MILF given one week to surrender ambushers

By Anthony Vargas, Reporter

Manila---THE Armed Forces on Wednesday gave the Moro Islamic Liberation Front seven days to surrender its fighters that took part in a bloody battle with Marines in Basilan last week.

Another Marine battalion will be deployed to the island province, which is also a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

The Armed Forces Public Information chief, Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, said the additional battalion will beef up troops going after Moro rebels who ambushed a group of Marines in Tipo-Tipo town.

Fourteen Marines were killed, with 10 of them beheaded. Ten other soldiers, including the crew of a helicopter gunship, were wounded.

Bacarro said the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., had met with military ground commanders in Mindanao to draw up plans for punitive action against the ambushers.

The MILF had issued a statement that it would not yield its fighters who took part in the fighting.

“If they are talking peace with us . . . they should not be making such statements,” said Bacarro.

Last Friday, a Marine battalion was sent to Basilan to reinforce two Marine and Army brigades that have been guarding the area against lawless elements such as the Abu Sayyaf.

The Marines who were looking for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, were returning to base when they were pounced upon by more than 300 Moro rebels and Abu Sayyaf extremists.

The MILF claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied its forces committed atrocities.

The Philippine National Police is readying to criminal charges against Moro rebels and Islamic militants that launched the ambush.

Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, the police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said charges of multiple murder and multiple physical injuries would be filed against the attackers next week.

“I have talked to my people in Basilan and they said that charges would be filed within five days. We will file the charges,” Goltiao told reporters in Camp Crame.

The ARMM police district said the charges will be filed against the MILF’s 114th Base command and Abu Sayyaf members.

“We have identified several of the personalities that were behind in the beheading of the Marines. We are just completing all the needed documents,” Goltiao said.

Goltiao refused to name the commander of the 114th base command, saying criminal charges were yet to be filed against the command’s chieftain before the Basilan Regional Trial Court.

Sources from the police and military intelligence community identified the 114th base command chief as Commander Abubakar and his deputy, known only as Asnawi.

Besides filing charges, the ARMM police chief said his troops were also tending to some evacuees displaced by the fighting.

“We have been taking care to some 930 evacuees. The DSWD and the local government units in the area are also helping us in taking care with them,” Goltiao said.