ARMM police, MILF puzzled by string of encounters despite ceasefire arrangements

ZAMBOANGA City, Philippines—Both the police and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were puzzled over the latest string of encounters in Basilan, Zamboanga Sibugay and Lanao del Norte, saying a ceasefire should have been in place since Saturday noon.

Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, police chief for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said he has been looking into why recent incidents in the three provinces happened despite a ceasefire arrangement reached with MILF representatives in a meeting in Davao City on Saturday.

“We were assured that titigil na ang ano mang harassment simula kahapon (all forms of harassment would be stopped),” Latag said.

He said the call for ceasefire had been relayed not just to the police but also to the military.

Like Latag, Von Al Haq, spokesman of the MILF, was surprised by what had happened Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“How could that be when a ceasefire has been holding since yesterday (Saturday)?” he asked when told about reports of MILF forces occupying two public schools in Zamboanga Sibugay on Saturday night; the ambush on a cooperative-owned truck in Basilan that left five people dead on Sunday; and the ambush on soldiers in Sultan Naga Dimaporo town in Lanao del Norte, also on Sunday.

Al Haq said that during the meeting in Davao City on Saturday, both sides agreed to respect the ceasefire.

“All units from various grounds were directed to respect the ceasefire and we made sure the directive transcended down to various commands,” he said.

The Western Mindanao Command said Hassan Asnawi, an alleged commander of the MILF’s 114th Base Command, led an ambush on a rubber cooperative-owned truck in Sumisip, Basilan, leaving five people dead and eight others wounded.

On Saturday night, Senior Superintendent Ruben Cariaga, police chief for Zamboanga Sibugay, reported that a certain Said, allegedly a commander of the MILF in Cotabato City, led some 150 men in occupying two public elementary schools in Talusan town.

Cariaga said Said’s group destroyed some parts of Samonte Elementary School and took rice and two cows of residents before transferring to the adjacent village of Bulingan, where they also occupied the Bulingan Elementary School.

Al Haq denied knowing a certain Commander Said from Cotabato. “But we will check our records because we have so many commanders on the ground and his name is not so familiar to us,” he said.

He added that they had checked with their ground troops in Basilan, “and according to Dan Asnawi, wala silang kinalaman sa ambush (they had nothing to do with the ambush).”

Al Haq said he had instructed MILF forces in Basilan to ascertain who was behind Sunday’s ambush.

“Since Saturday noon, all the units on the ground are under instruction to maintain defensive position at walang sino man ang puwedeng kumilos unless sila ang inatake (nobody should move unless attacked),” Al Haq said.

“Where is our government?” Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad asked while saying a prayer to the bodies of five rubber tappers of the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative Inc., who were killed in Sunday’s ambush in Sumisip town.

“Who will feed their children now? I hope the national leaders will do something so that the people may feel that the government is doing something for them,” Jumoad said.

Cabangbang said the rubber tappers were on their way to work when around 40 to 50 armed men led by a certain Hassan Asnawi ambushed the truck at around 5:30 a.m.

Killed were Renato Aligay, Junrel Langugon, Delord Johnson and Buenaventura Lugamay, all rubber tappers, and militiaman Fernando Tantalo. Wounded were workers Danilo Tonghay, Julibert Dingkong, Adzar Madjakin, Francisco Taklindo, Abdul Mot and Alfredo Rojas, and militia forces Gilbert Guevarra and Bonifacio Dagodog Jr.

Shortly before noon on Sunday, Army troops headed by Lieutenant Colonel Bagnun Gearlan of 5th Infantry Battalion were heading to the nearby town of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, when they were ambushed by armed men along the highway in the village of Payong, Sultan Naga Dimaporo town, in Lanao del Norte.

Cabangbang said three soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in the attack.

But Corporal Benjamin Aguilar, who was among those wounded, said only two soldiers were killed.

Aguilar identified those killed as Corporals Jonathan Anot and Rolly Duhaylungsod, and the wounded soldiers as Captain Antonio Raymond Barnes, Staff Sergeant Johnny Dayoc, Sgt. Jaime Tamayo.

The wounded were taken to the Pagadian City Medical Center.

The attackers, who positioned themselves near the road, later fled toward the village shoreline.

“We are still trying to figure out if MILF rebels perpetrated the attack,” Cabangbang said.

Al Haq said the Lanao del Norte incident was also being investigated.

“The directive to all our forces on the ground is to maintain our defensive position. The order was relayed 12 noon Saturday and we are certain it reached to all our ground commanders,” he said.

“We have a clear instruction—no offensive and ambuscades. There might be a ‘third force’ behind these incidents to make our situation worst,” Al Haq said.

MILF chief negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal said members of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team have started investigating the October 18 gun battle in Al Barka that left 19 soldiers dead.

Iqbal said the IMT Batch 6 head, Major General Dato Mahdi BinYusof of Malaysia, has been leading the probe. He said the result of the probe would be discussed during the resumption of peace talks with government next month in Kuala Lumpur.

On October 21, seven troops were killed in three ambushes perpetrated by Muslim rebels in Zamboanga Sibugay.—With reports from Jeoffrey Maitem and Hernan de la Cruz, Inquirer Mindanao