MNLF official claims 9 slain bandits on Jan. 18 encounter in Patikul, Sulul are their members, not ASG; military belie it

By Ronron
January 24, 2007

An official of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the country’s original secessionist group, claimed on Wednesday that the nine bandits killed by the military in an encounter last January 18 in Patikul, Sulu are their comrades, and not Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members.

In a text message to Defense reporters, the official, who requested anonymity, said what happened was “purely a massacre perpetrated against nine MNLF (members).”

The source said that in fact, the MNLF leadership and the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Process (OPAPP) are already conducting an investigation on the incident, in coordination with “military generals” in the area.

But the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) maintains that their enemy in that encounter which happened in Barangay Timpook are ASG bandits believed to be under the command of Abu Pula or Dr. Abu, a bandit leader with a $100,000 reward from the US government.

“We are sure that they are Abu Sayyaf,” said Lt. Col. Melquiades Ordiales, commander of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 9 that was involved in the clash.

Ordiales confirmed that OPAPP investigators indeed went to their area, and they were even exonerated of the MNLF source’s claims.

He said one of the four captured rebels, identified as a certain Warki, told the OPAPP investigators that he and the nine slain bandits are ASG members.

But Warki admitted that he was really applying for membership with the MNLF, said PMC spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan.

“Our theory is that since the Abu Sayyaf is already leadersless, then their members are now trying to seek sanctuary with the MNLF,” said Caculitan.

To further belie the MNLF source’s allegations, Caculitan said that Patikul is actually a known bailiwick of the ASG, while the MNLF is only concentrated in the towns of Indanan, Talipao, and Panamao, all in Sulu also.

According to the MNLF source, “the more than hundred Marines involved in that massacre were brought to Manila for unknown reason.”

But Caculitan said the troops are in Manila to be honored in Malacanang by no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In an interview at Camp Aguinaldo, Brig. Gen. Ruben Rafael, commander of the AFP’s counter-terror Joint Task Force Comet based in Sulu, said they arrived in the capital indeed on Tuesday night, both Marine and Army troopers who were involved in the series of successful operations against the ASG.

Rafael did not disclose, however, their number so as not to give their enemies in the south an idea of how many troops are left there.

The group was flown aboard a C130 plane.

“They will be personally congratulated by the President… There will be medals, awards, and benefits for the casualties,” Rafael said.

Members of the Marine Force Reconnaissance Class 12 engaged the group of ASG leader Khadaffy Janjalani last September 4, 2006 in Patikul, claiming the latter’s life.

On January 6, elements of the 3rd Marine Battalion killed five ASG operatives, including sub-leader Jundam Jamalul, alias Black Killer, and a JI operative, in Tawi-Tawi.

Two days later, another leader of the ASG-Urban Terrorist Group, Binang Sali, was also killed in a raid at his safehouse in Patikul by members of the Military Intelligence Group 9 and Scout Rangers.

And then on January 16, troops from the 8th Special Forces Company of the Philippine Army encountered a separate group of ASG in Talipao town, resulting in the death of Abu Sulaiman, another ASG top leader./DMS