KORONADAL CITY, Philippines—Suspected Moro rebels on Tuesday afternoon stormed a ten-hectare sugarcane plantation in Aleosan, North Cotabato and killed a responding soldier.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, acting spokesperson of Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that some 50 suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels raided and burned a sugarcane plantation owned by Suelo Burceles in Pagangan village around 12:30 noon.

Cabangbang said the soldier, whom he did not identify, was with a team of militiamen responding to the attack and was killed in the ensuing firefight.

"This is part of the rebels build up in the province," Cabangbang said.

But Eid Kabalu, civil military affairs chief of the MILF, denied any involvement of their forces in the attack.

"We have to check this first. It might be initiated by other groups. We have orders to our troops on the ground to remain in defensive position and no movements," Kabalu told the Inquirer.

However, North Cotabato Governor Jesus Sacdalan said several MILF rebels from the neighboring towns of Maguindanao have been sighted near Midsayap town, a day after the rebels fired mortars on a military position in the said municipality.

Cabangbang confirmed this, saying the MILF buildup was reported in the village of Gayunga, which borders North Kabuntalan in Maguindanao and Midsayap.

"The villagers were alarmed. Their (rebels') move is prohibited as massing up of troops is a violation of the existing ceasefire agreement," Sacdalan said.

"Majority of the rebels came from other areas such as in Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat because their forces stationed in the province don't want to join them. I talked with Armed Forces Chief General Alexander Yano and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. regarding this matter and both promised to help us," the governor added.

He said the rebels were led by Ustadz Ameril Umbra Kato of the MILF's 105th Base Command.

The rebel group's movement came after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order stopping government negotiators from signing on Aug. 5 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain with the MILF.

Cabangbang said soldiers are just 500 meters away from the position of Commander Umbra Kato's forces.

"We have enough troops now in the area. Unless under attack, they will remain in defensive position," Cabangbang said.

In statement, North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol said in the rebels' attempt to force them into agreeing to the terms and conditions of the aborted signing of secret Memorandum of Agreement, MILF leaders have unleashed their armed troops to attack civilian populated areas.

"Fighting has started in at least four areas—Pigcawayan, Libungan, Midsayap and Aleosan. There are also reports that rebel troops are massing in several areas in Pikit, North Cotabato. This is an old MILF strategy. If they do not get what they want, they use their guns and bombs to terrorize us," Piñol stressed.

"The sad thing about this now is that even some of our national leaders have been pressured by these tactics of the MILF to the point that they are willing to cede part of our province to the MILF under what they call "MOA on Ancestral Domain. These officials too have joined the MILF in pressuring us into giving in to what they want. For them, it is "peace at all cost," he added.

To residents whose homes are being attacked and burned recently by the rebels, Piñol advised them bring their family to safety first before defending themselves.

On Wednesday, two bomber were seen over Midsayap, North Cotabato.

"Those were persuasion flights and there were no air strikes," Colonel Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the 6th Infantry Division, said in a phone interview.

Fernando Torinos, a resident of Midsayap, said they saw two bomber planes of the Philippine Air Force hovering above Midsayap for about 15 minutes. "It did not drop any bomb," he said.

Wednesday morning, MILF guerillas, who occupied the village of Baliki in the border of North Cotabato and Maguindanao, and the local militiamen have exchanged sniper fire.

However, no major skirmishes have occurred.

Kabalu said their forces in the borders of Midsayap and Datu Piang in Maguindanao were on the defensive position.

"We did not fire the first shot, we only fired back every time the government troops fired at our troops," Kabalu said.

But the military claims the same thing. "We are on a defensive position, the rebels are firing at us, we just responded to their shots," Ando said.

Ando said there was no directive from higher command to launch air strikes as the military is still religiously observing the ceasefire agreement with the MILF.

Ando said the rebels fired about a dozen 60 mm mortars toward militiamen and Army positions at the outskirts of Midsayap on Tuesday night.

The military retaliated with almost equal number of mortars but no one was hurt, Ando said.

In a statement released here, AFP chief General Alexander Yano said the military is prepared to launch offensives should the situation on the grounds warrant.

"While we are closely monitoring and continuously assessing the turn of events related to the GRP-MILF peace process, our mandate remains clear—to protect the Filipino people and preserve the sovereignty of the state," Yano said. Reports from Jeoffrey Maitem, Edwin Fernandez, Dennis Santos and Jeffrey Tupas, Inquirer Mindanao