MILF Rebels Pull Out From Occupied Mindanao Villages

Philippine military chief General Alexander Yano speaks to reporters on Friday, August 8, 2008 in Zamboanga City. Yano says Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels have begun pulling out from villages they illegally occupied in North Cotabato province. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 8, 2008) – Philippine Muslim rebels have began pulling out from areas they illegally occupied in North Cotabato province in Mindanao, officials said Friday.

But sporadic fighting has been reported in Aleosan and Midsayap towns, although there were no reports of casualties. The clashes, which began before sunrise, lasted for several hours.

Philippine authorities on Thursday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to remove its forces after weeks of sporadic clashes forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes.

“Most of the MILF elements have started to pull out since Thursday night and until today. We have the cease-fire committees on the grounds supervising the pullouts of rebels in the areas,” said Philippine military chief General Alexander Yano at a news conference in Zamboanga City.

Yano, accompanied by Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, the chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, also visited Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat.

Interior Secy. Ronaldo Puno said the rebels should vacate the towns or authorities would use force to drive them away.

North Cotabato Deputy Governor Emmanuel Pinol said rebels have been attacking government forces in the province and pillaged Christian villages. Rebels also torched dozens of houses.

Sporadic fighting were reported since last month in the towns of Aleosan, Midsayap, North Kabuntalan, Libungan and Pigkawayan, where rebels traded automatic and mortar fires with government militias and soldiers.

“We have to enforce the law to reclaim these areas that the rebels illegally occupied,” Yano said.

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said about 800 rebels occupied at least 9 villages in the five towns the past weeks. “We are talking about 800 fully armed rebels here and they have begun pulling out from these areas,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said rebels were slowly withdrawing and that security forces are monitoring the pull out of MILF forces. “There is progress. The rebels are withdrawing slowly,” he said.

Ando said the rebels are retreating in small groups and would probably continue until night time.

The MILF said members of the cease-fire committees and international truce observers are in Aleosan town to monitor the situation in North Cotabato.

“The cease-fire committees and members of the International Monitoring Team are now in the areas monitoring the situation. We need measures that will sustain the peace efforts on the ground,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said in a separate interview.

The military said the rebel attacks in the province were connected to the opposition of North Cotabato to its inclusion in the Muslim ancestral domain signed by Manila with the MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with the government.

Kabalu denied rebels illegally occupied the villages and said government militias had attacked them and that fighting in other areas was connected to land conflict and clan wars.

Many villagers have already armed themselves with machetes and old guns to defend themselves from rebel attacks.

The MILF is the country's largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in the troubled South. (Mindanao Examiner)