11 Dead, 6 Wounded in MILF Attacks

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels gunned down 11 people, wounded six others and set 32 houses on fire as they plundered farming communities in different spots in Central Mindanao last Saturday.

The attacks came a day after MILF rebels sprayed with automatic weapons two buses passing through the Pikit-Midsayap portion of the Cotabato-Davao Highway, killing a commuter and wounding 16 others, among them teachers on their way home from a field trip to Davao City.

Major Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, in a report said that a band of MILF rebels first raided Barangay Lasak in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, opening a fire on houses with B-40 rocket launchers and machineguns.

The attack left five innocent villagers dead. They were identified as Luzviminda Eleccion, her son Richard, sister Gemma Bianzon and nephews Reggie Suede and Allan Siruco. Luzviminda's husband Geronimo was seriously wounded. He is in critical condition at a hospital in Koronadal City.

Boboy Bianzon, Luzviminda's brother, said he and another companion were sleeping in their house, 50 meters away from the Eleccions, when they were awakened by Gemma's shout, pleading for them to flee, which they did.

In Pikit, North Cotabato, two groups of MILF rebels separated raided farming communities in Barangays Delangawen and Takepan, killing five villagers for refusing to shell out protection money.

Major Ando identified the slain villagers as Cesar Alejo, Eddie Soriano, and Florentino, Paulina, and Primitivo, all surnamed Calibuso. Local officials said the victims were herded into one spot where they were shot one after another. The rebel-attackers were led by Commander Akmad Abdullah, long wanted for a string of criminal offenses.

Three other villagers, 12 year old May Anne Alejo, Loreto Andiana and Julius Soriano, were wounded when Abdullah's group strafed houses with machineguns as they fled from the scene after sensing that military reinforcement had started closing in.

Wounded in the Weena passenger bus which was ambushed at 5:00 a.m. last Satruday as it was traversing the highway in Barangay Dalengaoen toward Cotabato City were, Antonio Salvacion Garciosa, Andromina Villanueva, Lucil Pepugal, Senelyn Caña, Richard Mallorca, Patrocinio Buminguit, Marivic Cadiz and Modesto Dacao.

According to the report of the local police, Abdullah's men torched more than a dozen houses shortly before fleeing and carted away farm animals and gang-raped a woman they used as human shield to forestall pursuit. Pikit is located 78 kilometers north of this city.

Responding elements of the Army's 40th Infantry Battalion engaged the rebels in a four-hour running gun battle, killing four of them and wounding six others while four combatants of the 40th IB were slightly wounded in the skirmishes.

The bloody incidents in Columbio and Pikit towns were preceded by the MILF's attack on Barangay Itao in South Upi, Maguindanao where they killed a villager, a certain Ted Mangula, and wounded two militiamen, identified as Gerry Compeza and Ignacio Diwan. The rebels, led by Said Putao, burned 32 houses of Tiruray natives.

Such incidents perpetrated by the MILF rebels showed that it is not their ideologies whom they are fighting for but to kill innocent lives and loot properties.