MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 9, 2009) – Philippine troops have captured a remote rebel base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and a mansion allegedly owned by a senior leader wanted for a string of attacks in Mindanao.
The Army’s 6th Infantry Division said troops from two battalions swooped down on the rebel base on Friday and seized Ameril Kato’s three-storey mansion which is still unfinished, but estimated to be worth at least P10 million in Maguindanao’s Talitay town.
“The unfinished mansion is worth 10 million pesos. Conclusion: the leaders of the MILF live in lavish and extravagant way while their followers and their families remain poor as they are with no adequate food and medicines to sustain their living,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a regional army spokesman, said in a statement.
He said the mansion has a basement and sits on more than 1,200-square meter land that was guarded by MILF rebels.
But the MILF denied the military claims and said the rebel group has no fixed bases and that Kato never owned any mansion nor living lavishly or extravagant.
“That is clearly a military propaganda. We are revolutionaries. Kato is a revolutionary leader and he never owned any mansion or any of our other leaders,” said Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader.
Security forces were tracking down Kato and two other MILF leaders, Abdurahman Macapaar and Sulayman Panglian who were blamed by the military and police for the string of attacks in Mindanao since last year after the seven-year old peace talks between the rebels and the government collapsed. (Mindanao Examiner)
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