Severe government losses in Basilan, Sulu prompts more careful conduct of operations – Marine commandant

By Ronron
September 4, 2007

The death of many soldiers in operations in Basilan and Sulu since July this year has prompted the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to be careful in its future offensives against Moslem rebels in the south, the newly-installed commandant of the Philippine Marines Corps (PMC) said Tuesday.

This explains the lull these days in armed confrontations between the government forces and their targets in Basilan and Sulu, said Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino.

“We are still on intelligence build up so that if you are armed with intelligence information, of course, the operations would be more focused and we can avoid affecting civilians,” Dolorfino told Defense reporters in a phone interview.

The last reported engagement in the south was on August 26 in Tipo-tipo, Basilan, where two soldiers were slightly hurt.

Since July 10, 57 junior officers and soldiers were already killed, some of whom were mutilated, in separate incidents in Basilan and Sulu. Some of these incidents were ambush by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while the rest are actual clashes.

Dolorfino said that to avoid suffering more casualties on the government side and to ensure the safety of civilians, the intent now of the AFP is to conduct “surgical operations.”

At the same time, an internal probe on the July 10 incident in Al-Barka and on the August 18 incident in Ungkaya Pukan, both in Basilan, has been ordered by the higher military leadership.

Dolorfino said boards of inquiry for each of the two incidents were created by the PMC to look into possible operational lapses that may have contributed to the suffering of heavy casualties on the government side.

He said the inquiries will “look into the encounters with the objective of knowing the lessons learned.”

Dolorfino said he will go to Basilan tomorrow (Thursday) to visit the Marine troops, find out their condition, and give his guidance as new PMC chief.

“We will look into their morale as part of their administrative requirements because they were exposed to the situation where their fellow soldiers were beheaded, many died… If necessary, we will conduct stress debriefing among the personnel involved in the operation,” he said./DMS