MILF, gov’t to protect Mindanao from BIFF attacks

By: Kristine Angeli Sabillo - 10 years ago

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Tuesday said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is working with government forces to secure communities in Mindanao from its breakaway group.

“The MILF are part of the operations to secure their communities and to prevent [the] entry of BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) elements,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a Palace press briefing.

The Secretary said the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are conducting joint law enforcement operations to serve arrest warrants against the BIFF.

The BIFF, led by Ameril Umbra Kato, is a splinter group of the MILF.

Coloma said they received reports quoting the group’s spokesperson that the BIFF will not sabotage the peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF.

“Government is hopeful that with the support of the citizenry there will be no serious disruption of the peace process,” he said.

Two days after the signing of the normalization annex, the BIFF clashed with the military in Barongis town in Maguindanao.

The clash underscored the difficulty of ending violence in Mindanao despite the widely hailed conclusion over the weekend of Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the government and the 11,000-strong MILF.

At least four other smaller rebel groups threaten the peace in Mindanao, including the BIFF, which took part in Monday’s fighting.

With the inking of the final annex, the Philippine government and the MILF are set to approve the much-awaited comprehensive peace deal.

The peace deal has been the most significant progress made over 13 years of negotiations to tame a tenacious insurgency that has left more than 120,000 people dead and crippled development in Muslim-populated southern regions that are among the poorest in the country.

The pact calls for the Moro insurgents to end violence in exchange for broader autonomy. An existing five-province Muslim autonomous region is to be replaced by a more powerful, better-funded and potentially larger region to be called Bangsamoro, which would be secured by a force composed of former guerrillas.