MARAWI, Philippines, 2 May — A field commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday accused certain politicians in southern province of Lanao del Sur of surrendering bogus rebels at the expense of the revolutionary Front.
“These surrenderees are all fictional (fighters), opportunists being utilized by some greedy local politicians to make money at our expense,” declared an angry Ali Solaiman, commander of the 3rd Field Division of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
Solaiman was referring to some 120 men claiming to be members of the division’s “Elite Forces” who surrendered to the military recently.
He denied any knowledge of the personal background of the group’s leader who introduced himself as certain Bin Jihad.
Mincing no words, Solaiman said Bin Jihad and his cohorts are “nothing but impostors of the worst kind.”
“He himself admitted that he had hard time convincing those people to be able to join him in his planned surrender,” the MILF commander said.
In the first place, he said, the BIAF’s 3rd Field Division, based in Kapatagan, Malabang and nearby coastal towns of Lanao del Sur province, has no “elite force” to speak of.
Bin Jihad’s claim of partnership or equivalent to the group of Commander Bravo in Lanao del Norte is another manifestation of the “impostor’s” ignorance on the structure of BIAF-MILF.
According to Solaiman, the 303rd Brigade is not called an elite force but Bravo’s name has become a by-word among both MILF fighters and the military because of his reputation as a tough fighter.
On the other hand, Bin Jihad had never been heard about fighting against the enemy, “simply because neither is he a fighter nor a member of the BIAF-MILF,” he added.
MILF officials said the usual practice in Lanao del Sur is that firearms for surrenderees are all provided by local politicians in connivance with corrupt military commanders in the area.
The politicians are after connections while the military officers responsible are usually after promotion, they said.
So-called “rebel returnees” are known to have been recycled in the past, and so with the defective guns that they surrender. In the meantime, the taxpayers have to pay for the funds given to each “returnee.”
