World

Is a crusade-like violence broiling (again) in Philippine south?

by jayr_patron | August 27, 2008 at 04:14 pm

163 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment

"Dreaded Ilaga is back" says the headline of one of the more popular broadsheets in the country. The group, known for its atrocities and human rights abuses in the '70s, has resurfaced with threats to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), according to Inquirer.net.

Mike Santiago, spokesperson of the Reformed Ilaga Movement, told reporters during a press conference in an undisclosed location in North Cotabato that the group would protect not only Christians but also Moros (Muslims), and the lumad (indigenous people of Mindanao) against attacks by the MILF.

Meanwhile, Eid Kabalu, civic-military affairs chief of the MILF, accused the military for the resurgence of the armed group.

“The government created it, therefore, it can control it,” Eid Kabalu, civic-military affairs chief of the MILF, said. “The government must be held responsible for any act of this gang.”

Khaled Musa, MILF deputy chief for information, said rightist groups in Mindanao could not exist without the “blessings of the Philippine armed forces.”

“We hold the Philippine government responsible for whatever savagery, barbarism, destruction committed by this gangster group against the Bangsamoro people,” Musa stressed.