GENERAL SANTOS CITY, 14 August — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday disowned another group of armed men who surrendered to the military and said they were relatives of a slain kidnap gang leader.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu vehemently denied claims by the more than 10 surrenderees led by a certain Karim Talib that they were affiliated with the revolutionary group’s General Headquarters Division.
“Karim Talib and his followers were actually relatives of the late Commander Musa, leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group, who surrendered to the government sometime in 1992. He was later shot to death by military operatives,” Kabalu said.
The MILF also insisted that the suspected kidnap gang leader named Commander Tropical is “very much alive,” contrary to claims by the police that he was killed in a shootout last month in Barangay Dansuli of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
Kabalu said the separatist group conducted its own investigation and found that the man killed last month, Tungku Abdulrahman, was not the real Commander Tropical.
MILF probers disclosed that the real Tropical is Commander Alo Binago, who used to roam around the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and South Cotabato.
The police claim of having slain Tropical placed President Arroyo in an embarrassing position when she hastily announced what turned out to be a falsehood.
The MILF’s peliminary investigation, however, said Abdulrahman may indeed have ties with the Abu Sufyan Gang of Tropical, “but how much the extent of this relationship has yet to be determined.”
Tropical’s gang, according to the police, was responsible for the abduction last February of businessman Carlos Belonio and Korean national Jae Kwoon-yeon.
Relatives of Abdurahman have refuted the PNPs assertion, claiming there was indeed a “foul play” and that the suspect was innocent of the crime alleged. Sally Mupak-Pendatun, cousin of Abdulrahman, has filed file murder charges against the police officers responsible in the killing of the suspected kidnap gang leader.
