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DALIAO,
Maasim, Sarangani—Villagers joined Army troops and local
officials to see for themselves a mosque in Camp Khalid
bin Walid that was reportedly destroyed by the military,
but found out that the reports were false.
“Ang
mosque diri wala natandog [The mosque here
was not touched],” said barangay chairman Abdurajes
Pangolima, who led scores of residents to the camp.
“Wala
man poy natandog sa mga gamit nila, gamit sa mga
brothers natong MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation
Front] okay man. Ang mga balay pud mao gihapon
[Their things were not touched, things of our brothers
MILF are okay. Their houses are just the same],” he
added.
The
mosque was built at the center of the MILF’s Camp Khalid
bin Walid.
Less
than 50 meters from the mosque is an old dilapidated
mosque that was used as the resting place of the armed
group before an encounter took place on September 12
some 500 meters away from the camp.
“Hindi
totoo na na-disturbo ng military iyong
pagsambayang nila. Kasi kung nagsambayang sila, naabutan
sila diyan [It’s not true that the military
disturbed their prayer because if they did pray, surely
they were captured there],” recounted Julis Maguid, a
Muslim leader.
“Hindi
naman sinunog ang mga bahay. Iyong mga civilian
wala namang order ang military na
mag-bakwit ang lahat ng civilian pero ’yung hindi
nakatiis iyon ang lumipat [Houses were not burned.
The civilians were not ordered by the military to
evacuate, but those who were scared really left],”
Maguid disclosed. “Pero kami nandyan man kami hindi
po kami umalis [But we were just in our houses. We
did not leave],” he said.
The
military said it was in Camp Khalid where a rogue MILF
group planned the August 18 attack of Maasim poblacion,
which resulted in the murder of two innocent civilians.
The
police provincial director, Senior Supt. Danilo Peralta,
said intelligence reports indicate that Commander Alo
Binago, under the command of Commander Ameril Umbra Kato
of the 105th MILF Base Command, arrived in Camp Khalid
earlier and led the attack in Maasim poblacion on August
18.
In the
said briefing, Peralta showed local media warrants of
arrest for Commander Binago; Taha Maguid Sapal, alias
Commander Taha; Manawi Ibrahim, alias Commander Lawin;
Jayon Saligan, alias Commander Aguilar; and 45 others
for murder, frustrated murder, arson and robbery.
The
warrants of arrest were issued by Branch 38 of the
Regional Trial Court in Sarangani.
“With
these warrants of arrest, these men are now no less than
Commander Umbra Kato and Commander Bravo, who are
considered as Lawless MILF Groups,” Peralta said.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen.
Alexander Yano, believes that one of the most-wanted
MILF commanders will soon be cornered and captured by
government forces as some of his satellite camps,
including his favorite, continue to be seized by
soldiers.
“As
assessed by our commanders during those encounters,
Commander Bravo’s [Abdulrahman Macapaar’s] main force
could just be in the immediate vicinity [where the
troops are conducting operations],” Yano said.
Yano
anchored his observation to reports of ground commanders
after the Monday encounter in Poona Piagapo town in
Lanao del Norte, where soldiers engaged a group of
rebels believed to be part of the Bravo’s main security
force.
“The
assessment of the field commander, particularly of the
brigade commander, is that we have kept Bravo on the run
and constricted him in those areas. Meaning that he may
not have enough space to maneuver, considering that most
of the government forces are already sitting on the very
lairs or camps that he has been maintaining in the
past,” Yano said.
Aside
from the objective of capturing Bravo and two other
commanders—Ameril Umbra Kato and Saleem Sulaiman
Pangalian—who have a collective bounty of P25 million,
Yano admitted that the military is hell-bent to fully
decimate their forces. (J. Adlaw and Z. Solmerin) |
