COTABACITY CITY/MANILA, 25 May 2003 — As many as 318,000 civilians have been displaced by the renewed military offensives in Mindanao, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel.

The senator issued a statement condemning the administration of President Macapagal Arroyo for the “large-scale military operations that have actually wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.” He said the displaced families had sought refuge in evacuation centers in the Lanao and Cotabato provinces as well as Zamboanga del Norte.

Pimentel reiterated his call to the president to immediately order a halt to the offensives and agree to US-mediated peace talks with the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

He had been pushing the idea of a US role in the Mindanao peace process, and said early last week that Muslim religious leaders were supportive of it.

Pimentel pointed out that Arroyo’s decision to cut short her visit to the United States in order to attend to the peace and order situation in the south was her way of making “amends” for the fresh offensives.

“The president will probably inform the people that the military operations that she had ordered would now wind down after having accomplished her purpose, which was to create the impression in Washington that she is tough on terrorists,” the senator said.

He said the need to make that impression was indicated by the president’s ordering the bombing of “embedded terrorist cells” in Mindanao while she was on her way to her state visit in the United States.

He added that Arroyo had realized that her order “proved too costly” for the civilian population, and would now call a halt to military operations “to appease the locals.”

In Zamboanga City, Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko said the military was succeeding in implementing the president’s order for punitive actions against “erring members” of the MILF.

Kyamko said that since the start of the fresh military campaign, 77 rebels had been killed and 14 others wounded.

He did not explain how the military reached that count, but he had earlier said that civilians were providing the figures on rebel casualties.

Kyamko also said that unlike in previous campaigns against the MILF, the military had so far suffered “one casualty.”

He said he would report the progress of the campaign to Arroyo when she arrives in Mindanao tomorrow.

“I will tell her that her expectations — primarily to dislodge the perceived terrorist cells, to protect the people and to show the government’s intention to punish the perpetrators of (the) Maigo and Siocon (bombings) — were implemented accordingly,” he said.

At least 27 civilians were killed when MILF rebels staged attacks this month in Maigo, Lanao del Norte, and in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

In contrast, “there was no civilian killed in the punitive actions despite the air and artillery attacks we conducted,” Kyamko said.

Citing “the minimal destruction noted in the targeted communities,” he bragged about the precision of aircraft pilots and ground shelling artillery troops.

“Our bombs and shells were marked ‘for criminals only,’” he said in jest. “That’s why they hit only bad elements.”

Just for Show

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the military was painting a rosy picture of its ongoing campaign against the rebel group to boost Arroyo’s sagging popularity.

Kabalu said the military actions against the MILF were “preparatory moves for the 2004 election,” the president having received “the all-out commitment of the United States to support her leadership.”

“You see, we were right when we said the military attacks were aimed at convincing US President George W. Bush to give more money to the Philippine government,” he said.

Kabalu also accused military generals of stepping up attacks in Mindanao to impress the president.

He cited an order by Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, chief of the army’s 6th Infantry Division, to bombard Mount Kararaw on the boundary of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur amid reports that MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim and some 300 armed followers were spotted in the area.

Senga said an MILF camp in Kararaw near the former Camp Abubakar fell.

An MILF supporter, a local official who asked not to be identified, described the bombardment as “indiscriminate” and a waste of taxpayers’ money because there were really no specific targets.

Kabalu also propounded that the military wanted the place cleared of MILF fighters so that a Manila-based consortium led by the Consunji Group of Companies could resume its logging operations.

The group stopped operating in 1998 amid mounting MILF attacks.

In Lanao del Norte, MILF leader Abdurahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo said the military was lying about the zero civilian casualty.

“In (Barangay) Sakangkong (in Munai town) alone, the military executed 11 civilians who could not provide information about the MILF. They suspected these civilians to be working with us,” Bravo said.

He denied that the MILF was behind the burning of school buildings and houses in Munai.