Thursday, May 8, 2003

MILF responsible for 192 deaths–AFP records

By Karl B. Kaufman, Reporter

THE secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has killed at least 192 people in 400 assaults launched in retaliation for the military takeover of the Buliok Complex in Pikit, North Cotabato, on February 14, military statistics showed.

Of the fatalities, 142 were civilians and 50 were law enforcers. An estimated 36 MILF guerrillas were killed in various encounters with government forces.

The records showed that 339 of the MILF assaults took place in Central Mindanao–North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao.

The MILF is not on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, but President Arroyo has ordered her presidential adviser, Renato de Villa, to study the wisdom of declaring the country’s second-largest armed Muslim group as a terrorist organization.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the threat posed by the MILF underscores the importance of having a tough antiterrorism law in place.

He warns that the controversial antiterrorism bill needs to be passed before the country “turns into a haven for terrorists.”

“Rebel groups like the MILF, who perform terrorist activities like what transpired in Zamboanga del Norte, continue to get away with murder by hiding behind the cloak of insurgency and rebellion,” Reyes said in a statement. The MILF leadership earlier admitted stepping up offensives after the Buliok siege.

Under the antiterrorism bill, terrorist activities would be a nonbailable offense punishable by death or life imprisonment.

The bill is facing rough sailing in Congress owing to opposition by human rights groups that claim its enforcement calls for a clampdown on basic civil liberties.

The antiterrorism bill was an offshoot of the September 11, 2001, attacks on United States that killed more than 3,000 persons.