Ceasefire committee looking into alleged MILF training camp in Iligan City

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. AP FILE PHOTO

ILIGAN CITY – The government’s Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) has started investigating and validating reports of an alleged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) training camp here.

Major Carlos Sol, head of the CCCH secretariat, confirmed that they have received the report of the Army’s 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, on the alleged training camp in Rogongon here.

“We are currently conducting validation procedures,” Sol said in a media statement.

The alleged MILF training camp came to the military’s attention after Deodato Abugan Sr., a chieftain of the Higaonon tribe, complained about the alleged “continued recruitment and the conduct of military-like training exercises by the MILF.”

The military said the camp should be dismantled as it was not among the recognized MILF camps under the peace process.

“We assure everyone, especially those in Iligan and neighboring towns, that we will do our utmost to resolve this complaint at the soonest time possible. We appreciate the public’s vigilance and we urge everyone to continue helping us. The ceasefire with the MILF has been holding. We want it to continue doing so,” Sol said.

But he corrected an earlier military report that the MILF’s 105^th Base Command operates here.

Sol said 105^th Base Command is in Maguindanao and the 103^rd Base Command actually operates in the Lanao area.

Col. Gilbert Gapay, commander of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, told reporters they were after the dismantling of the camp.

He said based on the complaint lodged at the Sangguniang Panlungsod, at least 85 Higaonon members and Maranaos from Bukidnon had trained in the facility last year. Ninety other persons had been recruited in January.

“One of the training committee members was identified as Datu Saripada, a member of the local MILF ceasefire team,” Gapay said.

“As an assessment, the action initiated by MILF may be considered provocative acts under the implementing and operational guidelines of the GRP-MILF agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities as it endangered the safety and  security of the people and disturbed the tranquility of the community particularly the Higanonon tribe” Gapay said.

The MILF has not commented on the issue as of yet.

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