MILF to release 7 'prisoners of war'
By ROMER S. SARMIENTO
TODAY Correspondent
KORONADAL CITY - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said on Monday
that it would release “any time this week” the seven government soldiers they
captured last March 6 in Balo-i town, Lanao del Norte.
“The POWs [prisoners of war] are set to be freed this week,” Eid
Kabalu, MILF spokesman, told reporters during a telephone interview.
Kabalu said the group’s decision to release the captured
government soldier was in response to the mounting appeal from groups in behalf
of the captives’ families.
The captives would be turned over to human rights groups and the
International Committee of the Red Cross, which earlier asked the MILF to
release one M/Sgt. G. Ompoy and Sgt. Rizaldy Oniana of the Army’s 58 Infantry
Battalion, Kabalu said.
The other captured soldiers are members of the Citizens Armed
Forces Geographic Unit. They are Angelito Reyes, Antonio Paquelero, Carlito
Cabilao, Juanito Wagas and Canete Marcelino.
Kabalu said the captives were “treated with dignity” in
accordance with Islamic laws and international humanitarian laws.
A statement of an MILF leader based in the Lanao area posted on
the group’s website that the Armed Forces of the Philippines prefers “death for
the seven POWs held by the MILF than be returned to their loved ones safely.”
Rudy Radiamuda, MILF spokesman for Lanao, made the statement
following the pursuit operations conducted by the military against the rebels
to recover the POWs “dead or alive.”
The government, meanwhile, has tapped relatives of MILF chairman
Hashim Salamat to broker the resumption of the stalled peace talks.
Datu Ibrahim “Toto” Paglas II, former mayor of Datu Paglas in
Maguindanao, claimed that he was tapped by the government to contact Salamat.
Paglas is a nephew of Salamat, who is facing multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder in connection with the
deadly bombings in the cities of
Twenty-two people, including an American, were killed and 140
others injured when a bomb exploded at the
“I’m trying to contact him [Salamat] but to no avail. The effort
is for the resumption of the stalled peace talks,” said Paglas, who was chosen
as one of the Outstanding Young Men of 1999 in the Countryside Development
category.
Paglas added, “I’m trying my best to locate him or contact him by
telephone to put an end to this war because this is affecting the business
climate of the area.”
Another prominent Muslim leader, Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen
Sema, was tapped by the government last week to get in touch with Salamat, a
61-year-old Maguindanao native educated in
Sema said he tried to contact the MILF leader after Presidential
Adviser on Special Concern Norberto Gonzales asked him to bridge the gap
between the government and the MILF hierarchy.
Even senior MILF leaders claimed that they “have no knowledge” of
the whereabouts of their chairman.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief information officer, said Salamat has
abandoned his safe house in the Buliok complex since the eruption of
hostilities last February 11, apparently anticipating the capture of the
rebels’ bailiwick in the hands of government forces.
“We have no knowledge where is the chairman now...but he is still
in