Cotabato City, Philippines—The military has tightened the security in Central Mindanao to prevent any attack by armed groups as the situation after the just-concluded talks between the government and Moro rebels remained volatile.
Dozens of military tanks have been mobilized to secure the highway in Maguindanao province where the forces of renegade rebel commander Ameril Umra Kato are active.
Kato, who leads a breakaway force of 200 to 300 fighters, headed the Front’s 105th Base Command in Maguindanao. He decided to separate from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over disagreements in the handling of the peace process and for allegedly abandoning him in the aftermath of the 2008 violence that escalated after the government failed to sign the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain.
In December last year, he formalized his separation from the MILF and announced the formation of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Lt. Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division, said Saturday that the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the military’s Light Armor Division based in Shariff Aguak had intensified its checkpoint operations at strategic locations.
“The peace talks held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between the government and the MILF is so volatile and still unstable that any act of sabotage by any partisan group who wishes to disrupt the talks can have an adverse affect on the outcome of the negotiations,” Asto said.
“We are encouraging the people of Maguindanao to support and cooperate, and if possible inform through the fastest means the nearest military checkpoints, detachments or camps if there are any unusual or suspicious movements or activities that is being observed or made aware of,” he added.
In Davao City, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said the government should think about talking with Kato.
“The issue on Kato is a monkey wrench unless it is resolved the same way the government did with the Moro National Liberation Front and (is doing with) the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” Duterte told reporters here.
The government “cannot stonewall on it because it is facing us,” he said. “Somebody has to try talking to Kato—from the government and from the MILF,” he said.
Kato’s becoming an imminent peace and security issue in Mindanao is not at all difficult to understand, Duterte said.
In 2008, his group engaged soldiers in long-running battles that displaced more than 130,000 people in Central Mindanao. In Maguindanao, some 70,000 people fled their homes.
Last year, Kato announced that he had formed the BIFF “to continue the Bangsamoro ideals.” His decision to split from the MILF was triggered by a government manhunt on him.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza said the government must ensure that any action against Kato should spare civilians.
“If you get Kato, what happens to the members of the BIFF? You have to consider everyone under Kato’s wing, to ensure that no more hostilities will happen in the area,” Mendoza said.
Last week, Kato declared that he had organized the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM). “Effective immediately, we are no longer members of the MILF,” he told MILF chair Murad Ebrahim in a letter.
“We now have our new identity—the BIFM. And our forces would no longer be the BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces), but the BIFF,” Kato told the Inquirer.
While he had officially seceded from the MILF, Kato said “the BIFM will not be an obstacle to the ongoing peace talks.” Jeoffrey Maitem, Jeffrey M. Tupas and Charlie Señase, Inquirer Mindanao