MILF leader, wife arrested in Sarangani

Police commandos raided and seized a senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and his wife in the south on Friday, regional police commander Jose Dalumpines said in a report yesterday.

Policemen confiscated two rounds of 81mm and one 60mm mortar shells, rifle grenades, ammunition for M16 and detonators and rolls of electrical wire from the house of MILF leader Bonin Bangsalao.

His wife Ruth Eugenio, also an MILF member, was also arrested, Dalumpines said.

A third suspect escaped by jumping from a window of the hideout in a village in Maasin town, Sarangani province.

"We suspect they were involved in recent bombings in southern Mindanao and could be planning more attacks," said Dalumpines, adding his suspicion was based on the maps of General Santos City and South Cotabato and Sarangani province which were recovered from Bangsalao's house.

One mortar shell has markings on it, claimed Dalumpines, adding, "We don't know what it stands for or what it meant, but there is one thing we are sure of, they are MILF members."

On Tuesday, an 81mm mortar shell, rigged with a detonator, exploded outside the house of Mayor Saudi Ampatuan of Datu Piang town in Maguindanao, killing him and 12 others. The Ampatuan family have blamed the MILF for the attack.

On Thursday, about 30 suspected MILF rebels killed 13 people and wounded 10 others during an ambush in a remote village in Baliguian town in Zamboanga del Norte province. Most of the victims were working for Toronto Ventures Inc. Pacific, a Calgary-based Canadian mining firm.

Southern command chief Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya blamed the MILF for the ambush and ordered troops to hunt down the rebels in the province.

Abaya and his deputy army Col. Roland Detabali flew by helicopter to Zamboanga del Norte yesterday to supervise the offensive operation against the MILF.

"We have recovered evidence linking the MILF to the ambush and we will file a protest with the government peace panel," Abaya said, adding that soldiers recovered identification cards of MILF rebels such as Adlam Maing and Sayok, both commanders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).

"We also have extortion letters from the MILF asking money from the Canadian firm. We are using that as evidence against the separatist group," Abaya said.

"We will not tolerate this terrorism. Soldiers are now pursuing the terrorists, so we may give justice to the innocent victims," Abaya added.

The MILF has strongly denied the accusation. "We are not involved in that attack. We don't kill innocent people. The MILF is currently negotiating peace with the government," said MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu.

MILF forces were pulled out from Zamboanga del Norte in June, Kabalu said, adding the MILF troops were sent to Lanao province.

"We did this because we did not want to be accused by the government of coddling terrorists," he said.

Meanwhile, the Catholic charity Caritas Philippines has accused the Canadian firm of harassing Muslim tribesmen in the town opposing mining operation on ancestral lands.

Manila is currently negotiating peace with the MILF.

The MILF and the government forged two ceasefire accords in 1997, at the start of the talks, and in Libya in 2001, when President Gloria Arroyo revived the talks as soon as she ascended to power.

Former president Joseph Estrada shelved the talks in 1998.