Members of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato, Philippines – The military here has accused the renegade Moro rebels of mulcting National Irrigation Administration (NIA) officials and private contractors of a government flagship irrigation project in North Cotabato.
Capt. Anthony Bulao, speaking for the 602nd Infantry Brigade, said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a group that broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been negotiating peace with the Aquino administration, has been demanding protection money from the administration of Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation project that has been irrigating 16,000 hectares of rice fields in the towns of Pikit and Aleosan, both in North Cotabato.
“The BIFF is demanding P3 million from NIA officials and private contractors,” Bulao said.
After breaking away from the MILF in 2008 when a preliminary peace agreement with the then Arroyo administration was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, the BIFF has been attacking government forces. Recently, the BIFF attacked military troops stationed in Nabalawag and Paidu Pulangi, both in Pikit.
On January 1, the BIFF attacked a militia-Army detachment of 40th Infantry Battalion in Barangay (village) Nabalawag that left two BIFF members killed and a soldier wounded, Bulao said.
The next morning, a huge number of BIFF forces harassed a detachment of the 7th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Paidu Pulangi, forcing the Army to use artillery to drive away the rebels.
Quoting village officials, Bulao said seven BIFF fighters were killed when hit by artillery attacks on Thursday morning.
“The BIFF wanted to show it is a force to reckon with, thus they continue to harass Army and irrigation project workers,” he said.
At 1 p.m. Friday, BIFF forces also fired at the Army detachment in Paidu Pulangi from across the Rio Grande de Mindanao, which separated North Cotabato and Maguindanao.
Abu Misry Mama, speaking for the BIFF, confirmed their men were involved in the harassment but denied they were extorting money from administrators of the irrigation system.
“I am checking the casualty figure, I believe we have not suffered even one wounded fighter,” Mama said in Filipino.
The Mal-Mar irrigation project is a multi-billion-peso irrigation dam funded by World Bank and national government.
It has been benefitting rice farmers in the towns of Kabacan, Pikit and Aleosan, all in North Cotabato.
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