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A DEPUTY
commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF)
107th Base Command yielded to the government hours after
the firefight between his group and soldiers on Tuesday
in Sarangani, the military said on Wednesday.
Gen.
Alexander Yano, Armed Forces chief of staff, said Rico
Watamama, who was wounded in the encounter, surrendered
to the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion (IB) and the mayor
of Kiamba, Sarangani.
Watamama
was accompanied by Nasser Bancil, one of his men who was
also wounded during the gun battle. Both are now being
treated at the Kiamba Municipal Hospital.
Watamama
and some of his men joined the guerrillas belonging to
the MILF 105th Base Command and some members of the
104th Base Command in the attack on two barangays in
Sarangani over the weekend. The rogue MILF rebels burned
a barangay hall and a day-care center during the attack.
On
Tuesday the Armed Forces assistant deputy chief of staff
for operations, Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, disclosed that
some members of the 107th and 104th have joined the
105th Base Command of Ameril Umbra Kato in the war
against the government.
The
107th, which is based in Sarangani, is commanded by
Munib Castro Embran, while the 104th, which is based in
Palembang, Sultan Kudarat, is under the command of a
certain Commander Aguilar.
Segovia
said the 105th has extended its operations to the areas
of the two other MILF commands in a ploy to have them
join the hostilities.
Yano
said the three base commands are the biggest among the
14 commands of the MILF and comprise 35 percent of the
total strength of the separatist group.
Other
than the three biggest commands, all of the other
commands are considered “skeleton units.”
Watamama
and his men were encountered by elements of the 25th IB
who are pursuing them following their attacks of the two
barangays in Kiamba.
At the
same time, the soldiers were also helping the National
Police serve the warrants of arrests that have been
issued by a local court against all those who
participated in the weekend attack.
Two
soldiers were wounded during the firefight. They are
Pfc. Ebenezer Libres and Pvt. Judy Galves.
Meanwhile, a military official announced that soldiers
pursuing the rogue MILF rebels could now rest better in
the field with the sleeping bags given by President
Arroyo.
The
spokesman for the Army’s First Infantry “Tabak”
Division, Lt. Col. Agane Adriatico, said the sleeping
bags arrived on Monday at the 104th Infantry Brigade
headquarters in Iligan City.
Adriatico said each of the soldiers will also receive
P300 worth of cellular telephone load from the President
aside from the sleeping bags.
At the
same time, the Armed Forces said it has no plans to
increase the troops that are pursuing the three leaders
of rogue MILF rebels in Mindanao.
Lt. Col.
Ernesto Torres Jr., Armed Forces spokesman, said the
forces stationed in Mindanao “are sufficient to address
the present threat in the area.”
Military
forces had been pursuing rogue MILF leaders Abdulrahman
Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, and Sulayman Pangalian
in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur,
as well as Ameril Umbra Kato, alias Commander Kato, in
the province of North Cotabato.
However,
Torres said the assessment continues to determine if
there is a need to deploy more troops to pursue the
three top rogue MILF leaders, as well as their
followers. (With B. Garcia Jr.) |
