Bounty for MILF terrorist leaders DOUBLED

MANILA, Philippines—The government has doubled to P10 million the bounty on each of two leaders of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. They stand accused of perpetrating the attacks on several villages in Central Mindanao last month that left 62 civilians dead and displaced around 200,000.

The government earlier placed a P5-million bounty on the heads of Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar, alias Bravo, renegade leaders of the MILF.

“Each of the two commanders now carry a P10-million reward money,” said Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, the Philippine National Police spokesperson.

A reward of P5 million was also offered for the capture of another MILF leader, Aleem Sulaiman Pangalian, the head of the MILF 103rd base command.

Encourage participation

The increase in the reward money is meant to put pressure on the renegades, said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

The military has mounted a major offensive to hunt down Bravo, Kato and Pangalian and their men after the deadly attacks.

The rebel commanders said they launched the attacks after the Supreme Court froze a provisional agreement that would have given the rebels control of a separate Bangsmoro state.

Kato led the incursions in North Cotabato villages while Bravo and Pangalian led the rampage in several Lanao del Norte towns on Aug. 18.

The MILF leadership has refused to surrender its commanders to the government, which has filed criminal charges against them, saying that as a rebel organization it does not recognize Philippine laws.

The Armed Forces, which has lost 21 soldiers in the fighting, including an Army lieutenant colonel and a number of volunteer militiamen, welcomed the increase in the bounty, saying this was a strategy that has been “proven effective” before.

“Doubling the bounty also doubles the chances that those who are around the lawless MILF group leaders and members of the community where they move may be enticed to provide information and other ways leading to their capture or neutralization,” said Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres Jr., the AFP spokesperson.

Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the AFP command center, said the bounty will help the military to gather intelligence on the rebel leaders.

The military said the manhunt for the MILF leaders involved in the attacks have not stopped and would continue even during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Minor operations

But only minor operations were being conducted now, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division, the unit hunting down Kato in Maguindanao.

Ando said the military has successfully liberated 80 percent of areas occupied by Kato’s group and that “the world of the elusive MILF leader continues to shrink.”

But he admitted that Kato’s forces were still capable of harassing the “liberated” communities.

Fears of more MILF attacks have prompted talks of arming Christian residents in North Cotabato and of resurrecting the Ilaga, the dreaded Christian-led vigilante group in the 1970s