April 20, 1995, Manila Standard, page 2, Ipil no military job---Ramos,

President Ramos yesterday debunked allegations by some Muslim political leaders that the dastardly attack on Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur that left over 50 persons dead was a "covert special military operations" that went out of hand.

The President said there was unassailable proof that the attack on the peaceful coastal town was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf.

He told his weekly press conference that at least 30 of the estimated 200 raiders were "definitely identified as coming from the Abu Sayyaf."

Mr. Ramos, meanwhile, doubted the necessity of modifying the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), as he disagreed that the agreement is impending the military's offensive against Abu Sayyaf and other outlaws in Mindanao.

The Bangsa Moro Islamic Party (BMIP), speaking through its chairman Firdaussi Abbas and deputy secretary general Jul Asiri Hayudin, charged that the military plotted and carried out the Ipil raid to derail the peace talks with the MNLF because the government could not compromise its position on various issues being settled with the Muslim rebels.

The BMIP is described as the "political arm" of the MNLF. Abbas, however, had been identified with the MNLF Reformist Group, a breakaway Muslim rebel faction.

Abbas and Hayudin said the Abu Sayyaf could not have been responsible for the Ipil attack because "it does not have the manpower and firepower to undertake such an operation." They said the tactics employed by the raiders were very much different from those used by the Abu Sayyaf.

The same views were expressed by lawyer Macapanton Abbas Jr. a known adviser of MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari and chairman of the National Social Action Council. He is the brother of Firaussi Abbas.

Motley group

Macapanton Abbas said reliable information gathered from various sources indicated that the Ipil attack was carried out by a motley group consisting of former military men, ex-convicts, inmates from the San Ramon Penal Colony, common criminals In Ipil and Bolong municipalities and the so-called lost command of the MNLF, most of whom are not Muslims.

He proposed the formation of an inter-faith, presidential fact-finding commission to investigate the Ipil raid and establish once and for all its real perpetrators.

The President maintained that if the Armed Forces of the Philippines is encountering difficulties in its pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf, it is not because of the ceasefire agreement but because of other factors such as the mountainous terrain where they fled after the Ipil attack.

"I'm an old soldier myself, the difficulty is because of the terrain. And if you're pursuing (the terrorists) after two weeks, of course, unless you entrap them in one location, the quarry may have already escaped in different directions," he explained.

Mr. Ramos said that the best thing is to "just intensify your search, in addition to where you are, in other places."

De Villa

The President's statement contrasted with the view of Defense Secretary Renato de Villa who said that government troops are sometimes forced to halt their pursuit operations when Abu Sayyaf terrorists are given sanctuary in MNLF camps or territories.

De Villa favors a review of the ceasefire agreement to be initiated by Presidential Peace Adviser Manuel Yan, head of the government panel conducting peace talks with the MNLF. (Fel V. Maragay)