COTABATO City ― The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is sending a high-level team to investigate the circumstances that led its fighters to ambush an Army unit that was securing a UN mission in Sumisip, Basilan killing four soldiers, and 12 others wounded last Wednesday.
As this developed, residents in Barangay Cabengbeng in Sumisip town, fled their homes and sought shelter in the town hall for fear of a possible escalation of the fighting between the MILF and Army 32nd Infantry Battalion following last Wednesday's ambush.
Sumusip Municipal and Social Welfare Development officer Ruayda Jingkatal said 135 families have evacuated to their town hall since Wednesday.
Bangsamoro Minister Mohagher Iqbal for Basic, Higher, and Technical Education said the team led by Butch Malang, chair of the MILF Coordinating Committees for the Cessation of Hostilities will leave for Basilan today, January 25, to investigate the ambush, the most serious breach of the historic peace agreement between the MILF and the government on March 27, 2014.
Iqbal said the Basilan incident should not be allowed to spoil the gains of the peace deal between them and the government.
“The MILF and the government have conflicting versions of what happened in Sumisip town, Basilan. The most important thing is that this incident will not escalate and become a spoiler to the gains of the peace agreement,” he told reporters from Manila who are here on a study tour in Cotabato City.
Army 1001st Brigade Commander Brigadier General Alvin Luzon said the troops from the 32nd Infantry Battalion were securing a delegation from the United Nations Development Program in Barangay Lower Cabengbeng in Sumisip town when attacked by the MILF and “armed civilians”.
Luzon said the mission to protect the team was coordinated by the Joint Peace and Security Committee and the Joint Peace and Security Committee under the Joint Normalization Committee composed of six MILF and government officials.
He said the attackers also burned the KM450 military truck driven by the soldiers.
Basilan MILF CCCH chief Hajj Hamad Atain said the army version of the ambush is not exactly true.
Atain said the UNDP party was in Barangay Upper Benembengan, a distance of 12 kilometers from Barangay Lower Cabengbeng where the ambush incident happened.
He also said the regular security of the UNDP mission was Army Special Forces, not the 32nd Infantry Division thus conflicting the coordination between the two.
“We have been regularly complaining about the lack of coordination from Army units when they entered into areas,” Atain said by phone.
Under the peace deal, the Army, police, and the MILF agreed to coordinate their movements and operations through the AD HOC Joint Action Group (AHJAG) to prevent miscommunications and potential clashes.
Atain said they did not receive any communication or text messages that the 32nd Infantry Battalion was entering Barangay Lower Cabengbeng, which was designated as an “Area of Temporary Stay,” agreed upon by the Armed Forces of the Philippines where the MILF can seek refuge.
