‘Misencounter’ feared in AFP push vs BIFF

DATU ABDULLAH SANGKI, Maguindanao—Government forces had been locked in a standoff with a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) unit in Barangay Kakal here since last week as soldiers continue to pursue members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), rebel and government sources said.

Commander Mastur Lintang of the MILF’s 106th Base Command (BC), said the situation worsened after the Mindanao joint task force of the government, which was running after the BIFF members, fired artillery rounds that almost hit his house in the subvillage of Imbornal on Friday night.

“We are trying to communicate as we are on a verge of peril of a misencounter,” Lintang told the Inquirer.

He lamented that his group became the target of artillery fire after he helped government forces fight some 200 BIFF members who had threatened to take the town of Rajah Buayan under its control in February.

The MILF leader said the BIFF offensive in Rajah Buayan last month stemmed from suspicion, purportedly by Muhidin Salilama, alias “Kagui Karialam,” that some residents cooperated with the military in a previous operation on a suspected terrorist lair.

He said his group helped government forces to reduce the attack’s impact on civilians.

On Saturday, Lintang sent an emissary to Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, chief of the Army’ 6th Infantry Division, who was in Rajah Buayan to attend a municipal peace and order council meeting, to raise his concerns and ease the tension.

Pangilinan said the positioning of government troopers in Barangay (village) Kakal was cleared with the oint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH). He said he had instructed Col. Melquiades Feliciano of the 601st Army Brigade to “double check and communicate” with the CCCH.

Feliciano said there appeared to be a “miscommunication” during a previous dialogue with the CCCH.

Residents said they saw thousands of men being transported on Feb. 7 from parts of Datu Saudi, Datu Salibo and Shariff Saydona Mustapha towns to hilly areas in the interior of Ampatuan and Talayan towns. The Inquirer learned that this was triggered by orders from the MILF Central Committee that areas where government forces are operating against BIFF should be cleared of MILF members.

MILF sources said most of those transported were members of the 105th BC under Zacaria Goma and 118th BC under Wahid Tundoc.

On the other hand, members of the 106th BC led in an acting capacity by Commander Yahya Hassan had been clustered in an area between Ampatuan and Datu Abdullah Sangki where composite government troopers of the Philippine Army and Marines have been locked in a standoff.

Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., government CCCH head, declined to answer a query from the Inquirer on the troops’ deployment to an MILF area in Datu Abdullah Sangki town during a chance meeting in Awang, Maguindanao, on March 8.