MILF pulls out troops in search for Bossi

By Ronron
July 3, 2007

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has pulled out its troops in the search for abducted Italian Catholic priest Fr. Gian Carlo Bossi in the Lanao provinces to give time for their families and livelihood.

The MILF, through its website, and Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino, government chairman of the GRP-MILF Adhoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), assured on Tuesday though that the Bangasmoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) will return to the site when needed.

“We have not ceased joint efforts. We just shifted to intelligence works,” Dolorfino said in a phone interview yesterday. “We will pursue all information that we can get to locate Fr. Bossi.”

“Meanwhile, the MILF gave time to their members to attend to their families and livelihood. They can be mobilized easily when needed,” he added.

Dolorfino said the pull out of MILF troops happened last Saturday after the GRP-MILF AHJAG considered the fact that the location of Bossi and his captors has yet to be pinpointed.

But in the MILF’s website, Mohammad Nasif of the MILF AHJAG Core Group said the decision was arrived at after the GRP-MILF AHJAG “realized that simultaneous rescue operations with the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is not a very good situation.”

Reached by phone, MILF chief peace negotiator and Public Information Officer Mohagher Iqbal said the Philippine Army requested the MILF to withdraw so that a misencounter can be prevented, considering the large size of troops scouring the area.

The MILF said about a thousand soldiers of the BIAF were withdrawn, but they will remain on “standby mode to respond as quickly as possible if requested to take part in the rescue.”

“It is now the sole responsibility of the AFP to do the job alone,” Nasif was quoted to have said in the website.

Members of the Philippine Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade have been conducting the search and rescue operations in Lanao, together with MILF forces.

The MILF said the troops were pulled out from Sultan Gumander town in Lanao del Sur, which is a boundary to Lanao del Norte. They are originally based in Malabang and Pualas town in Lanao del Sur, said Dolorfino, making it easy for them to respond when needed.

“Our problem is we still have not established contacts. The three emissaries I sent have not provided results yet. That’s why, aside from them, I added another group of four,” Dolorfino said.

The government sent the three emissaries last June 26 after they volunteered information that they had established contacts already through text messages with Bossi’s abductors.

Told about AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr.’s revelation last Monday that there was already contact made with Bossi, Dolorfino said: “It might be on the other efforts being made in Zamboanga Sibugay.”

Dolorfino was referring to the separate operation being conducted by the Philippine Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade in Zamboanga Sibugay. Dolorfino had earlier said that a few members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) are helping in said operations.

But Iqbal maintains that their information still indicates Bossi and his abductors remain in the Lanao area.

Bossi was to officiate a mass in Barangay Bulawan, Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay last June 10 when he was snatched by 10 armed men./DMS