Separatist rebels say they get bullets from sources in Army

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A leader of a breakaway group of Moro rebels that continues to wage a separatist war in Mindanao said government soldiers are selling bullets to the rebels, a claim that was quickly denied by the military.

Abu Misry Mama, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), told the Inquirer in a phone interview that soldiers and officers from the Army’s Sixth Infantry Division have been selling bullets to BIFF since 2011.

But Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson for the Sixth Division, branded Mama’s statement as “pure propaganda.”

“It’s not true,” said Hermoso. “They don’t have basis,” he said.

BIFF is composed of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who broke off and formed their own group after MILF decided to pursue peace talks with the government and drop the Moro demand for an independent state in Mindanao.

BIFF rejected the talks and the agreements that followed and vowed to continue waging war for an independent Islamic state.

According to Mama, BIFF gets its bullets from middle men who get the supply of ammunition from “men in uniform.”

It was not the first time that corrupt military officers and men were reported to be selling bullets to rebels.

During the Oakwood takeover by a group of disgruntled military officers, led by now Sen. Antonio Trillanes, among the demands of rebel soldiers who took over the posh serviced apartments was an investigation of reports about military ammunition being sold to rebel groups.

BIFF continues to launch attacks against the military, which has set off an offensive against the former MILF men.

On May 12, three soldiers were killed as BIFF rebels detonated a bomb they planted on a bridge in Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao. Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao