Basilan clash threatens efforts to revive stalled talks

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Heavy firefight broke out late Tuesday between military troops and Moro rebels in several towns of Basilan province amid efforts to revive collapsed peace talks. Residents raised the alarm Wednesday as hundreds of civilians fled their homes following skirmishes in the towns of Maluso, Tipo-Tipo and areas near Lamitan. "We are afraid the situation is getting worse," Vice-Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul told reporters here. Lt. Stephanie Cacho, the newly appointed spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, confirmed the skirmishes but denied that the military encountered Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels. Ms. Cacho said the military is running after members of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf and other lawless armed groups who were responsible for abducting civilians recently. "Efforts to bring to justice the kidnappers of the victims will continue," she said. "Marine troops in Basilan are not targeting the MILF in the area as [the MILF has] claimed." Ms. Cacho declined to provide details on the latest kidnapping in the island-province. "We still do not have any updates or initial information regarding the report that there were seven laborers in Tuburan, Basilan, who were abducted by unidentified armed men on Tuesday," she said. Hadji Hassan Lamla of the MILF’s Yakan city committee earlier confirmed to reporters their troops engaged the military. The renewed hostilities erupted after Moro rebels refused to withdraw from Maluso even as the kidnappers are based in Tipo-Tipo. Moro rebels said they were in the area to pressure the kidnappers to free the captives. The abductors are holding Zamboanga nursing student Joed Anthony Pilanga and nine-year-old April Nicole Raveche. Ms. Cacho said Marines on Monday encountered about 200 armed men believed to be from lawless MILF groups. She said the armed men were on their way to attack the Cabangalan and Lagayan military detachments when they were met by government troops. But the MILF claimed the military first launched simultaneous attack against it. "The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) staged simultaneous attacks on MILF bailiwicks in the municipalities of Tipo-Tipo, Albarka and Ungkaya Pukan on Dec. 1. Before the actual combat took place, the AFP launched vicious artillery and mortar bombardments that destroyed homes and orchards belonging to civilians," the group said in a statement. Col. Mohammad Nur A. Askalani, head of the government’s team in the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (ADJAG), a body formed by the government and the MILF to address the prevalence of organized crime in Mindanao, told BusinessWorld that communication lines are still open despite the suspension of ADJAG’s mandate on Nov. 16. "The ADJAG is currently not existing right now, but we hope we can resume to exercise our mandate before Dec. 15," he said. Clashes between Moro rebels and the military broke out after rebels frustrated with a rejected territory deal in August stormed civilian communities in some parts of Mindanao and went on a killing spree. The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain was eventually declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. — Darwin T. Wee, BusinessWorld