Military suspends offensives vs breakaway Moro rebel group

Members of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) line up inside their camp in Datu Saudi, Maguindanao. INQUIRER file photo

COTABATO CITY – The military has lifted its offensives against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) after overrunning the rebel group’s two camps in Maguindanao.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson for the military’s 6th Infantry Division, said at least 30 BIFF men were also killed in the fighting that started Saturday morning. This claim, however, could not be independently verified through body count.

Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, denied their fighters died.

“We learned in advance that they were coming,” Mama told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone, adding that before the soldiers arrived, they were able to position their forces.

Hermoro told the Inquirer by phone Monday that soldiers captured the BIFF stronghold in the villages of Damalabas in Datu Piang and Ganta in Shariff Saydona Mustapha, all in Maguindanao.

“The threat to the peace process has been contained. Their stronghold where they met and planned how to launch attacks have been captured by our soldiers,” Hermoso said.

“The offensives have been lifted so far but the entire troops in the region have been ordered to remain vigilant,” he said.

At least five soldiers were killed in the offensives. Seven civilians were also wounded when 105 mm Howitzer shells were fired, allegedly by government forces, landing in a community in the village of Ganta.

Hermoso said they were investigating the shelling that wounded civilians.

“We conducted dialogues with local humanitarian groups regarding the matter. But we will help the conflict victims,” he said.

Around 5,000 people have been displaced by the clashes.

MILF Vice Chair for Political Affairs Ghadzali Jaafar on Monday appealed for sobriety and calm, bearing in mind the worldwide commemoration of the holy month of Ramadan by Muslims.

“We have had enough of this (armed conflict) in the past, and we are at it again at a time when we are about to observe Islamic observance of Ramadan. Let’s put an end to this,” Jaafar said.

Maj. Gen. Romeo Gapuz, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, called the military operation against the BIFF a mandated role of government security forces to keep the peace.

“It was also meant to ensure peaceful observance of Ramadan,” Gapuz said.

On the death of five soldiers, Gapuz said “it is with pride and honor that the 6th ID mourns the deaths of our fallen officer and men, for they did not die in vain, they bravely put their lives in the line of fire to protect and secure our civilian communities while observing the primacy of the ongoing GPH-MILF peace process.”

Led by Ameril Umbra Kato, the BIFF broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is talking peace with the government.

Kato figured in several attacks on communities, including in 2008 following the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the Philippine government, under the Arroyo administration, and the MILF peace panels.

In August 2011, Kato’s men staged simultaneous attacks against government military detachments in the region, occupied a national highway for almost a week and harassed civilian communities. Reports filed by Jeoffrey Maitem, Charlie C. Señase, Edwin O. Fernandez, Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao