BIFF fight widens; MILF, MNLF friends, kin join; gov’t forces engaged for 5th day

 

 

 

 

 

The MILF is engaged in peace talks with government. The MNLF signed a peace pact with government in 1996 but some of the members later left the group and formed the MILF. The 300-strong BIFF is headed a former MILF commander who is opposed to the peace negotiations between government and the MILF.

 

Hermoso, asked how many MILF and MNLF fighters have aided the BIFF, said they are a few because most of them “do not want to subscribe with the BIFF.”

 

Hermoso also said fighting is dragging because troops are unfamiliar with the terrain and because of the presence of civilians in the area.

 

He said the target is to finish the operation by Saturday.

 

As of yesterday, there were sporadic firefights in barangays Bakat and Ganta, both in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town, and barangay Damablas in Datu Piang town.

 

“We’re pursuing them and they splintered into smaller groups. As of now, there is sporadic fighting. They (BIFF men) are still there,” he said.

 

The fighting broke out last Sunday in Sultan sa Barongis town in Maguindanao when government forces launched law enforcement operations against BIFF members for atrocities.

 

The military cleared the operations with MILF because the areas of operations are near MILF communities.

 

Hermoso said the military would continue with the operations “because the MILF itself requested to finish off the BIFF so that they would have no problem later on.”

 

He also said there is no need to deploy additional forces in Maguindanao because there are enough operating troops. Three Army battalions are directly involved in the campaign and other units are playing a support role, he said.

 

Around 40 BIFF men, including child warriors, have been killed since Sunday while 12 others were wounded. On the government side, a soldier has died and 13 others were wounded.

 

Miriam Cornel-Ferrer, chair of the government panel in the peace talks with the MILF, urged BIFF members to lay down their arms and be part of the peace process.

 

“We ask them (BIFF) to listen to the plea of their own brothers and sisters to give peace a chance,” she said.

 

She said local government officials are ready to receive BIFF men who would want to participate in programs under the peace agreement. She said the BIFF could also contact supporters or local ground commanders of the MILF.

 

She also said relief provisions have been on standby for those temporarily displaced.