.

"The reason of their surrender is a realization that their cooperation with the NPAs brought them no benefits but only made them suffer," said Uy. "The NPAs exploited them by using them as work force in constructing their bases, manning their communal farms and in manufacturing and laying of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device)," he added.

He said in the last six months, the army's 4th ID has facilitated and received the surrender of 144 rebel fighters and an equal number of weapons.
The 4,000-strong NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting a leftist insurgency in 60 Philippine provinces since 1969.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/855409.shtml#.U1HlkMZOWAI

MILF: Signing the Bangsamoro Basic Law

Editorial posted to the MILF Website (Apr 18): Signing the Bangsamoro Basic Law

April 16-22, 2014 : The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) has submitted a partial but formally adopted portion of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) proposal to the Office of the President last April 14.
  

This is in line with the instruction of President Benigno Aquino III to the commissioners during their call on him on January 30 that the first submission needs not to be full text of the proposal. A complete BBL proposal will be submitted after the Holy Week, bearing the signatures of the commissioners.

A signing ceremony is scheduled on April 20 at the BTC Office in Cotabato City.  Among the guests who are invited to the occasion were Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Secretary Teresita “Ging” Deles, GPH chief negotiator Miriam Ferrer-Coronel, Bishop Colin Bagaforo, Cotabato City Mayor Japal “Jojo” Guiani Jr., Mayor Ramon Piang of North Upi, Mayor Abdullah Campong of South Upi, selected members of the MILF Central Committee, government and MILF ceasefire committees, and members of the International Monitoring Team (IMT). Members of the media were also invited to cover the signing ceremony.

Comes signing day, all the 15 commissioners are expected to sign the BBL without reservations. As a matter of fact, one lady commissioner, a nominee of the government, requested that every commissioner will be given a copy for posterity’s sake. The BTC agreed but the copy will not be given to the commissioners until at a later date when full disclosure of the BBL will not compromise its smooth deliberation in Congress. Besides, an engagement with the government in this regard is required.

Affixing one’s signature to a historic document is truly historic. It is an episode of a lifetime that only few people are called and given such a rare opportunity.  In the same vein, not signing such a historic document is also historic in the reverse.

The decision to sign the proposed BBL by every commissioner was a collective will of the BTC during its plenary session last April 13.  There was no dissenting voice, except an earlier one expressed by BTC Chair Mohagher Iqbal for his preference for just affixing the initials of the commissioners in the proposed BBL. But he was alone in such view; no one sees it as the right course of action. Thus, he has to bow down to the will of the majority.

However, if by chance, any commissioner decides not to affix his/her signature to the proposed BBL, such is within the purview of his or her right. No one can question that. But one thing sure is that he or she has to explain why he or she did not sign.  History will judge his or her decision. But in the immediate, the negative decision will surely make the spoilers happy; they will feast on this even if the decision was based on reasons personally well-thought-out.

Better this early, every BTC commissioner must examine his or her conscience whether what side to vote: positively or negatively --- and it is the right thing.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/930-signing-the-bangsamoro-basic-law

MILF: MinHuDI, other groups hold peace advocacy in two towns of Sultan Kudarat

Posted to the MILF Website (Apr 18): MinHuDI, other groups hold peace advocacy in two towns of Sultan Kudarat

The MinHuDI, a non-government organization and other groups advocating peace in Mindanao conducted peace advocacy on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) last April 12 and 13, 2014 at Sitio Mantisao, Barangay Bual, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat Province.
  

The program was supported by the Daguma Committee on Information and the Municipal Political Committee of Kulaman through the facilitation of the Peace Advocacy Program Committee (PAPC).

The Team headed by Norodin P. Dimaokom, Exective Director of MinHuDI and at the same time Program Coordinator of PAPC; and Director Allan Dading of the Daguma Committee on Information with two invited speakers and 8 other members of the team reached the venue on board motorcycles. The team jumped off from Isulan at exactly 1:00 pm on April 12 and reached Sitio Dungguan Barangay Kabulnan, Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat at around 4:30 pm. The trip to the venue was hard and stressful but equipped with faith and determination we just ignored all that we felt.

The team stayed at Sitio Dungguan for the night program. Executive Director Moidjoddin Talusob of Kalilintad Development Foundation, Inc. (KDFI) shared his experienced to the 120 participants in attendance and told them how lucky he was because he has the opportunity to communicate with the Moros and non-Moros in the locality. Public viewing on the signing of the FAB and CAB was the highlight of the evening program that ended at 10:30.

From Dungguan, the team trekked towards Daguma Mountain Range and reached Sitio Mantisao, Bual, Isulan, the venue proper in the morning of April 13. Kolaman Municipal Chair Mohamad Sagadan together with local residents welcomed the team warmly. The participants were composed of IP’s, Muslims, and Christians with a total number of 176 excluding those unable to register in the secretariat.

Ustadz Badrudin “Green Valley” Lugioman emphasized the term “IN LOVE” in his words of wisdom, as he stated that we need to be “in love” with Jihad or the Moro people’s struggle for peace and self-determination. The love for jihad should be internalized and one shall not shy away from it. It is Allah who commanded the Muslims to “fight when Islam is in danger” but also “work for peace when one asked for it.”

Professor Esmail ‘Mike’ Abdula, BLMI Training Officer and member of the BLMI Steering Committee elucidated well on the Annex on Wealth Sharing and Normalization. During the open forum, Kabulnan Barangay Councilor Daniel Fabeniana asked a very interesting question, “How can we be included in the Bangsamoro Government?” The question coming from s settler caught the audience by surprise and chanted Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! He also asked, “How can we request for peace advocacy like this?”, Romie added.

‘If you and your constituents in this locality desire to be included in the Bangsamoro, you should make a petition 2 months before the plebiscite and we can have peace advocacy in your place anytime you wish. Kahit bukas pwede”, Professor Abdula answered.

Before the closing program, Datu Patian Bandala, the Manobo Chieftain in the area, gave his message. “Muslims and IP’s are heirs of Tambunaway and Mamalu. We are thankful to be called as Bangsamoro. We are in full support to the peace process’’, Bandala said.

In the closing remarks of Director Norodin Dimaokom, he thanked the Kulaman Political Committee, BIAF 106TH Base Command, PPF, and different line agencies for their cooperation and participation that led to the successful realization of advocacy program.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/929-minhudi-other-groups-hold-peace-advocacy-in-two-towns-of-sultan-kudarat

BIFM: Continuing the jihad fi sabilillah planted by shahid sheik salamat hashim....

Posted to the Facebook page of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) (Apr 18): Continuing the jihad fi sabilillah planted by shahid sheik salamat hashim....

Sheikh ameril umra kato.
-the founder of BIFM(bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movements)and his infantry BIFF(bangsamoro islamic freedom fighters).

Continuing the jihad fi sabilillah planted by shahid sheik salamat hashim....
...
Shahid sheikh salamat hashim say:
"if i will not achieve the freedom during my lifetime,their will be a continues confrantation war betweeen the bangsamoro people and gov't of the philippines".

We need the 5 FREEDOM:

-Freedom of religion
-Freedom of governance
-Freedom of thinking
-Freedom of speech
-Freedom of territory

the PEACE and DEVELOPMENT is good for us bangsamoro if we commit the FREEDOM's.

NO FREEDOM
NO PEACE
NO DEVELOPMENT

Victory or Marthydom!!!
Victory or marthyrdom

 

https://www.facebook.com/BangsamoroIslamicFreedomMovement/photos/a.1424374837805677.1073741828.1424362144473613/1442634862646341/?type=1&theater

President appoints Moro woman as NCMF Head

From the Manila Bulletin (Apr 18): President appoints Moro woman as NCMF Head

President Benigno S. Aquino III appointed on April 16 a Moro woman as new secretary/chief executive officer of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).

Secretary Teresita Q. Deles, head of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), confirmed to Manila Bulletin the appoinment of Bai Yasmin Busran-Lao as NCMF secretary.

“She has been appointed and has taken her oath,” said Deles, referring to Busran-Lao, in a text message. She added that no other new NCMF appointment was released yet.

The new NCMF head said the President signed her appointment on April 16 as secretary/CEO for two years and commissioner for four years.‎ Busran-Lao replaced Secretary Mehol K. Sadain, whose two-year term ended last month.

http://www.mb.com.ph/president-appoints-moro-woman-as-ncmf-head/

White House makes economics focus of Asia trip

From the Manila Bulletin (Apr 19): White House makes economics focus of Asia trip

The White House is focusing President Barack Obama’s upcoming Asia-Pacific trip on the economic benefits of closer ties to the region, but regional security concerns are likely to be pushed higher on the president’s agenda because of the tense situation between Russia and Ukraine.

Japan and South Korea, two of the four countries Obama will visit next week, are eyeing the fluid developments in Eastern Europe through the lens of their own sea and air disputes with China, and North Korean provocations. The leaders of Japan and South Korea, both close U.S. allies, will want Obama’s reassurance that the U.S. will back them up.

Obama also doesn’t have much to offer his hosts and he is not expected to make any major announcements while traveling.

That’s partly because negotiations continue indefinitely on a Pacific-wide, free-trade deal among the U.S. and 11 other countries, including Japan.

Disputes over access to markets, agriculture and automobiles have become sticking points in talks between the U.S. and Japan, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on Friday.

The administration long had wanted those talks to conclude by the end of last year.

“The president’s trip is an important opportunity to underscore our continued focus on the Asia-Pacific region,” Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, said Friday. “President Obama has pursued a strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region, given its stature as the world’s largest emerging region.”

Half of all growth outside the United States over the next five years is expected to come from Asia, Rice said, adding that the region also includes several important U.S. allies, developing democracies and emerging powers.

“So we increasingly see our top priorities as tied to Asia, whether it’s accessing new markets or promoting exports or protecting our security interests and promoting our core values,” Rice said.

Obama’s eight-day trip, which begins Tuesday, makes up for a visit that was planned for last fall but ultimately was canceled because Obama would have had to leave the country during the partial shutdown of the U.S. government that October. The cancellation raised fresh doubts about the U.S. commitment to the region.

The first stop is Japan, followed by South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Japan and Malaysia are welcoming Obama on official state visits that will include fancy dinners as well as time with the emperor of Japan and Malaysia’s king.

Obama will be the first president to visit Malaysia since Lyndon B. Johnson went there in October 1966.

En route to Japan, Obama has scheduled a stop in Oso, Washington, to survey damage from a massive mudslide last month that killed 39 people. Obama also plans to meet with victims, emergency responders and recovery workers.

http://www.mb.com.ph/white-house-makes-economics-focus-of-asia-trip/

Families in site of govt, NPA clash get aid

From the Philippine Star (Apr 18): Families in site of govt, NPA clash get aid

More than a hundred families benefited from the outreach mission of the provincial government on Wednesday for villagers dislocated by recent attacks by the New People’s Army in the hinterland Magpet town in the province.

Workers dispatched by the office of North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza had distributed food provisions to the evacuees from Magpet’s Barangays Barangay Manobisa and Amabel, scenes of recent hostilities between government forces and the New People’s Army.

The relief mission was a joint initiative of Mendoza’s office, the inter-agency provincial disaster risk reduction and management operations center, and the provincial social welfare office.

The 107 families that received food supplies were forced to abandon their villagers and relocate to safer areas due to persistent attacks by NPAs that mulct money from farmers and rig roadside bombs along farmer-to-market roads to intimidate and force them into shelling out excessive revolutionary taxes.

Magpet Mayor Florenito Gonzaga, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said the tension in the two barangays have started to wane, but the evacuees are reluctant to return to their villages fearing the rebels would return anytime and harass them again.

“I am very grateful for the help extended by the provincial government to my constituents in Manobisa and Amabel who are in dire need of assistance because of the miserable situation they are in,” the town mayor said.

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/04/18/1313730/families-site-govt-npa-clash-get-aid

2 NDFP peace consultants barred from visiting Tiamzons

From the Philippine Star (Apr 18): 2 NDFP peace consultants barred from visiting Tiamzons

Two of the peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines were barred from visiting communist leaders Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon inside the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

In a joint press statement, NDFP peace consultants Randall Echanis and Rafael Baylosis said they waited from 9 a.m. till past noon last Apr. 15 but were not allowed to see or speak with the Tiamzon couple.

The PNP did not even bother to offer an explanation why they were not allowed to talk with their co-consultants in the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Philippines, the two said.

"As co-peace consultants of the Tiamzon couple in the GPH-NDFP peace talks, we are lawfully, politically and morally entitled to undertake consultations with other NDFP consultants and the reactionary government of President Benigno Aquino III has no right to prevent us from exercising our duty as peace consultants," the two NDFP peace consultants said.

"We categorically condemn to the highest order this latest political escapade of the GPH and the ruling criminal political syndicate in Malacanang that systematically obstructs the NDFP consultants from exercising their duties and obligations as parties to the peace negotiations and the reactionary state in Manila has no option but to discard this anti-peace talk policy," they said in the statement.

Echanis and Baylosis, two of the regular consultants of the NDFP in the peace negotiations with the GPH since 1990 are also co-chairpersons of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms or CASER—the second substantive agenda of the peace negotiations between the GPH and the NDFP.

"The supposed visit was meant to update and consult the Tiamzons on the CASER draft and other concerns relevant to peace talks.

"...the Aquino government and the Philippine military will practically do everything, anything to sabotage or kill the peace negotiations. The GPH and its military strategists are preventing the NDFP consultants from performing their duties and obligations to facilitate the peace negotiations," the NDFP consultants said.

The two NDFP consultants reminded President Aquino that the peace negotiations between the GPH and NDFP are not solely confined to scheduled formal talks across the negotiating table.

They said these also involve other continuing phases such as consultation, research, study, education, information, advocacy, back channeling, exploratory activities, informal and formal talks.

The NDFP peace consultants stressed that absence, suspensions or impasses in formal peace talks do not mean the whole peace negotiations or processes are automatically absent, suspended or terminated.

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/04/18/1313733/2-ndfp-peace-consultants-barred-visiting-tiamzons

Investigators still clueless on Tacurong bombing attempt

From the Philippine Star (Apr 18): Investigators still clueless on Tacurong bombing attempt

Authorities  have yet to find a lead on the suspects who attempted to set off an improvised explosive device last Tuesday inside a bus parked at the public terminal here.

Supt. Junny Buenacosa, chief of the city police, said investigators, with the help of Army intelligence operatives, are still trying to determine the identity of the two men that left the IED inside a unit of the Rural Transit Bus.

The IED, fashioned from a live 60 MM mortar round rigged with a battery-operated blasting device attached to a mobile phone and placed in a box, was first noticed by two passengers who reported it to the police in the area.

Responding Army bomb disposal experts immediately deactivated the IED and dispose it off before it could explode.

Buenacosa said an extortion gang preying on bus companies operating in Tacurong City and surrounding provinces could be behind the bombing attempt.

"But that's only an initial theory. Let's give investigators enough time to do their work," he said.

Units of the Rural Transit Bus ply the Tacurong-North Cotabato-Bukidnon-Cagayan de Oro route.

“These extortionists are known for bombing buses and commercial establishments that refuse to give out `protection money’ on a regular basis,” Buenacosa said.

He said he has deployed more policemen at the Tacurong City public terminal after the incident.

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/04/18/1313732/investigators-still-clueless-tacurong-bombing-attempt

18 Abu Sayyafs killed in Basilan clashes, military says

From ABS-CBN (Apr 18): 18 Abu Sayyafs killed in Basilan clashes, military says

The military is insisting that no less than 18 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group were killed in the latest clashes in the island-province of Basilan.

Col. Tiny Perez, commanding officer of the 18th Infantry Battalion, said the military was prepared in conducting the operation, which resulted in the alleged Abu Sayyaf members suffering a large casualty count.

Perez's statement, however, runs counter to information received by the local government unit of Tipo-Tipo.

Tipo-Tipo Mayor Tong Istarul said based on information reaching his office, there were initially 2 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group who were killed and another one was wounded. The third one later died.

Perez also explained why 2 government troopers were killed and 28 other were soldiers wounded in the clashes.

He said the Abu Sayyaf had the advantage of being on a defensive stance. "Mahirap kasi kapag ikaw ang nasa offensive, mahirap talagang makuha ang posisyon nila."

Istarul said the people of Tipo-Tipo are fed up with fighting in their community.

"It would seem that a bloody firefight like this happens every other two years," Istarul said. "Since 1973, marami na ang namatay diyan."

He asked the military to re-establish a detachment in Sitio Kurellem, the site of the latest encounter.

He said a few years ago, the group of Abu Sayyaf commander Puruji Indama left the area after the military established a detachment in the said place.

However, the detachment was pulled out, which resulted in Puruji's group returning to Kurellem.

Perez said two battalions were recently pulled out from Basilan. As a result, the military had to spread out its forces thinly across the province.

Perez and Istarul both confirmed that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) helped the government troops in the operation against the lawless group.

They said only some members of the MILF who had relatives with the ASG participated in the latest clashes.

Four members of the MILF were reportedly killed in the incident.

The clashes forced over 300 families to flee their homes. They are now temporarily staying with relatives in Tipo-Tipo.

The evacuees have been given relief goods by officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as well as the national government.

Meanwhile, the local government urged the Moro National Liberation Front and the MILF to help guard the private contractors involved in the concreting of the Basilan Circumferential Road.

Istarul said Abu Sayyaf members have been trying to extort money from the contractors.

"Since these roads will be built leading to the communities of the MNLF and the MILF, they should also help in protecting the contractors and the heavy equipment," he said.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/04/18/14/18-abu-sayyafs-killed-basilan-clashes-military-says