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July 4, 2000, The Philippine Star, Attack on MILF lair has Erap go-signal,

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July 4, 2000, The Philippine Star, Attack on MILF lair has Erap go-signal,

 

After the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) failed to meet his June 30 deadline to reach a peace agreement with the government, President Estrada gave the Armed Forces the go-signal to attack Camp Abubakar by land and air, Malacañang said yesterday.

 

Meanwhile, the military has imposed a news blackout on the massive operation for the final assault to capture the MILF's last stronghold in Mindanao.

 

The Chief Executive has not yet extended the deadline for the MILF to talk peace with the government or face a relentless military assault.

 

Mr. Estrada had given the MILF until June 30 to renounce secession from the republic and to stop all terrorist activities in Mindanao and other parts of the country.

 

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told reporters yesterday that Air Force fighter planes and helicopter gunships were continuously bombarding Camp Abubakar.

 

But military spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando would not confirm that the air strikes are taking place.

 

However, Malacañang said the military offensive that started three days ago was limited to "retaliatory and defensive" actions by ground forces.

 

Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora told reporters that the Armed Forces has been conducting "pre-emptive strikes" against Camp Abubakar following the MILF's attempt to recapture Camp Sarmiento.

 

"Obviously they have control of the situation on the ground," he said. "Do they have the authority to attack? Of course, (with) what has been happening there, you're responding the way it is appropriate. What President Estrada and we in Cluster E are saying is, 'We cannot decide for you'."

 

Camp Abubakar is surrounded by the towns of Barira, Buldon, and Matanog in Maguindanao province, and Bulig and Kapatagan towns in Lanao del Norte province.

 

Army troops killed 11 MILF guerrillas in fierce fighting yesterday in Barira town at the foot of Camp Abubakar as government forces penetrated rebel lines.

 

A Muslim religious leader said two of the slain rebels were foreign-trained commanders whose bodies were mangled beyond recognition by powerful mortar blasts.

 

A soldier, identified as Sgt. Vidal, was reported killed and two others wounded in the firefight. The wounded were taken to a hospital in Cotabato City. 

 

Barira police said troops recovered a 50-caliber machine gun, 12 rounds for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and a dozen rockets in abandoned bunkers near Camp Abubakar.

 

Residents of a barangay near the Cotabato City airport said Air Force bombers and attack helicopters have been flying bombing sorties since last Sunday.

 

Army officer survives ambush

 

In Kapatagan town, an Army officer survived an ambush by MILF guerrillas while on his way to the town proper from Barangay Duguan.

 

Army and police investigators said the rebels fired rockets at the convoy of Col. Rolando Rodriguez, commander of the Army's 303rd Brigade, destroying an Army truck.

 

Rodriguez is now recuperating at a hospital in Cagayan de Oro City. At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, seven top MILF leaders, who arrived from Malaysia last Sunday night, were cleared by immigration agents on orders of Armed Forces vice chief Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim, who also heads the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 

Immigration officials held the seven, led by Lansang Ali, MILF legal consultant, and Ibrahim Gampong, religious affairs chairman, upon request of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

 

Calimlim said the seven Muslims were covered by safe-conduct passes. Zamora said the MILF had made several attempts to recapture Camp Sarmiento, which military commanders consider a satellite of the much bigger Camp Abubakar.

 

"Of course, it is both retaliatory and pre-emptive," he said. "If possible, we should bring the war to (the MILF). We should not wait for them to bring the war to us. What should we do? Should we start using howitzers?"

 

Zamora said MILF guerrillas had been firing mortars toward government positions from the safety of Camp Sarmiento before Army troops had captured it.

 

"If you recall this is one of the satellite camps beside Camp Abubakar which the MILF wants to retake," he said. "Perhaps we should explain so our people will know that Camp Abubakar is not a camp in the way Camp Aguinaldo or Fort Bonifacio is. It's a community."

 

Zamora said Army commanders have been careful to limit attacks to military targets inside Camp Abubakar like the training ground for new guerrillas and ammunition factories.

 

"The original proposal of the MILF when the peace talks were just starting (was) that we should recognize Camp Abubakar as covering an area larger than the entire (province) of Lanao del Norte," he said. "In short, if it's a community... you're talking of an area maybe as large as Metro Manila."

 

On the other hand, National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said President Estrada has kept open communication lines with the MILF despite the lapse of the June 30 deadline for the rebels to negotiate peace with the government.

 

"The President has given them a deadline to stop fighting," he said. "You don't go on with your secessionist move, we will talk with you on autonomy and let us just talk peace and that is the reason why we have been doing a lot of back-channeling to really open up an interim agreement there."

 

Aguirre said former executive secretary Ruben Torres, who is a government peace adviser, was in Kuala Lumpur last week to hold "back-channeling efforts" with MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar.

 

"But the MILF is insisting on secession," he said. "They have not fulfilled the conditions of the President and the deadline has lapsed. So the government has to do what is proper within our Constitution, which is to defend our Constitution and to maintain and order in the area."

 

Aguirre said the MILF was violating a resolution of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which had called on Muslim minorities to obey the laws and respect the sovereignty of the countries of their residence.

 

"So that is favorable to us," he said. "So that means the OIC is not supporting impliedly the MILF secessionist move."

 

Aguirre arrived last week from Kuala Lumpur where he presented the government's stand on the Mindanao problem before the OIC's 27th foreign ministers' conference.

 

In a briefing at Malacañang yesterday, Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr. said no ceasefire is in effect and that President Estrada has not extended the June 30 deadline for the MILF to sign a peace pact with the government.

 

"What is worrisome is that the MILF has not dropped its secessionist bid, even during the talks, they have not dropped their secessionist bid," he said.--Marichu Villanueva, John Unson, Rey Arquiza, Paolo Romero, and AFP

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