400 militias disarmed in 3 Maguindanao towns, troops watching signs of rido

DAVAO CITY – Government troops on November 26 have disarmed more than 400 paramilitary members believed to be the private army of the powerful Ampatuan clan in three Maguindanao municipalities as the armed forces also kept a close watch for any sign of rido, or traditional Moro vendetta killings from the two feuding clans in Central Mindanao.

Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ 6th Infantry Division, told BusinessMirror in a mobile phone interview on November 26 that members of the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAAs) in the towns of Datu Unsay, Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak did not offer any resistance when asked to turn in their rifles.

As of noontime that Thursday, the disarming was continuing and the firearms consisted of M14’s, vintage Garands and Carbines.

“We disarmed them to avoid them from falling into the control of politicians and other unscrupulous groups,” he said. The SCAAs are supposed to be supervised by the Army in the fight against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front then, but he said that the Army division moved in to disarm them after the Maguindanao massacre on Monday, which turned in 57 bodies in a secluded area in Ampatuan town.

He said a parallel move was being done by the National Police in recalling the firearms given to members of the Civilian Volunteers’ Organization (CVOs) for inventory, accounting and licensing.

Ponce clarified that the perpetrators of the massacre did not use the highway in escaping after burying their victims “but scampered westward toward the forested area after sensing that the troops were closing in on them”. Ponce made the statement to clear of suspicion the alleged complicity of some soldiers who were alleged to have been uncooperative in providing details as to how the alleged convoy of perpetrators were able to pass through the Army checkpoints along the highway.

Radio commentaries monitored here have alleged the Army checkpoints to have been receiving regular grease money from politicians in the area.

“We are pursuing the suspects in this direction,” he said, as he also ruled out the complicity of the Moro National Liberation Front due to the location of the gravesite in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman which has a signage indicating that it was its territory.

Ponce said that the barangay was supposed to be an MNLF training area but there were no MNLF personnel at that time. Besides, he said, “the training area is westward and there is no possibility that the perpetrators have sought refuge with the MNLF”.

The MNLF has signed a peace pact with government in September 1996 that bind them into a political settlement in Mindanao. Some 7,500 of its combatants have been absorbed into the National Police and the Army.

Ponce said that the number of soldiers was adequate to provide the vacuum left by the disarmed SCAAs and CVOs, saying that it has an infantry brigade in and around Ampatuan town, and two more brigades ready for in the entire province.

After the surrender Thursday of Datu Unsay mayor, Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., the 6th ID has busied itself into putting more checkpoints and chokepoints “to deter civilians from sneaking in firearms and to prevent any movement and outbreak of violence coming from either [the Ampatuans or Mangudadato]”.

“These would also prevent other unscrupulous groups from taking advantage of the situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, radio reports from Maguindanao monitored here, cited inquiries from unnamed family members of still missing members of their families who suspected that they may have joined the ill-fated convoy when it was stopped and its passengers massacred along the highway in Ampatuan.

The GMA radio, dxGM Super Radyo here, aired reports of more inquiries from families of media persons in Koronadal City and Tacurong City who were not originally accounted in the initial list of media persons to comprise the convoy but who joined it in the last minute.

“Does it mean that we could expect many more? Is it true then that there could be 30 media persons as being reported?,” the dxGM anchorman of the morning slot said.

The dxGM also said that the 57 bodies dug may be more “because there have been suspicion that the retreating killers brought with them some of their victims as possible shield in case they would be trapped”.


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