ZAMBOANGA CITY, 14 September 2003 — Gunmen led by a suspected separatist rebel attacked a remote village near the southern city of Iligan, setting fire to houses and taking two civilians hostage, the military said.
Field reports reaching the Southern Command headquarters here in Zamboanga said the rebels swooped down on the village of Kalilangan in the before midnight Wednesday and attacked the houses of the village chieftain and his relatives.
Reports said the attackers led by a Commander Hajji Arafat took two villagers named Mamang Kulong and Pantal Limbongan hostage as they retreated.
The military linked Arafat’s group to the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is talking peace with the government.
But the MILF immediately denied the charge. “The MILF has nothing to do with the attack and we have no Commander Arafat in our roster,” said MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu.
Also yesterday, the military claimed that at least 36 MILF and communist rebels have surrendered separately.
Three MILF fighers surrendered in Basilan Island on Friday and turned over their weapons, mostly automatic rifles, to the army’s 18th Infantry Battalion.
In Iligan, 31 other rebels surrendered later in the day to army soldiers, said Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias of the military’s Civil Relations Group. He said two communist rebels also voluntarily surrendered in Sultan Kudarat province on Tuesday.
“These rebels are fed up of the fighting and they are all tired. They surrendered to the military without any condition and they are currently undergoing tactical interrogation,” he told reporters in a briefing.
The military is offering amnesty to MILF and NPA rebels under the government’s Balik-Baril (money for weapons) program. Under the program, the government pays as much as P25,000 ($454) for weapons surrendered by rebels, aside from livelihood aid, for them to start their own business.
Those who surrender also undergo livelihood training of their choice, Covarrubias said.
The MILF, however, denied that those who surrendered to the military were their members.
