Pangasinan Today

“If they keep on saying that line and they continue to fail controlling them (MILF sub-commanders), then the government will certainly control them,” Yano told ABS-CBN’s morning show, “Umagang Kay Ganda,” on Tuesday.

Yano said it is unfortunate that the MILF is saying the same excuses while the death toll and property damaged by the atrocities of the MILF’s insubordinate commanders increase.

“That statement of the MILF that the activities of its commanders are not sanctioned by them, it’s very unfortunate. We cannot [forever take] that convenient excuse from the hierarchy of a group that’s supposedly talking peace with the government,” the military chief said.

Yano, meanwhile, clarified that the government has not declared an all-out war against the MILF. He said he was misinterpreted when he said the MILF’s atrocities and incursions in North Cotabato and Lanao provinces are a “virtual declaration of war.”

Members of the MILF’s 102nd Base Command led by Commander Bravo killed at least 28 civilians and three soldiers in the day-long harassment in the predominantly Christian coastal community in Lanao del Norte.

“The leadership failed to prevent the action yesterday morning. Nonetheless when we made direct contact, we were able to convince them to retreat around noon,” Kabalu said, adding that this shows that the leadership has control over Bravo and all MILF’s legitimate sub-commanders.

He said the MILF leadership knew Bravo’s group has been restless since the MILF entered into the peace negotiations with the government.

“We have been exerting our effort to pacify this MILF group,” he said. He said the leadership cannot easily control Commander Bravo and other sub-commanders who joined the organization, not because of monetary reasons, but because of their principles.

Lanao del Norte Gov. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo told ANC’s “Top Story” newscast that MILF rebels have withdrawn from the province’s coastal towns such as Kolambugan and that the military is “positioning itself to secure the province’s coastal towns.”

Dimaporo called on the military to pursue the MILF rebels who occupied some of the towns Monday morning and early afternoon.

MILF rebels raided several towns in Lanao del Norte province, looting businesses, burning homes and randomly attacking the mostly Christian villagers, officials said.

President Arroyo branded the attacks by the MILF guerrillas as “sneaky and treacherous” and in clear violation of peace negotiations, and ordered the army to “defend every inch” of soil.

In Kauswagan town, mediamen aw nine bodies lying bloodied by a roadside in one village as black smoke billowed from burning houses.

Five other civilians were killed in another village by the marauding MILF fighters, while six more bodies were found, also in Kauswagan, later Monday.

All 20 bodies were taken by troops to two mortuaries in Iligan city a few kilometers away.

In the town of Kolambugan, six civilians and three soldiers were killed, Mayor Beltran Lumaque said in a radio interview. Among those killed was Col. Angelo Benitez, an Army brigade commander whose troops had engaged the rebels in intense gunbattles since dawn.

Another rebel unit struck the town of Maasim, leaving two civilians dead as they ransacked a pawn shop and looted a drug store, said the military.