AFP BOMBARDS BY AIR, GROUND MILF LAIR / VILLAGERS DEMANDED AFP PULL OUT
[PHOTO - President Benigno Aquino 3rd vows during last Monday's press conference at Malacañang that the government will pursue "all-out justice" for soldiers slain by Muslim rebels while not pushing for an all-out war. MALACAÑANG PHOTO Aquino blames military for 19 soldiers' death, insists killers are Abu Sayyaf men. The military on Monday launched its first air strikes in three years against Muslim separatists in restless southern Philippines, after a series of attacks from the rebels that have left 35 people dead.]
MANILA, OCTOBER 26, 2011 (BULLETIN) More than 10,000 people have fled their homes as aerial strikes and ground assaults targeting notorious lawless elements entrenched at a remote village in Zamboanga Sibugay entered its second day Tuesday.
Government forces also sealed off all the escape routes for the nearly 100 gunmen who are currently holed up in their fortified encampment in Zamboanga Sibugay, Director-General Nicanor Bartolome, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.
"The area has already been cordoned off... it's just a matter of time before our law enforcement operation will be completely complied," Bartolome said.
Military officials said massive operations against lawless elements are also being conducted in Lanao del Norte and Basilan.
Adriano Fuego, director of the Office of Civil Defense in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), said 10,385 people were forced to flee their homes amid heavy fighting between government forces and lawless elements in Sitio Taib, Barangay Labatan in Payao town.
He added the displaced people were from the Payao and nearby Alicia town.
The government said the fighting and the evacuations were an offshoot of a military operation against "lawless elements" engaged in kidnappings. However, Muslim rebels have alleged their forces have been attacked as well.
"There was advance news, like text messages on the cellphones they (rebels) would attack the municipalities. There were text messages going around saying other municipalities would be attacked," Fuego told Agence France Presse (AFP).
More strikes
Two more air strikes were conducted Tuesday morning in a fortified position of lawless elements engaged in various criminal activities, ranging from murder and kidnapping to extortion, said Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr., Armed Forces spokesman.
"This morning tuloy ang air strike, five sorties na – kahapon three sorties, this morning about two sorties," Burgos said.
Officials earlier said the attacks were directed at a group of rebels led by Waning Abdulsalam, said to be an MILF commander. But the MILF disowned Abdulsalam, who has standing warrants of arrest for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, slight illegal detention with robbery, kidnapping, and serious illegal detention.
Other personalities with existing warrants of arrest who are also subject of the massive operations in Zamboanga Sibugay are Talib Jail Indal – for murder and frustrated murder; Datu Saramain Indal – for multiple murder; Tareed Mangunda – for murder; Morsede Jalal – for murder and frustrated murder; Harid Andaya – for kidnapping; Pendatun Datukali – for murder; Mohmim Karim – for murder; Alnajer Sali – for murder; and Putot and Ogis Jakaria – for murder.
While the MILF claimed that Abdulsalam is not in their record, the Muslim rebel group also said the Jakarias brothers, Putot and Ogis, are notorious outlaws and kidnappers. The MILF added the Jakarias brothers are no longer in Zamboanga Sibugay as they are now hiding in Basilan.
Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF vice chairman, denied allegations his group coddled lawless elements, while accusing the military of triggering the hostilities by shelling a major MILF training base near Payao last week.
"We have ordered our fighters on the ground to stand down and respect the peace process," Jaafar said.
He alleged the military had also started the Basilan clash by sending special forces troops into another MILF camp.
The AFP said joint police and military law enforcement operations in Zamboanga Sibugay will continue.
The Army said the bodies of four lawless elements killed during last Monday's aerial strikes have been recovered. They also identified the soldiers killed during the assault.
In a statement, Maj. Harold Cabunoc, Army public affairs officer, said: "The Army mourns the death of two soldiers who perished in a clash with 80 bandits led by Waning Abdulsalam at Sitio Taib, Barangay Labatan, Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay. Maj. Gen. Noel Coballes, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, identified the slain soldiers as Pfc. Fabilisio and Pfc. Dave Geco who died while assaulting the fortified bandit positions in support of the police.
Cabuboc said the four soldiers wounded during the operations – Pfc. Marlon Equilla, Pfc. Fernando Ortiz, Pfc. Ian Clyde Buenafe, and Pfc. Raymond Segobia – were airlifted to a local hospital while clearing operations against criminal elements wreaking havoc in Mindanao continues.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz expressed his deep sympathy to the soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice while performing their duties.
Law enforcement operations are now also ongoing in Lanao del Norte, as well as, in Basilan.
The operations were launched following last week's series of attacks by rogue elements of the MILF that left 35 people dead, including soldiers, policemen, a mlitiaman, and civilians.
As massive operations continue, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo SL. Oban Jr. held a command conference at the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) where he issued the following guidance in the conduct of law enforcement operations in Mindanao:
1. Strictly adhere to rules of engagement during law enforcement operation; 2. Observe respect for human rights in the conduct of operations; and 3. Avoid collateral damage during the conduct of operations.
Oban also visited the wounded soldiers who were pinned the "Wounded Personnel Medal."
MILF told to hunt 'Lost Command'
Iloilo Rep. Jerry Trenas, reacting to President Benigno S. Aquino III's order of an all-out justice against lawless elements, said the move should have a parallel action from the MILF which must also hunt down leaders and members of its "Lost Command" who are believed to be behind the tyrannous Al Barka (Basilan) massacre and other ceasefire violations that resulted in the death of 35 civilians and military men.
"I share the sentiment that the perpetrators of the murder of our soldiers should be relentlessly pursued by our government and brought to justice in our courts of law but we should be able to really distinguish the chaff from the grain. This quest for justice should be balanced with our quest for peace," said Trenas, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government.
At the House of Representatives, administration congressmen aired confidence that grief over the death of soldiers has not triggered demoralization in the military and even anger at the Aquino administration.
"Do not equate grief to demoralization," former AFP chief of staff and incumbent Muntinlupa City Rep. Rodolfo Biazon warned during a television interview.
Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay supported the military's demand for the surrender of five MILF commanders responsible for attacks in Basilan, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Lanao del Norte.
At the Senate, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV called for an inquiry to determine if government troops committed operational and tactical lapses in the Basilan encounter, while Sen. Francis Escudero sought for the lifting of the ceasefire agreement in certain areas in Mindanao. (With reports from AFP, Rolly T. Carandang, Hannah L. Torregoza, and Mike U. Crismundo)
FROM MINDANAO NEWS ONLINE
Arakan villagers want military out By Malu Cadelina-Manar | Monday| October 24, 2011 | Filed under: Top Stories
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/24 October) — Displaced families from a remote village in Arakan, North Cotabato demanded the pullout of military troops due to alleged human rights violations.
The latest, they said, was last Thursday when elements of the Army 10th Special Forces conducted clearing operations at Sitio Lumbo in Barangay Cabalantian that led to the killing of a farmer and the arrest of two suspected members of the New Peoples' Army (NPA).
Killed was Ramon Batoy, a peasant leader who, according to Lt. Col. Joven Gonzales of the 57th Infantry Battalion, was Commander Dario of NPA Front 53 operating in North Cotabato and Bukidnon provinces.
The Army arrested Noli Badol and Celso Batoy, Ramon's eldest brother, for being alleged members of the NPA's 'Milisya ng Bayan'.
The villagers, however, denied the Army's accusation. They said the slain Batoy was a leader of the farmers group in Cabalantian, which is affiliated with the Arakan Progressive Peasants Organization.
They reiterated their statement in a meeting on Saturday with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Cotabato 2nd district Rep. Nancy Catamco at the wake of Fr. Fausto Tentorio.
Batoy's widow, Gemma, told Robredo that they want justice for her husband's death.
She said that when soldiers entered their village last Thursday the soldiers hit her husband with a rifle butt.
"I saw it myself. If he was indeed a rebel, he should have used a gun. But he only carried a bolo", she said in the vernacular.
Gemma also said that aside from her house, seven other houses nearby were also riddled with bullets coming from the soldiers.
She denied there were rebels in their village so it was unlikely that an encounter took place.
She said the firearms and explosive the soldiers allegedly recovered from their house were not theirs.
"We all know how the soldiers operate. They planted those firearms and explosive so they would have enough reasons to pin us down. But these are all lies," said Gemma.
Villagers have sought refuge in the town's parish, about 15 kilometers away from the barangay. Reports said at least 48 families evacuated to the town proper.
Arakan, located in the boundary of the provinces of North Cotabato and Bukidnon, falls under the 57th and 38th Infantry Battalions. The 10th Special Forces is under the operational control of the 57th IB, according to Col. Gonzales.
Catamco said that although Secretary Robredo did not make a categorical statement on the demand for a pullout of the military, he assured the villagers he would have the case investigated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
"In fact, the Secretary has already called up CHR chairman Etta Rosales to look into the issue," she said.
The NPA Front 53 has belied the Army's claims that Badol, the slain Batoy and his brother were rebels.
Rebel spokesperson Isabel Santiago said the 602nd Brigade has "shed off the vestiges of the AFP's Oplan Bayanihan" as an "anti-people counter-revolutionary program" of the present administration. (Malu Cadelina Manar/MindaNews)
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